Hello, last place - here we come!
- Thread starter YakiCoug
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The Cougar defense surely has given up. How many UW layups today? EK should be selling shoes or used cars with his flim flam approach. 23 turnovers, yikes. Maybe Moos would buy him from WSU cheap.
Especially discouraging to watch Virginia stifle North Carolina with lockdown defense and unremitting challenges of every shot attempt, only to have it followed up with the Coug impersonation of 'El Matador.
no presence inside on defense at all, one layin after another, and why was acquah in the game at crunch time" was a joke of a free throw shooter
With 4 years and $5.6 Million remaining on his contract Ernie will be here for a few more years. I really hope his restructured staff will show some results in recruiting. Four years in and he's got a roster full of players who I don't see ever contributing much - Cooper, Hinson, Ergas, Langson, etc. Acquaah's been a total mess, maybe he develops - he and his 30% FT shooting should have never been on the court in the last three minutes.
If you follow defensive efficiency stats this is Ernie's best defensive team. Unfortunately this team is not even as good (defensively) as Ken Bone's worst team.
If you follow defensive efficiency stats this is Ernie's best defensive team. Unfortunately this team is not even as good (defensively) as Ken Bone's worst team.
If the new AD doesn't fire Kent (and Daugherty) as the first order of business then he/she should be fired as the second order of business. Kent was a huge mistake by Moos.
Her WSU record prior to this year:
Washington State: 120–197 (.379) 53–127 (.294)
Yeah I would call that a mistake after 10 years. Here's the last 2.....
2015–16 Washington State 14–16 5–13 9th
2016–17 Washington State 16–20 6–12 7th
One of the players who looked terrible was Skaggs,no defense what so ever. He stood around and players threw lazy ass passes to him. He had a terrible time trying to get up and down the court. he should not have been in the game during the last 10 minutes. The cougs just have not have anyone step up with fire and passion. I get tired of seeing it and commenting on it.
I think the UW's arrival in Pullman at 3 a.m., (or so I thought I heard during the broadcast) helped hold the mutts to 70.
As you know Save you and I rarely disagree, but I differ with you on this one. At the time of her hire I thought it was a real coup. Two years in I had changed my mind. It was apparent to me she could recruit well, but was a horrible game coach. Nothing in the past how ever many years it's been has changed my mind. If WBB was a primary sport I think she would have been gone some time ago.
Well you got me there. Had almost forgotten about Jenny Psycho, and didn't remember just how bad Sherri Murrell's teams were either.
Funny - I got bored and did a little former coach research - M and W.
Jenny - Apparently never coached again, had/has a gardening operation in Colorado
Sherri - Went to Portland State and did well for a few years, but ultimately got fired (.500 record) in 2015 and runs some BBall/marketing thing in Oregon. At the time if fire, the only openly gay coach in college BBall
Paul Graham - Was an asst at Colorado, then Georgia State, now is the head coach at Skyline High in Texas
Kevin Eastman - Was apparently out of Bball coaching (maybe a scout) for 5 years, then an NBA asst off and on, retired from coaching in 2016 and does speaking gigs. On what I have no idea
We sure could pick 'em back then.........of course WSU will be the last job for the current pair.
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I argued letting Rhodes go was a good decision but we actually regressed under Przekwas and Murrell. If you look at our conference results we are about the same under Daugherty as we were with Rhodes winning about a third of our conference games.
Daugherty has probably recruited better than anyone has and that's valuable. When she came in I'm really not sure we had a legit Pac 10 starter on the entire roster. I do have problems with some of the game day issues. However, I would rather see restructuring the staff than letting Daugherty go.
Sounds obvious but if you are going to fire a coach the objective is to get better. We haven't always done a good job in that department. Murrell was coming back until Daugherty became available and while I have issues with the way we have played under Daugherty she has been an improvement over Murrell.
Kent needs to go, Cougs need to find a coach that subscribes to Bennets ideology-only workable strategy for WSU
Since Tony left we have needed to recruit better, so we need a better coach than what we have had since he left. We all want the good ones to stay but if they win and leave isn't that better than what we have seen?
That would be great? Isn't their some validity there as well?
Some of the choices weren't exactly inspired. We hired Sampson because he was willing to remain at $41K/year and everyone wondered wtf was with the Graham hire. When you look for guys that "will stay" or you are on the cheap instead of the best person for the job you are probably lucky to bat .300.
I refuse to believe at Kent's salary we couldn't have found someone with a lot more upside.
Some of the choices weren't exactly inspired. We hired Sampson because he was willing to remain at $41K/year and everyone wondered wtf was with the Graham hire. When you look for guys that "will stay" or you are on the cheap instead of the best person for the job you are probably lucky to bat .300.
I refuse to believe at Kent's salary we couldn't have found someone with a lot more upside.
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We possibly could, but you have to remember that we are not exactly a destination program for young up and comers. I will bet we would all be shocked at how many good young coaches would be heavily advised that WSU is more of a career killer than a great springboard program.
WSU isn't a destination program but how many are out there? At $1.3M or whatever Kent is making suggest we didn't work too hard to find a better option.
Where are these programs that don't set your career back if you fail? If Mark Few spiraled GU down would programs still be lining up for him?
Dick Bennett obviously had to know what he was getting him and his son into at WSU and still took the job. Seemed to work out for Tony who was already an assistant at Wisconsin before WSU.
If you are good and have a plan WSU hasn't been a career killer. It's when you aren't good that it's a career killer like basically every other program.
Where are these programs that don't set your career back if you fail? If Mark Few spiraled GU down would programs still be lining up for him?
Dick Bennett obviously had to know what he was getting him and his son into at WSU and still took the job. Seemed to work out for Tony who was already an assistant at Wisconsin before WSU.
If you are good and have a plan WSU hasn't been a career killer. It's when you aren't good that it's a career killer like basically every other program.
What "good coach" has actually failed? I don't get "black hole" when Harshman, Raveling, Sampson, Dick/Tony Bennett were able to attract enough talent to win in Pullman. Every coach that has failed in Pullman has had not just one but multiple fatal flaws.
The coach killer thing is a myth helped along by some bad hires.
I went back to Harshman because years after retirement he still sounded frustrated he couldn't recruit against the UW and others. He said at WSU they never got a player the UW wanted. I guess he serves as a baseline for how challenging it's always been to recruit to Pullman.
It's hard if not impossible to directly compare WSU coaches to each other because nothing stays the same over time. You look at how they did when they were at WSU. For instance during their time I seriously doubt it was just Raveling recruiting players that can't get in today or Sampson pushing the envelope with the rules. In fact with the hole shoe business deal it's pretty apparent WSU has been at an increasing disadvantage over the years. Also, while Samspon had his issues with texting and calling too much you also have programs like UNC basically giving away fake degrees, Louisville paying prostitutes, etc. If I had to choose I would chose a "texting scandal".
Anyway, the real question was which coach that wasn't successful was actually a good coach who had their career killed?
Greenwood
Stevens
Eastman
Graham
Bone
It's interesting of that group I believe only Stevens was a college head coach again at least at this point.
Ok I’ll bite. Kevin Eastman went on to be a long time NBA assistant. So I would say there is at least a few very people who know basketball that think he is a pretty solid coach. Ken Bone had a distinguished career prior to WSU and had winning seasons 3 out of his 5 years at WSU. Granted the winning came from using left over players from the Bennett regime but that just makes the point his downfall was recruiting to Pullman more than poor coaching. And Len Stevens took Nevada Reno to 2 NCAA tourneys after leaving WSU.
I definitely agree probably all 3 get the "knows their stuff" part of coaching. A head coach also needs to recruit, connect with their players and fans, and make decisions running their program.
Eastman immediately got the "arrogant" tag, had trouble communicating with his players, and couldn't recruit well enough after Sampon's recruits departed.
People grumbled about Bone's philosophy and he wasn't the best IMO at connecting with holdovers or fans. Also made some bad decisions along the way with players and there were a lot of off court issues.
Stevens was a "good guy", again understood the game, but on the player side of things really couldn't recruit or coach the players Raveling left.
Every coach has flaws but all 3 had far too many flaws beyond their knowledge of the game. Just my opinion but a bigger reason why things didn't work out rather than WSU being a "coach killer".
The only way Len Stevens made it to an NCAA tourney at Nevada was with a ticket.
Only made the Big Sky tourney finals once. Got fired the year after Nevada left the Big Sky for the Big West (when UNLV and other future MWC teams were still there).
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/len-stevens-1.html
Love me some Ernie Kent. Great guy. Good role-model. Good representative of the university.
But the same could be said for Bob in accounting.
You don't get $1.3 Million per year for being a great guy and a good role model. You get $1.3 Million for being a GREAT coach and a closer who can get talent on campus. Ernie simply can't or won't do it.
I coached on the AAU circuit for many years. No Ernie. Never saw him or any WSU coaches at any of the showcase events. Romar was ever-present along with BSU, Gonzaga, Idaho and others. Spoke personally with almost all of them on various prospects. Many calls from Bone and Montana. Nothing from WSU. Total ghosts.
The fact that Idaho has a FAR superior program than WSU right now speaks volumes to the myth that you can't get decent players to the Palouse. Idaho right now will beat WSU 10 times out of 10 - with several Northwest players on the roster. EWU would beat WSU 7 out of 10 right now. Again, several NW players on the roster.
But the same could be said for Bob in accounting.
You don't get $1.3 Million per year for being a great guy and a good role model. You get $1.3 Million for being a GREAT coach and a closer who can get talent on campus. Ernie simply can't or won't do it.
I coached on the AAU circuit for many years. No Ernie. Never saw him or any WSU coaches at any of the showcase events. Romar was ever-present along with BSU, Gonzaga, Idaho and others. Spoke personally with almost all of them on various prospects. Many calls from Bone and Montana. Nothing from WSU. Total ghosts.
The fact that Idaho has a FAR superior program than WSU right now speaks volumes to the myth that you can't get decent players to the Palouse. Idaho right now will beat WSU 10 times out of 10 - with several Northwest players on the roster. EWU would beat WSU 7 out of 10 right now. Again, several NW players on the roster.
I think coach Kent realizes the importants of the northwest in recruiting and has taken steps to improve in that area. It’s not like we are void of northwest players we start 3 have five and would have had another if it wasn’t for him not qualifying.
Agreed - but those aren't the top tier guys. Hopefully Haskins can move up in the food chain.
We really don't need many. Dick Bennett came out of retirement and moved across the country. While it was to fast track his son's career it also put Tony on the hook for a perceived coach killer job. It worked out but why didn't Dick see the huge risk he and his son were taking?
How many good women's soccer coaches have we seemed to hire the last 5 years or whatever? Is there some larger pool of women's soccer coaches that don't believe WSU is a coach killer compared to men's basketball?
Doesn't mean it's easy but a lot of the time I think we make it a lot more complex and difficult than it has to be.
