Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again [updated]

[britton ransford]

Gonzaga and Washington State will play at Spokane Arena next season, Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth told the Gonzaga Bulletin. After playing in Spokane against the Bulldogs last season, it was supposed to be the Cougars' turn to host.


I have reached out to Gonzaga, the Gonzaga Bulletin and Washington State for comment. I will pass that along when I hear back.


Updated: As first confirmed by Jacob Thorpe at the Spokesman-Review, Washington State will play Gonzaga at Spokane Arena next season. I spoke with a WSU spokesperson who says the schools signed a new three-year agreement following the 2012-2013 season. The three-year agreement says the schools are to play at Gonzaga, at Spokane Arena and then at Washington State in 2015-16.

This post was edited on 4/17 3:01 PM by Britton Ransford

 

[wazzucougs96]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

What an absolute embarrassment. Bill Moos should be fired for this, and I am not even kidding.

 

[7ICoug]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Little late for an April's Fool Joke....if you ask me....

 

[CrimsonWazzu]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Originally posted by wazzucougs96:
What an absolute embarrassment. Bill Moos should be fired for this, and I am not even kidding.

I suggest a strongly worded email.

 

[jourdand]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

I can't imagine any way to spin this in a positive light!! Let me guess this will bring in more
Money for football!!

 

[CrimsonDisciple]

There has to be more to this????? A Seattle game to piss of the Purple, I can understand..... Spokane?

We don't need Gonzaga!!!!!! They need us for their schedule.

 

[7ICoug]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Seriously, we should never schedule Gonzaga again. Essentially a 2 for 1 deal. That is 100% bad for us.

 

[chinookpirate]

Spokane Arena? where we split the ticket revenue? and have a promoter? ... and build this into a regional event?

 

[wazzucougs96]

Originally posted by chinookpirate:

Spokane Arena? where we split the ticket revenue? and have a promoter? ... and build this into a regional event?

How is a home and home series only 75 miles apart not already a regional event?

Their is literally nothing beneficial about this to WSU.

 

[CougDave]

Gonzaga needs us??? This is a school which can schedule home games against Michigan State, Illinois, Arkansas, etc. and just picked up home & home games with UCLA and Arizona. Meanwhile we can always replace them with Alcorn State.

Not a fan of moving home games but the fact is that the Gonzaga game is a lot more important to our nonconf schedule than it is to them.

 

[CrimsonDisciple]

Originally posted by CougDave:

Gonzaga needs us??? This is a school which can schedule home games against Michigan State, Illinois, Arkansas, etc. and just picked up home & home games with UCLA and Arizona. Meanwhile we can always replace them with Alcorn State.

Not a fan of moving home games but the fact is that the Gonzaga game is a lot more important to our nonconf schedule than it is to them.

Closet Zag fan?

I'll reiterate... Gonzaga needs us, we don't need them. If we schedule nothing but patsies in the OOC schedule, we still have one of the toughest conferences in all of Basketball. They "need" us on their schedule...... schools aren't lining up to play at Gonzaga. Where are those schools you speak of in the OOC Zag schedule???? Just check out their 2013-14 and future schedule......http://www.gozags.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=90846&SPSID=627529[/URL] We're the only major conference school to play there this last year and next year. No one wants to play them in Spokane but WSU.....Embarrassing!!!!



This post was edited on 4/17 5:42 PM by CrimsonDisciple

 

[Rich Lewis]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

If this deal was signed after the 2012-13 season wonder why we are just finding out about it. Could it be that essentially no one but Gonzaga would approve?

 

[CrimsonWazzu]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Clinging to hope that the reason for this is the only rational and acceptable explanation, and is that we wanted to flip the home game to the odd years to counter the Apple Cup being in Pullman in even years.

EDIT: Nevermind, just saw BX report from their "source" that says Bill got muscled and took it reluctantly to preserve the rivalry. Screw the rivalry.

This post was edited on 4/18 7:09 AM by CrimsonWazzu

 

[chinookpirate]

we need this rivalry


because we need Spokane and Gonzaga is Spokane's team. Until we start beating Gonzaga in Spokane on a regular basis, it's going to remain this way.

 

[CougDave]

Closet Zag fan my ass. If Gonzaga needed us Few wouldn't be forcing us to take this deal. You need to look a little further back in their schedules than just last year to see who they've played in Spokane. Last year was an anomaly but they are getting plenty of major conference teams to come in. They just signed home & home games with both UCLA and Arizona.

Make no mistake, this is being dictated by the Zags because Few knows if we drop the game our options are either to travel to an away game or schedule more games against teams like Utah Valley and Arkansas Pine Bluff. They don't need us on their schedule and they haven't for about the last ten years. Moos took the deal because we make more money than we would if the series was dropped.

 

[longtimecoug]

Re: we need this rivalry

Originally posted by chinookpirate:

because we need Spokane and Gonzaga is Spokane's team. Until we start beating Gonzaga in Spokane on a regular basis, it's going to remain this way.

if we start beating them on a regular basis they will likely quit
playing us

 

[avabob11]

If GU has more fans in Spokane than WSU, it is our fault. We have more alums in Spokane than they do, and more boosters in Spokane than they do. Sell 7000 tickets to Coug fans for this game, and support the team while WSU rebuilds. The next time the contract comes up, we tell them we will play them at the Arena every year, but never on their Campus. We also tell them they get 2000 student tickets, and we get 4000.

I remember watching Poudakis pour in 42 against a hapless GU team in the old Coliseum in front of 6000 mostly Cougar fans. Nobody was complaining then about having to play GU in Spokane.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Originally posted by CougDave:

Gonzaga needs us??? This is a school which can schedule home games against Michigan State, Illinois, Arkansas, etc. and just picked up home & home games with UCLA and Arizona. Meanwhile we can always replace them with Alcorn State.

Not a fan of moving home games but the fact is that the Gonzaga game is a lot more important to our nonconf schedule than it is to them.

Dave, I'm not sure the game vs the Zags is really more important to us, but agree that the Zags' status in the world of college basketball is certainly much higher than ours...and has been for many years now.

 

[CrimsonWazzu]

Originally posted by avabob11:

If GU has more fans in Spokane than WSU, it is our fault. We have more alums in Spokane than they do, and more boosters in Spokane than they do. Sell 7000 tickets to Coug fans for this game, and support the team while WSU rebuilds. The next time the contract comes up, we tell them we will play them at the Arena every year, but never on their Campus. We also tell them they get 2000 student tickets, and we get 4000.

I remember watching Poudakis pour in 42 against a hapless GU team in the old Coliseum in front of 6000 mostly Cougar fans. Nobody was complaining then about having to play GU in Spokane.

We didn't have internet/twitter then. We also didn't have 8 figure TV deal money coming in every year.

 

[7ICoug]

Right but no doubt allocation will be 50/50. Guess its time for a FOI accounting of the actual contract, isn't it. BTW neither GU nor WSU gains all that much from playing at the Arena. The city of Spokane sold the most important rights of parking and concessions to.....do your own research if you don't know!

 

[7ICoug]

Re: we need this rivalry

True, but Ernie Kent has his work cut out for it to happen.

 

[7ICoug]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

You think!

 

[wulffui]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Drop the game, make an Eastern game into an event instead.

 

[CrimsonWazzu]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Originally posted by wulffui:
Drop the game, make an Eastern game into an event instead.

This would make more sense, if the game was held during the break.

We never play Gonzaga during the break, it's almost always during the first week of December, the week before dead week usually.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

It is in the nature of quality, long standing relationships between schools that a longer term perspective is kept in terms of these kinds of things. That is useful for both sides, because the team that is on top now may be on the bottom at some point (often sooner rather than later). You also don't want to be perceived as an arrogant jerk, or create unnecessary enemies. All good tenets of a traditional Jesuit education, by the way. These kinds of "bully" actions never end well.

Unless there is more to the story than what we know now, GU did not think about the long term, and instead went for what they could get now. Gordon Gecko must have an office on the GU campus.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I guess GU has made it clear where they stand with regard to the golden rule. And long term relationships.

Very disappointing.

 

[Coug1990]

Originally posted by cr8zyncalif:

It is in the nature of quality, long standing relationships between schools that a longer term perspective is kept in terms of these kinds of things. That is useful for both sides, because the team that is on top now may be on the bottom at some point (often sooner rather than later). You also don't want to be perceived as an arrogant jerk, or create unnecessary enemies. All good tenets of a traditional Jesuit education, by the way. These kinds of "bully" actions never end well.

Unless there is more to the story than what we know now, GU did not think about the long term, and instead went for what they could get now. Gordon Gecko must have an office on the GU campus.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I guess GU has made it clear where they stand with regard to the golden rule. And long term relationships.

Very disappointing.

I agree with you. GU went for the short term gain. WSU does need them more than they need WSU right now. However, it will not always be that way. Currently, GU does have a much higher profile than WSU in basketball. But, payback is a bitch.

I believe that Coach Kent will have the team sky high for the game in Spokane.

 

[ElComanche]

Realistically the cougs have a way better chance of beating GU in two years after Ernie gets some talent in. This is another reason that the cougs could not afford to keep the last coach.The stature of the program was rapidly declining year after year.. i would guess that the cougs will be able to beat the zags in two years and perhaps a 1-1 deal can be arranged in the future. In year two of Ernie's program a win over a good Gonzaga team may help the cougs to get an invite to the BIg Dance.So the schedule may yet work to the coug's advantage.Just look upon GU as a stepping stone to better times in the very near future. It may alter one's perspective of the situation.

 

[Coug1990]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Originally posted by 7ICoug:
You think!

Therefore I am!

 

[avabob11]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again


Over time WSU can play 500 or better against GU even if we don't become a 500 Pac 12 team very often. We nearly beat there No 1 seed team in Pullman last season with a sub 500 team. We blew them out the year we went to the NIT with a 9-9 conference team. What we need is WSU hoops fans to come back and realize that even a bottom tier Pac 12 team ( not last place ) is as good or better than GU many years.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Re: Gonzaga-WSU to be played in Spokane, again

Originally posted by avabob11:

Over time WSU can play 500 or better against GU even if we don't become a 500 Pac 12 team very often. We nearly beat there No 1 seed team in Pullman last season with a sub 500 team. We blew them out the year we went to the NIT with a 9-9 conference team. What we need is WSU hoops fans to come back and realize that even a bottom tier Pac 12 team ( not last place ) is as good or better than GU many years.

This is possible if we stop making such stupid coach hires (Stevens, Eastman, Graham, Bone).

 

[avabob11]

Off topic, but Stevens and Graham were terrible hires. Eastman and Bone both looked like good hires, they just didn't work out. My main point is that we don't have to be anywhere near a top tier Pac 12 team to compete with GU.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

AvaBob, I agree with your central premise. If we had a team that could go 9-9 in the PAC every year for a decade, our record against GU over that time would probably be about 0.500, too, if not a bit better.

But I would suggest that the Eastman and Bone hires appeared to be adequate (not good) at the time they were announced. OK; no better than that. Eastman's faults were visible, if you did research at the time that he was hired, but I think we all hoped that he would work through them. I would say the same for Bone. Eastman ultimately failed due to his inability to improve in his weak areas. IMO Bone would probably have been around for a while if he had been luckier; in addition to being weak in some areas, he was absolutely the most unlucky HC I have ever seen at WSU…going back over 40 years. You can blame a HC for bad luck to some extent, because in a few cases you could argue that some of the bad luck was due to poor judgment calls. But in CKB's case, it wasn't all bad judgment. He just couldn't buy a break (other than broken bones, ligaments, etc), and the impact that had on his roster was simply irreversible. Nobody could have won with the group he had to play with post-Klay.

My greatest enthusiasm for the Ernie hire is that his track record, TV exposure and time away from the game is a very comparable situation to the Leach hire. I suspect that in 6 months we'll be looking back at the initial recruiting class of the Kent era and feeling pretty good about where things are headed.