No. 16 Coug Soccer Closes Out nonconference with two weekend matches
NO. 16 SOCCER CLOSES OUT NONCONFERENCE WITH TWO WEEKEND
MATCHUPS
WSU hosts Montana and Cal Poly at Lo
wer Soccer Field.
From WSU Sports Info 9/12/2018
#16 WASHINGTON STATE (5-0-0, 0-0-0 Pac-12)
vs. Montana (1-4-2, 0-0-0 Big Sky) | Fri., Sept. 14 | 7 p.m.
vs Cal Poly (0-4-3, 0-0-0 Big West) | Sun., Sept. 16 | 11
a.m.
OPENING XI
> Washington State enters the weekend unbeaten on the
year having won five-straight. The longest winning streak to start a season for
WSU is 7 done in 2015.
> WSU is one of 8 teams in DI still unbeaten and untied
in 2018.
> WSU enters the week ranked #16 in the coaches poll,
tying its highest ranking since 2015.
> The Cougars' remain ranked #12 in SoccerAmerica, the
second-highest ranking for WSU only behind a #11 ranking (twice) last in 2007.
> WSU plays two games in a weekend for the first time in
a month after playing single games each of the last three weekends.
> Eight different Cougars have scored the team's 11 goals
on the year with five different game-winning scorers.
> Maddy Haro ranks tied for No. 1 in the nation with a
1.00 assist per game average. She needs one more assist to tie for No. 10
all-time in career assists with 13.
> Late game success, the Cougars have scored 8 of 11
goals after halftime this season including three of five game-winners.
> WSU is 16th in the nation in goals against after
relinquishing just two goals in five games (0.339).
> Morgan Weaver enters the weekend tied for No. 9
all-time in career goals scored with 18.
> Maegan O'Neill scored her first goal of the season while
Hailey Smith scored her first career goal against Idaho.
OFFENSIVE DEPTH TAKING CENTER STAGE
With two-deep depth at every position it is no surprise that
the overall depth has shown through as the Cougars' have eight different goal
scorers accounting for 11 goals. The Cougs also have five different
game-winners on the year.
In addition, half the goals have come from the youth as
three freshmen and two sophomores have netted six goals, including three of
five game-winners, on the year.
………..
VOLLEYBALL
COUGARS: TOURNEY IN KENTUCKY
No. 22 ranked WSU heads to WKU for tournament weekend
From WSU Sports Info 9/12/2018
NO. 22 WASHINGTON STATE (7-0, 0-0 PAC-12)
vs. Northern Illinois (2-9, 0-0 MAC) | Fri., Sept. 14 | 8:00 a.m. PT
at Western Kentucky
(6-4, 0-0 C-USA) | Fri.,
Sept. 14 | 5:00 p.m. PT
vs. East Tennessee State (9-2, 0-0 SOCON) | Sat., Sept. 15 | 9:00 a.m. PT
> Radio
| https://wsucougars.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx
> Location
| Bowling Green, Kentucky (E.A. Diddle Arena)
QUICK NOTES
>> Washington State will come into the weekend still
undefeated at 7-0, picking up three wins last week during the 2018 Cougar
Challenge Tournament
>> The 2018 WKU Tournament will see the Cougars face
three nonconference opponents over two days in Northern Illinois, Western
Kentucky, and East Tennessee State.
>> Entering the weekend, the Cougs have moved up in
multiple stat rankings in the Pac-12 including Alexis Dirige in digs per set
(1st), Taylor Mims in kills per set (4th), Ashley Brown in assists per set
(5th), and Penny Tusa in total aces (3rd).
WSU Up One Spot In AVCA Coaches Poll
WSU enters the week now ranked 22nd overall in the latest
AVCA Division I Coaches Poll. The Cougars move up one spot from a week ago
after remaining undefeated on the year, downing McNeese State, Illinois State,
and Stony Brook in the 2018 Cougar Challenge.
Mims Records 1000 Career Kills
Senior Taylor Mims continued her offensive dominance, as she
has throughout her WSU tenure, totaling over 1,000 career kills Saturday
against Stony Brook. Mims is now just the 14th Cougar Volleyball player to
reach this feat in the program's history, and she currently sits at 1,004 kills
heading into the WKU Tournament weekend.
Urias Named 2018 Cougar Challenge MVP
The senior middle blocker earned Most Valuable Player honors
after helping lead the nationally ranked Cougars to three victories over this
past weekend. Jocelyn totaled 35 kills in three match-ups, 18 of which came
against Illinois State, a new career-high for the Tijuana, Mexico native. She
also went on to record a .561 overall attack percentage, three service aces,
8.0 total blocks, and eight digs throughout the tournament.
Dirige Leading The Pac-12 In Digs Per Set
The junior libero is currently ranked first overall in the
Pac-12 in digs per set with 4.83 this season. Alexis jumped in the statistics
after totally 45 overall digs, and 5.00 digs per set in the 2018 Cougar
Challenge Tournament this past weekend, as she helped anchor the defense to
three home victories. She posted back-to-back matches with 18 total digs
against Illinois State, and Stony Brook as well.
///////////////
Football
Coach Jay Dumas looking for new memories at WSU
By Dale Grummert, Lewiston Trib 9/14/2018
PULLMAN - Jay Dumas' memories of Washington State are
divided into two compartments.
He's got his playing days, catching passes from Drew
Bledsoe, Ryan Leaf and a bunch of other guys who weren't nearly as good.
But he's also got his first stint in Pullman, between the
ages of 6 to 12, while his parents from Philadelphia attended classes at Wazzu.
He remembers Ricky Turner and Clete Casper playing tag-team
quarterback for a 1981 club that reached the Holiday Bowl. He remembers the
Cougars ending a long dry spell against the Huskies, and fans uprooting the
goal posts at Martin Stadium.
His family lived near the WSU baseball field, so he
remembers watching John Olerud play for Bobo Brayton. At Friel Court, he
remembers the Cougs toppling an elite UCLA team on a Bryan Pollard tip-in.
His family moved to Tacoma in 1985, but Dumas returned to
Pullman to play for the Cougars seven years later, leading the team in
receptions in 1995.
"A lot of childhood memories," he said by phone
this week. "Obviously when I got a chance to play there for my college
career, it was a like a dream school for me."
But he'll be trying to form an entirely different sort of
memory when Eastern Washington (2-0), whose receivers he now coaches, plays
Washington State (2-0) on Saturday (5 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) at Martin Stadium.
Dumas, 44, has been coaching at the college level
intermittently for two decades, but this will be his first game against his
alma mater. If he's still the same Jay Dumas, the experience will mean
something to him.
"He's a very gregarious guy," said his former
receivers coach at WSU, the now-retired Mike Levenseller. "Very
fun-loving. He's got a major-league laugh, he's got a huge smile. And I'm sure
he coaches his kids that way. He can also get serious about it - knuckle down
and get things done. I always admired that about him."
The last time EWU came to Pullman, two years ago, the Eagles
of the FCS knocked off the Cougars 45-42. At the time, Dumas was coaching at
the high-school level in Yakima, but he nonetheless contributed to that
shocker. One of the stars of the game was Eagles receiver Cooper Kupp, now
playing for the Los Angles Rams. Dumas had coached Kupp in Yakima and, when the
major colleges showed no interest in Kupp, the coach helped steer him to
Eastern.
A year later, the Eagles hired Dumas, who thus resumed a
college coaching career that had included stints at Montana State and Western
Washington.
"Being back in the college game - the excitement is
there," he said. "But one thing I found is that, between the
high-school game and the college game, and having coached D-II and the Big Sky,
that feeling that you get on game day is always the same. The preparation is
always the same. And the opportunities you get to showcase how hard you work,
they're limited."
Dumas' WSU career bridged the Bledsoe and Leaf eras, a
period when the Quarterback U. legacy was superseded by the Palouse Posse
defensive mentality. So he's not surprised to face a Cougar team that happens
to rank second in the country in total defense.
"That's always been a signature of the really good
Cougar teams in the past," Dumas said. "Everybody thinks about the
quarterbacks, and with coach (Mike) Leach there, the Air Raid offense and
scoring a lot of points. But the thing that has made them great in the present
and in the past is when their defense is playing well. It just takes me back to
1994, when we had the worst offense in the nation and the best defense in the
nation and were able to win nine games."
The Cougar offense of that period was full of grinders, and
Dumas was one of them. Levenseller still remembers him returning a punt 72
yards for a touchdown, but he was known more for discipline and heart than
speed.
"The things he had to learn to be successful - he had
to learn to be a great technician," Levenseller said. "Often what
comes out of that is a pretty good coach."
Dumas is one of several Levenseller disciples who are still
preaching the principles of that former Cougar receiver.
"The first thing you learn from coach Levensller is to
be tough as a wide receiver," he said. "It's one of those things I've
always carried with me throughout my coaching career. It's trying to buck that
stereotype of wide receivers, that they're soft, kind of complacent -
pretty-boy, prima-donna type stuff. So Levy taught us to be the opposite of
that. He wanted to develop toughness in us, and technique."
On one occasion, Dumas unintentionally drew out the
toughness in Levy.
During a simple drill in practice, the exuberant young
wideout decided at the wrong time to throw in a head fake. He caught
Levenseller on the chin with his facemask and "sheared off about six of my
teeth," Levenseller recalled.
"True story," he said, breaking into laughter.
"He still owes me for those teeth."
:::::::::::::::::
WSU FOOTBALL
Rewinding the tape: Cooper Kupp and others tell an oral
history of the classic 2016 battle between Eastern Washington and Washington
State
Fri., Sept. 14, 2018, 5 a.m.
By Ryan Collingwood and Theo Lawson Spokesman-Review
It was a game that produced 87 points, netted more than
1,100 yards of total offense and featured five wide receivers who’d go on to
get shots to play professionally. (Three of those are still employed the NFL.)
It was the birthplace of a legacy for one quarterback and the continuation of a
legacy for the other.
It was an offensive slugfest like few others – well worth
the price of admission, no matter what shade of red you were wearing that day.
As schools that have only met four times on the gridiron and
once went an entire century without playing one another, Eastern Washington and
Washington State are not rivals, per se. The Eagles care far more about
regional Big Sky matchups with Idaho, Montana and Montana State, and the
Cougars have their own business with the Pac-12 school on the opposite end of
the Evergreen State.
But WSU versus EWU is a game of definite local interest and
after the battle royale between these two in 2016 – a 45-42 win for the FCS
program – locals are particularly interested in Eags-Cougs 5.0. As of Tuesday,
only 1,000 reserved seats were available for Saturday’s rematch between EWU and
WSU, which is set to kick off at 5 p.m. at Martin Stadium and will air on
Pac-12 Networks.
But first, with the help of a few prominent cast members, we
rewind the tape and take a closer look at the unforgettable game in 2016,
placing a magnifying glass on a few of its top storylines.
♦ ♦ ♦
The build-up
EWU had been a perennial FCS power for some time now and it
was hard to imagine WSU overlooking the Eagles after opening the previous
season with an embarrassing 24-17 loss to a Portland State. Still, it felt
there was some sense of superiority from the Cougars – one of which claimed the
week before the game, “I don’t know Eastern Washington. I don’t even know where
(Cheney) is.” Granted, Gabe Marks was just being honest and hardly intend to
light a fire under the Eagles, but his statement nonetheless traveled 70 miles
up US-195 and made it back to EWU’s locker room in Cheney.
Gerard Wicks (WSU running back, 2013-17): “That was Gabe,
though. Gabe had no filter or didn’t really care. He just went out to play. He
did care, but that was just his standpoint, his attitude. He was just that
person, if you line up in front of me, I’m going to beat you. You can’t guard
me. He was very confident in himself. He went in thinking that game was going
to be easy and it was the total opposite.”
Aaron Neary (EWU offensive lineman, 2011-15): “Every time
you go up against a team like that as Eastern Washington, your goal is to win.
Your expectation is almost to win.”
Nsimba Webster (current EWU wide receiver): “I remember Gabe
(Marks) being a real talkative, sarcastic type of guy. He stated his mind. He
was very blunt. It was very hyped between the two receivers, Coop and Gabe. I
think Gabe felt like, ‘Why are they comparing me to this guy from a lower
division?’ But I’m pretty sure that after the game, and seeing what Coop could
do, he saw why.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Kupp vs. Marks
‘Coop’ was Cooper Kupp, the EWU wideout who’d eventually
break Jerry Rice’s FCS receiving yards record and become a four-time
All-American while winning the Walter Peyton Award in 2015. By the end of the
season, Marks would become the Pac-12’s all-time receptions leader and while
the standout pass-catchers may have never been on the field at the same time,
Kupp vs. Marks became one of the game’s main stories.
Cooper Kupp (EWU wide receiver, 2013-16): “(Gabe) is a
really good ballplayer and I’m not really sure what he’s up to right now.
Watching him play football in college was incredible. He did some incredible
things and I know people wanted to make that game kind of a battle between us,
but I think it helped that I had some pretty great receivers around me, too.”
Matt Chazanow (WSU play-by-play commentator): “Two premier
wide receivers. Cooper Kupp being an in-state kid was part of that and a very
celebrated FCS receiver. But one of the things Cooper Kupp always did – and you
can look at the stats, they’re incredible – if I’m not mistaken he had eight
career touchdowns before the game against the Cougs against Pac-12 teams. He
had these monster games against Pac-12 teams.”
Aaron Best (current EWU coach): “I remember having a
conversation with a couple (WSU) fans just before the game when the teams were
warming up and they were pointing to Cooper Kupp. They asked, ‘Who is this No.
10?’ I told them to wait about 20 minutes and you’ll find out.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Welcome to the stage, Gage
The game featured off-the-chart talent at the receiver
position – even beyond Marks, who had a cup of coffee with the New York Jets,
and Kupp, now a second-year starter for the Los Angeles Rams. The Eagles had
Kendrick Bourne, a second-year player for the San Francisco 49ers along with
Shaq Hill, who spent time with both Tampa Bay and Houston before starting his
CFL career. WSU also had River Cracraft, currently a member of the Denver
Broncos’ practice squad. More than that, the Cougars were set at quarterback,
with third-year starter Luke Falk. And EWU? That was still to be determined. A
young buck named Gage Gubrud would be making his first career start.
Matt Chazanow: “That was kind of the real question, is: ‘All
right, they’ve got Kupp, they had talent to throw the ball to, but they lost Vernon
Adams.’ So everyone was like, ‘Well so how good will they really be?’ It’s
great they have pro wideouts, but what does it mean if they don’t have a QB.”
Larry Weir (EWU play-by-play commentator): “It was
interesting because it was the first game for new (EWU) offensive coordinator
Troy Taylor and we were going to see what he changed in the offensive scheme.
Being the first game of the year, WSU had no film on this new offense and
little film on Gage Gubrud.”
Matt Chazanow: “Then Gubrud came out and was flying around,
flying everywhere. He could run, he was accurate. You could tell right away,
like, ‘Oh, this is no joke.’ That was the question, but yeah, he ran for 77
yards in the game. He was their leading rusher by far, he had 14 carries. It
was like, ‘God, this guy is so good.’ ”
Darrien Molton (current WSU cornerback): “Real confident
player, real poised player. Could throw the ball, run the ball. He was a real
good player.”
Gerard Wicks: “He was young, so we expected that he was
going to make some mistakes. He was going to be nervous, so we thought that
factor was going to play on our side, but he went to the game real confident
and just played football.”
Nsimba Webster: “The thing I remember the most from that
night is that a star was born: Gage Gubrud. Gage definitely made a statement of
who he was and what he’s bringing with that EWU offense. Just seeing him
develop year after year, and from that game on, he kept clicking. It was a
great game in Pullman, but I definitely felt like Gage made a name for himself
that night.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Seven in a row
Following four empty possessions – two from each team – both
offenses came to life. The Eagles scored with 6:29 left in the opening quarter,
then the Cougars hit back with a touchdown. EWU and WSU would combine to score
on seven consecutive possessions, making it 28-21 with less than 2 minutes to
go in the half.
Matt Chazanow: “That rings a bell and it feels right for how
the game flow was going. It was like tons of offense and tons of really good
offense. Sometimes there’s a lot of scoring because defenses are bad. This was
like two really elite offenses, game one. You could tell with the Sun Bowl
season before with Luke and Gabe and all the guys coming back, you knew the
Cougs could score and you knew the Cougs could score at a Pac-12 level. They’d
just beaten Miami in the last game they played. You could tell if a team looked
as good as the Cougs, it was validated, it was all credible. It was like, ‘Oh
my gosh, if Eastern looks as good as the Cougs, Eastern’s just really good.’ ”
Cooper Kupp: “That first touchdown, coach (Troy) Taylor made
a great play call – a RPO (read-pass option). We got the coverage we wanted,
was able to cross the linebacker’s face and I was expecting a safety to drive a
little bit, but the safety was playing a little soft and crossed the field, was
able to break his tackle and run away down the sideline. I think just to come
out the gate and be able to get the momentum started for the team and stuff, I
think that’s something I’ll remember.”
The Cougars took a 28-24 lead into the half but squandered a
chance to make it 35-21 when Falk was intercepted by Mitch Fettig, giving EWU
the ball back with 1:13 left. The Eagles kicked a field goal to cut it to three
points at the halftime break.
Nzuzi Webster (current EWU cornerback): “That night I felt
like our defense could play with anybody. When Mitch Fettig intercepted a pass
in the second quarter … I felt like that was a turning point for us. I remember
thinking, ‘We’re going to come down here and take this thing.’ ”
Cooper Kupp: “I remember, and I don’t think this is atypical
of Wazzu, but I remember at halftime the student section didn’t all make it
back. I don’t think that’s atypical of Wazzu there, I think that’s kind of the
norm.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Numbers game
It was another dazzling performance for Kupp against another
Pac-12 team that had overlooked him on the recruiting trail. He finished with
12 catches for 206 receiving yards and three touchdowns, which brought his
career total against the Pac-12 to 40 catches, 716 yards and 11 touchdowns. The
Cougars, it should be noted, were shorthanded in the defensive secondary,
playing without suspended safety Shalom Luani. His counterpart, Robert Taylor,
was ejected in the third quarter for targeting. But Kupp was special nonetheless.
Cooper Kupp: “I think as a senior that year, it was kind of
like the culmination. I had decided to come back for my senior year, be a part
of a group that was pretty special and to be able to get that first dub against
a Pac-12 school that was 45 minutes away. It was pretty cool.”
Gerard Wicks: “I don’t see how he was under-recruited. He
was a great player, he works hard, he goes up for the ball. He goes across the
middle, he’s not afraid to get hit. For them, he was their everything. I think
he did both returns (kick and punt). He did everything for them and that day he
was unstoppable. We just couldn’t find the answer for him.”
Hunter Dale (current WSU nickel): “He was a really good
receiver and we had a lot of communication problems that game, too, so he was
just getting open. He was hitting spots at the right time and a lot of that was
us beating ourselves, too.”
Matt Chazanow: “I think the thing about Kupp and the thing
you see a lot of times when a guy’s going to be a good pro is that not only do
they have polished skill sets, but they’re just big. Kupp is really, really
big. He’s a big kid and he’s doing things against high-quality All-Pac-12 level
defenders. He’s not just doing this against anybody. The Cougs were really good
that year.”
Darrien Molton: “He had a great game against us. It’s cool
to say I guarded him, but he’s doing his thing now in the NFL, so it’s cool to
see that.”
(Tyler Tjomsland /
The Spokesman-Review)
(Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Phenomenal as Kupp was on a 200-yard receiving night, one of
his teammates wound up stealing some of the spotlight. You probably wouldn’t
have guessed who beforehand. Gubrud, then a sophomore, gashed a strong WSU
defense through the air (34 for 40, 474 yards, five touchdowns, one
interception) and on the ground (14 attempts 77 yards, one TD), punching in a
30-yard rushing touchdown with 1:40 left to make it a two-score game at 45-35.
Aaron Best: “Obviously, one the top performances ever in EWU
history by a quarterback on that stage.”
Eric Mele (current WSU running backs coach): “He was
dealing, he was dealing in that game. He’s a big old boy and he’s got a good
arm and he knows where to put the ball.”
Gage Gubrud (current EWU quarterback): “The touchdown run at
the end to seal it. That was a pretty cool moment in my lifetime.”
Larry Weir: “A new star was born in Gubrud. EWU didn’t get
hurt with turnovers and penalties. In the end, if not for Gubrud’s one bad
throw that was intercepted in the end zone, EWU could have won by two scores.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Wristband malfunctions
Gubrud and Kupp were sensational together, but WSU’s defense
experienced some major complications that had nothing to do with EWU’s quarterback
or wide receiver.
Gerard Wicks: “One thing the fans don’t know is our defense
had on different wristbands, so we had half the team on defense with a
different wristbands. Say if they would call ‘Play 4,’ one side of the defense
would be running Cover 3 while the other side would be blitzing. It was
something crazy and we were wondering how was Cooper Kupp getting so wide open.
He’s a great player, he’s outstanding, but he was wide open. It came to
halftime and we figured out half the defense had on white wristbands and the
other had on black wristbands, so everybody wasn’t on the same page. We blew
the coverages a lot in the first half. Leach was, oh my God, mad is an
understatement. He was hot.”
♦ ♦ ♦
‘Nasty taste’
The Cougars lost the next week at Boise State before reeling
off eight consecutive wins and earning their third bowl appearance under Mike
Leach. The Eagles did something similar, dropping a six-point game to North
Dakota State the following week before ripping off 11 straight wins and eventually
losing to Youngstown State in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. But for good
or for bad, every player who partook in the season opener that year has vivid
memories of it.
Cooper Kupp: “It was so much fun, especially just being so
close with their school 45 minutes down the road. To be able to go out there
and do what we did, it meant a lot to us. Anytime you get a win against a
Pac-12 school. I know those guys are excited for that game. We played some good
guys. Luke Falk’s in the league now and some guys that are good ballplayers
now. Excited for them to go out there and hopefully be able to get another ‘W.’
”
Gage Gubrud: “Just doing that with the my teammates and the
guys we had on that team, and after the game and going into the locker room,
and realizing what we just did and putting ourselves on the map like that was a
very surreal feeling for me, because that my first college start. That feeling
as a whole and being the locker room with all of my brothers and having fun.”
Dylan Ledbetter: “It was surreal. I remember coming out of
the tunnel and the stands were packed. It was hard for me catch my breath. It
was kind of nerve-racking. But once it started, it was just football. It was a
blast.”
Well, for one side. You could have heard a pin drop in WSU’s
locker room afterward.
Gerard Wicks: “It was quiet, it was so quiet. Leach was hot.
That week I wouldn’t say we treated it different, but it wasn’t an SC week or
like a UW week. It wasn’t like we were that fired up or that dialed in. It was Eastern
Washington. Even before the game, I remember Gabe came in the locker room and
said, ‘Let’s beat their (expletive) and let’s get ready for the night.’ We
thought it was going to be a breeze and it turned out to be a dogfight and we
ended up losing.”
Darrien Molton: “I think they played hard, played harder
than us. They came out from the gates playing real hard and fast and think they
wanted it more than us in that game.”
Hunter Dale: “Nasty taste, never like losing. Especially to
an in-state school like that.”
Time to do it all over again this Saturday.
::::::::::::::::::::::::
An unexpected journey
Senior trained with NFL players growing up in New Orleans,
has tattoo on arm to remember Hilinski
Senior nickel Hunter Dale received about 30 scholarship
offers and planned on attending University of Florida before a series of
unforeseen events led him to Pullman. “Once I figured out I was coming here, it
was perfect,” he said.
By DYLAN GREENE, Evergreen editor-in-chief.
Sept 14th of 2018
When Hunter Dale realized playing football at a Division 1
school was a reality, WSU wasn’t first, second, third or even fourth on his
list. In fact, Pullman wasn’t even on his radar.
Of the roughly 30 scholarship offers Dale received while
still in high school, none of them came from the crimson and gray.
But the senior nickel wouldn’t take back any of the ups and
downs that led him here.
“Once I figured out I was coming here, it was perfect,” he
said.
Dale’s journey began in his hometown of New Orleans when he
was about 6 years old after Dale’s dad, Wyatt Harris, started training him.
Harris, who played wide receiver at Southern University and
A&M College, is the owner of Sonic Boom Speed Conditioning & Strength
Training Academy. Through his business, Harris has trained a number of
athletes who have played in the NFL including Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry,
Landon Collins, Tracy Porter, Mark Ingram and Marques Colston.
Dale got to train alongside all of these athletes and when
he was in junior high and high school, he didn’t work out with his teammates.
Instead he lined up one-on-one with Colston, who was in the NFL at the time,
and mastered his coverage skills against the best.
Harris said players such as Colston and Ingram admired Dale
because of his work ethic and dedication to the game. Harris said Dale was also
an elite baseball player in high school and recalled one time when he brought
Colston and Ingram to one of Dale’s games because they wanted to see him pitch.
Dale said Harris wasn’t easy on him when he was younger
which helped shaped the player he is today.
“I’ve always loved it,” Dale said. “[Harris] just always
pushed me to my edge and pushed me to my limit.”
Harris said it was all about business when he trained his
son and he made sure he had a complete game both physically and mentally.
“I treated him like a stranger when we was training,” he
said.
Despite the notoriety of the players Dale was training with,
he never was starstruck and instead soaked up as much knowledge as he could.
“Since I’ve been around so many famous people that my dad
has trained, I don’t really get up to the hype,” he said.
These athletes gave Dale advice on how to handle pressure,
prepared him for the college recruiting process and laid out the steps for him
to play at the next level of football and beyond. This experience helped Dale
as he began the recruiting process in high school.
Ever since he could remember, Dale’s dream was to attend
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where his grandfather Peter Dale Sr.
played football, so naturally the Tigers were at the top of his list.
Unfortunately, LSU didn’t feel the same way. Dale said the
team told him he was too small. While still upset, he immediately began looking
for a team that would face LSU at least once a year and that’s when he stumbled
across University of Florida.
During his freshman year in high school, then-Florida Head
Coach Will Muschamp started recruiting Dale and he received his first offer
from a team in the Southeastern Conference.
Despite numerous offers from other schools, Dale committed
to the Gators until he had a change of heart right before his senior season in
high school. He decided he wanted to go to University of Nebraska.
But at the end of the Cornhuskers’ 2014 season, the team
fired Bo Pelini, the head coach at the time, and Dale once again reconsidered
his decision.
Dale decided to return to Florida and planned on announcing
it on National Signing Day, but a week before he was scheduled to do it the
Gators fired Muschamp.
Now the defensive back was scrambling to find a team a week
before signing day. He reached out to University of Oregon, but the Ducks told
him they were full and could only offer him the opportunity to grayshirt.
A grayshirt is when an athlete attends a college for the
first semester as a part-time student and doesn’t receive a scholarship until
the start of their second semester. This means the player doesn’t see the field
the first season, but still has five years to complete four seasons with the
chance to redshirt at some point.
Dale didn’t want to sit out a year, so he looked at the
University of Missouri. At that time, the secondary coach for Missouri was Alex
Grinch, who served as the WSU defensive coordinator from 2015-17.
The Tigers were interested in Dale but chose a junior
college transfer over him. Still searching for a college, Dale’s dad got in
contact with Jarrail Jackson, who was the director of player relations and
worked in recruiting for WSU at the time.
Jackson told Harris that Grinch was just hired as the new
defensive coordinator and eventually Dale received a phone call from Grinch.
The conversation lasted over an hour and a half and ended with Dale receiving
a scholarship from WSU.
Dale committed to WSU about a month after signing day and
was introduced to a whole new environment that took some time getting used to.
“I had to open up and adapt to a new culture, new people and
a new way of living,” he said. “It changed me because I had to get used to not
seeing my family.”
It took a few years for Dale to break out and find his spot
with the Cougars, but last season Grinch moved Dale to nickel where he started
all 13 games and thrived.
“I just found my knack,” he said.
Now in his final season at WSU, Dale and the rest of the
defense are adjusting to having Tracy Claeys as the defensive coordinator.
Dale admitted losing Grinch was tough, but the group hasn’t
lost the Speed D mentality he brought to the program despite it coming from a
different voice.
“We still have that ingrained in us,” he said.
The team is also missing Tyler Hilinski this year, who Dale
said was someone he could always talk to.
“Ty never not had a smile on his face, never was the down
person,” he said. “I loved Tyler. He was an awesome guy.”
To remember Hilinski, Dale got a tattoo on his arm that
features the No. 3 and the nickname, Klink, which was used commonly by his
teammates. Dale said he had an open spot on his arm that was perfect for the
tattoo and thought it would be a great way to carry on his legacy.
“I can never get Tyler out of my memory,” he said.
Dale recalled the last time he saw Hilinski. On the morning
of Jan. 16, Dale was Hilinski’s running partner for a regular workout at the
Indoor Athletic Training Facility.
Dale remembers racing Hilinski back to their cars after the
workout and asking him when they were going to get together to do a
seven-on-seven drill later in the day, and Hilinski telling him he was going
to send out a text with the details.
That was the last time Dale heard Hilinski’s voice. Later
that day around 6 p.m. the whole team gathered for a meeting where they
received the news of his passing.
“My heart dropped,” he said. “It didn’t seem real. Nothing
seemed real until his funeral.”
Dale said he learned depression isn’t always visible.
“It could be people that are happy,” he said. “You can’t
treat people different. You can never expect them to always be OK, even if
they look OK.”
No matter what, Dale said Hilinski will always be with the
team.
“Ty has had an impact on so many people even after his
death,” he said. “He’s never going to be forgotten here.”
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Gesser,
WSU Respond to Explosive Daily Evergreen Investigative Report
Pullman
Radio News 9/14/2018
…………
WSU: 'No violations' after conduct review
Secondhand complaints made about Gesser, an athletic
administrator and the quarterback who led WSU to 2003 Rose Bowl
By Dale Grummert, Trib of Lewiston 9/14/2018
A review by the Office of Equal Opportunity at Washington
State University found that athletic administrator and former star quarterback
Jason Gesser may have made inappropriate "advances" toward female
subordinates, but the review concluded that no violation of school policy
occurred.
Findings of the review, completed early this year, were
obtained by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and the Lewiston Tribune through a
public records request, and were first reported Thursday by the school's
student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen.
Although the equal-opportunity office exonerated Gesser of
inappropriate sexual conduct, it is forwarding its findings to Human Resource
Services because "some of the information provided by witnesses ... may
raise concerns about employee performance and/or professionalism."
Gesser, 39, esteemed by WSU football fans for leading the
Cougars to the 2003 Rose Bowl, has been an assistant athletic director at the
school for a year and has been a key component in athletic fundraising since
2015.
The review of his conduct appears to have been prompted by
WSU employees witnessing or hearing about his interactions with, among others,
two female student interns.
"Although it appears that some inappropriate advances
toward subordinates may have occurred," the review said, "none of the
information appears to rise to the level" of sexual misconduct, sexual
harassment or discrimination.
Phil Weiler, WSU vice president of marketing and
communications, confirmed that the review is prompting no further action at
this time because the complaints against Gesser are strictly secondhand.
The review also said the equal-opportunity office is
concerned about how the athletic department responded to two men who reported
concerns about Gesser's behavior. It didn't elaborate but said the school
"encourages employees to report information which may implicate university
policies."
One of the men is Uri Farkas, who was director of the Cougar
Athletic Fund, where Gesser does much of his work. The other is Matt Almond,
who was general manager of the school's branch of IMG, a marketing company
associated with, among other things, radio broadcasts. School officials
acknowledged last month that Gesser had been replaced by Alex Brink as color
commentator for football radio broadcasts.
Neither Farkas nor Almond is still employed by the school.
Farkas became an associate athletic director at Northern Arizona University in
January, and Almond appears to have parted ways with WSU fairly recently.
Many of the accusations mentioned in the lengthy review
regarded what the review calls "employee concerns about the impact of Mr.
Gesser's alleged extramarital affairs" on his and the school's reputation
with donors and others. But it said the equal-opportunity office "does not
typically investigate allegations involving consensual behavior, and there was
no information to demonstrate nonconsensual or discriminatory behavior."
Gesser lives with his wife, former WSU volleyball player
Kali Gesser, and their three children.
School President Kirk Schulz and athletic director Patrick
Chun issued a joint statement Thursday that said, "We take any allegation
of sexual misconduct extremely seriously. ... 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."
After graduating from WSU in communications, Gesser played
football in various professional leagues for six years, coached at a high
school for five more and spent two seasons coaching at the University of Idaho,
including a stint as interim head coach. He also spent five years as a
sportscaster.
#
