(WSU Athletics photo shows track & field Kaili
Keefe, who is mentioned below.)
SIX COUGARS SET
FOR NCAA Track &Field CHAMPIONSHIPS COMPETITION in Eugene
From WSU Sports
Info
Six Washington State University track and field student-athletes head to
Eugene, Oregon, this week for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field
Championships, June 6-9 at Hayward Field...WSU competitors qualified by placing
in top 12 at the NCAA West Region Preliminary Rounds in Sacramento May
26-26...Cougars women are: Alissa Brooks-Johnson heptathlon final (qualified
through season-best marks), Kaili Keefe 1500m semifinals, and Stephanie Cho
400m hurdles semifinals...WSU men are: Chandler Teigen 1500m semifinals, Sander
Moldau pole vault final, and Brock Eager hammer final...Live Results link on
T&F schedule page at wsucougars.com.
There will be live TV coverage by ESPN Networks.
……
Cougar Kids Camp: Week 4
June 4, 2018 WSU
Announcements
What better way to get in
the Cougar spirit than participating in a “Mini Cougar” themed Cougar Kids
Camp? The week of July 9-13, campers will explore sights on campus, meet
Cougar athletes, and take a trip to Ferdinand’s. Campers entering grades 3-6
also have the option to participate in an overnight adventure on July 12 in the
residence halls. Cougar Kids Camp provides morning, afternoon and all-day
sessions with the option of morning and afternoon extended hours. Register your
camper by July 1 and receive a $10 discount!
For more information on
pricing, session times and registration, visit urec.wsu.edu/cougarkids/cougar-kids-camp/
……….
GREAT
MEMORIES: BOB PEAVY LEADING WSU SUMMER
SPORTS SKILLS CAMP ON WSU CAMPUS IN PULLMAN
WSU fall semester is over and camps are being held at the
university in Pullman. Many remember
taking part in WSU Summer Sports Skills Camp led by always
enthused/energetic/enlightened Bob Peavy. Sadly, he died in 2016. Bob's
obituary includes, "As Bob’s collegiate coaching career tapered off, he
extended his passion for teaching and coaching as Director of WSU’s Summer
Sports Skills Camp. A generation of Pullman kids learned to swim, ride a bike,
and numerous other activities and sports skills under Bob’s leadership. Central
to his philosophy as Camp Director was to create an environment of fun and
learning through consistent encouragement and recognition." Here's a link
to Bob's obit:
http://www.kimballfh.com/obituary/4037149 . Thankful for Bob's wonderful
contribution to WSU, Pullman and its youth.
…………………
He was a walk-on!
WSU kicker
Jason Hanson named on ballot for College Football Hall of Fame
From
Cougfan.com on/about 6/3/2018
COUGAR
KICKING GREAT JASON HANSON was one of 14 Pac-12 players named today on the
College Football Hall of Fame 2019 ballot. Former Washington State coach Dennis
Erickson was also one of two Pac-12 coach candidates named to the ballot by the
National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
Hanson,
out of Spokane, became Washington State's first unanimous All-American as a
sophomore in 1989. He finished his WSU
career with 19 field goals of 50-plus yards including a 62-yarder in 1991, the
longest without use of a tee in NCAA Division I history at the time, and still
the Pac-12 record and still third-longest in FBS history.
As a
junior, he was named All-Pac-10 as both a punter and kicker and earned
All-American honors as a punter. As a senior in 1991, he was named an
All-American at both punter and kicker.
He was
drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 1992 NFL draft and
played 21 seasons with the Lions. Upon his retirement, Hanson held the NFL
record for career 50-yard kicks (52). He
was inducted into the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Lions Ring of
Honor in 2013.
Hanson
became the first Cougar elected to the college football’s academic Hall of Fame
(CoSIDA) earlier this spring.
FOUR
COUGAR PLAYERS are in the CFB Hall of Fame: Mel Hein, Turk Edwards, Rueben
Mayes and Mike Utley. Two WSU coaches, William Henry "Lone Star"
Dietz and Babe Hollingbery are also in the HOF. (Forrest Eveshevski is as well,
but mostly for his work at Iowa).
This year
there are 76 players and six coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision on the
ballot, as well as 100 players and 32 coaches from the divisional ranks. The
announcement of the 2019 Class will be made Jan. 7, 2019.
Of the
5.26 million individuals who have played college football since 1869, only 997
players have earned induction to the Hall of Fame, less than two one-hundredths
of one percent. From the coaching ranks, 217 individuals have been inducted.
The Pac-12
players and coaches on this year's ballot:
• David
Fulcher (Arizona State)
• Jake
Plummer (Arizona State)
• Tony
Gonzalez (California)
• Ron
Rivera (California)
• Rashaan
Salaam (Colorado)
• Michael
Westbrook (Colorado)
• Jess
Lewis (Oregon State)
• Ed
McCaffrey (Stanford)
• Cade
McNown (UCLA)
• Ken
Norton (UCLA)
• Carson
Palmer (USC)
• Troy
Polamalu (USC)
• Dennis
Thurman (USC)
• Jason
Hanson (Washington State)
• Coach
Dennis Erickson, who coached at Washington State (1987-88), Oregon State,
Arizona State as well as other schools.
• Coach
Darryl Rodgers, who coached at Arizona State as well as other schools.
:::::::::::::::::::
FOOTBALL
Pac-12
teams now need 6 wins to play in bowl games, which is dumb
The NCAA
allows 5 win teams to fill out bowls if there aren’t enough 6 win teams. Today,
the Pac-12 decided their teams must have 6 wins to be eligible ... for some
reason.
By Michael
Preston
Coug
Center Jun 4, 2018, 2:09pm PDT
Back in
2015, the NCAA passed a rule saying football teams with five wins could be bowl
eligible, citing a growing number of postseason games and the all too realistic
possibility that there wouldn’t be enough teams who won half their games to
fill them. In the event there weren’t enough, the NCAA would start with the
teams with the highest APR at five wins and work their way down the list to
find ones to fill out the games. Yeah, sub-.500 teams in the postseason seemed
lame, but the NCAA was at least handing it to teams who performed well
academically (“important” to them), the schools get a little extra exposure,
some teams get some extra practices they weren’t expecting, and the players get
some nifty bowl swag. Everyone wins!
Except the
Pac-12. They, apparently, would prefer it if they didn’t.
Today, the
conference presidents passed a rule that bars five-win teams from being
eligible for the postseason because ... I don’t know. I really don’t!
Bowl games
can be expensive for schools but most don’t take a loss by going. The ten extra
practices you get can usually only be beneficial besides the potential for a
fluke injury to an important player. Your institution generally gets some good
“branding” and “exposure” and other marketing buzz words because most bowls are
not aired against other games (unless you’re the Pac-12 and you allow two of
your biggest bowls to be scheduled AT THE SAME FRICKIN’ TIME). Bowls usually
occur at the end of an academic term so it’s time for finals but I’m not sure
there’s data that suggests the grades of student-athletes slip appreciably
because they’re distracted during finals.
Oh, and no
Pac-12 team, in the three years that five win teams have been eligible, has
been selected for the postseason. The Pac-12 presidents, on a recommendation
from a subcommittee of their athletic directors, decided to go ahead and fix a
problem that didn’t exist.
So ...
what the hell is the deal here?
Bowl
bonuses paid out to coaches? Speaking only for Washington State, Mike Leach
gets $75,000 if his team makes it to a non-”BCS” bowl; defensive coordinator
Tracy Claeys gets about $52,000 for a similar game. Without knowing the
particulars of how much money a school “makes” from a bowl game, I can’t imagine
paying out an additional $125,000 or so is a prohibitive enough expense, even
for WSU.
Academic
concerns? Again, I’ve never seen data to indicate academic performance slips
because of the additional time on the practice field and out of the classroom.
It could be that the data just doesn’t exist and I’d certainly be willing to
change my mind if it indicated otherwise but it doesn’t seem like a rigor the
student-athletes and academic support staff can’t handle.
So,
legitimately, what’s the deal? Did you not want to be embarrassed by a five win
team accepting a postseason bid? There is the whole thing where they can just
... not! You did know that, right? But the Cal Golden Bears probably
reeeeeeeally would’ve enjoyed those ten extra practices while they’re trying to
rebuild. The Colorado Buffaloes are probably headed the other direction for a
year or two but more practice for a young team doesn’t hurt!
Or Cal
could’ve just Cal’d and said the players need to take their finals and Mike
McIntyre could’ve just called it a year after losing four of their last five.
Like I said, “Thanks but no thanks” is an option!
I really
can’t find a good reason for why this was done. What has happened instead
though is the Pac-12 Conference has, very publicly, found another way to
embarrass itself.
Remember
this from earlier? Or how about having six extra losses in conference play just
... because. Oh, oh, there’s this too! There’s this long running bug-a-boo that
won’t resolve itself for another five years. Speaking of television, no one can
see the dang games anyway (much to Chris Petersen’s correct yet poorly
delivered point) and no one is watching your network.
Oh, and
your conference commissioner makes more than any of his peers and his staff is
the highest paid of all the major conferences!
If someone
can think of why the president’s decided this was a good idea, I’m all ears.
From where I’m sitting though, the conference found another way to shut off a
revenue and branding stream for no reason whatsoever.
…………..
FOOTBALL
Pac-12
passes rule requiring 6 wins for bowl eligibility
UPDATED:
Mon., June 4, 2018, 1:47 p.m.
By Ralph
D. Russo, AP
The Pac-12
will require its teams to win at least six regular-season games to play in a
bowl, eliminating the opportunity for a 5-7 squad to earn a postseason spot
when there are not enough six-win teams nationally to fill the bowls.
Pac-12
presidents passed the rule proposed by a subcommittee of athletic directors led
by Washington’s Jennifer Cohen.
“The
Pac-12 is committed to supporting the highest quality of competition at
post-season bowl games,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement to
The Associated Press on Monday. “In requiring a minimum of six regular season
wins our goal is to support the significance of the bowl season and provide our
fans around the country with the most exciting games featuring our leading
Pac-12 teams.”
The growing
bowl lineup led to the NCAA determining in 2015 that 5-7 teams with the best
Academic Progress Ratings would be bowl eligible if there were not enough
six-win teams to fill the then-80 spots. Three 5-7 teams played in bowls in
2015 and two did so in 2016. None were needed last season when the number of
FBS bowl slots dropped to 78 (39 games, not including the national title game)
with the Poinsettia Bowl folding.
No 5-7
bowl-eligible teams have been from the Pac-12, which this season has seven
contracted bowl spots for its 12 schools. Sending a team to a far-off and
low-profile bowl game, where it will draw few fans, can be a losing financial
proposition for an athletic department, but bowl eligibility does come with
extra practice time (20 hours per week) that coaches like.
There will
again be 39 FBS bowl games this season.
#
