Wednesday, January 30, 2019

News for CougGroup 1/30/2019


Washington State negotiates contract extensions with football coach Mike Leach, defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys

Wed., Jan. 30, 2019, 2 p.m.
By Theo Lawson  Spokane S-R

PULLMAN – On the heels of a banner season, Washington State’s offensive and defensive play-callers both received votes of confidence from the school administration Wednesday afternoon through contract extensions.

WSU and seventh-year coach Mike Leach took the first step in negotiations, agreeing in principle to a contract provision that adds another year to his original four-year deal and keeps Leach in Pullman through the 2023 season.

The Cougars also struck a deal with Leach’s first-year defensive coordinator, Tracy Claeys, who signed a three-year extension that keeps him on staff through the 2021 season.

“Coach Mike Leach has built a nationally prominent football program at Washington State and our student-athletes continue to excel athletically and academically under his leadership,” WSU Director of Athletics Pat Chun said in a press release. “His ability to create and steward a winning culture, combined with his vision and expertise, make him one of the elite coaches in the entire sport of football.

“Few coaches could have accomplished what Coach Leach did in 2018. There is no greater head football coach for WSU than Mike Leach and we are happy to have him leading our program for many years to come.”

Leach’s offense and Claeys’ defense both improved categorically in 2018, helping the Cougars notch their first 11-win season in program history. WSU capped the season with a 28-26 win over Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl – the program’s fourth consecutive postseason appearance – and the Cougars finished No. 10 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, higher than anybody else in the Pac-12.

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COUGARS SECURE LEACH THROUGH 2023 SEASON
From WSU Sports Info 1/30/2019

PULLMAN– Washington State University Athletics announced Monday that Head Coach Mike Leach and the University have agreed in principle to a provision in Leach's contract that extends the agreement an additional year through the 2023 season, bringing it to a five-year contract. Additionally, Defensive Coordinator Tracy Claeys has agreed to a three-year contract through the 2021 season.

"Coach Mike Leach has built a nationally prominent football program at Washington State and our student-athletes continue to excel athletically and academically under his leadership," said WSU Director of Athletics Pat Chun. "His ability to create and steward a winning culture, combined with his vision and expertise, make him one of the elite coaches in the entire sport of football. Few coaches could have accomplished what Coach Leach did in 2018. There is no greater head football coach for WSU than Mike Leach and we are happy to have him leading our program for many years to come."

The 2018 season saw Leach guide Washington State to an 11-2 record, a No. 10 final ranking in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls, and a victory in the Valero Alamo Bowl over Iowa State. The 11 wins in 2018 set a single-season school record, and he is the first Cougar head coach to lead Washington State to four straight bowl games.

Additionally, Leach was named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) National Coach of the Year, the first in WSU history. The Cougar Air Raid offense led the nation in passing while the defense led the conference in sacks and tied for second in takeaways.

"It has been a great run here at Washington State over the last seven years, but I still believe that our best days are ahead of us," said Leach. "I am just as excited to be the head coach at WSU as I was the day that I was hired here and I look forward to leading this program to big things in the future."

Under Leach's current agreement, his 2019 compensation will be $3.75 million, while the following four years he is scheduled to make $4 million per year. Following the 2020 season, Leach will also receive a one-time retention bonus of $750,000. Details of Claeys' contract were not released.

In his seven seasons leading the Cougars, Leach has amassed 49 victories, which ranks third in program history, He has guided the Cougars to five bowl games in the past six years, also a first for a Cougar coach, and over the past four seasons WSU has the second-most conference wins of any program in the Pac-12.
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Former WSU coach Graham Harrell about to bring Air Raid to USC?
By Braden Johnson Cougfan.com Jan 28, 7:33 PM
MIKE LEACH’S WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS are the only Pac-12 squad that predominately runs the Air Raid, but could his patented offense be on the cusp of making its way to a conference rival?  Varying reports have tied former WSU assistant coach Graham Harrell to USC’s vacant offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach gig.

Fan site Trojan Sports reported Harrell, who has served as the offensive coordinator at North Texas since 2016, is headed to Southern Cal. But Bruce Feldman of The Athletic tweeted Monday morning that reports of a “done deal” are inaccurate. Harrell’s father, Sam, told the Los Angeles Times the two sides are still in the “working stages” of drafting a contract agreement.

If Harrell and the Trojans make it official in the coming days, it would mark the second time in two months USC has hired one of Leach’s former Texas Tech quarterbacks to run its offense. USC tabbed Kliff Kingsbury to be its 2019 offensive coordinator and QB coach on Dec. 5, but then Kingsbury left in January for the NFL as Arizona's new head coach.

SHOULD HARRELL TAKE THE USC JOB, it is not a stretch to assume he will elevate the play of starting quarterback J.T. Daniels. Harrell, who also served as Leach's "eye in the sky" in the booth on game days, also worked closely with WSU's quarterbacks his two seasons in Pullman, first as an offensive quality control assistant in 2014 and then as outside receivers coach in 2015.  Harrell noticeably spurred the development of Luke Falk. The '15 campaign was Falk’s only season as a full-time starter working with Harrell, and arguably his best statistically. Here are the numbers:

2015: 4,566 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, 69 percent completion percentage
2016: 4,468 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 70 percent completion percentage
2017: 3,593 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, 67 percent completion percentage


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WSU TO HOST NATIONAL GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY FEB. 9
The Cougars will honor female athletes with a day of youth sports clinics.
From WSU Sports Info 1/30/2019
PULLMAN - Washington State University Athletics will hold its 16th annual youth sports clinic in recognition of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Saturday, February 9 from 9-11 a.m. WSU student-athletes are volunteering their time to host a circuit like sports clinic for youth in the community, grades K-8, which will take place at Bohler Gym.

Register via this URL link:
https://www.totalcamps.com/WSUATHLETICS/camps/ngwsd/_dML/registration/options?camps:transition=reset

The WSU Athletics youth sports clinic is one of more than 500 events taking place across the country for National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Day is devoted to recognizing the progress of girls and women in sports, and the benefits that sports and fitness activities can bring to the lives of all girls and women. The day is organized nationally by the Women's Sports Foundation; to learn more, visit www.NGWSD.org.

Over 100 children are expected to participate in the youth sports clinic. Tickets for the event are free. This event will include a short seminar, a two-hour sports clinic, free admission to the women's basketball game against Arizona, which will tip off after the completion of the youth clinic, and one free concessions coupon.

For more information on this event, please email kaitlyn.lilleberg@wsu.edu or raeleigh.earls@wsu.edu or call (509) 335- 0392.


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Minshew lands another invitation

Moscow Pullman Daily News

Gardner Minshew’s appearance in the Senior Bowl today won’t be his last gig as a collegian.

The Washington State quarterback has drawn an invitation to the State Farm All-Star Football Challenge in Arlington, Texas, at 6 p.m. PST on Feb. 1, the Cougars announced Friday.

The skills competition features 24 players divided into six teams based on conference affiliation. In addition to teams representing each of the Power Five leagues, there will be a wild-card squad.

Minshew will be part of a Pac-12 team that also includes defensive tackle Greg Gaines of Washington, receiver N’Keal Harry of Arizona State and defensive end Jalen Jelks of Oregon.

The other quarterbacks participating are Ryan Finley of North Carolina State, Trace McSorley of Penn State, Kyle Kempt of Iowa State, Jarrett Stidham of Auburn and Tyree Jackson of Buffalo.

Below from WSU Sports Info:

Minshew joined the Cougars as a graduate transfer from East Carolina and led WSU to its first 11-win season in program history, capped by a win over Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl. Minshew won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (top senior or fourth-year junior QB) and was named the Pac-12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year along with a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team.

Minshew led the country in passing yards per game (367.6), 300-yard games (11), 400-yard games (six), was second in passing yards (4,779) and total offense (376.8), and was fourth in touchdown passes (38). Minshew set Pac-12 single-season records for passing yards and completions and set the WSU single-season record in total offense and tied the record for touchdown passes. The graduate senior from Brandon, Miss. also rushed for four touchdowns and led three fourth quarter game-winning drives (Utah, at Stanford, California).

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WSU men’s basketball

Following two more road losses, Washington State looking to recapture its rhythm at home against UCLA

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 29, 2019, 9:53 p.m.

By Theo Lawson Spokane S-R

PAC-12 MEN’S BASKETBALL
At Beasley Coliseum, Pullman
Wednesday, Jan. 30: UCLA Bruins at Washington State Cougars, 7 p.m. PST TV: Pac-12 Networks

PULLMAN – Home sweeps and road splits.

That’s often the rule of thumb for Pac-12 basketball coaches when they open their conference schedule, reckoning if their team can win almost every game it plays on its own court, and go 50-50 on the road – give or take a road win here, a home loss there – it’ll probably finish with anywhere from 10-14 league wins.

Laying out the blueprint is one thing, sticking to it is another.

For Ernie Kent and Washington State, winning outside of Pullman in 2018-19 has been mission impossible. After a pair of losses at Oregon State and Oregon, the Cougars (8-12, 1-6) dropped to 0-7 in true road games and 0-12 in games played away from the Palouse. They haven’t played in a single-digit road game in Pac-12 play and their five defeats have come by a margin of 20.2 points.

But in a season that’s becoming more about the silver linings, WSU can still fall back on its play at Beasley Coliseum. The level of competition considered, the Cougars are still 8-1 there and have two more opportunities at home this week, hosting UCLA (11-9, 4-3) on Wednesday (7 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) and USC (12-8, 5-2) on Saturday (4 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).

A home split would suffice for a WSU team that’s already fallen six games behind first place in the Pac-12 through seven games played.

The Bruins haven’t lived up to their preseason billing. A 15-point home loss to Liberty capped a four-game skid in December, prompting athletic director Dan Guerrero to terminate coach Steve Alford midway through his sixth season in charge.

The Bruins recovered to win their first three Pac-12 games under interim coach Murray Bartow, then dropped three in a row. UCLA regained some of that momentum in a 90-69 win over Arizona at Pauley Pavilion in a game sophomore guard Kris Wilkes scored 34 points.

Wilkes is the league’s third-leading scorer, at 17.8 points per game, but freshman center Moses Brown might be more concerning for a Cougar team that boasts one of the league’s smallest starting fives and faces a UCLA team oozing with length and athleticism.

Brown, from Queens, New York, is fairly springy at 7-foot-1 and sits near the top of the Pac-12’s rebounding leaderboard with 8.9 per game.

Asked Tuesday during his media availability how the Cougars will match up with Brown, Kent responded, “Whew. Have you stand on top of (Ahmed Ali). … You don’t realize how big they are, long, athletic they are until they get here.”

The Cougars will look to recapture some of the shooting that allowed them to grab a four-point halftime lead against Oregon in what eventually turned into a 20-point loss. The ball found the way into the basket 17 times on just 22 attempts in the first half (77.3 percent), but the percentages evened out in the second half, when WSU made eight baskets and shot 33 percent from the field.

“I felt like our whole team was really comfortable in the first half, in fact it’s the best basketball we’ve played offensively in a Pac-12 game this year just in terms of our ability to move the ball, shoot in the rhythm, make the extra pass,” Kent said. “… Then in the second half of the game, it becomes contagious when you knock a team out of rhythm. You take a bad look, or a hurried shot or you don’t make that extra pass. It can look the other way. That was the tale of the two halves.”

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WSU med student elected to national medical education association role

By Addy Hatch, WSU News, 1/30/2019

Medical students at Washington State University have a national voice, thanks to David Choi.

Though the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine is one of the newest medical schools in the country, Choi was elected last spring to represent med students in nine states as western region chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ student branch.

AAMC represents all 152 accredited medical schools in the nation and their 89,000 medical students, plus VA medical centers, major teaching hospitals and health systems and academic societies.

Choi, a devoted Coug who graduated from WSU Vancouver, said he got involved in AAMC’s Organization of Student Representatives as a way to participate in the ongoing work of building the College of Medicine. He’s had a longtime interest in policy and was involved in student government in Vancouver, including a stint as president of the campus.

He chose the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine because he feels like it does a good job of taking care of students and focusing on patients, “and trying to minimize the stuff in between that,” Choi said. “For me that was powerful.”

John Tomkowiak, founding dean of the college, said, “It is a proud moment for the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine to have David Choi represent the college with the AAMC. This would be an honor for any medical student to be chosen by their peers for such an important role, but is especially notable given that we are a new medical school. Gaining such a prominent voice in academic medicine at this early stage says a great deal about the leadership and trust that David and all of our students are establishing with their regional peers and important organizations like the AAMC.”

Choi, who’s 24, said going to medical school wasn’t always his dream.

“I didn’t think I could go to college,” he said. “My parents are awesome, very supportive, but financially we had some rough times.”

A state College Bound Scholarship changed that trajectory, and he majored in biology at WSU Vancouver. He’s considering the field of psychiatry because of a longstanding interest in mental health.

His goal in medicine is to serve, whether that’s service to under-represented communities as a doctor; to WSU as a preceptor; or to the state that helped him get to medical school, in health care policy.

“I want to set myself up in ways I can help empower those around me,” he said, apologizing that “it sounds so cheesy.”

AAMC’s student branch addresses big issues in medical education, Choi said. For instance, he’d like to see more emphasis on wellness, citing statistics on the incidence of anxiety and depression among medical students.

Right now, however, his main focus is medical school.

“I’m thankful I’m able to do this,” he said of his position in AAMC. But mostly, “I just want to make sure I’m a good health care provider.”

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WSU grad/former Coug men’s basketball player
Klay Thompson could consider Lakers in free agency

By MICHAEL KASKEY-BLOMAIN
Jan 29, 10:45 AM
Cougfan.com

Klay Thompson is expected to remain with the Golden State Warriors when he hits unrestricted free agency this summer, but there is apparently one scenario where he would consider signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN - via an appearance on SportsCenter - Thompson would consider joining the Lakers if they were able to add disgruntled New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis through a trade, and if the Warriors didn't offer him max money.

“The best-case scenario for the Lakers is that they add Anthony Davis and then Golden State doesn’t offer Klay Thompson a max contract," Wojnarowski said, via Silver Screen and Roll. "They try to get Klay to take a little bit less than the max. And if that happens, I’m told Klay’s attention will be on the Lakers if they have Anthony Davis.”

At the start of the season, Thompson said that it would be "hard" to leave Golden State when discussing his upcoming free agency.

"I've been to the mountaintop," Thompson said in a 1-on-1 sitdown with Shams Charania of the Athletic in October, via NBC Sports Bay Area. "I know what it feels like to win and win with some of your best friends. And that's why it would be hard for me to leave just because I've put so much blood, sweat and tears in this building and with this franchise. I've had my ups and downs but I couldn't imagine myself being somewhere else."

Thompson has also previously stated that he would like to play his entire career in a Warriors uniform.

“I’ve said it many times before: I would like to be a Warrior for life," Thompson said in August, via Mark Medina of the Bay Area News Group. "Contract negotiations are way down the line. But I think we all have the same interest. I would love to be here for the rest of my career... I’m going to be a free agent in 2019. Number one on my list would obviously be to stay with the Warriors.”

It is clear that Thompson would like to remain with the Warriors, especially if they are able to win yet another NBA title this June, but the Warriors will have their hands full when it comes to paying players in the near future, as Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green are all slated for free agency by 2020. If Golden State decides, for whatever reason, that they can't pay Thompson max money, things could get interesting.

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WSU Track & Field returns to action this weekend in the Cougar Indoor

WSU set to be host of its second indoor meet of the season.

From WSU Sports Info Wed, Jan 30, 2019 at 3:14 PM


COUGAR INDOOR
Friday-Saturday, Feb. 1-2  |  Pullman, Wash.  |  Indoor Practice Facility

Fri. Event Start - 12:30 p.m. (Pacific)
Sat. Event Start - 10:00 a.m. (Pacific)



>> Washington State Track and Field will be back in action on the Pullman campus inside the Indoor Practice Facility for the 2019 Cougar Indoor meet. The event will take place Friday through Saturday, and will be the final indoor home event for WSU this season, until the Cougars begin outdoor competition. The Cougar Indoor will begin at 12:30 p.m. Friday, February 1, and day two will commence, Saturday, February 2, with a start time of 10 a.m.

COUGARS CONTINUE BIG INDOOR SEASON
>>  The Washington State University Track and Field program was in action as a split squad at the New Mexico Team Invitational, inside the Albuquerque Convention Center. Freshman Charisma Taylor continued to look dominate throughout the indoor season, posting a WSU Track and Field women's indoor record of 42-feet 6 1/4 inches (12.92m) in the triple jump. Taylor took first in the event at the invitational, and landed herself on the Washington State all-time top ten list in the event as well at third overall. Charisma also placed first in the long jump at 19-feet 9 1/2 inches (6.03m), ninth best in Washington State history. Chrisshnay Brown had herself a phenomenal day as well, placing first in the shot put, after a PR of 51-feet 3/4 inches (15.56m), which was the third best all-time throw in WSU history.

>> The WSU men turned in a great day as well at the Albuquerque Convention Center with Jake Ulrich and Emmanuel Wells Jr. leading the way for the Cougars. Ulrich won the 400m dash with a PR of 46.75, a time that currently sits at 18th best in the nation in the event. Wells continued to climbed up the WSU men's all-time list in the 60m dash after running a 6.67 to take first at the invitational, and also ranked in a tie for fourth best overall in Washington State history. A handful of wins followed throughout the day for the Cougars with Sam Brixey winning the 60m hurdles (PR, 7.84), Peyton Fredrickson in the high jump at 6-feet 10 3/4 inches (2.10m), and the team of Christapherson Grant, Noah Wallace, Corey Allen, and Ulrich who won the 4x400m relay.

>> The Washington State University Track and Field program was also in action last weekend inside the Dempsey Indoor at the UW Invitational. The WSU women were led by Emma Jenkins in the 3000m race, where Jenkins went on to post a 9:43.66, setting the Washington State women's freshman indoor record in the 3000m event, along with a PR for Emma. Kaili Keefenotched a PR run in the mile event at 4:52.17 also. Mackenzie Fletcher went on to finish 12th overall in the 60m hurdles event on the road as well.  The Cougars on the men's side were also anchored by distance, with Paul Ryan and Zach Stallings each recording PR runs in the mile event. Ryan finished 12th overall at 4:02.85, while Stallings finished 23rd at 4:06.09. Kyler Little posted a PR in the 5000m at 14:28.36 for a 14th place finish.

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