Charlie Brown watches over Pullman
Keith
Collins took this March 30, 2019, photo of the water tower on Pullman’s Pioneer
Hill. Collins said Charlie Brown looks a little bewildered on top of the tower,
but at least he is safe from Lucy up there. Collins submitted the photo to Lewiston
Tribune’s Inland 360’s “Share Your Snaps,” an online community photo album.
…………
WSU BASEBALL
Game Notes - at USC from WSU Sports Info
WASHINGTON
STATE (8-25, 1-11 Pac-12) at USC (14-20, 6-9 Pac-12)
Los
Angeles Dedeaux Field (2,500)
Thursday,
6 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m.
Sunday, 1 p.m.
BASEBALL COUGARS
HEAD TO LOS ANGELES FOR SERIES AT USC
Washington
State makes the trip down to Los Angeles for a three-game Pac-12 Conference
series with USC running Thursday through Saturday because of Sunday's Easter
holiday.
……….
Women’s
golf remains 7th at Pac-12 Championships in calllllllll
By SIGMUND
SEROKA, Evergreen April 17, 2019
The
Cougars finished the second day of the Pac-12 Championships on Tuesday in Palos
Verdes Estates, California with a 297 (+13) to remain in a tie for seventh
place.
Playing
strong for the Cougars was freshman Amy Chu, who posted a 74 (+3) to sit in a
tie for eighth place. She is the only golfer in the top 10 that isn’t
nationally ranked.
Freshman
Darcy Habgood carded a 75 (+4) in the second round to tie for 20th and junior
Marie Lund-Hansen secured a 73 (+2), which was the best score for the Cougars
on Tuesday. Lund-Hansen is tied for 39th overall going into day three.
The last
two Cougars in the championship are redshirt-sophomore Emily Baumgart and
senior Madison Odiorne.
Baumgart
posted a 75 (+4) to move up seven spots into a tie for 44th while Odiorne had
one of her rougher days on the links as she carded an 85 (+14) and dropped from
a tie for 25th to 52nd.
The
Cougars will have one more chance to make a move as the final day of the Pac-12
Championships concludes Wednesday.
“”””””””””””””””
WSU 1972 grad/U.S.
Senator Patty Murray talks women in leadership, current politics on campus in
Pullman
By LAUREN
ELLENBECKER, Evergreen April 17, 2019
U.S. Sen.
Patty Murray, D-Wash., spoke about leadership and the current political
environment at an event Tuesday hosted by the Thomas S. Foley Institute.
Murray
said she became involved in politics when she attended WSU as a freshman. A
policy that required women to wear dresses in the dining hall inspired Murray’s
interest in changing it.
Murray
said leaders need to risk speaking out and must support one another to stand up
to bullies.
“Some
things may be small, but you can take them on and make a difference,” she said.
“Big or small, speak up.”
Murray
answered questions submitted by students through the Foley Institute.
She
advised women pursuing a leadership role to not fear to lose a battle because
perseverance matters in the long run.
Murray
said she was told she did not know the right people or have enough money. She
said no one would listen to her and would call herself “Pats” so people did not
know she was a woman.
“Well, I
got a lot of advice like that, but now I’m standing in front of you as a United
States senator,” she said. “I didn’t listen to them. Here I am.”
A student
asked Murray if the increasing number of women in the Senate has changed its
atmosphere.
Murray
said male senators suspected the female senators would revolt when she began
working. She said their mentality eventually changed when they realized women
were there to accomplish the same tasks as men.
“It was a
heavy, daunting experience,” she said.
There are
currently 25 women in the Senate and 127 women in Congress, Murray said. She
said this is a major improvement because the U.S. government needs more
diversity.
Participants
asked the senator about her views on filibuster reform, Medicare for All,
America’s deficit, the Carbon Dividend Act and the Violence Against Women Act,
though it failed to be renewed.
Murray
said having a filibuster is a tool that helps the minority present their ideas
to the majority. Everyone deserves the ability to have their voice heard, she
said, and the policies today are thanks to filibusters.
She spoke
about the consequences of partisan polarization. Murray said if senators do not
try to understand why someone is expressing their views or why they find it
important, nothing will happen.
Murray
said Medicare for All is a great concept, but the reality is different and
would take various changes for it to be established. The goal should be to have
affordable healthcare, she said.
Senators
are looking at how to reduce America’s deficit, which was influenced by tax
cuts last year, she said. The tax-cut legislation was a quickly constructed act
that has put the U.S. into more debt, Murray said.
Murray
also addressed climate change and said politicians should do more to create
climate change initiatives. Climate change has impacted the U.S. budget by
harming agriculture, forest fire damage, and the relocation of military bases
due to rising waters, Murray said.
There was
a roundtable discussion where WSU students voiced their concerns to Murray on
behalf of the student body before the Q&A event.
A student
spoke about the need for more attention to the Office for Equal Opportunity and
how they fail to support students. They spoke about how the drug culture on
WSU’s campus needs to be addressed because Adderall seems to be as common as
marijuana.
Students
also spoke about the financial burden placed on students and how they can face
homelessness to pay their tuition.
Murray
told the students their input is necessary for change.
“I don’t
want to just be sitting in an office in D.C. and do nothing about it,” Murray
said.
……..
POLITICS
& SOCIETY
‘No one
accomplishes anything by themselves’
April 17,
2019 from WSU News
Returning
to her alma mater to meet with students and tour research facilities, U.S. Sen.
Patty Murray urged women to embrace leadership roles and take chances.
When
people tell you you can’t do something, stand up and do it,” said Murray, who
in 1992 became the first female elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of
Washington and now is the congressional chamber’s sixth‑most senior member.
“Don’t
let the naysayers stop you. You don’t win every time, but
every time you take something on you get stronger, you learn something. Don’t
let fear run your life.”
Murray, a
1972 WSU grad whose Tuesday visit was hosted by the Foley Institute as part of
the “Women in leadership” series, said it’s important for all students, male and
female, to get involved.
In
addition to her public presentation at the Chinook recreation center, Murray
met with student and university leaders and toured WSU’s Plant Growth
Facilities.
In her
public presentation, Murray credited WSU with giving her the confidence and
skills to pursue a political career, explaining she learned the power of
speaking up during her first year on the Pullman campus after learning that
women were allowed in the dining hall only if they were wearing dresses.
“That was
a year that was really cold,” Murray recalled. “There was a lot of snow, and I
thought this is the most ridiculous, unfair rule I have ever seen.”
She began
talking about it, learned others had similar feelings and they began working to
get the rule changed. “We went out, we worked, and now all of you can wear
jeans to your dining hall,” she said to laughter and applause.
It also
became a lesson in how even small changes can make a difference.
Murray
offered the following advice:
Take the
risk of speaking up:
“You
deserve to be heard,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to do things you never thought
you could do.”
Stand with
each other:
“There’s a
saying that behind every great man is a great woman. Well the truth is behind
every strong woman is a whole lot of other strong women.” Following her
election to the U.S. Senate, Murray created a bipartisan women’s dinner for the
six women serving in the chamber, a group that still meets and now is 25
members strong. “No one accomplishes anything by themselves,” she said.
Stand up
to bullies:
“People
have so often told me that I couldn’t do something or that I wasn’t up to a
challenge. I didn’t listen and here I am.”
“The fact
is that in this country today, we do need each and every one of you,” Murray
said. “So I appreciate everybody who is standing up and speaking out and not
giving up and trying because that’s what will really make our country move
forward.”
::::::::::::::
Sports
Grip on
Sports: Leaving is just something college coaches do
Wed.,
April 17, 2019, 8:39 a.m.
By Vince
Grippi Spokane S-R
A GRIP ON
SPORTS • As we transition into the second half of April, a time for spring
football to wind down and baseball to wind up, the most fascinating stories to
pass along today include basketball coaches. That’s interesting. Read on.
We start over at Gonzaga, with the expected
departure of Donny Daniels, one of the key cogs in the past decade’s success.
We say
expected because Daniels has been telling Mark Few for a while he intended to
retire after the 2019 season, a season that also included the news he’s headed
to a newly created assistant coach hall of fame.
That honor
alone tells you how well thought of Daniels is among his peers, but there is
more to the former Cal State Fullerton player than just the coaching. He’s been
a mentor to many Gonzaga players over the past decade, helping more than a
handful make the adjustment to life in Spokane.
What is
most interesting about Daniels departure is circumstances have changed for the
64-year-old. Instead of retiring, which was the plan according to Jim Meehan’s
story, he’s moving back to Salt Lake City. He’s going to move into an off-court
role with the Utes. A back-to-the-past moment in a sense.
He will be
missed.
As a
personal aside, I remember Daniels when he played for Bobby Dye and the Titans
as, say, Gonzaga fans remember guys at Saint Mary’s they didn’t like much.
Cal State
Fullerton was UC Irvine’s Orange County rival and guys like Daniels, Greg Bunch
and Kevin Heenan were on my list – if you get my drift.
Daniels’
playing career preceded Cal State Fullerton’s exceptional run during my college
years, but I knew who he was.
Over the
past 10 years, Gonzaga fans came to know who Donny Daniels is. And they will
miss him.
• I’ve
never really seen my alma mater have basketball success, certainly not like
Gonzaga. But also not even to the level Washington State experienced while I
was in Pullman.
So when
Tony Bennett pulled up stakes and left for the University of Virginia, I really
didn’t understand many Cougar fans deep-seated anger. Coaching, for the most
part, is an itinerant profession. Not many coaches stay in one place for long.
And after
visiting Charlottesville one spring, it was obvious to me why Bennett decided
to leave. There was a deep-rooted support for basketball at Virginia –
especially financially – there was never going to be in Pullman. And a chance
for pretty high-end success.
Which made
me wonder over the years, as WSU wallowed in basketball mediocrity, why the
anger festered. Didn’t these fans understand it was not a lateral move? It was
like moving from the S-R to the Washington Post – if the Washington Post were
in a small town. Anyone would have done it.
I’ve
always wondered if there is a deeper meaning to all this, more than just the
usual he-abandoned-us mentality. If Ken Bone had come in and won, playing a
freer-form of basketball, the anger may have dissipated quickly.
But that
didn’t happen after Bennett’s recruits graduated. Then Ernie Kent’s tenure was
a disaster. There had to be a scapegoat, outside the coaches and Bill Moos,
that is.
The easy
target is the guy everyone felt would have continued to win if he had stayed.
Look what he is doing at Virginia, the narrative went. He could be doing that
in Pullman.
Sorry, but
it wouldn’t have happened. For every Klay Thompson or Brock Motum Bennett was
able to entice to WSU, there were at least two or three players who just
couldn’t cut it in the Pac-10 or 12. If Bennett had stayed in Pullman, the
Cougars would have won more than they did, sure, but at some point probably not
enough to satisfy the fan base. It’s a story as old as George Raveling or Marv
Harshman.
Last year,
when UVA became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16, the depth of the
anti-Bennett vitriol surprised me. It had been almost a decade and some people
were still celebrating his failures.
And were
pretty much most of this March as well. If not celebrating them, then rooting
for them.
Until the
Cavaliers began winning impossible-to-win games. That’s when the tenor of WSU
social media began to change. The further UVA went in the NCAA Tournament, the
more his success became their success.
Dan
Thompson touches on that dynamic in this piece today. It’s a good look from the
Cougar faithful’s point of view. A point of view that seems to have changed
recently.
It’s about
time.
WSU: The
Cougars were out and about the practice field again yesterday. One of the
players who is always moving is free safety Skyler Thomas. Oops, that’s
nickelback Skyler Thomas. Theo Lawson has this story on Thomas’ new position. …
Theo also has video from post-practice interviews with Mike Leach, Willie
Taylor III and Renard Bell. … As we said, Dan has this piece on Bennett and the
Cougars. …
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
WSU
football
After
breakout year at free safety, Washington State’s Skyler Thomas entering a new
role with an open mind
UPDATED:
Tue., April 16, 2019, 10:08 p.m.
Spokesman-Review/
By Theo Lawson
PULLMAN –
Skyler Thomas is on the move.
Not to
worry, the redshirt junior is still a defensive back on Washington State’s
roster, proudly wearing the No. 25.
He isn’t
going far, either. Depending on the formation, it’s only about 10 yards from
where Thomas lined up last season as a free safety to the nickel position he’s
poised to fill for the Cougars in 2019.
Alhough
he’ll be asked to do a few different things within Tracy Claeys’ defense,
Thomas can make this guarantee on the heels of his breakout sophomore season:
“I feel
like I’m going to be the same player regardless,” he said Tuesday after the
Cougars’ 12th spring practice. “I like to come down and be in the ‘run fit’ and
make tackles, so I don’t feel like my position change will have any impact on
how I play.
“I’m going
to have a high motor regardless, and I’m just going to get to the ball.”
Peyton
Pelluer eventually won the Cougars’ tackling crown last season, registering 98
in 13 games. Another linebacker, Jahad Woods, came in second with 82. Then
there was Thomas, not too far back in third with his 76 tackles – 46 solo and
30 assisted.
The odds
of Thomas finishing in the top five on the team’s tackle chart couldn’t have
been too substantial when the 2018 season began, especially seeing that the
5-foot-9, 185-pound defensive back played sparingly as a redshirt freshman,
with five tackles in just two games.
Naturally,
the opportunities for Thomas would increase as he inherited a more integral
role one year later – starting free safety – but even through four games of the
2018 season, it was startling to see him leading the Cougars with 29 tackles.
Now Thomas
shifts from one station in the defensive secondary to another. Safeties coach
Kendrick Shaver urged the fourth-year player to give nickel a try when WSU
opened spring camp and Thomas agreed without much reluctance.
“We had
been talking about it for a while and he just said he wants to see me out
there, try me out there,” Thomas said. “See how I flow, see how I like it.”
So far, so
good.
“He’s
explosive and he’s a good blitzer,” Claeys said. “But at the same time, if you
watch the whole thing, we’re moving everybody everywhere there and trying to
just see where we can fit everybody and have the most depth.
“I think
we were extremely fortunate a year ago. We stayed injury-free for the most part
back there, so we’d like to have a little bit more depth.”
The
Cougars are losing a two-year starter at nickel in Hunter Dale and Thomas seems
best equipped to fill the role. Playing as a hybrid safety/linebacker, the
nickel is usually someone who tackles better than your average defensive back
and plays the pass better than your typical linebacker.
Thomas’ 76
tackles in 2018 were complemented by two interceptions, three pass breakups and
one tackle for loss.
“We’ve got
speedy guys out there getting after it like Skyler, so he’s going to be a real
good fit in there,” cornerback Marcus Strong said. “He can play man; he can get
after the ball.”
It’s still
been an adjustment. Thomas was expecting to spend spring camp honing the things
he already knew as a safety. Now he’s learning completely new concepts for the
first time as a nickel.
“I just
couldn’t get the calls mixed up as the safety calls,” he said. “Then I had to
take different angles when I’m tackling and approaching the ball carrier. Then
from nickel I blitz too, so learning all the blitzes and everything.”
Dale
returned to Pullman for WSU’s Pro Day two weeks ago and dropped by a few
practices and scrimmages to watch his old teammates and mentor his successor.
“I was
just having him coach me up, asking him about certain things to look at,
certain things he would do in situations,” Thomas said. “… So say if I’m
blitzing and the tackle’s kicking kind of hard, should I try to beat him on the
outside or should I try to countermove him? Just stuff like that.
“I’m ready
for whatever. … I’ll do whatever they need me to do.”
::::::::::::::
Registration
open to attend WSU Football Coach Mike Leach’s session on “Insurgent Warfare
and Football Strategies”
April 17,
2019 from Pullman Radio News
General
public registration is being accepted for those who want to attend WSU football
coach Mike Leach’s final seminar session on “Insurgent Warfare and Football
Strategies.”
The free
session is Friday night at 7:30 in The Spark building on campus.
Space is limited
and registration confirmation and photo ID will be required at the door. You can register to attend the session in
person here
A free
livestream of the session doesn’t require registration. Watch the session here
http://global.wsu.edu/seminar%20
#
