Rowing concludes regular season with sweep
Cougars fought rough weather en route to victory over
Bulldogs
By JACKSON GARDNER, Evergreen April 30, 2018
No. 15 WSU rowing completed a sweep and captured its second-straight
Fawley Cup against inland Northwest rival Gonzaga University on Saturday in
Spokane.
In the final regatta before the Cougars set their sights on
the Pac-12 Championships, WSU notched wins in each event, including the Fawley
Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the first varsity eight.
“The team took care
of business … with our last tune-up before the Pac-12 Championships in two
weeks,” WSU Head Coach Jane LaRiviere said in a WSU news release. “I’m looking
forward to having exams be over and heading to Sacramento.”
The weather was not ideal, but the Cougars battled through a
gloomy 40-degree morning on Silver Lake with winds gusting about 10 miles per
hour.
The regatta kicked off with the second varsity fours where
WSU raced a third varsity four as well.
WSU thumped the Bulldogs in the opening race as both Cougar
crews, who finished about a second apart, beat Gonzaga by about 15 seconds.
The ensuing race between the first varsity fours gave WSU a
run for its money. The Cougars passed the finish line with just a little less
than a boat’s length lead, good for about a four-second difference between the
crews.
After the varsity fours concluded their races, the second
varsity eights got their turn. First, WSU’s second varsity eight lined up
against Gonzaga’s second varsity eight and cruised past their opponents to the
tune of about a 10-second difference at the finish line.
In the race for the Fawley Cup, both schools’ first varsity
eights squared off. The Cougars beat Gonzaga by about a boat’s length in the
biggest race of the morning. WSU’s first varsity eight clocked in at 6:24.07
with Gonzaga trailing by about five seconds at 6:29.66.
Now the only remaining hardware WSU has a chance to claim
could lead them to the NCAA Championships.
The Cougars will have two weeks to prepare for the Pac-12
Championships on May 13 before they head down to Gold River, California, and
dip their oars in Lake Natoma.
………..
Athletes see dreams of making it to NFL come true
Falk was drafted at same spot Tom Brady was at selected in
2000
By DYLAN GREENE, Evergreen sports editor April 29, 2018
The 2018 NFL Draft saw two WSU football players selected
while a handful of other Cougars were signed as undrafted free agents. Below is
a list of WSU players who will have a chance to prove themselves at the next
level.
Cole Madison
With the first pick in the fifth round of the draft, the
Green Bay Packers selected WSU offensive lineman Cole Madison.
During his career as a Cougar, Madison earned All-Pac-12
honors three times and started 47 games, tied for the second-most in program
history.
Luke Falk
After being one of the top prospects available for nearly
two rounds of the draft, quarterback Luke Falk heard his named called when the
Tennessee Titans selected him as the 199th overall pick in the sixth round.
Another notable quarterback was taken at the exact same spot
in 2000 by the New England Patriots — five-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.
Earlier this week, Falk thought he would be taken in the
first or second round, but the Pac-12’s record-holder in career-passing yards
suffered a bit of a free fall.
Falk will have to compete with former University of Oregon
quarterback Marcus Mariota if he wants the starting job in Tennessee. Mariota
has been the Titans’ starter for the past three seasons.
Hercules Mata’afa
Nearly an hour after the conclusion of the draft Saturday,
defensive lineman Hercules Mata’afa signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an
undrafted free agent.
Mata’afa was selected to the All-Pac-12 team three times
during his career at WSU and was named a consensus All-American this past
season.
Daniel Ekuale
Defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale signed with the Cleveland
Browns as an undrafted free agent.
Ekuale received an offer from the Oakland Raiders as well,
but chose the Browns because he believes he has a better chance of making the team
in Cleveland, according to The Seattle Times.
Ekuale appeared in 51 games in his four years at WSU,
recording 71 tackles and three sacks and forcing two fumbles.
Frankie Luvu
Linebacker Frankie Luvu inked a deal with the New York Jets
as an undrafted free agent.
The American Samoa native racked up 110 tackles, eight
sacks, two interceptions and scored one touchdown on a 40-yard fumble recovery
during his time as a Cougar.
Dylan Hanser
Three-year letter winner and rush linebacker Dylan Hanser
signed with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent.
Over his WSU career, Hanser saw the field in 40 games,
tallying 58 tackles and one sack and blocking one punt.
Gerard Wicks
Running back Gerard Wicks announced over Twitter on Sunday
that he signed as an undrafted free agent with the New Orleans Saints.
Wicks rushed for 19 touchdowns over his career at WSU, tied
for 10th-most in school history, and racked up 1,475 yards on the ground in 45
games.
Unsigned
Offensive lineman Cody O’Connell, running back Jamal Morrow
and kicker Erik Powell still have yet to be signed by NFL teams, but have
received minicamp invitations from a handful of teams.
…………..
WSU could take on $30M in debt
Risk of system failure threatens university's business
functions, such as paying employees
By Taylor Nadauld, Moscow
Pullman Daily News 5/2/2018
Washington State University officials feel they have
"no choice" but to consider taking on $30 million in debt to finance
the modernization of the university's failing, 38-year-old mainframe computer
system, which poses significant risks to WSU's basic business functions, WSU
Vice President for Marketing and Communications Phil Weiler said.
The Washington State University Board of Regents will
consider the initiation of the Finance and Human Resources Modernization
Project, a university-wide effort to prevent failure of the mainframe system
and provide WSU with core finance and human resources software, at their
meeting in June, according to the board's upcoming agenda. The board will not
vote on the action item at their regular meeting this week.
One-time project costs would not exceed $30 million and
would be repaid in no more than 22 years, according to a future action item
listed on the agenda for the board's Finance and Compliance Committee meeting
this Friday in Spokane.
According to university documents, WSU's failing mainframe
system poses "significant risk" to WSU's ability to perform basic
business functions and requires immediate action as the project is projected to
take three years to complete.
While risk has been growing "due to years of
inaction," awareness of the impending risk peaked in 2014, when a glitch
in the legacy system threatened to leave more than 1,500 WSU employees unpaid
at the busiest pay cycle of the year, documents state.
The situation is so dire that a crash of the system could
mean not being able to cut employee checks, Weiler said.
"This is such an old system that there are almost no
people left alive who know how to navigate this," Weiler said.
WSU President Kirk Schulz would have the final say on the
item's passing were it given a green light by the board. It would be a change
of course for the president, who has attempted to get the university out of
debt, most recently by announcing sweeping, department-wide budget cuts to
address WSU's $30 million in annual deficit spending. Schulz also previously
vowed to halt capital projects that do not have fully identified sources of
funding.
In a July memo from Schulz in which he addressed a plan for
long-term financial stability, the president stated WSU would "continue to
place a hold on any capital projects for which funding is not fully identified
and in hand," adding even projects for which funding is available might
require delay to avoid spending into reserves.
The up-to $30 million price tag would be funded through debt
financing, which will be repaid using $3.1 million in revenues left over from
bonds that are scheduled to be paid off in the coming years, Weiler said.
Ongoing operation costs of up to $7 million associated with the project will be
covered with seed funds, the strategic reinvestment pool, enrollment growth
revenue and a new payroll tax assessed to units, according to agenda documents.
Were the item approved, WSU would enter into a contract this
summer with Workday, Inc., a California-based software company, which would
work with the university to complete user testing and training by spring 2020
and begin the optimization phase by summer 2021.
:::
Pullman bus routes to change
Officials say transit system to undergo 'complete overhaul'
in August
By Scott Jackson, Moscow
Pullman Daily News 5/2/2018
Bus routes in Pullman are about to change dramatically,
following a unanimous vote by the City Council approving the revamp Tuesday
night.
Pullman Transit Operations Supervisor Brad Rader said the
new system will alter existing routes as well as create new routes, all without
putting more buses on the road.
"(It is a) complete system overhaul," Rader said.
"We are changing everything."
He said the most notable changes will take place along the
"community routes," or the Blue, Silver and Loop routes.
"They are on 45 minute loops. We are decreasing that to
35 minutes so they come around more often," Rader said. "They
currently do 16 loops a day. They're now going to do 21."
While the new community routes will bear some resemblance to
current routes of the same name, all of the routes have been reconfigured to
shorten the time needed to complete the loops.
Many of the stops bitten out of the loop routes will be
incorporated into a new route called the Paradise route, which will also assume
responsibility for stops along Old Wawawai Road.
Other major changes will take place along express routes
responsible for ferrying students to campus from Northwood, Westwood and Merman
drives.
Rader said routes near "Apartment Land" are in such
high demand buses are liable to fill up, which can be problematic.
"By the time they get down to Emerald Downs and
Providence Court - we call that lower Valley - students are watching two and
three buses go by full," Rader said.
Rader said to address the issue, his department elected to
shift from two express routes with three buses on each to three routes serviced
by two buses each. He said this will establish the "Coug Express"
route.
"We're going to send all six buses in the same
direction. That's going to equate to a bus coming through there every five
minutes," Rader said.
He said the two existing express routes - Gray and Crimson -
will see relatively little change.
The new Coug Express route will be nearly identical to Gray,
Rader said, except the route will visit stops along Terre View Drive and Brandi
Way.
"The expansion on the community service - the Paradise
route - that's paid for by us," Rader said. "The express buses - we
didn't throw any money at the problem. We're just going to try and take what we
have and see if there's a better, more efficient way to run the system."
Rader said other noteworthy adjustments include changes to
the two routes running 6:30 p.m. to midnight. He said the North and South
routes will be shifted to articulate circuits that will bring residents closer
to commercial hubs without having to board another bus.
"If you live in Military Hill and you want to get to
Safeway, you get on one bus and it will take you there - there's no
transferring," Rader said.
The North and South routes will also be changing their names
to Wheat and Lentil.
Pullman Transit has adjusted its bus routes frequently in
recent years, Rader said, but ideally this latest revamp will be the end of the
changes.
"This is a stable system - the most efficient, best way
to serve the citizens of Pullman, the students of WSU (and) the entire town,
and stop making all these yearly changes," Rader said.
Route changes will take effect Aug. 16.
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