The man, the myth, the mustache
QB Gardner
Minshew could lead WSU to the first 11 win season in program history to end a
unexpected, but welcome year
By TAYLOR DUNLAP, Evergreen
December 10, 2018
From the
start of the season, Gardner Minshew II stole the hearts of nearly all students
and fans of Cougar football. As his final season playing college football comes
to an end, the quarterback is grateful that his last year of college football
was spent here in Pullman.
Starting
in the summer, Minshew said he had to adjust to a new locker room and learn a
new playbook with his new team, as he had played for three schools in his
journeyman career. Making these adaptations and fighting for a starting
position, he said the summer seemed to fly by.
Although
the summer went fast, Minshew said from the beginning the team could tell they
were destined for something special.
“I think
when we got into camp and just started getting around to everybody, we could
kind of tell we had the chance to be good,” Minshew said. “We believed in
ourselves long before anybody else thought we’d do anything.”
Once he
grabbed the starting quarterback spot, the rest of the season was an unexpected
journey. From the very first game in Wyoming, Minshew and the team slowly
started to find their rhythm as the pieces fell into place.
He helped
lead the Cougars to a 10-2 overall record and a 7-2 conference record, their
most successful season since 2003. Minshew easily made a name for himself in
Pullman.
One game
this season that stands out to him was the win against Oregon when ESPN College
GameDay came to town. With the eyes of the college football world focused on
Pullman, Minshew believes that is when people starting seeing the Cougars’ real
talent.
“Just
seeing how passionate our fans were and winning the game like we did, everyone
storming the field, it was incredible,” he said. “I think that was really the
point in our season where everybody else kind of caught up to thinking what we
had believed the whole time.”
With some
close games and breathtaking wins, there have been lots of highlights for WSU
this year. The two games the team lost were the hardest moments of the season
for Minshew, he said. However, suffering the first loss to USC early in the
season was nothing compared to losing the Apple Cup in what was a snowy
disaster, he said.
Going into
the Apple Cup, the winner of the game had the chance to play in the Pac-12
Championship and possibly win the conference. The game was important to Minshew
and his teammates as being Pac-12 champions was one of their goals prior to the
start of the season.
Despite
losing the Apple Cup, Minshew has a positive attitude about the season and will
not let that one game define the team’s year.
“Definitely
isn’t what we wanted, we wanted to win the Pac-12 and that’s what we set out to
do but we have a lot to be proud of and we know that,” he said. “More than
anything now we are just trying to win that 11th game and do something that’s
never been done here.”
Throughout
the season, Minshew led the nation in passing yards for the majority of the
season and was on the Heisman Trophy watch list. However, he said his main goal
was helping his team win as many games as they could.
Minshew’s
father, Flint, has been to nearly every game this season and supported his son
through the many wins and few losses. Throughout Minshew’s life, Flint said he
has seen his humble personality in action and believes that he purely focuses
on helping his team rather than flaunting himself.
“I think
he is way more concerned with winning games and helping his team win games,”
Flint said. “There’s times earlier in his career where he has thrown and set
records for completions and yards yet didn’t win the game and he was just as
upset.”
As Minshew
is wrapping up his final and sole year at WSU, he said he thinks he did his job
in leading his team and being a role model to others. By keeping a consistent
attitude and instilling strong values of hard work, passion and excitement for
the game, he feels that he is leaving WSU with all he had.
In
Minshew’s eyes, one of the greatest qualities WSU has is its loyal fan base. He
started a trend this season as his famous Mississippi Mustache caught the
attention of Cougar fans all around, encouraging them to rep the mustache each
and every game.
His father
and family are extremely proud of the success and fun he had throughout his
season as a Cougar. Flint said he believes there is no place that would suit
Minshew better than here at WSU.
“He was
the perfect fit for Washington State and Washington State was the absolute
perfect fit for him,” Flint said. “There’s not one place that I could think
that it could have been better.”
Between
the fans, teammates and coaches, Minshew found the perfect home to finish his
college career. As the team heads to San Antonio, Texas, for the Valero Alamo
Bowl on Dec. 28, he said he wants to end his last game as a Cougar with a win
and set a program record for wins.
Minshew
looks forward to his final collegiate game and as his time at WSU is coming to
an end, he believes the team and fan base has made his last season one to
remember.
“More than
anything I am just super grateful to just have the teammates that took me in
like they did and kind of adopted me in such a short time,” Minshew said.
“These coaches have believed in me and then the fans that just supported us
every step of the way, they made it just so much fun.”
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WSU
FOOTBALL
Washington
State’s Andre Dillard earns third team All-American recognition from Associated
Press
Monday
Dec. 10, 2018, 10:28 a.m.
By Theo
Lawson of Spokane’s S-R
PULLMAN –
Expect a few more awards to trickle in for the Washington State football team
as All-American teams are announced throughout the week.
For the
Cougars, the first of those came on Monday morning, when senior left tackle
Andre Dillard was named a third team All-American by the Associated Press.
It marks
the third straight year WSU has had an offensive lineman on one of the AP
All-American teams. Former left guard Cody O’Connell was a first teamer in 2016
and a second teamer in 2017.
Dillard, a
native of Woodinville, has had an impressive run at the left tackle position
for the Cougars over the past four years. The Dec. 28 Alamo Bowl against Iowa
State will mark the 42nd game of Dillard’s career and his 40th start in a
Cougar uniform.
An
All-Pac-12 Conference honorable mention selection in 2017, Dillard won first
team all-conference honors last week, both from the Pac-12 coaches and media
members. The 6-foot-5, 306-pound tackle recently accepted an invitation to play
in the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, next month alongside Cougars
quarterback Gardner Minshew.
This
season, Dillard anchored the left side of an offensive line that allowed just
11 sacks all season. That number is drastically improved from 2017, when the
Cougars conceded 44 sacks.
Dillard
and the Cougars also blocked for the nation’s best passing attack, which
produced 379.8 yards per game and an FBS-high 443 completions.
In
addition to the Associated Press, the NCAA also recognizes All-American teams
from the Football Writers Association of America, the American Football Coaches
Association, Sporting News and the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
::::::::::::::
Iowa State
football's assistant coaches reap the benefits of head Coach Matt Campbell’s
new contract
By Randy
Peterson, Des Moines Register
Dec. 9,
2018 Updated Dec. 10, 2018
AMES, Iowa
— It wasn’t exactly surprising news that Iowa State altered football coach Matt
Campbell’s contract Sunday. He’s had the best first three seasons of any modern
day Cyclones football coach, he’s got the team in the school’s most prestigious
bowl ever, and the NFL’s Black Monday firing day is around the corner.
So, yeah,
the timing seems appropriate for another contract tweak after Campbell first
teamed up with Iowa State's administration in November 2015.
Athletics
director Jamie Pollard knows a good coach when he sees one — and a good coach
knows a good staff when he has one.
That’s my
main takeaways from Sunday afternoon’s announcement — that Campbell’s very good
staff of assistants and support personnel will share $1 million of additional
compensation this year.
And that’s
significant, because if you don’t think other schools aren’t interested in at
least some of Campbell’s full-time guys — you’re wrong.
Remember
when you saw Cyclones defensive coordinator Jon Heacock’s name mentioned as a
possibility to run the Oklahoma’s defense, as did I, a while back?
Salary
increases don’t always equate to coaching longevity, but what Pollard and
university president Wendy Wintersteen signed off on is at least a signal that
they respect what Campbell and his staff have done.
What about
Campbell, you wonder?
Don’t
worry yourself about his ability to purchase presents this holiday season. He’s
still a rich young man who, at this stage in his life, is more into turning bad
football programs into good ones than financially paralyzing a university.
Campbell
is getting a one-year extension — through 2024. His salary, according to a
school administrator, isn’t changing. He’s making $3.5 million this season and
will get the annual raises that his existing contract calls for.
For Iowa
State’s 39-year-old football miracle worker, it’s not about the money right
now. For him, it’s about continuing to turn what was once the Big 12’s
second-worst program into a perennial winner.
It’s about
winning prestigious bowl games. It’s about getting to an occasional Big 12
Conference championship game — something his team came oh so close to this
season.
For Matt
Campbell, it’s about doing something that no other Iowa State football coach
has ever done — and right now, that’s in the so-far, so good category.
Nothing
against the Liberty, Insight and the other bowl games in which the Cyclones
have played, but none measure up to this Dec. 28’s Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
Nothing.
It’s
astounding to think a program that didn’t win a Big 12 game in 2014 was
suddenly the Big 12’s first pick after the automatic bowl bids were handed out.
In a
matter of 37 games — and while playing in the only Power Five conference
without a scheduling loophole that doesn’t provide occasionally skipping
powerful teams — Iowa State was the first selection after New Year’s Six bowls
were announced.
Talk about
a culture change, and if you know anything about Iowa State, you can predict
what I’m going to write next...
That even
if the Alamo Bowl will be the final games in Iowa State uniforms for running
back David Montgomery and receiver Hakeem Butler — next season's team could be
even better.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WSU's Mike
Leach takes another swing at Texas Tech
By BRADEN
JOHNSON
Cougfan.com
Mike Leach
again proves he will not relent in his pressure to force Texas Tech to pay him
the alleged $2.4 million remaining on his contract from 2009. (Photo:
USAToday/Snook)
PULLMAN –
Mike Leach on Sunday after Washington State's first bowl practice again took a
swing at his former employer Texas Tech. Leach was asked his thoughts on his
former QB Kliff Kingsbury recently accepting an offer to become USC’s offensive
coordinator.
“I was
surprised they fired him in the first place, and they probably shouldn’t have,”
Leach said. “Of course, they still haven’t paid me for 2009, and we’re going to
make sure everybody knows that until they do. Hopefully, they’ll step up and
become a more honorable institution. [Texas Tech has] been buried at the hands
of very few people. But they need to overcome those very few people.”
Leach has
been regularly going after Texas Tech since his ouster back in 2009. So if you
thought the report two weeks ago in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal was
ludicrous, that Leach was open to returning to Tech following Kingsbury’s
firing, Leach's comments after Sunday’s first WSU bowl practice strengthened
that view.
Leach has
not been shy about discussing his ongoing legal dispute with Texas Tech since
his termination for alleged player mistreatment. He's filed suit against Tech
for wrongful termination and breach of contract, waged a public war against
Texas Tech over Twitter, and hired a Houston investigative firm “to dig up
information on Texas Tech officials and pressure them into paying him the $2.4
million he says he is still owed by Tech.”
A private
jet scheduled to fly in from Lubbock to Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport on Nov.
27 – three days after Kingsbury’s firing – sent Pullman into a frenzy, though
Leach refuted within hours refuted the report he was interested in a return to
Tech.
Related
story: Commentary: Mike Leach back to Texas Tech? Good lord
After
initial reports surfaced in mid-November that Colorado intended to fire Mike
MacIntyre, Leach also went after the Red Raiders. MacIntyre was two years
removed from a 10-win campaign in Boulder, and Leach cited his own dismissal;
“I know a guy who won nine games and got fired,” he said.
Leach last
December received a 5-year, $20 million new deal running through 2022, and made
$3.5 million this season. He'll make $3.75 million in 2019 and $4 million
annually from 2020-22, and will receive a one-time $750,000 retention bonus
after WSU's 2020 campaign.
::::::::::::::::::
WSU Men’s
basketball falls to Montana State 95-90
Despite
halftime tie, Cougars lose to Bobcats for first time since 1973
By SIGMUND
SEROKA, Evergreen r
December
9, 2018
WSU men’s
basketball traveled to Kennewick to face
Montana State on Sunday, losing with a final score of 95-90. This was the
Cougars’ third loss of the season, but they are still undefeated in Beasley
Coliseum.
The
Bobcats started the game out hot by nailing a three-pointer almost immediately
after the tipoff. They continued this strong offensive momentum, making four
more three-pointers and two free throws to extend the lead over WSU 17-6 about
five minutes into first half.
The
Cougars, who got off to a sluggish start with a turnover and several missed
shots, would go on a two-minute scoring drought after senior forward Robert
Franks Jr. made his first attempt. There was a lull in play over the next two
minutes where both teams committed a turnover each and missed several shots.
MSU led by
as much as 12 points in the first half, but WSU was not deterred as the team
managed to get its stride going and bring the score within one point with about
four minutes left in the half. Most of the scoring in the first half came from
freshman forward CJ Elleby, Franks and junior guard Carter Skaggs.
MSU led
for all but the last minute and a half when Skaggs sank a three-pointer to lift
the Cougs over the Bobcats 40-38. After a few free throws and a layup from
freshman forward Aljaz Kunc, MSU would put up one final three-pointer just
seconds before halftime to tie the score at 43.
The second
half started off in much the same way as the first for the Bobcats but a little
better for the Cougars. While there were still plenty of missed shots shared by
both teams, WSU couldn’t seem to find a way to take the lead away from the
Bobcats.
WSU surged
ahead for a brief moment in the middle of the second half, but MSU quickly made
a few good shots to regain control at about the nine-minute mark. The Cougars
went ice cold from beyond the arc at this point as they kept missing shots and
turning the ball over.
These
mistakes gave the Bobcats the break they were looking for to stretch their lead
almost into the double digits with just under a minute to go. A big factor in
the difference in scoring for both teams was their percentages from the field.
MSU shot
50 percent from beyond the arc by the end of the game, with leading scorer
junior guard Harald Frey tallying 31 points. For WSU, the leading scorer was
Franks with a total of 25 points while going 9-16 from the field. Elleby also
added 20 points while shooting about 50 percent from the field.
With this
loss WSU’s record will move to 5-3 on the season as MSU moves to 3-6. WSU’s
next game will be against the Rider Broncs at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 in Beasley
Coliseum.
…………
Vince Grippi
of the Spokane S-R says about WSU men’s basketball:
Just
winning would be nice for Washington State right now. The Cougars are muddling
through another nonconference slate, winning some, losing some. But last
night’s loss in a home game played away from home – Kennewick – is the worst
defeat they’ve endured this season.
Montana
State is having a down season. The Bobcats have struggled to score. They have
struggled to win, entering Sunday night’s contest with a 2-6 record.
Neither
matter in this one as MSU hit 16 3-pointers, scored nearly triple digits and
defeated Washington State 95-90.
There have
been a lot of “worst” losses in Ernie Kent’s Pullman tenure and this is one of
them. You know what I mean, right? After the Cougars lose a game the fans
thought they should have won handily, the narrative is “this is the worst loss
ever.”
This one,
against a team tabbed to finish eighth in the Big Sky Conference, might
actually fit that narrative. The Bobcats’ best win – remember, they only had
two – came at home the other night against 5-5 North Dakota.
They have
lost by 30 at home to Utah State, by 45 at Indiana, by 22 at Arkansas, by 19 at
UC Santa Barbara (all good teams) and by 24 at Nebraska-Omaha (not a good
team), a school with only two other wins, and one of those is over a Division
III school, Buena Vista.
No matter
where you want to rank it, last night’s was a bad loss for Kent and the
Cougars.
::::::::::::::::::::
Women’s
Basketball Cougs fall to No. 22 Gonzaga
Turnovers,
fouls help ranked Bulldogs pull away from Cougs
By KATIE
ARCHER, Evergreen
December
9, 2018
WSU
women’s basketball lost to No. 22 Gonzaga 76-53 on Sunday afternoon in Spokane.
Head Coach
Kamie Ethridge said the team struggled with staying disciplined in the first
half which would have helped them be more successful.
“We kind
of had a meltdown on how to play basketball,” Ethridge said. “So it’s a great
challenge for us. What they do, they do it really well and we’ve got to either
change or get beat.”
The
Bulldogs scored first in the game but the Cougars responded, going up 4-2 with
baskets from redshirt junior forward Borislava Hristova and senior center Maria
Kostourkova. The Cougars controlled most of the first quarter and led by seven
points with two and a half minutes to play. Gonzaga went on a late run to close
the gap and trail 13-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Gonzaga
took the lead against WSU in the second quarter by beating the Cougars to
rebounds and scoring points off turnovers. However, the Cougars continued to
fight and kept the game close. In the final minutes of the second quarter,
senior guard Alexys Swedlund received a flagrant foul. Afterward, Gonzaga
pulled away from WSU on a seven-point run to lead 34-24 at halftime.
The
Cougars finished the first half shooting about 45 percent from the field goal,
while the Bulldogs shot 41.7 percent. Gonzaga finished the first half with 21
rebounds and 15 points off of turnovers. WSU made 11 turnovers in the first
half and Gonzaga made six.
The third
quarter began with six missed shots, three form each team. With under six
minutes to play in the third quarter, the Cougars were still looking for their
first basket. As five minutes approached, Swedlund hit a three-pointer that
ended a 15-point scoring run for the Bulldogs.
WSU’s
efforts would not be enough to stop Gonzaga’s attack, however, as the Bulldogs
extended their lead to 54-34 at the end of the third with a 12-2 scoring run.
In the
fourth quarter, Gonzaga continued attacking and pulling away from WSU. The
Cougars fought back and scored the final two points of the game, but the
Bulldogs had done the damage winning the game 76-53.
Hristova
led the team with 19 points followed by Kostourkova with 10 points. Kostourkova
also led the team with seven rebounds. The Cougars finished the game making 40
percent of their field goals and nearly 36 percent of their three-point shots.
The
Cougars had 16 turnovers to Gonzaga’s 12, and scored eight points off
turnovers. The Bulldogs scored 19 points off of turnovers.
WSU
returns to the court 2:30 p.m. Dec. 19 to face Kansas in the Duel in the Desert
in Las Vegas.
:::::::::::
Graduates urged to begin new journey
WSU, UI celebrate fall commencement
By Anthony Kuipers, Moscow Pullman Daily News Dec 10, 2018
Graduates of Washington State University and the University
of Idaho were all assured that while their commencement ceremony may feel like
the end of a journey, it is actually the beginning of another.
Around 800 WSU students and 500 UI students made their
families and friends proud by accepting their degrees during fall commencement
Saturday at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman and the Kibbie Dome in Moscow,
respectively.
Ceremony speakers for both universities shared a similar
theme during their speeches.
"This is commencement, but it's not the end of a
journey, but the start of a journey," said University of Idaho President
Chuck Staben, who said this sentiment extends back to the first UI graduation
ceremony in 1896, when the class motto was "Not finished, but begun."
Back then, Staben said, there were a grand total of four
graduates during a four-day ceremony, each of whom had to deliver an oration.
While Saturday's proceedings were larger, and much shorter than in 1896, that
motto still has relevance, Staben said.
"What change can you spur in your chosen
profession?" he asked. "What project can you bring your unique
perspective to? What challenge in your community demands your attention and
your advocacy?
Savannah Rogers, president of the Associated Students of
WSU, told her fellow students that even though classes are over, their
"journey as a lifelong learner starts today."
She encouraged them to stay motivated to put their skills to
good use in the world.
"I believe Cougs can and will change the world,"
she said.
UI's featured speaker, Brian Foisy, the university's vice
president of finance and administration, said a college education is the
largest personal investment people will likely make in their lives. He said the
irony of this, however, is even a college degree alone will not help them
achieve their goals.
"It's my job to tell you your degree is not
enough," he said.
Getting hired by a company takes more than skill, he said.
Foisy said the CEO of Idaho Central Credit Union told him once that when hiring
employees his company goes by the motto, "Hire the smile, train the
skill."
Foisy said employers value that positivity as much as skill,
and it is not something a degree can offer.
"If you don't have a smile on your face and you don't
have a smile in your heart, there's no class, there's no conference and there's
no degree," he said. "It has to be inside of you."
Graduates for both schools were encouraged to go out in the
world with a sense of compassion and enthusiasm.
WSU Regent Brett Blankenship recalled the words of author
George Saunders' commencement speech at Syracuse in 2013, when the author told
the students to "err in the direction of kindness" in all of their
ambitions. Being unselfish and kind will help them unlock the same potential
that people like Gandhi and Mother Teresa had, Saunders told the audience.
Blankenship concurred with those words.
"They found meaning in their work," Blankenship
said. "They found meaning in what they were doing."
James Cook, accomplished soil scientist and former dean of
the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, was awarded
WSU's honorary doctoral degree. U.S. Army Major Gen. Erik Peterson was awarded
an honorary degree
::::::::::::::
Coug nurse draws on decades of nursing for debut mystery
novel
December 10, 2018 from WSU News
Catching, a WSU College of Nursing graduate (MN ’03), was
selected out of hundreds of authors as a finalist for a prize from the Crime
Writers’ Association in 2016
By Addy Hatch, WSU News
Rita Catching had to retire from nursing to have enough time
to write her first novel, a murder mystery whose main character is a nurse in
Eastern Oregon.
The book by the WSU College of Nursing graduate (MN ’03) was
selected out of hundreds of entries as a finalist for a prize from the Crime
Writers’ Association in 2016, and she was invited to London for the awards
ceremony.
Her book didn’t win, but Catching, 68, said she scored “a
very quiet victory” anyway. Being in London with famous mystery authors was a
treat, and she proved to herself she could be a writer.
“It’s really satisfying to know if a person wants to write,
you’re capable of doing it,” she said.
She actually started the book, “A State of Grace,” more than
20 years ago. But she put it aside when she enrolled in the Master of Nursing
program at the WSU College of Nursing in Vancouver, after spending decades in
the nursing profession. Following graduation from WSU she taught nursing at
Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington, before retiring in 2013.
That’s when she pulled out her manuscript and got back to
work on the story of nurse Libby Clendenon, who runs up against a U.S. Senator
and two murders as she tries to fulfill the wishes of a dying patient.
Catching said a nurse makes a good protagonist for a
mystery.
“I’ve long been fascinated with the apparent ease with which
nurses can find themselves playing a central role in a patient’s personal
affairs,” she said. “Since my protagonist also happens to have a boyfriend
who’s a sheriff, it puts them in a position where they’re very in‑the‑know
about things.”
She self‑published the book,
because “it turns out publishing a book is a whole
lot harder than writing a book,” she
said. She’s currently writing the
second book of a planned series of three, to be called “At the Hour of Our Death,” and said she’ll
try again to land a publisher when she finishes the series.
“I’m very modest about my expectations,” she said. “I’m
pleased people I know who’ve read the book like it, and I’ve had people I don’t
know contact me to say it was fun to read. That always makes a person feel
good. But you’re probably not going to see me on the shelves in Barnes &
Noble anytime soon.”
