Jeff Genyk lasted all of two months with the Nevada Wolf Pack.
The 52-year-old assistant coach, who was hired in January to coach the Wolf Pack's special teams and running backs, has already jumped ship. Genyk is heading to the Wisconsin Badgers to coach tight ends and special teams for new head coach Gary Andersen.
"We want to wish Jeff Genyk the best of luck as he decided pursue another opportunity at Wisconsin," Wolf Pack coach Brian Polian said in a press release. "The timing of this transition is not ideal, but given Jeff’s family ties in the Midwest, we understand his desire to be back in that part of the country."
Polian, who built his own career as a special teams coach, doesn't expect the Wolf Pack's unexpected coaching vacancy to be be open very long.
"The process of interviewing candidates for the special teams / running backs job has already begun and I am confident that we will hire another top-flight coach who wants to be a part of what we are building here at the University of Nevada,” Polian said.
Genyk spent the past three seasons with the California Golden Bears coaching special teams and tight ends. He also coached 10 years at Northwestern and was the head coach at Eastern Michigan from 2003-08.
" I have the utmost respect for Jeff as a football coach," Polian said on Jan. 25 when he announced his first staff as Pack head coach. "We competed against each other while he was at Cal and I was at Stanford (2010, 2011) and I always thought that his teams were prepared well and played hard. Also a former head coach and someone who was at the forefront of the spread offense at Northwestern, I think Jeff offers a great deal to our staff."
Andersen, the former head coach at Utah State (2009-12), obviously thought the same thing and didn't waste any time in luring Genyk from the Wolf Pack. He replaces departed special teams/ tight end coach Jay Boulware, who left Wisconsin just last week for the same position at Oklahoma.
"We’re very excited to have Jeff, his wife, Lisa, and their two children, Jake and McKenna, become a part of the Badger family,” Andersen said in a Wisconsin press release. “He’s been a tight ends coach and special teams coordinator at the BCS level, as well as having head coach experience, so that made him a very attractive candidate. I’m extremely pleased we were able to get a tremendous coach like Jeff, especially given the timing of this transition.”
Boulware, like Genyk, didn't stay long at his former school. Andersen, who coached Utah State to an 11-2 record and accepted the Wisconsin job in late December, only had Boulware on his staff for a couple months.
Unlike Polian, Andersen was very critical of his two-month assistant.
"It's upsetting," Andersen said on Monday. "I brought the wrong guy in here. I don't like the timing of it. I don't like the situation at all.
"I failed the kids in this situation. It's important. We talked about building a family environment."
Boulware, a former offensive lineman at Texas, was an assistant at Northern Illinois when current Wolf Pack athletic director Cary Groth was the A.D. for the Huskies. He's also coached at Auburn, Iowa State and Arizona.
This is the second time in three seasons that Andersen has stolen something from the Wolf Pack. In 2011, the prize was a share of the Western Athletic Conference title but Andersen's Aggies stunned the Pack 21-17 on Nov. 26, 2011, exactly one year after the Pack's upset victory over Boise State at Mackay Stadium.
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