::: Story from Lewiston
(Idaho) Tribune quotes Coach Mike Walker .:::
Recruiting
without borders at WSU
Under
Leach's watch, Cougars haven't been shy about looking outside of Washington for
players
By Dale
Grummert, Lewiston Tribune, Sept 13 2018
In trying
to persuade young football players to come to rural, cozy Pullman, Washington
State football recruiters are still reciting many of the same selling points
they've been reciting for decades: a family atmosphere, a safe environment,
strong academic support.
But now
they're more likely to do this reciting in California or elsewhere than in
Washington.
Coming off
three straight bowl bids and continually expanding their recruiting footprint
under seventh-year coach Mike Leach, the Cougars this season have only 24
Washingtonians on their roster, down 13 from last year and probably one of
their lowest totals ever. Of the 24, only five are starters.
During
their 2002 Rose Bowl season, by contrast, they had 70 in-state players. Since
then, they've endured some extremely lean times, hired a high-profile coach and
recast many of their methods, on and off the field.
The trend
will be evident when spectators scan the rosters for an intrastate duel
Saturday (5 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) at Martin Stadium. The Cougars' FCS
opponent, Eastern Washington, has 82 in-state players.
The Cougs
have long scoured California for recruits, especially at the skill positions.
"We like to say that the heart and soul of this football team is from the
state of Washington," then-coach Mike Price said two decades ago. "But
the arms and legs are from California."
Now there
are more of those arms and legs. When Leach was hired late in 2011, he wanted
to establish a recruiting base where he could collect as many commitments as
possible before signing day in February 2012. He chose Southern California, and
made a decent haul there. Since then, he has only increased his focus on that
area, as well as other parts of the state. This year's roster includes 42
players from California.
At the
same time, he has revisited some of the regions that served him well during his
decade at Texas Tech.
"The
success we've had the last few years, the national exposure, has kind of caused
us to branch out a little bit," said WSU football chief of staff Dave
Emerick, a longtime Leach aide who oversees his recruiting. "The last few
years we've gotten more into Florida, we've gone back into Texas a little bit.
Then if a kid reaches out and is interested in us, from basically any part of
the United States, we'll reciprocate the interest and work on forming a
relationship."
In the
process of branching out, Leach has de-emphasized in-state recruiting. Previous
coaches briefly went in a similar direction. Jim Walden's 1981 roster included
only 36 Washingtonians. Price's 1993 club had just 29. But more often the
figure has been in the 50s or higher.
Essentially,
Leach has decided to pursue, say, a 3- to 4-star prospect from California
rather than a possibly lower-rated athlete from the Evergreen State. As for the
highly regarded Washington prospects, many of them are doing what they've often
done. They're staying on the west side of the Cascades and joining the Huskies
rather than crossing the state and playing at isolated Wazzu. The University of
Washington roster this year includes 51 in-state players.
"We
try to recruit the state as best we can," Emerick said, "and we offer
a bunch of kids from the state. A lot of times the west-side kids that we go
against the Huskies for - it's tough, because the Huskies are right there. A
lot of them grew up being Husky fans. So that's been a little bit of a
challenge, going head-to-head against them. But we've had success with guys who
are kind of underrecruited for whatever reason - the Cole Madisons, the Andre
Dillards. There's a bunch of guys from the state that just took a little longer
to develop that we've had success with.
"Obviously,
with some of the positions, we can be more national," he said, alluding to
Leach's Air Raid offense. "Receivers obviously want to come here.
Quarterbacks obviously want to come here."
Mike
Walker, a former WSU assistant coach who worked for both Price and Bill Doba,
said Leach probably uses a sales pitch similar to that of his predecessors. But
he's got more to sell - such as the plush football-operations building whose
advent coincided with Leach's hiring.
"Shoot,
we didn't have the facilities they have now," Walker said.
"It's
totally different. It makes it a little bit easier to get a kid from California
or Arizona or wherever."
It isn't
just players who are traveling longer distances to get to Pullman. When Walker was
coaching here, he was one of several WSU alumni on the coaching staff. Now
there's none. Also, none of Leach's assistants is originally from Washington.
Of the 27 primary members of his overall staff, only three are from the state.
Oregon,
another school without a vast talent pool in its backyard, has also expanded
its footprint over the years. The Ducks have only 20 in-state players this
season. But every other Pac-12 school exceeds Oregon and WSU in that category.
Oregon State has 28 in-state players, Stanford 29, Utah 38, Arizona State and
Colorado 45 each, Arizona 53, USC 62, California 74 and UCLA 77.
It's easy
to look at all these numbers and theorize. As the Cougars have lowered their
profile in the Washington recruiting scene, the Huskies' on-field product has
taken one of its periodic upturns, all the way to the College Football Playoff
in 2016. On the FCS level, Eastern Washington continues to prosper. Between
them, the Huskies and Eagles are 6-0 over the Cougars the past five years.
Are these
schools capitalizing a bit on Washington State's diverted attention?
"I
don't think it makes a huge difference with UW, because they recruit pretty
nationally as well," Emerick said. "But, yeah, Eastern probably
benefits from us expanding our search a little bit."
Jay Dumas,
a WSU receiver in the 1990s who now coaches that position for Eastern
Washington, agrees the Eagles might be benefiting to some degree. But he points
out the complicated metrics of recruiting.
"Boise
State, the University of Washington, the Pac-12 - everyone is (recruiting) in
the state of Washington," Dumas said. "Just because Washington State
isn't recruiting the state as heavily as they used to does not necessarily mean
that we're not in a dogfight for players in the state.
"It
certainly doesn't make our job easier in terms of the in-state recruiting. But
there are some guys that we can continue to recruit because WSU doesn't. I
think that's where we're at in 2018. It's little bit different. I think it's
good for both schools."
::::::::
WSU
responds to report alleging inappropriate sexual conduct by former football
quarterback Jason Gesser
UPDATED:
Thu., Sept. 13, 2018, 3:13 p.m.
By Thomas
Clouse
Spokane
Spokesman-Review
Washington
State University officials announced Thursday that they found “no violation of
university policy” regarding an investigation into alleged inappropriate sexual
conduct by former quarterback, and current athletic staff member, Jason Gesser.
The
statement follows a story published Thursday by The Daily Evergreen, the
student newspaper at WSU, which cited hundreds of pages of investigative files
that indicated that Gesser made “multiple advances … on both student interns
and coworkers, including allegations of sexual relations and attempting to kiss
a co-worker after having dinner with a donor, as recently as 2017.”
According
to the story in the Daily Evergreen, the university launched an investigation
in December 2017 into myriad allegations regarding Gesser. It concluded that
probe in February finding no apparent policy violations.
The
university issued a statement by President Kirk Schulz and Athletic Director
Pat Chun at 12:10 p.m.
“We take
any allegation of sexual misconduct extremely seriously. A thorough review was
launched by the University’s Office for Equal Opportunity once university
administrators became aware of allegations against Mr. Gesser in December
2017,” the statement reads. “On multiple occasions, investigators interviewed
or attempted to interview all those allegedly involved. Following a
comprehensive evaluation of the information available, the Office for Equal
Opportunity found no violation of university policy.”
Gesser
starred for the Cougs from 1998-2002 and set the record for the most wins by a
WSU quarterback. After a six-year professional career and several coaching
stops, including a stint at Idaho, Gesser returned to Washington State in 2013.
He currently helps raise funds for the school as the assistant director of
athletics for the Cougar Athletic Fund. He did not immediately return a phone
message seeking comment.
Bill
Stevens, associate athletic director for communications, confirmed that Gesser
remains employed by the university but would not answer questions regarding the
investigation or the allegations.
“We are
going to stand behind the statement” from Schulz and Chun, Stevens said.
For the
past four football seasons, Gesser had been working the radio booth as an
analyst for home and away football broadcasts. But the IMG Sports Network,
which contracts with WSU, replaced Gesser in August with another former Cougar
quarterback, Alex Brink.
At the
time, Stevens said the change was done to allow Gesser to allocate more time to
his job with the Cougar Athletic Fund. He was promoted to that position in
August 2017 after serving three years as the CAF’s director of
development/major gifts.
Asked
whether that change of radio analysts had anything to do with the sexual
misconduct allegations, Stevens directed the question to IMG. Mike Scanlan, of
IMG, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Among the
allegations in the documents obtained by the Daily Evergreen were reports that
Gesser had sexual relations with an intern who worked directly under him.
Investigators
also interviewed a former WSU employee who worked for the athletic department
with Gesser. According to the records obtained by the student newspaper, Gesser
made unsolicited advances towards his female colleague during a dinner in
Pullman.
“I don’t
remember exactly all the exchange, but there was an advancement to kiss me,
which caught me off guard, nor did I lean in or encourage that,” she said in
the records. “It was purely one-sided.”
The former
employee also said Gesser sent her several “suggestive” texts, including once
inviting her to his hotel room while on the road.
“They were
suggestive of sexual things,” she told investigators according to the Daily
Evergreen. “I can say confidently suggestive.”
The former
employee, who said she worked in a role below Gesser in the athletics
hierarchy, also told investigators that she “never felt harassed or assaulted”
by her interactions with Gesser.
Schulz and
Chun said in the statement that the university followed “its established
procedures to review the matter and found no violation of Washington State
University policy. The allegations were taken seriously and addressed at the
appropriate level.”
The
records also show that Matt Almond, general manager at WSU IMG, said he went to
Gesser as a “friend and a neighbor” to inform him of the allegations he had
heard, according to the Daily Evergreen’s story. However, Gesser later learned
that Almond had turned those allegations into human resources.
“He texted
me and asked to meet with me,” Almond said in the records. “He aggressively
came into his office, accused me of ruining his life, his marriage and his
kids’ lives.”
Almond
also said he was told to “shut my mouth and stay in my lane,” but he did not
identify who relayed that directive to him, according to the records.
As part of
the public documents reviewed by the Daily Evergreen was a complaint made by a
donor that Gesser used university funds in 2016 to fly a woman, who had no
connection to the school, to a Cougar Legends golf event in Cle Elum.
While not
directly addressing that allegation, the Schulz and Chun statement noted that
the school audited Gesser’s travel receipts in his role as a fundraiser. “A
$39.78 overcharge was identified,” the statement said. “Mr. Gesser has since
reimbursed the University for the full amount.”
:::::
LINK TO
GOUG CENTER 9/13/2018 POSTING …
https://www.cougcenter.com/…/jason-gesser-wsu-cougars-inves…
..
HEADLINES:
“Report:
WSU looked into sexual misconduct allegations against Jason Gesser
“A public
records request by The Daily Evergreen showed no official finding, but the
pattern was strong enough to forward the matter to human resources.”
LINK TO
9/13/2018 DAILY EVERGREEN STORY …
https://dailyevergreen.com/…/records-show-numerous-allegat…/
…
HEADLINES:
“Records
show numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against Jason Gesser
“Schulz
knew of many claims about advances on student interns, donor event actions”
::::::::::::::::
WSU
FOOTBALL
Ryan’s
return: Former Washington State QB Ryan Leaf talks analyst debut, Tyler
Hilinski and 2018 Cougars in wide-ranging Q&A
Thu.,
Sept. 13, 2018, 5 a.m.
By Theo
Lawson
Spokane
Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN –
Ryan Leaf may have gone unnoticed the last time he ventured to the Palouse to
visit his alma mater. During the summer of 2017, he and fiancee Anna Kleinsorge
– then pregnant with the couple’s first child – toured the Washington State
campus and visited the Cougars’ football facilities, which had undergone renovations
since Leaf’s last visit in 2011.
“I kind of
came in in the cover of dark,” Leaf said, “because no one was around in the
summer and just got a workout in, went and saw the field, new facilities and
then we were headed on our little sojourn we were on.”
Leaf
returned to Pullman last weekend – not nearly the ghost he was during last
summer’s pass through.
Making his
debut as a color analyst for the Pac-12 Networks, Leaf joined Guy Haberman, his
co-host at Sirius XM Pac-12 Radio, and Cindy Brunson, a former SportsCenter
anchor who once was a classmate of Leaf’s at the Murrow College of
Communication, on Saturday night’s broadcast of WSU’s home opener against San
Jose State.
Some
Cougar fans knew Leaf would be in the broadcast booth beforehand and the rest
knew by the second quarter, when WSU recognized the former All-American
quarterback and Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year during a TV timeout and
showed him on the jumbotron in the east end zone.
“That was
kind of supposed to be a surprise, I guess,” Leaf said. “Which it was – of
course pleasant.”
Just three
days removed from the San Jose State game, Leaf, who will be back in Pullman on
Saturday as a color analyst for WSU’s game against Eastern Washington, answered
a few questions while biding time during an airport layover in Houston. The
one-time Heisman finalist critiques his TV debut, talks about Tyler Hilinski
and assesses the 2018 Cougars.
The
Spokesman-Review: What’s the feeling like when you return to Pullman?
Ryan Leaf:
It will always mean a lot to me just because what it gave me and how special it
was. This weekend was a little tough. I think it was kind of under the (Bill)
Moos regime, it was kind of mandated that, let’s keep our distance from Ryan.
And I understand that. I understand that totally, so I don’t have any
resentment toward that. I just wanted everybody’s message to match up with
their actions, that’s all. So it was nice and I just kind of wanted it to
happen organically and it did in the case where the Pac-12 Network had hired me
and asked me to be on the broadcast. So it kind of happened organically in the
way it was supposed to.
S-R: Had
the school reached out about recognizing you during the second quarter of the
SJSU game?
RL: No,
they didn’t. That was kind of supposed to be a surprise, I guess. Which it was
– of course pleasant. But in this new job I’m a color guy and it’s supposed to
be observe, articulate and just stay out of the story. So it was something I
didn’t need or anything, but it was really kind of them, of course. And it was
great that the first call in my broadcasting career was a Washington State
game. I thought that was super special.
S-R: Were
you nervous or anxious before your first TV broadcast?
RL: I
think really the best analogy is, kind of like a rookie quarterback I kind of
stumbled around my first quarter and then kind of started to feel my groove in
the second and third and fourth quarter. And just had a blast. And it was over
before I knew it and I was just like, ‘Damn it, I want to keep doing this.’ Luckily,
I get to do it again this weekend, but then I’m kind of in limbo and I have to
wait for another opportunity. I really liked doing it, I really liked watching
the game and educating people on the things I saw from a quarterback’s
perspective, but then also talking about the gamesmanship of it all. Whether
they should go for it on fourth down. The fact that (Gardner) Minshew ran the
ball on the last play of the first half, when like if he got tackled at the
1-yard line, they probably won’t get another play off and they don’t score a
touchdown there. So it was really a lot of fun.
S-R: So,
like a rookie quarterback, will you go back and watch game film?
RL: Oh
yeah, oh yeah. I’ve got the video and sat down with my fiancee and she’s really
good at giving me constructive criticism because she sits around enough with me
watching football games where I’m always spouting off at the television and
stuff, so she knows kind of the idea of what Chris Collinsworth is saying or
Joe Klatt or Kirk Herbstreit. So she was very constructive. She thought I was a
little fast early on, like a little excited. So I was kind of talking too fast,
then really got my pace down throughout the game and just kind of remembered I
was having a conversation with Guy. Which is easy because Guy’s my co-host on
my Sirius XM morning show, and he’s such a pro. He’s just awesome at what he
does and he really kind of tees it up for me.
S-R: If
you had to give yourself a letter grade …
RL:
Probably a C. Probably middle of the road. Plenty of room for improvement, but
definitely not an F.
S-R: Was
it meaningful to have Cindy Brunson there, too?
RL: I
think so. Cindy and I go back. We were in school at the same time, we were in
the Murrow Communication School at the same time together. I watched her rise
all the way up to SportsCenter and ESPN, and then she told me the story about
how she was on air when she had to report about me being arrested and just the
downfall there. So just to come full circle, both of us on the call, I think
was very meaningful. I love her to death.
S-R: What
was it like to hear the applause you got from WSU fans during the second
quarter?
RL: I
think, and I say this in such a positive way, that no matter what, the fanbase
of Washington State University never, ever gave up on me. They unconditionally
cared about me for 24 years and that never swayed at all. It was just a
reaffirmed feeling. I don’t think a lot of people knew I was actually there on
the call and those that found out, it was something pretty special to have
25,000 people stand up and kind of just appreciate you – not for what you
necessarily did but also what you’ve overcome and the person you’ve become,
which I think is the most important part of it all.
S-R: What
did it mean to be there when the school was honoring Tyler Hilnski?
RL: I
think it was meaningful. I’ve become pretty close with Kym and Mark (Hilinski)
and their family and wanted to be there to support them in any way I could do
it. I was a little disappointed in the opportunity missed by the university to
truly honor him. I think they honored awareness, but I don’t necessarily know
if they honored him. And I understand the direction they’re going with the
guidance of the mental health professionals and things like that, but I thought
that was a missed opportunity. But really liked to see them raise the flag in
honor of Tyler and Pat Chun’s been very upfront about it. This is something
that the university didn’t ask for, but they are ever present at the forefront
of it and I think it’s now their responsibility to be at the front of it and
shine a spotlight on him. And I think they’re attempting to do that. They’ve
done a lot, they can do more and they can be better and I think they would agree.
S-R:
General impressions of the Cougars?
RL: Well
for me it’s defensively. That offense is going to generate points and throw the
football, be dynamic. But for me the big question mark was what they were going
to look like with the loss of Alex Grinch. I really think they’re the reason,
the defense is the reason they’ve been so successful the last three years.
Which isn’t to take anything away from Mike Leach and that offense, it’s just
that he’s never had a comparable defense that could really stop people. When
there were nights they couldn’t do much offensively, they just flat-out stopped
people and I had a question mark on what Tracy Claeys was going to bring to the
table and sure enough the first two weeks, he puts together the sixth-lowest
and the first-lowest defensive totals in the Mike Leach era. So I think he’s
got a pretty good hand on things now. The competition’s going to get much
better and this Eastern Washington offense is very, very good for an FCS
football team. So I’m really interested in the game and of course two weeks
from now, they go down to USC that Friday night and we’re really going to get a
good idea of what they’re going to bring to the table when it comes to the
competition within the conference.
S-R: Aside
from the household names, did anyone on that defense really stand out to you?
RL: Jahad
Woods. The comparison Tracy made to him is he’s kind of like a guy he used to
coach named Bart Scott, who’s pretty darn good. So it was fun to watch him. I
find that the corners do a pretty good job. They play a lot of Cover 4, so
they’re going to be out on an island most of the time and I was pretty
impressed with that. But defensive front-wise, their ability to get to the
quarterback I thought was outstanding and that’s what really disrupted that
football team and they barely got over 100 yards of total offense, which is
crazy.
S-R: Is it
special to see another No. 16 out there playing quarterback?
RL:
(Laughs) Yeah, it was fun to see. It hadn’t been on a quarterback for almost
over 20 years and I’m not really a big proponent for retiring jerseys. I think
they should be celebrated and records were made to be broken. So it was nice to
see him and he does such a tremendous job. He knows how to play in that offense
and I think he’s going to be very successful with the Cougars this year.
S-R: You
were able to spend some time with Gardner the day before the game. What was the
conversation like with him?
RL: I
didn’t get to spend much time. I talked to him a little about what it’s like to
be here. He’s traveled quite a bit to come to a place where he gets a chance to
lead a team. I actually told him that this fraternity of quarterbacks here at
Washington State is second to none and if there’s anything I can do for him or
be there for him, if there’s anything he’s going through, that’s what I kind of
told him and he was very respectful and tremendously fun to watch the next
night.
S-R: Will
you change your season prediction of the Cougars after wins over Wyoming and
SJSU?
RL:
(Laughs again) No, I had them winning these two games. I had them beating
Eastern Washington. I think after seeing Arizona play, there might be a fifth
win in there. I don’t know, they have to prove something to me and this
weekend’s going to be a proving point because Eastern beat them two years ago
and that quarterback (Gage Gubrud), it was his first start ever. So he’s got a
lot of experience now. But yeah I think they probably could get to six wins. If
that defense is able to stand up to the Pac-12, then definitely they might be
able to get there and possibly get to another bowl game – a fourth in a row,
which would be incredibly impressive. I think a six-win season this year would
be a good testament to what was ahead of them this year.
S-R: Could
you see this broadcast thing lasting a while?
RL: For
sure. What I took away from not only shadowing people last fall, but then also
getting the opportunity to do it last week was that A) I can be good at it and
B) I really want to do it. So those were kind of the two things I needed the
answers to and I think I found them, so definitely something I want to do the
further it gets down the line here.
…
Sat.,
Sept. 8, 2018, 11:59 p.m.
By Vince
Grippi Spokane S-R
Washington
State offense finds fourth-down success in first half against San Jose State
When Andy
Grammer’s song, “Back Home,” resonated through Martin Stadium Saturday night
during the second quarter of Washington State’s relatively easy 31-0 win over
San Jose State, it had special meaning for one member of the Pac-12 Network broadcast
crew.
Cindy
Brunson was back home.
No longer
was she sitting in the stands, the former ESPN SportsCenter anchor was on the
field, microphone in hand, serving as the sideline reporter, sure, but more
importantly to her, representing Cougars everywhere.
Since she
graduated in 1996, she’s returned to Washington State often, just not in this
capacity with football. Nor had another of the network’s crew Saturday night,
analyst Ryan Leaf, making his debut in that role after working the studio show
in the past.
They were
both rookies, in a sense, but veterans in other ways.
For Leaf,
he spent many a Saturday exciting Cougar fans with a right arm that earned him
a special spot in WSU history and a ticket to the NFL. For Brunson, as she sat
in the student section in the mid-1990s, she had different goals.
“Honestly
I just looked forward to talking about the Cougars on a national scene at
ESPN,” she said in an interview a few hours before the game began. “That was
always my goal.”
It was her
goal even when she hosted the aptly named “Talking Sports” on WSU’s Cable 8.
One of her guests: Ryan Leaf.
“We go way
back,” she said.
After a
short stint in the late ‘90s at KHQ – she said she began looking to leave when
she wasn’t allowed the time to attend (on her own dime) the 1997 Rose Bowl, as
Leaf and the Cougars played Michigan – and another in Portland, she arrived in
Bristol in 1999.
“With my
agent I said my goal is to get to ESPN,” Brunson related, “and when I get
there, I want it in my contract that if Washington State goes to the Rose Bowl,
that I get a window of opportunity to fly to that game.”
The agent
got the clause. She was at the Rose Bowl when the Jason Gesser-led Cougars
played Oklahoma in 2003.
She admits
she’s a die-hard Cougar fan, first and foremost, but understands while
fulfilling her sideline role she has to subjugate that to the demands of being
a reporter, the ethics of which she learned at the then-named Edward R. Murrow
School of Communication.
But, as an
employee of the Pac-12 Networks, she can be a bit more boosterish when a
non-Pac-12 school, like the Spartans or next week’s foe, Eastern Washington, is
the opponent.
“We can be
a little more, quote, unquote ‘Cougar friendly,’ if you will on this broadcast,
because no one wants to see the Spartans beat a Pac-12 team, let alone WSU,”
said Brunson, who moved west with her husband, Steve Berthiaume when in 2012 he
accepted a job as the TV voice for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
It’s a bit
ironic that Leaf was in the booth Saturday night, next to play-by-play voice
Guy Haberman, as Brunson was sitting in the SportsCenter anchor chair when word
broke of another Leaf arrest in 2012. It was part of the years of trouble Leaf
has battled through.
“It was
difficult,” she said. “I had to read the report on the air of him getting
arrested. … It was heartbreaking. So to go from that, and to see where he is
now, and to call him a colleague now at Pac-12 Network, it’s just so wonderful.
It makes my heart smile.”
Leaf’s
first outing as an analyst was a bit of work in progress, like a rookie
quarterback in their first game.
His
analysis of the Washington State’s passing game was in-depth, though he
sometimes used terms, like “flipper,” that even had Haberman wondering what he
meant. But if you wanted to know how a play worked, or didn’t, Leaf had the
explanation. He was also willing to criticize questionable calls from everyone
connected to the game, including the officials.
His
constant use of first names, however, was a little jarring and he did make the
rookie mistake of mentioning an on-field interloper. For a first game, though,
he seemed comfortable enough to build on it next week.
It must
have been comforting for Leaf to work with two long-time professionals
Haberman, who was solid on the play-by-play, and Brunson, who added information
when needed.
And it’s
also a bit serendipitous that Brunson was in Pullman on a weekend when
Washington State asked members of the Hilinski family to raise the Cougar flag
following last January’s suicide in Pullman of their son and brother, Tyler,
who should have been starting at quarterback Saturday.
As a
journalist, Brunson matter-of-factly discussed the broadcast plans, explaining
the pregame events were going to be shown during the game – the network wanted
to wait until other games were finished so everyone had joined the broadcast,
she said.
But it
never happened in the first half, which was a glaring oversight. After all it
was Washington State’s first chance to publicly acknowledged the tragedy in a
football setting. Kym and Mark Hilinski, Tyler’s parents, as well as his
brothers Kelly and Ryan and others, raised the Cougar flag before the game in
an emotional ceremony. We didn’t see it on the broadcast until midway in the
third quarter.
The came
on the heels of the first mention, when athletic director Patrick Chun joined
Leaf and Haberman in the booth and talked in-depth about what WSU has done and
is continuing to do concerning suicide awareness.
Washington
State also has a Hilinski’s Hope flag that will fly this season, a ribbon on
the field for Suicide Prevention Awareness, the No. 3 decal on all WSU helmets
and have kept Hilinski’s locker, named the “Locker of Hope.”
Brunson,
though, said before the game she would have liked more. Voicing thoughts she
said are born of her identity as a Cougar fan, she wishes WSU had opened the
game with a missing-man formation, as Maryland did last week for Jordan McNair,
a freshman offensive lineman who died during offseason workouts.
While she
understands the university’s actions – emphasizing a message of hope and help –
and the reasons behind them, she sees as a missed opportunity to give the
Cougar faithful a visible chance to show their feelings.
“It’s the
first home game,” she said. “The Hilinskis are here. And you can let the
Hilinskis know, who, honestly after meeting Mark and his son Ryan at the airport
a couple of days ago, they want a little bit more from the university.
“We want
to get on our feet and give No. 3 a standing ovation and how much he meant to
us and how much we loved him,” she added. “We want the Hilinskis to feel that.”
:::::::::::::::::
What grade
does WSU quarterback Gardner Minshew give himself? ‘I would say 2-0’
Originally
published September 12, 2018 at 10:03 am Updated September 12, 2018 at 8:07 pm
Through
two games, everything is going great for the graduate transfer, who says 'there
is no place you would rather be than Martin Stadium on a Saturday.'
By Scott
Hanson Seattle Times
What’s not
to love?
These are
certainly fun times for Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew, the
graduate transfer from East Carolina who first prevailed in a three-way battle
to become the starting QB, and has now led the team to 2-0 record.
“I am
having so much fun,” he said Tuesday evening after practice. “Winning is always
fun, and doing it here is a lot of fun. I feel like we have a good team, a
great coaching staff and great fans. And they are really making it a good
experience.”
After
deciding to leave East Carolina, Minshew had committed to playing his final
season at Alabama, where he almost certainly would have been a backup before
beginning a career in coaching there.
But then
WSU coach Mike Leach called, and soon Minshew was Pullman-bound, where he had a
much better opportunity to play. And to throw. A lot.
Minshew
has completed 72 of 108 passes for 733 yards, with six touchdowns and three
interceptions. He is sixth in the nation in passing yards.
The WSU
offense sputtered in the second half of the Cougars’ 31-0 victory over San Jose
State on Saturday night, not scoring in that half until late in the fourth
quarter.
Leach
called out the offensive line, the receivers and the running backs. Minshew
might have escaped the criticism, but as the leader of the offense, he feels a
responsibility for how the entire unit performs.
“We are
all trying to get on the same page to where we can be successful, and my
responsibility lies on all of us, myself included – especially myself,” he
said. “It’s something we are attacking this week.”
Minshew
said the Cougars are looking at each week as a chance to get better, and the
goal is to be the most improved team each week.
“That’s
one thing we keep saying,” he said. “It’s week to week, and we have many
opportunities to get better.”
Minshew is
piling up the offensive stats, but he is focused on just one, which became
clear when asked what grade he would give himself through two games.
“I would
say 2-0,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s all that matters. Coaches
trust me at quarterback to win games, and that’s all I am trying to do, and we
can only do it one week at a time. So that’s all I am trying to do.”
To do
that, Minshew said there are things he needs to improve. The offense will
likely have to put up big numbers to beat FCS power Eastern Washington at home
on Saturday. Eastern defeated WSU 45-42 two seasons ago.
“I’ve got
to take care of the ball better,” he said. “I’ve got to throw fewer
interceptions. (Interceptions), that’s something I can’t have. Just continue to
make plays and getting more on the same page with our receivers, and getting
our chemistry better every week.”
Minshew
said playing in his first game at Martin Stadium last week “felt like home.” He
is from Brandon, Miss., a town of around 22,000, close to the size of Pullman.
Minshew
said he feels comfortable with his new town, and his new offense, despite not
joining the team until the start of fall camp in August.
So, what’s
not to love?
“I am
extremely happy to be here,” Minshew said. “There is no place you would rather
be than Martin Stadium on a Saturday, and I am very excited for the opportunity.”
#
