Running
backs coach Jim Mastro leaves Washington State for same title at Oregon
UPDATED:
Sat., Jan. 20, 2018, 11:34 a.m.
By Theo
Lawson
Spokane
Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN –
Jim Mastro, the running backs coach who gave life to the ground game at
Washington State and won a few major recruiting battles along the way, has
accepted the same position at the University of Oregon, according to multiple
reports.
Mastro had
been linked to the job for more than a week and apparently accepted the Ducks’
offer last week, but “wanted this week to be all about Tyler Hilinski and his
family,” Sports Illustrated’s Bruce Feldman reported. The Cougars are still
mourning the death of Hilinski, the WSU quarterback who committed suicide
Tuesday, and held a candlelight vigil for him in front of Martin Stadium Friday
evening.
One of the
longest-tenured assistant coaches on Mike Leach’s staff, Mastro leaves Pullman
after five years of reshaping and rebuilding WSU’s run game – often the lost
dimension of Leach’s pass-based Air Raid offense. In 2016 and 2017, Mastro’s
running backs posted back-to-back seasons of 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000
receiving – something that hadn’t been done previously at WSU.
Under
Mastro’s tutelage, Jamal Morrow became one of the most productive offensive
players in school history and finished with 4,219 all-purpose yards, third most
all-time at WSU. A two-time All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention recipient, he scored
23 career touchdowns, which ranks seventh all-time.
Mastro
becomes the third Leach assistant to leave WSU for Oregon, and the second in as
many years.
Former
Ducks coach Willie Taggart hired defensive line coach Joe Salave’a from the
Cougars shortly after he was hired in December of 2016. David Yost was Leach’s
inside receivers coach for three seasons before fleeing to Eugene to become the
QBs coach and passing game coordinator. Salave’a is still on the Ducks staff,
but Yost now coaches at Utah State.
Nearly one
month before his departure, Mastro, who was also renowned for his proficiency
on the recruiting trail, delivered the Cougars a final gift by convincing
highly-touted three-star running back prospect Max Borghi to sign with the
Cougars. Borghi chose WSU over Pac-12 North rival Stanford – usually a dream
destination for running back prospects – and did so largely because of the
relationship he’d forged with Mastro.
“It’s a
dream school itself, just with what coach Mastro’s done with the last running
backs,” Borghi told The Spokesman-Review in December. “And how they plan to use
me, I’m excited. … (Mastro) is someone I really enjoy being around and I know I
can get coached by.”
Before his
stint with the Cougars, Mastro spent 11 seasons with the University of Nevada
and is recognized as a co-developer of the Pistol offense, alongside former
Wolf Pack head coach Chris Ault. There, he coached Colin Kaepernick and helped
Nevada become the first school in FBS history to produce three 1,000-yard
rushers in the same season (Kaepernick, Vaia Taua and Luke Lippincott).
Mastro is
the third assistant to leave WSU this offseason. Former defensive coordinator
Alex Grinch left to become a co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State and
ex-outside linebackers coach Roy Manning accepted a position as the special
teams coordinator at UCLA.
According
to a public USA Today database listing FBS assistant coaching salaries, Mastro
earned the seventh-highest salary of WSU assistants in 2017, making a base
annual sum of $251,500.
His
replacement will inherit a running backs group that includes James Williams, a
420-yard rusher in 2017 whose 71 receptions were best among both receivers and
running backs. Williams scored seven touchdowns as a redshirt sophomore. The
Cougars also return Keith Harrington and bring in Borghi, who’s already on
campus and could have a prominent role in the offense as a true freshma
………..
Tyler Hilinski memorial at WSU
Not sure
if you can see this five photo slide show posted at Moscow Pullman Daily News
website, but on chance you can, URL link below
http://dnews.com/tyler-hilinski-memorial-at-wsu/collection_2c1bd028-fbda-11e7-8297-431011cade98.html
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Washington
State’s Tyler Hilinski remembered at emotional candlelight vigil in Pullman
Fri., Jan.
19, 2018, 11:31 p.m.
By Theo
Lawson
Spokane
S-R
PULLMAN –
Arm in arm, Washington State football players crowded around the iconic bronze
Cougar statue that transformed into a makeshift memorial earlier this week and
formed a huddle. Football teams huddle all the time. This is one the Cougars
never expected to have.
Dozens of Tyler
Hilinski’s teammates – some current and some past – reconvened in Pullman
Friday night to mourn and remember the Washington State quarterback who took
his own life Tuesday at the young age of 21. Some of them walked to the
candlelight vigil from their nearby campus dormitories, while others flew to
the Palouse from different parts of the country to pay their respects to
someone who touched an entire football team with his radiant smile, charm and
charisma.
But Cougar
players made up only a small portion of the crowd attending the vigil on a
chilly, breezy, somber night in Pullman. An event that had only been announced
some 24 hours earlier by ASWSU President Jordan Frost and his team attracted
more than 1,000 people – and most stayed for nearly an hour, many of them
sobbing, leaning on the person beside them and embracing one another to mourn
the death of WSU’s young quarterback.
“To see
that reaction in such a quick time and all the departments that came together,”
Frost said. “You see athletics is here. Counseling and psychological services.
Everyone came together to put this on, on such short notice.”
There were
powerful moments throughout the evening, but none was more moving than when a
group of Washington State players guided Hilinski’s mother, Kym, father, Mark,
and older brother, Kelly, through a mass of people to the statue that students
and community members have turned into a shrine this week, laying down flowers,
candles, signed footballs, beer cans, personalized notes and other Cougar memorabilia.
Hilinski’s
parents, who arrived on Wednesday from their home in Irvine, California,
circled the memorial and crouched to the ground to read the hand-written notes
penned to their son. Kym placed a rubber bracelet at the foot of the statue.
She wore her son’s crimson letterman jacket and Kelly, who came to Pullman from
Ogden, Utah, was adorned in his brother’s grey No. 3 football sweatshirt.
“I love
you, kid,” Kelly said, pointing toward the sky as he walked away from the
statue.
Many of
Tyler Hilinski’s teammates wore red T-shirts, custom-made with his No. 3, and
special white Nike hats with the number stitched in red. The video screen
outside of WSU’s Beasley Coliseum flashed a message, “RIP 3,” throughout the
day. At one point during the vigil, crowd members lifted their arms in unison
and raised three fingers.
“The way
they described him was a very humble person,” said Frost, who didn’t know
Hilinski personally. “College sports are huge and being the guy, that’s hard.
But they said he never let that off. … The people who knew him closely and
loved him deeply, and that just tells you a lot about him.”
Kym
Hilinski and Mike Leach traded a long hug later in the evening, and the WSU
coach wrapped his arms around each player who came up to him and finally shared
an extended moment with the Cougars’ four-year starting QB, Luke Falk, who wept
throughout the evening and often covered his eyes with the bill of his “No. 3”
cap.
Leach, who
had been at his residence in Key West, Florida, arrived in Pullman on Thursday
night despite travel delays in Atlanta. The sixth-year coach, who recruited
Hilinski out of Claremont, California, held a candle and choked up as he held
Kym Hilinski.
Falk,
offensive lineman Cole Madison – who’s currently training for the NFL in
Florida – and cornerback Marcellus Pippins, who’s doing the same in the Seattle
area, were among the WSU players who traveled to be in Pullman Friday night.
Wide receiver C.J. Dimry and nickel Kirkland Parker, both former roommates of
Hilinski, also attended.
River
Cracraft, the former WSU receiver who now plays for the NFL’s Denver Broncos,
made the trip to Pullman with brother Skyler, also an ex-Cougar, and mother
Tracy. Linebacker Isaac Dotson, now living in Seattle, traveled across the
mountains to attend, as did former WSU QB Peyton Bender, who’s now a junior on
the University of Kansas football team.
Bender
signed a large poster with Hilinski’s photo, “Klink (Hilinski’s nickname),
Never forget the memories we made and times shared together! Love you brotha.”
Cracraft
also wrote a personalized message: “Klink, I love you brother. You’re safe now.
Rest in peace #3.”
WSU
President Kirk Schulz and wife Noel left a note for the Hilinski family: “You
will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers forever part of the Coug
Family. Tyler will be missed. #3.”
More than
a thousand candles were distributed to the crowd, although an exact attendance
figure wasn’t determined. In addition to the poster, people also had an
opportunity to sign personalized cards that will be donated to the Hilinski
family.
“I wanted to
bring them here together and have the opportunity to come feel together,” Frost
said. “So I haven’t been able to process it myself, how I feel about it, but
seeing everyone come tonight and having that chance to be together is what is
so special for me. So my heart is satisfied to see the support that we have
here.”
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