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The relationship with his coaches was terrible. He wasn't supportive and didn't communicate to them. Wasn't accessible.

Perhaps, Chun jumped ship. The way Schulz could force him out is say we can't afford your current salary....give him the choice.

That trial, and the amount of media coverage surrounding the events of his wife killing (police chase), will be something we might never see again.


Robert Kardashian's, one of OJ's attorneys, his kids have obviously made names for themselves.

As we know Clay Mcguire is gone and the new OL coach is Jared Kaster. I would have liked to have seen Dickert hire someone with more experience, however since Kaster is the new coach he has my support, and I am going to look at the glass as half full. I do believe the OL will be better if they get decent coaching, simply because Mcguire is gone. I have bagged on Mcguire before and I will let you know I never played on the offensive line at any level, so what the hell would I know. And now that he is gone, I'll elaborate a bit more, I spoke to a former NFL player whose son was on the team back early in the Leach years , and I spoke to a long time NFL line coach, who has a couple of Super Bowl rings, that were familiar with Mcguire's coaching techniques. And they focused on what they felt was one of the most important things outside of pure strength and agility, they had many issues with the things he taught, but the common thread was footwork. Mcguire's approach to footwork was contrary to what both of them were taught and taught their players, in fact he taught things that most OL coaches taught you not to do. And for lack of a better term was f'd up. A few WSU lineman back in the early Leach years, that had NFL aspirations, spent time in the off season getting coaching from other line coaches, to unlearn some of the bad habits Mcguire was teaching. As we all know once Mason Miller took over after Clay's departure, the line improved, I am hoping for similar results this time. By the way, Mason Miller is now at Baylor, they just picked him up in February. Before coming to WSU Mason Miller spent about 10 years coaching at smaller colleges, spent 1 year at Nevada, then made the jump to Power 5 football at WSU. So, while Mason Miller had a few more years of experience, he had only had one year of D 1 experience, not much more than Jared Kaster. I wish coach Kaster and his unit nothing but success, and I hope to see a turn around this season.

We come off 3 tight games at Stanford, wining the last one, then go to Gonzaga and get pounded 22-7. Gave up 14! runs in the FIRST inning. Now 17-14 overall.

I hate those weekday Gonzaga games. We use up all our good pitching arms in the weekend Pac-12 games and then are always throwing lower rotation guys.

Oh brother. To quote the first article:

The NCAA Division I Council could adopt emergency legislation this month for a new transfer rule that would allow all undergraduate athletes to transfer and play immediately if they meet specific academic requirements, a source confirmed to ESPN on Monday.

The proposed legislation, which was first reported by The Athletic, would not limit the number of times an athlete can transfer. Athletes would still have two transfer windows and wouldn't be able to transfer midyear and play for a second school in the same season.

So which is it? Play immediately or can't play for 2 teams in one season?

And consumer protection? I thought NIL was between athletes and outside entities. Not the NCAA. Mind your own business NCAA. Kids want to sign deals? Fine, have at it. Get screwed? Welcome to adulthood and capitalism. Wanna bitch about a bad deal? Go to your many social media accounts, not some NCAA-provided bitch forum.

And taxability of NIL cash and non-cash compensation. I like this one, although you don't hear much about it. That should mean that these collectives, like WSU's, will have to start sending out 1099's to recipients. Or the participating businesses will. Did the Utah FB pickup truck dealerships send out 1099's for those team-wide new trucks? Leases I guess, but still income. Here IRS, come on by and audit them. Maybe scholarships should become taxable as well.

A University of Washington football player has been arrested and charged with raping two women in Seattle and court documents say he played in two College Football Playoff games for the school after at least one of the allegations was known to the university.

Seattle police officers arrested 18-year-old Tylin “Tybo” Rogers on Friday and booked him into King County Jail, KING-TV reported.

He was charged Tuesday with second-degree rape and third-degree rape and his bail was set at $150,000 in each case, according to court documents.

Someone on Brand X posted this and I thought I would share it here. It is only practice and highlights, which means don't read too much into this, but he looks better shooting than I had imagined.

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As foreseen by the all-seeing, all-knowing, almost clairvoyant Loyal One. Watch all those lithe sweeties bounce around the court, ponytails a-swinging or watch Lurch-like Edey? Pretty easy to choose for this fountain of manliness........

"ACC rep notes that FSU can leave ACC for $130-$140 million dollars whenever it wants but won't retain media rights."

"Sovereign immunity is the phrase that's been thrown around. That is the fact that the government cannot be sued without its consent. Rush said waiving sovereign immunity in one state, but not another in a case like this is "chaos.""

I'll take that. #24 in the Coaches poll. Also, future conference mates SDSU and USU finished at 17 and 22. NMSU, CSU and Nevada all got votes. Temporary conference mates Gonzaga (15) and St Mary's (21?) were the only votes getters in the West Coast HS gym conference.

Whitlock, Portnoy and others saying she should grab the $20,000,000 NIL deal on the table awaiting her return to Iowa, play one more season to packed houses, solidify her brand then retire and bypass the WNBA altogether.

"all athletes may participate in NAIA-sponsored male sports but only athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth is female."

Arguably their top three players entered the portal today

Man, what a lame, unfair call at the end with 9 seconds left and UConn trailing by 1. The ref calls a phantom foul on a screen that was an acting job. I’m practically convinced that big time sports are rigged and the darling that is no. 1 seed and “supposed “ to wins is helped out with a ridiculous call. F that.

Caught the end of Purdue's win over NC State. Purdue's center (Edey) is a monster. 7'4", 300 pounds. From Toronto - take off hoser!

Crazy that both UConn and NC State had Men's and Women's teams make the Final 4. NC's both lost and UConn is 0-1, but man.

Also, the Women's (Iowa's specifically) TV ratings are nuts. $5 sez the gals championship game gets a bigger audience than the Men's, despite being an early game. 12PM Pacific.

WSU, OSU attorney suggests departing Pac-12 schools on hook for lawsuit damages​

Jon WilnerApril 6, 2024 at 2:41 pm
The departing members of the Pac-12 will leave behind $65 million to the conference based on the terms of a negotiated settlement ratified late last month.

But over time, their financial obligations could stretch far beyond that figure, based on insight into the settlement from the lead courtroom attorney for the two remaining schools.

Eric MacMichael, who represented Washington State and Oregon State in their lawsuit against the departing 10, told the Hotline that exposure to potential liabilities shaped the legal strategy — not only in a Whitman County [Washington] courthouse but also in the private discussions with a mediator.

the latest from jon wilner​

“We were very mindful of the liabilities facing the conference,” MacMichael said. “Making sure the liabilities were addressed was a guiding principle in our approach to a fair settlement.”

What are the specific liabilities facing the conference?

A section of the negotiated agreement reads as follows:

“Liability Release. Except as otherwise set forth in Section 2.b, the Departing Members are released from all liability arising from the decisions made by the Board of Directors that do not require ratification.”

Section 2.b includes almost four pages of redactions — a move designed, in part, to protect the schools against unresolved legal challenges. They don’t want opposing attorneys to see their playbook, in other words.

A confidentiality agreement prevents MacMichael from discussing certain details, including the liabilities under redaction.

However, MacMichael was able to address, in general terms, the chief legal threat to the Pac-12 and its power conference peers:

The House v NCAA case, which he described as “existential” for the NCAA.

Filed in 2020 by former ASU swimmer Grant House, the antitrust lawsuit aims to compensate thousands of former athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) over a multi-year stretch before the summer of 2021, when NIL became the law of the land in college athletics.

The plaintiffs sought $1.4 billion in damages from the NCAA and its universities, according to court documents reported by USA Today. But the price tag soared in November when U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken granted the case class-action status.

It’s armageddon for the NCAA and the Power Five leagues, which are named defendants: Because damages treble in class-action cases, the bill could exceed $4 billion.

The case is scheduled for trial in January. But multiple industry experts interviewed by the Hotline in recent months believe it will be settled.

“There’s no way it’s going to court,” one source said. “But there’s a lot to be sorted out.”

That sorting includes the means by which the NCAA and the Power Five conferences would pay the damages.

After all, the schools are the conferences, and nobody has $4 billion in the bank.

(One option: Using future revenue from media contracts and spreading the payments over time.)

The last thing Washington State and Oregon State want as a two-team conference in 2025-26 is sole responsibility for the entirety of the Pac-12’s share of the damages, whether it’s $1 million, $100 million or a half-billion.

“The House case was front and center in our thinking,” MacMichael said.

“We had to address that. It’s an existential case for the NCAA and all the (named) conferences.

“And I don’t think it’s going to get resolved in the immediate future.”

The departing schools will have a portion of their distributions withheld this spring as part of the settlement.

Their last day of membership is Aug. 1.

But their financial obligations to Washington State and Oregon State might not be resolved for years. And based on MacMichael’s comments, the cost is likely to zoom past $65 million.

Jon Wilner: jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com

Flipped to Stanford

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The wait is over. As a Mateer fan....it will be fun to watch him.... "let it rip".

What isn't fun, is the reality of where we are.

After four days of spring ball, WSU QB John Mateer meshing with new receivers​

Greg WoodsApril 3, 2024 at 2:34 pm
By
The Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN — John Mateer, Washington State’s incumbent quarterback looking to secure the starting job come fall, admits part of his personality might be a flaw.

“I don’t mind attention,” Mateer said.

It’s good news for Mateer, because he’s in line for a lot of it over the next few months, especially when WSU kicks off its next season, playing in the Mountain West Conference as an affiliate member.

Mateer, the Cougars’ backup quarterback each of the past two seasons, is finally in line for the starting gig. Following the departure earlier this year of Cam Ward, who Mateer played behind the past two seasons, he’s ready to assume the top job.

He’ll have to compete for it — Bryant transfer Zevi Eckhaus will be his main challenger — but for Mateer, it’s exciting. He knows he has a chance to start now. He’s been playing like it in practice, including Tuesday’s practice No. 4 of spring ball, when he connected with receivers like Carlos Hernandez and transfer Tre Shackelford for what felt like dozens of receptions.

“It’s fun. It’s the goal,” Mateer said. “I didn’t come to Washington State to sit. I came to play. So all my preparation, the last two years has been for this point. So the way I go about my business and talk to people, it’s not different. It’s the same. It’s like really just the attention, social media, and I’m in bigger conversations, more important conversations.”

To stay in those conversations, Mateer will need to establish a good rapport with his receivers, of whom there are many. Wideout Kyle Williams is the most tenured, and he broke out last season, so he figures to be the biggest target next fall.

But WSU’s receiver corps also includes a host of transfers, including Shackelford (Austin Peay), Kyle Maxwell (Louisiana Tech), Kris Hutson (Oregon), Tony Freeman (College of San Mateo), plus returners like Hernandez and Josh Meredith.

How will Mateer mesh with those guys — and is that approach different between guys he’s played with before and ones he hasn’t?

“It’s definitely different, but it’s the same process to begin with,” Mateer said. “So like with Carlos and Josh, we’re taking that next step. And the other guys aren’t far behind. It’s not like a whole new, oh, I gotta introduce how I think. It’s a whole upbringing together of chemistry.

“I mean, they’re all running the same routes. They’re all moving around together. Concepts are the same, right? They’re not all different depending on who’s out there. So I’m telling all of them what I’m thinking. So it’s meshing together differently. It just takes time. I don’t think it’s bad at all. But it just takes time to perfect and it’ll get there.”

Then there’s the process of getting all those new receivers acclimated to WSU, adjusted to the way the Cougars do business on offense. It’s a process, coach Jake Dickert affirmed, which is why it’s good news that the calendar still reads April.

“We need some big-body, outside guys,” Dickert said. “It’s good to see Maxwell back out there. But (Shackelford) has brought a toughness to that group. And when you put it on tape, that toughness is infectious because you can say, ‘Hey, look at Tre doing it. We all have to do it.’ ”

Greg Woods Washington State beat writer for The Spokesman-Review

I am not here to defend Chun...or even Smith....I think sometimes you have to look at a situation and say I need to step up, and not out. I know this will bug people, but in 1981 I sat in a cafeteria wondering why we were in the Pac 10 and not the WAC. One third of the football season was over by the time our students were on campus. UCLA, UW and USC would not come to our campus. Our cross state rivals had ten times the football recruiting budget we had, and also at the same time had the richest radio contract in the country.

We just had four head football coaches in four years. Walden wanted something more for WSU. Yeah he irritates people, but when the ship hit the iceberg he didn't pull a Jonathan Smith, a Kyle Smith or Pat Chun. He put his own interests second to that of a great university. Was he completely successful? No, but the constant turnover was put behind us, USC, UCLA, and Washington had to come to Pullman. It changed the trajectory of our football program.

I am not going to comment on the job Chun did in terms of accomplishments, but WSU and the people who support the program have to decide what we want in the athletic department. Chun seemed cold and aloof, didn't communicate or thank coaches enough. Covid hurt WSU more than probably any school in the country. We were the titanic and hit the iceberg, and from 2020 to this date we have been bailing water just to keep our heads above water. There probably has been more on the AD plate than we can imagine.

Chun was an outsider. He wasn't one of us. WSU thinks they have to be a Coug to help run the Cougs. Worked out well for Doba. Chun was highly respected. He had some good training at Ohio State. I believe he was hired to help give us that Ohio State "gloss" and do some of the things that made OSU successful.

The problem is the locals, the people who would say "that's not how we do it around here" . That is such small thinking. In the "real world" that isn't how it works. When a President of a company is blown out, guess what, so goes his entire management team. I saw that happen personally probably five times. Many good people were asked to leave. Why? Cause the new person wanted complete buy in.

That doesn't happen in Pullman. We want to be big time athletics but want that homey feel in the department. Stuff I heard people complain about literally blows my mind.

So to Socal, how do they remake themselves? How does the department move forward with the constraints of needing teh small town , always a coug vibe?

WSU men’s coach David Riley hopes to avoid a rebuild, but he can if he needs to​

Greg WoodsApril 4, 2024 at 8:56 pm
By
The Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN — Days before David Riley took the head coaching job at Washington State, before he made the 90-minute drive from Cheney for his introduction on Thursday, his job became exponentially tougher.

That’s because many of the current Cougars, the players who helped the program reach its first NCAA tournament in 16 years, hit the transfer portal. Since their season ended in late March, 10 players have entered the portal, and on Thursday, junior wing Jaylen Wells declared for the NBA draft.

Wells retains the option to return to WSU, as do the other 10 Cougs who have entered the portal. But it’s unlikely that all return, which means Riley will have some work to do: Either convince some of the players to stay — or rebuild the roster in the weeks and months ahead.

“My first goal is to retain,” Riley said. “I want every single one of these guys back. I don’t have some preconceived idea. … These guys are incredible players that mean a lot to this university. If I can retain, there definitely will not be a rebuild. That’s the first piece.”

Can Riley do it? Six WSU players attended Thursday’s news conference, including Wells, senior wing Andrej Jakimovski, freshman center Rueben Chinyelu and walk-on center AJ LeBeau, the last three of whom are in the portal. Also in attendance were freshmen guards Isaiah Watts and Parker Gerrits, both of whom appear to be staying put in Pullman.

That made the absence of a few players noticeable. Star guard Myles Rice was not in attendance, and neither was junior center Oscar Cluff, both of whom are also in the portal. Sophomore wing Kymany Houinsou and senior guard Joseph Yesufu (who missed nearly the whole season with an injury) also were not at the news conference.

They could have missed for any number of reasons — they’re still student-athletes with class schedules — but their absences may have offered a glimpse into the way Riley may have to retool this roster over the offseason. All players in the portal can return to WSU, but even if a majority return, Riley will have to find replacements.

The good news for WSU is that at Eastern Washington, where he spent the past three seasons as head coach, Riley did just that. Back in the offseason of 2021, when Riley took the head job, the Eagles lost all seven of their top scorers, including forward Tanner Groves and guard Kim Aiken Jr., the linchpins on an EWU team that made the NCAA tournament and threatened third-seeded Kansas.

The very next year, guard Steele Venters broke out and EWU finished the regular season three games above .500, making the postseason at The Basketball Classic. The season after that, the Eagles won the first of two straight Big Sky regular-season titles, while Venters took home conference MVP honors and EWU landed two players on the all-conference first team.

All to say: Riley hopes he doesn’t have to rebuild this WSU roster, but if he does, he has experience to draw on.

“Comfortable with the idea of that,” Riley said. “It all starts with development. We had a bunch of guys that were under the radar, that weren’t supposed to be good coming out of high school. It’s kind of the idea of those guys. We had these great players, but the idea of [former EWU player] Tyler Harvey coming in, walking on for two years and in year four, being the leading scorer in the country and getting drafted by the Magic.

“That idea can transfer to all these different players if you work the same way. You have guys here that have the same kind of idea, the same story and the same background. We’ve just got to use that. We’re going to develop. We’re going to work. I want these guys because they’re really good.”

If Riley does have to rebuild in some capacity, he might look at his EWU team, which won the Big Sky regular-season title last season before falling in the conference tournament. Junior wing Casey Jones, a second-team all-conference pick who averaged 13 points and ranked first nationwide in free-throw rate last season, entered the transfer portal on Thursday. Riley said he had not talked to Jones since he entered the portal.

Among other potential candidates to come from EWU to WSU: all-conference first teamer Cedric Coward, a 6-6 guard; second-teamer Ethan Price, a 6-10 forward; and LeJuan Watts, a 6-6 forward who won Big Sky Newcomer of the Year honors last season.

Riley didn’t offer much in the way of whether any of those guys could follow him to WSU. He did say when he took the Washington State job, he called each Eagle individually to thank them for their contributions — “for the opportunity they gave me to come here. It was all them,” Riley said.

“We’ll see where things lie,” Riley added.

He sang much the same tune on the topic of his staff, which he hopes to finalize in the days ahead, he said. He offered no hints on potential candidates, but one of his EWU assistants, Jerry Brown, attended Thursday’s news conference.

On Friday, Riley will head to Phoenix to watch the Final Four, he said. He hopes to complete his coaching staff then.

Greg Woods Washington State beat writer for The Spokesman-Review

Guy is 1 step from basketball oblivion and does this:

The powers that be must have heard the bitching and complaining on the board about not getting phone calls. Got a phone call from Hannah at WSU tonight and she followed up with a text asking how things were going and asking if WSU could count on my support.