WSU Track &Field COMPETE AT MEETS IN
BAY AREA AND LOS ANGELES
From WSU Sports Info
The Washington State track and field
teams will be competing in several meets in the San Francisco Bay area and in
Los Angeles...middle distance and distance runners will race at the
San Francisco State Distance Carnival Fri., March 30, at Chabot College in
Hayward, while others will race at the prestigious Stanford Invitational, Fri.
and Sat., March 30-31, at Cobb Track and Angell Field at Stanford...WSU
sprinters, hurdlers and field competitors will compete at the UCLA Jim Bush
Legends Invitational meet at Drake Stadium March 31...live results links
are on the T&F schedule page at wsucougars.com.
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Satellite campuses to design mascots
Each campus responsible for partnering with design companies
to create own mascot
By HANNAH WELZBACKER, Evergreen reporter
March 27, 2018
All WSU campuses will now be able to create a mascot that
represents the spirit and character of that location.
This includes WSU Vancouver, Tri-Cities, Everett, Spokane,
Global Campus and the Graduate and Professional Students Association.
Jordan Frost, ASWSU Pullman president, said there have been
issues with mascot representation for years following a Butch incident at the
WSU Vancouver campus.
ASWSU Vancouver President Jose Scott said this incident
happened during a Week of Welcome event a few years ago. WSU Vancouver had
planned on using its own Butch mascot when the WSU Pullman Butch appeared as
well. Scott said the legend goes that one of the mascots had to stay on the bus
for the entire event.
“After that event, our students have been very steadfast and
advocating for having a Butch on our campus,” Scott said.
Frost said Butch is not the WSU mascot, which is a common
misconception — Butch is instead the WSU Athletics mascot.
Frost said it will be the responsibility of each campus to
work with the company Athletics hires to create their mascot designs. Each
campus must show Athletics its design to make sure it does not look like the
current Butch.
Scott believes this new mascot will help promote a unified
WSU environment and believes that all campuses need a stronger form of
connection. Having a campus Butch will foster student identity and community,
Scott said.
“We have the name, but that is not enough,” he said. “Our
students come here because they want to be a Coug. A mascot is the most
tangible connection to that identity.”
WSU Vancouver hopes to have their mascot ready by next
fall’s Week of Welcome. Scott said they are currently working on determining
which groups will help pay for this mascot and where the costume will be
stored.
…….
Schulz focuses on WSU's achievements
But audience members question president on budget cuts
during his State of the University address
By Taylor Nadauld, Moscow Pullman Daily News
Washington State University President Kirk Schulz shared
some of the university's recent highlights (the Cosmic Crisp Apple), its weak
points (handling of American Samoan athletes) and its goals for the future
(Drive to 25) during his annual State of the University address Tuesday afternoon
in Bryan Hall.
Schulz, who last October announced sweeping, department-wide
budget cuts would be implemented to bring the university out of a $30 million
deficit, said he did not want to focus on financial issues, just the
university's achievements in the past year.
Those achievements included a record enrollment of 30,614
students across all of WSU's campuses, with particularly fast growth at WSU
Vancouver and the university's online global campus. Total enrollment is up 400
students from a year ago and is expected to increase to more than 31,000
students this fall, Schulz said.
Other highlights included the opening of the WSU Everett
campus building, the new Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center, the upcoming Jordan
Schnitzer Museum of Art and the university's new Elson S. Floyd College of
Medicine.
The president said the university also had one of its most
successful fall sports seasons this past fall and hired a new athletics
director, Pat Chun, to join the ranks.
Schulz boasted of WSU's economic effect on the state,
including its boost to the wine industry and the university's new Cosmic Crisp
Apple, a product of WSU's tree fruit breeding program, which is expected to hit
store shelves in 2019. Twelve million Cosmic Apple trees are expected to be
planted, in what Schulz called the largest introduction of an apple, ever.
But some members of the audience would not let Schulz leave
the stage without acknowledging his announced budget cuts and answering a few
"tough questions."
Amy Mazur, a professor in WSU's School of Politics,
Philosophy, and Public Affairs, asked Schulz why he did not include the
accomplishments of any of the school's social science researchers in his
presentation.
"What I saw today was there was absolute pretty much
nothing from social sciences that was actually accentuated in your
program," Mazur said, "and I find this very much a shame because I
know in our school we are doing very exciting things."
She said the school currently has nine full-time faculty
members, down from 17, and is staffing students from its doctorate program.
Mazur said it is the feeling among many of her colleagues that WSU is
"robbing Peter to pay Paul."
"If we're trying to do the Drive to 25 and we don't
even have a cohort of nine, you know, we used to have 17, I don't know how
we're supposed to do this," Mazur said. "I really don't."
Schulz apologized for the lack of social sciences content in
the presentation and said he would look to make changes to that next year.
Though he praised Mazur for her articulation of the budgeting problem in her
school, he said all departments are facing similar issues, adding he did not
create the $30 million "budget hole" and it "sucks" to have
to fix it.
Asked whether he would consider slashing administrator's
salaries in response to a petition calling on him to do so and signed by more
than 1,000 WSU professors, alumni and students last year, Schulz said the
action could cause new employees entering WSU, which is already facing budget
cuts, to wonder why they moved to the university in the first place.
"I appreciate the fact somebody brought a creative idea
forward," Schulz said. "We always want ideas, but that just didn't
seem the right thing to do at this particular time."
Answering a question from former Associated Students of WSU
President Jordan Frost about what he could have done better, Schulz said the
university's response to a series of arrests in summer of 2016 involving four
American Samoan football players, for which the university received sharp
criticism, is something he would have changed.
"If I had to pick one thing, that's one thing that I
wish I had handled differently or better," Schulz said.
In his presentation, Schulz said the university is working
to become more welcoming and inclusive, saying WSU started off the year looking
at five requests by student protesters and demonstrators to make the campus
more welcoming.
"Sometimes the road is going to be a little rocky, but
we're going to keep at it," Schulz said.
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President's address highlights WSU's successes
Goals remain focused on becoming a top 25 research
university
By JUSTYNA TOMTAS of the Lewiston Tribune Mar 28, 2018
PULLMAN - With the 128th birthday week of Washington State
University in full swing, WSU President Kirk Schulz delivered his State of the
University address, highlighting the institution's initiative to become a top
25 public research university by 2030.
The university address, a longtime tradition at WSU,
provides an opportunity to stop and reflect on what the institution has
accomplished, while analyzing opportunities and challenges going forward, said
Judi McDonald, with the WSU College of Arts and Sciences.
"The purpose is really to celebrate our achievements as
an institution, as faculty and staff and talk about the great things you all
are doing in the state of Washington, for the region, for the nation and the
world," Schulz said.
Currently, the five areas at WSU that are driving economic
growth in the state of Washington, according to Schulz, include the wine
science center; the development of the new Cosmic Crisp apple; innovation in
health care; work to make more nutritious and flavorful bread; and WSU's work
to find green energy solutions.
WSU experienced record enrollment last year with 30,614
students, up 400 from a year ago.
As for successes, the first class of 60 medical students at
the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine started in the fall of 2017.
Schulz touted WSU as Washington's state university, with
campuses, research stations and extension offices all across the state.
The research that takes place at WSU continues to advance
the state, and beyond, he said, as he highlighted transformative education,
top-notch faculty who have received national honors, and nationally recognized
academic programs.
"These different types of things, and all of our
different colleges, is a reminder that we are doing great stuff," Schulz
said. "It's also a challenge to us, because it's great for us to know that
in Pullman and the Palouse, but we need to make sure that we are telling that
story widely and broadly that if you come to Washington State, you come to a
world-class educational program and opportunities and this shouldn't be seen as
a second choice to anybody."
He highlighted some of the state-of-the-art facilities on
campus, and said the state continues to invest in WSU, with a $114 million
commitment in funding.
To reach the initiative's goal, Schulz said the university
has to look at its international population of students. Currently, about 7
percent of students are from outside of the United States, but at other top 25
research universities that number is significantly higher.
"To me, it all comes down to what are we doing to
prepare our students to work in a global marketing place," he said, adding
it's an important place to focus so there is continual growth in the
international presence on campus.
The State of the University address concluded with a
question-and-answer session. Questions focused on what WSU is doing to combat
sexual assault, while others raised concerns about the budget cuts that are
expected to continue.
Schulz acknowledged the budget woes at the beginning of his
address, but said that makes the college's successes even more impressive.
"The accomplishments are all the more notable because
we are not doing it in the resource environment we'd all like to do it
in," Schulz said.
WSU announced budget cuts late last year as it attempts to
reduce a $30 million deficit.
This was Schulz's second State of the University address
since he became the president in June 2016. He is the university's 11th
president.
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Mike Kinkade, a former WSU baseball and
Major League player, is in his first season as head baseball coach of the
Pullman High School Greyhounds.
Link to info about him, however this info is not up to date:
http://wsm.wsu.edu/mystory/?p=392
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FOOTBALL (DC = Defensive Coordinator)
New Washington State DC Tracy Claeys has ‘nightmares’ about
not being able to stop people
UPDATED: Tue., March 27, 2018, 10:05 p.m.
By Theo Lawson of the S-R of Spokane/Inland Empire
PULLMAN – Tracy Claeys may not even need to dial up a
three-and-out to win over his first crop of Washington State football fans.
Perhaps the Cougars’ first-year defensive coordinator
accomplished that during his first on-site interview following Tuesday’s
practice in Pullman.
He talked first impressions. He talked coaching
philosophies. He talked phobias.
WSU fans will get a kick out of the latter.
“I have a fear of not being able to stop anybody,” Claeys
said. “I’ve had that since I started being a D-coordinator and some people say
you shouldn’t motivate yourself that way, but I do. I watch a lot of film and
we visit the staff and that’s my job, is to keep people off the scoreboard and
give us an opportunity to win.
“So yeah, I have nightmares about not being able to stop
people and that’s kind of what gets me up in the morning and keeps me going.”
Claeys’ tenure at WSU is three practices old, so the DC is
still getting to know the players who he hopes will help him achieve that goal
this fall. Learning their personalities and dispositions as human beings is
just as essential to Claeys during this period as learning their attributes and
tendencies as football players.
“They know mine, I’ve got to learn their (personalities),”
he said. “Because I think everybody’s different and find what buttons to push
for each kid to get the best out of them. So that’s the challenge that I have.”
When Claeys accepted the WSU job in January following a
yearlong sabbatical from the game, he said he’d make a point of learning the
language and terminology the Cougars were familiar with from former DC Alex
Grinch, rather than introducing his own vocabulary.
Defensive players will spend much of spring camp learning
new schemes and formations, so Claeys agreed to meet them halfway: They learn
his playbook, he learns their lingo. But it’s been a work in progress.
“It’s gone good for the kids and not for me,” Claeys
laughed. “I do scripts and things for practice and so I’ve definitely written
down the wrong call a few times now. Good thing is (linebackers) coach (Ken)
Wilson and guys in the secondary, they get caught on. … But I still think
that’s the best thing to do. It’ll be the end of spring before I know all the
terminology and I feel comfortable with it.”
Any observer of WSU’s first three practices has probably
noticed that Claeys often stands 20-30 yards behind the action when the Cougars
are going through 11-on-11 periods and skeleton drills. His coaching style is a
stark contrast from that of his predecessor, Grinch, who often blurted out
marching orders between plays and was significantly more hands-on.
Claeys might go 10 minutes without offering a peep, but
players say his style, albeit different, is just as effective.
“He still gets the message across,” safety Jalen Thompson
said. “If he has anything to say, he’ll say it to us and he still gets it
across.”
“You’ve gotta be who you are and that’s just not my
personality,” Claeys said. “And I can go off like a stick of dynamite every now
and then, too, but I don’t like to do that. I like to teach football. I don’t
enjoy yelling and stuff like that. I like to teach football.”
Grinch had become one of the nation’s most sought-after
assistants by the time he left WSU for Ohio State, but it’s also easy to forget
he came to the Cougars without any experience in a defensive coordinator role.
Claeys will have his work cut out to match the level of performance Grinch’s
defenses attained – especially over the last two seasons – but unlike Grinch,
he won’t have to learn the job on the fly.
Claeys is a 34-year veteran of the coaching business who’s
now held five defensive coordinator jobs.
“Alex kind of developed on the job and of course Tracy’s a
guy that’s got a lot of experience and a lot of dimension,” WSU coach Mike
Leach said. “He’s got a bigger body of work.”
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