COUG SWIMMING : WSU’s Keiana Fountaine from Tracy,
Calif., has lowered her 200 freestyle time six times this season
By Spencer Penland Swimswam.com Nov 26, 2018. Slightly
edited by News for CougGroup
WSU Swimming Head Coach Matt Leach has found early
success in his first season with the Washington State Cougars.
Washington State freshman Keiana Fountaine is possibly
the best example of this, having swum to a breakout season this Fall.
Fountaine came to Washington State this Fall with a best
time of 1:52.46 in the 200 free, and set new personal six times in that event
through the Phill Hansel Invite in Houston on November 16th-18th.
Here is a list of the progression of Fountaine’s 200 free
this Fall:
1:50.87 10/5/2018 CHIC FIL A INVITE
1:50.44 10/14/2018 WSU vs Boise State
1:49.52 11/3/2018 Cal vs WSU
1:49.27 11/9/2018 Wyoming vs WSU
1:47.90 11/17/2018 2018 Phill Hansel
1:47.30 11/17/2018 2018 Phill Hansel
As the list above shows, Fountaine’s progression has been
pretty consistent this Fall, and she’s gone a best time nearly every time she’s
swum the event. Her improvement in the 200 free this Fall totals 5.16 seconds.
Her time coming into college ranked 2 seconds outside the Washington State all-time
top 10, and her new best time of 1:47.30 now ranks 2nd in program history.
You can find the WSU all-time top 10 here …
https://cdn.swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/All_Time_Top_Ten.pdf
… times from this season have not been added yet.
Fountaine has had enormous success in the 100 free so far
this season as well, breaking the Washington State program record at the Phill
Hansel Invite. Fountaine came into college with a best time of 51.48, which she
swam in May of this year. She has gone a best time 3 times so far this season,
culminating in a 49.67 in finals at the Phill Hansel Invite. That time came in
just under the previous WSU team record of 49.75, which was held by Nicole
Proulx from 2015. Fountaine is now one of only 6 Cougars ever to break 50
seconds in the 100 free. Fountaine has
also dropped .35 seconds in the 50 free this Fall, improving from 23.78 to
23.43.
Here is a ‘Get To Know Keaina Fountaine’ interview from
Washington State Athletics:
We reached out to head coach Matt Leach to get his
thoughts on Fountaine’s success, and the success he’s seen with the team as a
whole in the first few months at Washington State:
Q: What would you attribute Keiana Fountaine‘s rapid
success in your program to?
Coug Swim Coach Matt Leach:
“Keiana’s success is due to a few different factors. Her attitude is always upbeat, she is the
person you want on your team, the person that will go out of her way to smile
at you and say hello. She even puts up
motivational sticky notes! She is a
person you build a team around and we want her to continue to work on building
her teammates up. The second thing
Keiana does very well is listen and I feel like she is able to process
information in the pool and weight room to make changes quickly. Thirdly Keiana is talented with a strong work
ethic so you put those two aspects together, you get someone that will continue
to improve. Also, she comes from a great
club team that has developed a great person and has left room to grow as a
swimmer. She comes from a great family
that supports her and WSU to the fullest.
She comes from an athletic family so it helps that it is in her DNA. She hasn’t lifted yet, so this is her first
year lifting and she improves each day she is in the weight room. Keiana is a lot of fun to work with and our
staff enjoys her and everyone associated with WSU Swimming”.
Q: What has the general training plan been?
Coug Swim Coach Matt Leach:
“The general training plan is much different than last
year. This is our staff’s first year
here at Washington State University. We
were previously at Indiana State University.
We try and focus primarily on education/technique early on in the season
as we build a solid aerobic base outside of the pool (first 5 weeks), then we
transition into 2-3 week cycles primarily focused on kicking while we split
into stroke specific and distance specific groups which all depends on the
cycle we are in. Some of these cycles
are distance specific, stroke specific, IM specific (long IM, Short IM, Non-IM)
and then we go into a speed phase as we get closer to our mid-season meet”.
In addition to Keiana Fountaine‘s 2 swims that landed in
the all-time top 10, there were 9 other swims that cracked the top 10 at their
mid-season invite.
Here is a list of those 9 races:
EMILY BARRIER (FR.) 50
FREE 23.07 – 5TH
Emily Barrier (Fr.) 200
Free 1:49.78 – 9th
Taylor McCoy (So.) 200
Back 1:56.86 – 2nd
Taylor McCoy (So.) 400
IM 4:20.81 – 6th
Mackenzie Duarte (So.) 200
Breast 2:11.84 – 2nd
Mackenzie Duarte (So.) 100
Breast 1:01.66 – 3rd
Lauren Burckel (Fr.) 200
Breast 2:15.13 – 7th
Lauren Burckel (Fr.) 100
Breast 1:03.21 – 9th
Linnea Lindberg (Sr.) 100
Breast 1:01.60 – 2nd
#
:::::::::::
WSU VOLLEYBALL: Cougars to open NCAAs at home against NAU
Nov 26, 2018
Lewiston Trib
PULLMAN - The Washington State volleyball team drew a No.
16 seed and will play host to Big Sky champion Northern Arizona in the first
round of the NCAA tournament, the Cougars learned Sunday.
The match will be Friday at 7 p.m. at Bohler Gym and will
be preceded by a contest between Southeastern Conference runner-up Tennessee
(25-5) and Mountain West champion Colorado State (23-7) at 4 p.m.
The winners play in the second round Saturday.
The Cougars (21-9) are making their third straight and
13th overall NCAA appearance. Their seeding is their highest since garnering
the No. 12 spot in 2002.
The Lumberjacks of Flagstaff, Ariz., will compete in the
postseason for the third time in school history.
Washington State finished fourth in the Pac-12 standings
behind the No. 1 overall seed Stanford, No. 11 USC and No. 15 Oregon.
Northern Arizona swept all three of its Big Sky
championship opponents - Montana State, Idaho State and Idaho - to claim its
third league tournament championship. The Lumberjacks were also co-regular
season champions with the Vandals.
Led by the Big Sky Coach of the Year, Ken Murphy, the
Lumberjacks defeated No. 8 Florida 3-2 in September for their first win over a
nationally ranked opponent since 1989.
After the first two rounds, the regional sites will be
determined based on the teams remaining in each section of the bracket. The 16
teams that advance to regionals will play on Dec. 7.
The last time a Big Sky team advanced from the first
round was in 2007 when Sacramento State beat Minnesota.
::::::::::::::
Volleyball earns bid to NCAA Tournament
WSU receives No. 16 seed, will host first two rounds of
tourney play
By JOHN SPELLMAN
Evergreen
November 26, 2018
It was quite the weekend for the WSU volleyball team. The
Cougars defeated then-No. 19 University of Washington on Saturday in Pullman
for the first time since 2009. Following that, it was revealed Sunday that WSU
will host two rounds of NCAA Tournament play.
“This is really exciting — we have worked hard and gotten
a lot better,” Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “We went from going 0-18 in the then
Pac-10 to now be a national seed and hosting the first two rounds … hopefully
we can get a lot of students to come out and give us that home court
advantage.”
The team held a viewing party (in the Martin Stadium
pressbox) open to the public where fans could see who WSU would face on its side
of the bracket.
WSU was ranked No. 20 in the nation going into the final
week of the regular season, but the team wanted to reach the top 16 to have the
opportunity to host at least two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
With the players and fans gathered around a screen which
revealed the bracket, the team let out a cheer when it was announced that the
Cougars finished the season as the No. 16 national seed, giving WSU the
opportunity to play the first two rounds at home in Pullman.
The Cougars will face Northern Arizona University in the
first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. Friday in Bohler Gym after the
first-round matchup at 4 p.m. between University of Tennessee and Colorado
State University.
The winners of those two games will meet in the second
round at 6 p.m. Saturday.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Coug Volleyball’s Alexis Dirige from San Francisco Earns
Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
The junior helped anchor the Cougar defense to
back-to-back victories last week.
Based on info from WSU Sports Info
SAN FRANCISCO -- Washington State Volleyball's Alexis
Dirige was selected as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the week of
Nov. 19 - Nov. 25 as announced by the Pac-12 Conference office Monday. The
junior is now the second Cougar to earn the award in 2018.
Alexis started off the week helping lead the Cougars to a
3-0 sweep victory over the Beavers of Oregon State with 11 digs, and four total
assists. She then went on to continue to elevate her play against No. 19
Washington inside Bohler Gym, aiding WSU in a five-set win which helped clinch
a hosting spot at the No. 16 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Dirige made phenomenal plays against the Huskies all
throughout the match, totaling 25 digs, a reception percentage of 1.000, and
added six assists to her stat line. The contest against Washington also marked
the 11th match this season where Alexis totaled 20 or more digs to anchor the
defensive ground game.
Washington State returns to the action next, Friday,
November 30, as the Cougars will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA
Tournament, with WSU matched up against Northern Arizona in round one, inside
Bohler Gym at 7 p.m. PT.
…………..
Note from News
for CougGroup: Alexis Dirige from San Francisco is a cousin of the three Molina
sisters, WSU women’s basketball players from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
:::::::::::
‘We love our Cougs, win or lose.’
By Scott
Jackson
Moscow Pullman Daily
News
Nov 26, 2018
Cougar pride took a hit following Friday's Apple Cup loss
at the hands of rival University of Washington, but local fans and those
visiting from afar agree it's still been an incredible season.
Cindy Johnson and Shirley Sandoval, both Washington State
University employees and Cougar fans, said the team's two major barriers were
hype and the dense, damp snow than began to fall soon after kickoff.
"They had so much riding on it, I think they just
couldn't relax and have fun like they've had at all the other games,"
Johnson said. "They had too much on the line - and snow threw them, let's
face it."
Cougar fans strolling downtown in Moscow and Pullman on
Saturday afternoon were in agreement: snow shut down WSU's pass-heavy offense
and allowed room for UW running back Myles Gaskin to batter his way through
WSU's defensive line time and again - occasionally breaking free of pursuers to
sprint nearly the full length of the field. For the first time in 12 games, WSU
star quarterback and Heisman hopeful Gardner Minshew failed to throw a single
touchdown.
"Gaskin beat the Cougs, not the (Huskies) - every
play was him," said WSU alumna Janel van Aken.
Van Aken, a Cougar cheerleader when WSU won the Apple Cup
in 1992, said the snow limited both teams' in passing yards and forced offenses
to focus on running the ball, lending the advantage to UW. While she is
disappointed the Cougars lost the cup, she said she's happy to see a Washington
team in the Pac-12 championship.
"We're happy that if we don't get to go to the championships,
at least it's UW," van Aken said. "We were supposed to be dead last
in the Pac-12, but at 10-2, we have the best record (in the conference)."
Sandoval agreed, saying she can't understand fans getting
angry about Minshew's performance. She pointed out he came to the helm of an
uncertain team in the wake of tragedy with little name recognition before
leading the Cougars their best year in more than a decade. There is certainly a
bowl game in WSU's near future, she said, though when and where remains to be
seen.
"We've had the best season ever," Sandoval
said.
"We had somebody that came in and just pulled the
team together," Johnson added.
Van Aken said she has attended every Cougar home game
this year, and though Friday's loss was disheartening, she said she plans to
return again next year.
"We love our Cougs, win or lose," she said.
:::::::::::::::::
Monday Morning Quarterback: On this night, the Cougars
lacked a sense of place
WSU's magic runs out in Apple Cup
By Dale Grummert
Lewiston Trib
Nov 26, 2018
When the ESPN GameDay crew paid its long-coveted visit to
Pullman last month, program host Rece Davis arrived a day or two earlier than
some of his colleagues and tried to get a feel for the place.
He toured a garbanzo-bean processing plant. He attended
Mike Leach's weekly radio show at Zeppoz, where the locals slipped him
Fireballs that he says he politely declined. He signed his name on a wall at
The Coug.
In a news conference at Washington State the next day,
Davis briefly described these experiences and reiterated one of the objectives
of GameDay, especially when the popular weekly program has chosen a host site
it's never chosen before.
"There might be a few more elements in capturing the
essence and the flavor (of Pullman) - what we like to refer to as a sense of
place," he said.
And they did try. But how could they possibly succeed?
Typically, 20,000 people don't gather on Stadium Way at 6 a.m. on a Saturday
and spend three hours cheering and waving school flags. What ESPN GameDay ended
up capturing was the essence and flavor of ESPN GameDay.
That was perfectly fine with Wazzu fans, who scored some
priceless publicity from the visit and, with the help of a charismatic new
quarterback and a great deal of inspired Cougar football, whipped themselves
into a passion that lasted, let me see, 35 days.
And then it was lulled to sleep by a Pullman snowstorm.
After the Cougars' 28-15 loss to Washington in the 111th
Apple Cup on Friday night at whited-out Martin Stadium, an overjoyed Huskies
coach Chris Petersen asserted that, no, he hadn't arranged with the Dawgfather
in heaven to conjure up these conditions. He hadn't welcomed the snow any more
than WSU's Mike Leach had. He was either fibbing or he doesn't know what's good
for him. This was the perfect storm for Washington.
I'm not implying that dry, windless weather would have
prevented the Huskies from maintaining their uncanny stranglehold of their
rivals. But it would have allowed the Cougars to test their escape route.
Their pass-protection is immeasurably improved from last
year. In Gardner Minshew they have a quarterback who can extend plays and (the
theory went) punish U-Dub for its haughty insistence on dropping eight
defenders into coverage.
Instead, it was the diplomatic Petersen and his
undiplomatic sidekick, Jimmy Lake, who did the punishing, yet again. The
Huskies rushed three. They sat in their zone. They allowed WSU's fleet of receivers
from sunny climes to slalom ineffectually as the snow gathered on the field and
began caking in their cleats.
The Cougars, favored by a field goal, lost their sixth
straight Apple Cup, their fifth straight to Petersen. They got knocked out of
the conference title game for the third year in a row. And afterward they had
to listen to Lake, the Huskies defensive coordinator, gloat again about how
easy it is to game-plan against Leach's Air Raid offense.
But he's right - for his particular team, with its
tremendously gifted defenders. There's a reason that nobody in the country
throws the ball as frequently as Leach. Even his coaching disciples develop a
ground game they can usher front-and-center when the speed and wit of the
opposing defense demands it.
Or when the weather does.
Back in the day, Cougar fans hoped and prayed for snow on
game day, fondly recalling their rugged Walla Walla-bred quarterback, Drew
Bledsoe, slaying the skittish, tiptoeing Huskies 42-23 in the Snow Bowl here in
1992. Those days are gone.
The Cougs' brightest moment came on a 47-yard kickoff
return by Travell Harris, a Floridian who, to cap that play, tried to switch
the slippery football to his boundary-side hand and wound up tossing it out of
bounds.
Of the Cougars' starting run-and-catch specialists, four
are from California and one from Louisiana. Their quarterback, the Mississippi
Mustache, had never previously played a game in snow. Their starting lineup
includes only five Washingtonians, their entire roster only 24. The Huskies
have 51. Which team is going to be better at negotiating harsh weather?
Minshew, the grad-transfer quarterback who's become a
folk hero in Cougville, tried to mount one of his signature rallies, but the
wind accelerated in the second half and turned the snow into fluttering white
butterflies. At key moments, his talented Samoan center misfired the shotgun
snap or allowed a sure-footed sled Dawg to slither past him. If there were
school records for consecutive pass attempts without an intentional-grounding
penalty, Minshew would surely hold WSU's. But even that streak ended.
So the enduring image from this Apple Cup, for Cougar
fans, will be Minshew standing at the edge of the field, watching the opponents
celebrate and breaking into tears.
On a broader scale, this season reminded us of the nature
of Wazzu fandom. It's predicated on signs and symbols - school flags and
mustaches. Masses of human bodies? Not so much. Students graduate and leave.
The hardy souls who attended the Apple Cup blizzard supposedly constituted a
sellout crowd, and they were undisputably loud. But thousands of empty seats
told a different story.
The last couple of years, the Martin Stadium disc jockey
keeps playing that Andy Grammer song that goes, "We always find our way
back home," accompanied by video images of Wazzu football legends. Fans
sing along. They adore it. But they don't mean "home" literally. Most
of them don't live here on a permanent basis. They're talking about memories
and ideals - a leafy Colorado Street of the mind.
For all that, the weather gods could have treated Wazzu
more kindly. They didn't. On this night, the Cougars lacked a sense of place
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WSU students working to restore historic Pullman Train Depot
Site renovations could include restaurant, gift shop,
kid’s playground
By ANGELICA RELENTE
Evergreen
Nov 26, 2018
In an effort to restore a piece of Pullman history, WSU
students partnered with the Whitman County Historical Society to revamp the
Pullman Depot, which once served as a train station for locals and visitors.
Keyaira Mumford, a junior majoring in interior design,
said her grandfather rode the train when he attended WSU. She said restoring
the depot would revitalize a site that used to be an integral part of the city.
“It’s kind of forgotten right now,” Mumford said. “For
me, I think it represents an opportunity to bring new life into the area and
turn a key part of Pullman’s history into a central part of downtown.”
Mumford, who is also one of the lead interns in the Rural
Communities Design Initiative (RCDI), said the historical society wanted to
preserve the depot and turn it into a heritage center. RCDI works with groups
in rural communities to prepare the early stages of construction before
consulting an architecture firm, she said.
Earlier in the semester, Mumford said RCDI visited the
depot and researched different ways to renovate the site. The group hosted a
workshop with historical society members and community members to exchange
ideas and decide what would be built.
“We’d lay tracing paper over and just start drawing,” she
said. “[We’d] just work with them to think through what they want.”
Mumford said there may be multiple workshops depending on
the feedback they receive and what concepts could be developed further.
“We’ve done a lot of the grunt work already,” she said.
“Now we’re just refining everything to give to them as a package.”
Mumford said one of the spaces in the floor plan includes
a restaurant and patio area. There would also be an event space that could be
rented by individuals or groups and a gift shop.
Another concept the group is considering is a children’s
playground area near the depot, which would consist of mini train tracks
surrounded by little Palouse hills, she said. There would also be a water tower
and a splash pad, as well as a grain silo-shaped slide.
“The main thing is to turn it into a center in the
community that people will come and visit,” Mumford said.
RCDI Co-director Michael Sanchez said students from
architecture and interior design courses who participate in the project are
able to get real-world experience that cannot be replicated in a class by
analyzing the needs of the site and the client.
The project would also help bridge the gap between
students and the community they live in, he said.
“It’s a great opportunity to have a connection between a
growing city and [its] history,” Sanchez said. “Projects like this are a way
for us to connect to the past.”
::::::::::::::::
WSU downs Delaware State with second half surge
Cougars grab 80-52 victory over Hornets for third win of
season
By ISAAC SEMMLER
Evergreen
Nov 25, 2018
What looked like a close game in the first half turned
out to be a one-sided affair as WSU men’s basketball swatted the Delaware State
University Hornets out of Pullman on Saturday, defeating them by a score of
80-52.
The Cougars got off to a slow start, shooting about 22
percent inside the paint and only making one of seven attempts beyond the arc
in the first six minutes of action. What little offense they had came from
senior guard Viont’e Daniels who scored five of WSU’s seven points.
Head Coach Ernie Kent felt that his team did not perform
well throughout the first half.
“We were really stuck in second gear and a lot of that
had to do with just too much one on one basketball,” Kent said. “It knocked
ourselves out of rhythm offensively and I didn’t think we did a very good job
defensively, we were not rebounding the ball.”
Despite WSU’s struggles at the basket, Delaware State
wasn’t doing much better, shooting about 24 percent from inside the paint and
hitting just one of its four three-point attempts.
The Hornets controlled rebounds on both sides of the ball
but were continuously stung by senior forward Robert Franks’ defense as he
picked up four defensive rebounds, one block and contested every shot inside
the paint while staying out of foul trouble through 10 minutes of action.
Though WSU struggled on offense for the majority of the
first half, junior guard Ahmed Ali stepped up with just a few minutes left,
picking up two quick baskets and a three-pointer near half court to spark the
Cougars and move the momentum back into their hands.
Luckily for WSU, Delaware State continued to lack in
offensive production, finishing the half shooting 13-45, about 29 percent, and
2-12 beyond the three point line, just under 17 percent. The Cougars nearly
mirrored the Hornets’ performance, however, shooting 11-29, about 38 percent,
and 4-14 beyond the arc, just under 29 percent.
Unlike their previous performances this year, the Cougars
found themselves turning the ball over seven times in the first half with more
than half of those coming from starters.
At the end of the first half, it was a low scoring game
as WSU led Delaware State by a score of 35-30.
The start of the second half proved to be a different
story for the Cougars as they started off shooting 3-5 from the field and 1-1
behind the three-point line within two minutes, taking a 12-point advantage
over a Hornets team that continued to underperform on both sides of the ball.
Kent’s approach changed and he began to trap the opposing
players rather than running a zone defense. This limited Delaware State to just
two points in as much as five minutes as the Hornets shot about 14.3 percent,
lacking any sort of rhythm during the entirety of both halves.
After 10 minutes of play in the second half, it became
evident WSU would come away with the win. Franks paved the rest of the way,
finishing the night with 24 points and 11 rebounds, allowing the team to wipe
out any hope for victory Delaware State had left.
Franks said that words from Kent at half time motivated
the team to take control in the second half.
“Coach Kent gave us a very motivating speech at half
time. He told us ‘You guys are better than what you are doing right now so you
guys need to pick it up,’ ” Franks said. “We took pride in it and it started on
defense, everyone wanted to get down in a defensive stance and switch and show
everybody in this arena what we’re made of.”
The Cougars will now look to improve to 4-1 as they take
on California State University, Northridge, at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Beasley
Coliseum. The game can also be seen live on Pac-12 Networks.
::::::::
Below text based on information from WSU Sports Info:
Coug men’s basketball notes about WSU vs. Cal State Northridge Tuesday evening
Nov. 27 2018
COUG MEN HOOPS IN NATIONAL
RANKINGS:
• Scoring:
Robert Franks, 3rd (28.3 ppg).
• A/TO
Ratio: Ahmed Ali, 6th (7.0); Viont’e Daniels, 28th (4.0).
• Defensive
Rebounds: Robert Franks, 47th (6.67 drpg).
•
Rebounding: Robert Franks, 49th (9.3 rpg).
• Assists:
Viont’e Daniels, 70th (5.0 apg).
•
Double-Doubles: Robert Franks, 44th (2).
• Fewest
Fouls: Team, 4th (59).
• Fewest
Turnovers: Team, 8th (45).
•
Assist/Turnover Ratio: Team, 13th (1.64).
• Assists:
Team, 15th (18.5 apg).
APPROACHING RECORD BOOKS:
• With 851
points, Robert Franks needs 149 points to reach 1,000 career points.
• With 110
3-pointers, Viont’e Daniels needs 3 3-pointers to move into the career top-20.
WSU LOOKS FOR THIRD-STRAIGHT WIN, HOSTING CSUN
The Washington State University men’s basketball team
(3-1) concludes its three-game homestand as it hosts CSUN, Tuesday, Nov. 27 at
8 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum.
• The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network as Guy
Haberman (play-by-play) and Steve Lavin (analyst) have the call.
• All season long, Cougar basketball can be heard on the
Cougar IMG Sports Radio Network with the Voice of the Cougars, Matt Chazanow on
the call.
• Please see page one of today’s notes for the list of
affiliates.
• Live stats are also available at www.wsucougars.com.
ABOUT THE CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE MATADORS:
• Located in Northridge, California, CSUN (formerly known
as Cal State Northridge), is a member of the Big West Conference.
• The Matadors enter the game Tuesday with a 1-3 mark on
the season, having notched their first win in their last outing, against
Tennessee State, Nov. 20.
• Two of CSUN’s losses have come by 3 points (New Mexico
and Portland, both at home), while its lone win also came by 3 points.
• Head coach Mark Gottfried is in his first season at the
helm after coaching stints at NC State, Alabama and Murray State.
• The Matadors have two players averaging 20 or more
points, led by redshirt freshman Lamine Diane with 24.8 ppg and sophomore Terrell
Gomez at 20.5 ppg.
• Diane is adding 9.8 blocks per game.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
FOOTBALLL:
Washington State’s Mike Leach refutes report, claiming no
interest in return to Texas Tech
UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 26, 2018, 11:28 a.m.
By Theo Lawson Spokane S-R
Mike Leach has no interest in leaving Washington State
for his former school, Texas Tech, despite a Sunday report from the Lubbock
Avalanche Journal that claimed such a move would be attractive for the
seventh-year Cougars coach.
Leach, in the last 24 hours, has told multiple reporters
he wouldn’t be remotely interested in leaving Pullman for Lubbock, citing his
frustration that Tech still hasn’t paid him for the 2009 football season, while
also suggesting he’s perfectly content at WSU on the heels of a 10-win regular
season.
“They didn’t pay me last time. And I’m happy here,” he
said, according to ESPN’s Joel Anderson. “They haven’t paid me for 2009 and we
won 9 games that year. And they haven’t won 9 games since.”
The coach doubled down, later telling Dennis Dodd of
CBSSports.com, “Why would I leave (Pullman)?”
A Sunday report from the Lubbock Avalanche Journal had
cited two sources that said Leach is “interested in returning to Tech” in the
wake of Kliff Kingsbury’s firing. A former quarterback for Leach at Tech,
Kingsbury was dismissed Sunday after finishing 5-7 with the Red Raiders and
missing out on postseason eligibility for the fifth time in seven years.
The Avalanche Journal story also noted, regarding rumors
of Leach’s return, “a large contingent of donors will lobby athletic director
Kirby Hocutt to make it happen.”
The Cougars, ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press Top
25, are coming off a 10-2 regular season – Leach’s best record in Pullman and
WSU’s highest win total in 15 years.
“The people who are supporting him, it’s not just one or
two,” one of the sources, according to the Avalanche Journal. “It’s like a
hoard of people and maybe eight or 10 that are like million-dollar-plus donors.
It’s some serious folks.”
But Leach is still outraged at the school that fired him
in 2009 and has gone as far to call Texas Tech administrators “felons” and
“crooks” for not paying him the $2.5 million he believes he’s still owed for
leading the Red Raiders to a 9-4 record his last year in charge of the program
in Lubbock.
The other source told the newspaper a separate group of
donors wouldn’t endorse a move to bring back the coach who stirred up national
controversy when Texas Tech alleged he mishandled an incident with former Red
Raiders player Adam James. The player’s father, former ESPN analyst Craig
James, claimed Leach mistreated his son by ordering him to stand in a dark
equipment room while dealing with a concussion.
Tech terminated Leach in December of 2009 and when the
coach filed a lawsuit against the school after Tech refused to pay out the
remainder of his contract, an estimated $2.5 million, the state of Texas cited
a sovereign immunity law that shields state institutions from being sued for
monetary damages.
But Leach, who went 84-33 in his 10 seasons at Tech and
led the Red Raiders to 11-2 in 2008, has been persistent in pressuring the
school to pay him the money he’s owed.
The WSU coach berated his former employer in a Monday
press conference last season.
“Oh there were outright crooks at Texas Tech,” Leach
said. “You’re talking about an institution that hasn’t paid me for 2009. We won
nine games in 2009, they haven’t won nine since. Are there crooks there? Yeah.
They ought to put them in jail.
The coach continued: “Think about in the case of Texas
Tech. OK, you’ve got schools that have actually had murders, you’ve had schools
that have had rapes and sexual assaults, you’ve got schools that have cheated
and fixed grades, you’ve got schools who’ve bought players. There’s only one
school in the nation that’s shameful enough to have not paid their head coach.
Only one. And that’s Texas Tech.”
Leach has turned around the program at WSU, leading the
Cougars to an unprecedented fourth consecutive bowl berth in 2018. No school in
the Pac-12 has won more conference games over the last four years than Leach’s
Cougars, who’ve gone 26-10.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Gardner Minshew tweets for the first time this season
From Cougfan.com 11/16/2018
WE MISSED OUT these last 12 games. But Washington State QB Gardner Minshew, now
that the regular season is in the books, is tweeting again. The first tweet
after his hiatus was one of gratitude to Cougar Nation.
-----------
TWEET FROM Gardner Minshew
@GardnerMinshew5
After being off social media during the season, I just
want to say thank you to my teammates, coaches, and fans who have made this
season so special. WSU has become home for me, and I couldn’t be more proud to
be a Coug! #GoCougs
----------------
In 23 minutes, the Mississippi native's tweet had already
garnered 1,400 likes.
Given Minshew’s sense of humor and always upbeat nature,
we’re looking forward to what else "The Mississippi Mustache" might
have to say in the coming weeks.
Minshew and Washington State are waiting to see if the
10-2 season will translate into a New Year’s Six bowl bid, with the most likely
option the Fiesta Bowl. WSU, after beginning
the season without a single vote in the polls, finished the regular season
ranked No. 12/13 in the AP/Coaches, having risen to as high as No. 7. Minshew had a whole lot to do with WSU’s
success.
Minshew is 433-of-613 passing (71 percent) for 4,477
hashes. He’s thrown 36 TD passes – tied
for fourth nationally -- vs. nine interceptions over 12 games.
Despite attempting 613 passes, with the next closest QB
in the land at 464 attempts, Minshew was sacked only 11 times (0.92 per game),
speaking to both the offensive line’s rock-solid work and Minshew’s
elusiveness.
Minshew leads the nation in passing yards per game
(373.1) and total offense (381.7) and is waiting to see if he’ll be named a
Heisman Trophy finalist and take a trip to New York. The finalists are expected to be announced
Dec. 3 or Dec. 4.
:::
WSU Football drops to No. 12 in AP poll following Apple
Cup loss
The Cougars find themselves in a tie with LSU.
By Jeff Nusser Coug Center
Nov 25, 2018, 2:27pm PST
The Washington State Cougars dropped five spots in the
Associated Press poll, to No. 12, following their 28-15 loss in the Apple Cup.
The coaches dropped WSU to No. 13.
The Cougs (10-2) are tied in the AP with the LSU Tigers,
who suffered their third loss in the craziest way imaginable — to the No. 22
Texas A&M Aggies, 74-72 in seven danged overtimes.
Hopefully, this isn’t a precursor of what’s to come in
the ranking that actually matters: The one put together by the College Football
Playoff committee that determines who goes to the New Years Six bowl games. A
number of three loss teams leapt the Cougs — including the Texas Longhorns and
Florida Gators — and if WSU is outside the top 12 of the CFP to end the season,
they won’t be eligible for one of the big games.
Joining WSU in the poll are the Washington Huskies, who
moved up to No. 10 following their win, and the Utah Utes, who moved up to No.
17 following their comeback win over the BYU Cougars.
The new CFP rankings will be released on Tuesday evening.
#
