(In Pac-12
Hotline below note that Jeff Banks, an Alabama assistant football coach is a
WSU grad, former WSU football player and former WSU assistant football coach.)
Pac-12
Hotline: The Pac-12 is at risk of losing its recruiting foothold on the West
Coast, and Alabama smells blood
Updated
Jan 7, 2019 at 4:10 pm
By Jon
Wilner, San Jose Merc News
The Pac-12
is nowhere to be found, while the greatest threat to its recruiting pipeline is
spending four days on the sport’s grandest stage in the conference’s backyard.
SAN JOSE,
Calif — The marauders were neatly dressed in gray and crimson, with
closely-cropped hair, slight smiles and measured words. Positioned 20 yards
from each other during a media event Saturday in San Jose, Alabama defensive
coordinator Tosh Lupoi and assistant coach Jeff Banks politely answered dozens
of questions about Clemson and the national championship game.
But when
the topic turned to the recruiting benefits that come with playing in the Bay
Area, the tone shifted subtly. The Crimson Tide’s raiders of the west coast
smell blood — Pac-12 blood.
After
another disappointing season in which it neither placed a team in the playoff
or excelled in major intersectional games, the Pac-12 appears increasingly
vulnerable to losing homegrown talent to blue-bloods from other conferences.
Best job
in the Pac-12? Even coaches say there's an obvious hierarchy
“There’s
no doubt,” Banks told the Hotline. “Right away, you’ve got to point — and no
negative, but it’s just fact — you’ve got to point to the fact that USC has had
a lot of mixture in its coaching staff, in the head coaching position, and
they’ve kind of been a little up and down since Pete Carroll left.
“That’s
probably the No. 1 issue, and UCLA hasn’t been as strong as it’s been in
certain years.
“So those
two powers that really ran the Pac-12 … those two are down, and Stanford has
the limitations it has academically. Washington’s kind of moved up. It’s all
changed. It’s a little weaker, a little more (opportunity) for national people
to come in and take guys.”
In that
regard, the national championship matchup Monday at Levi’s Stadium couldn’t be
much worse for the Pac-12: It’s nowhere to be found, while the greatest threat
to its pipeline is spending four days on the sport’s grandest stage in the
conference’s backyard.
No program
has pillaged the west more surgically in recent years than the Crimson Tide,
and there is seemingly more to come.
“There
happens to be, and always will be, some young men that we may be recruiting in
this area, in this state,’’ Lupoi said. “So, of course, having (the title game)
here, front and center, makes it exciting for them.”
Lupoi, who
played for Cal, and Banks, a Washington State alum, are two primary reasons for
the talent drain.
Sons of
the Pac-12, it appears, have become agents of its destruction.
“No matter
where we play, we’re going to be on TV nationally,’’ Banks said. “But all the
publicity leading up to the national championship, and being here, in
California, I think it does help us.
“There are
some great recruiting classes coming up in ’20 and ’21, and a lot of (west
coast prospects) we’ve offered early.”
Nine
players on the Crimson Tide’s current roster are from Pac-12’s recruiting
footprint.
Star
quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (Hawaii), All-American offensive tackle Jonah
Williams (Folsom) and backup tailback Najee Harris (Antioch) were 5-star
recruits and the most celebrated of the transplants.
But
Alabama signed four highly rated west coast players last winter and is expected
to land a 2019 gem: Henry To’oto’o, from Concord (Calif.) De La Salle, the No.
2-rated outside linebacker in the country.
Oregon,
Washington, USC, Utah and Cal are in pursuit, but the Tide is the heavy
favorite to sign To’oto’o next month.
“It’s what
happens when you create the kind of dynasty we’ve created — it attracts kids
from all over,’’ said Williams, who spent his childhood in Atlanta but attended
Folsom High School. The No. 2-rated offensive tackle in his class, he picked
Alabama over Washington, Oregon and USC.
The
Crimson Tide’s lead recruiter on Harris, Tagovailoa, To’oto’o, and its
secondary recruiter on Williams is a Bay Area native and graduate of De La
Salle: Lupoi.
One of the
most successful recruiters in the nation, Lupoi played for Cal and served on
the Cal and Washington staffs. He was investigated for NCAA violations with the
Huskies — no penalties were assessed — then wasn’t retained when Chris Petersen
took over in Seattle in 2014. He joined Alabama as a defensive analyst and has
been promoted multiple times, all while strengthening the Tide’s recruiting
footprint in the west.
Banks grew
up in Southern California, punted for Washington State and broke into coaching
as a graduate assistant under Mike Price. Before joining the Alabama staff last
winter, he spent five years at Texas A&M working for Kevin Sumlin and
successfully lured receiver Christian Kirk, one of the top prospects in Phoenix
history, to College Station.
Combined,
Banks and Lupoi have decades of connections to high school coaches across the
Pac-12 footprint and an ability to relate to west coast prospects interested in
attending school in the SEC.
“We kind
of pick our spots on the west coast and try bring in players we feel not only
fit with our culture but also be difference makers in program,’’ Banks said.
“It takes
a difference mindset to play at Alabama, and sometimes guys on west coast might
not know that until get there. So we’ve got to do great job identifying guys
who are not only athletically good enough but mentally tough enough to sustain
the SEC grind.”
The exodus
could get worse for the Pac-12, quickly.
The west
coast’s loaded 2020 recruiting class features the No. 2 tailback in the country
(Kendall Milton), the No. 1 Pro Style quarterback (DJ Uiagalelei), plus two
5-star linebackers (Sav’ell Smalls, of Garfield HS, and Justin Flowe). All four
are considering the Crimson Tide.
Were
Alabama the only invasion threat, the Pac-12 pipeline wouldn’t be as
vulnerable. But Ohio State, Michigan and Oklahoma have all executed multiple
successful raids.
The trend
line isn’t promising for the Pac-12.
Two years
ago, just six of the top-25 players from the Pac-12 footprint (per 247sports
rankings) left for other Power Five schools. That number is expected to rise to
nine when the class of 2019 is fully signed and sealed, and early projections
show the potential for 2020 plundering to reach double digits.
The
Pac-12’s poor performance appears to be depleting its pipeline. And the greater
the talent drain, the more difficult it becomes to compete on the field,
thereby exacerbating the exodus.
“It’s a
cycle,’’ Banks said. “Look at Oklahoma and Ohio State, and what they’ve been
able to capitalize on on the west coast.
“And then
being in playoff and being successful with players from California — the more
that other (players) leave and go to these SEC schools and to the Big 12
schools, it just adds to the feeling that ‘I can do it, too.’’’
::::::::::::::::
THIS STORY
...
"Trevor
Lawrence, Clemson teammates lead the USA TODAY Sports all-bowl team" ..by
Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Jan. 9, 2019 ...
INCLUDES
...
OL: Andre
Dillard, Washington State
"Dillard
protected Minshew from the Iowa State pass rush ..."
:::::::::::::
Washington State gets
commitment from California JC linebacker
Jan 9, 2019 at 9:43 pm
A junior-college transfer with a
background as a linebacker and long snapper has orally committed to the
Washington State football team.
David Aldapa, who played two seasons
at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif., announced his commitment
Wednesday on Twitter. A walk-on, Aldapa told The Spokesman-Review he’s enrolled
at WSU and taking classes in Pullman.
As a sophomore at Golden West,
Aldapa recorded 61 tackles – 36 solo and 25 assisted – from his inside
linebacker position. He also had one sack and two fumble recoveries in 10 games
for the Rustlers, who finished the season with a 6-5 record.
::::
WSU
FOOTBALL
Junior
college linebacker/long snapper David Aldapa orally commits to Washington State
UPDATED:
Wed., Jan. 9, 2019, 8:26 p.m.
In Spokane
Spokesman-Review by Theo Lawson
PULLMAN –
A junior college transfer with a background as a linebacker and long snapper
has orally committed to the Washington State football team.
David
Aldapa, who played two seasons at Golden West College in Huntington Beach,
California, announced his oral pledge Wednesday on Twitter. A walk-on, Aldapa
told The Spokesman-Review he’s enrolled at WSU and taking classes in Pullman.
As a
sophomore at Golden West, Aldapa recorded 61 tackles – 36 solo and 25 assisted
– from his inside linebacker position. He also had one sack and two fumble
recoveries in 10 games for the Rustlers, who finished the season with a 6-5
record.
Aldapa
earned first-team All-Southern League honors as a linebacker, but was also a
long snapper for Golden West College. Recruited primarily by Cougars outside
linebackers/special teams coach Matt Brock, Aldapa told The S-R he’s under the
impression he’ll be playing both positions – linebacker and long snapper – in
the spring “and we will go from there.”
A
6-foot-1, 235-pound native of Diamond Rach, California, Aldapa could be
competing with long snapper signee Simon Samarzich for the Cougars’ vacant long
snapping job, previously held by redshirt senior Kyle Celli.
::::::::::::::
Her View:
The University of Utah could have prevented my daughter's death
By Jill
McCluskey, Thursday, Jan 10, 2019
Moscow
Pullman Daily News
Editor's
note: This column was originally published Wednesday in the Salt Lake City
Tribune. Lauren McCluskey was raised in Pullman and attended Pullman High
School. She was killed Oct. 22 by Melvin S. Rowland outside her dorm at the
University of Utah. Rowland later died by suicide.
My husband
and I thought our daughter was safe. Lauren was a model student athlete at the
University of Utah with an outstanding GPA. However, she briefly dated the
wrong person, who lied to her about his identity, age and criminal sex-offender
past for which he served a 10-year prison sentence. She found out about his
lies from an internet search and ended their brief relationship Oct. 9.
He was
very manipulative, but our daughter figured most of it out. This man had
borrowed her car and refused to return it to her dorm Oct. 10. I called the
University of Utah campus police to ask them to accompany her in retrieving her
car. I told the campus police, "I'm worried he's dangerous. ... He is a sex
offender.... I'm worried someone is going to hurt her." She got her car
back with the help of a campus security escort.
Because
the campus police were now alerted to our daughter's dangerous situation, my
husband and I believed they would be on the lookout for her safety. Instead,
the report of this incident was not entered into a records management system.
No one followed up or linked to her subsequent complaints. The man was free to
roam the campus and even freely visit Lauren's dorm building. My husband and I
were lulled into a false sense of security.
Lauren's
friends tried to help. They reported to Housing and Residential Education staff
the man was talking about bringing a gun to campus. As a convicted felon, he
was not allowed to possess a firearm, let alone bring one onto campus without a
permit. However, their concerns were never acted on by HRE staff and were never
shared with police.
The
convicted felon began harassing her, and Lauren reported the harassment to the
campus police Oct. 12. The police replied that there wasn't much they could do.
They told her she should contact them if it escalated. She also met with a
university counselor, on multiple occasions, about the issues with this man.
Then, the
next day, he started extorting our daughter. Lauren reported the escalation to
the campus police Oct. 13. She also reported he had peeked through the window
of her dorm and it scared her. The police ran a check and found that he had
been convicted of forcible sex abuse.
Had they
made an effort to delve further, they would have found that he was on parole
with multiple parole violations. An independent review stated, "No UUPS
officers interviewed were familiar with the process for obtaining online
Corrections Custody Information." The campus police did not categorize the
case as potential dating violence and gave it a low priority. The case was
assigned to an inexperienced detective who lacked expertise in identifying
domestic violence. No victim's advocates were employed by the campus police.
Six days went
by with no response or action from the campus police. Because of her elevating
concern about their lack of response, Lauren called the Salt Lake City Police
Department twice, on Oct. 13 and then again on Oct. 19. The Salt Lake City
police simply referred her back to the campus police stating jurisdictional
issues, despite that she expressed concerns about the unresponsiveness of the
campus police.
On Oct.
22, Lauren received a text message that impersonated the deputy chief of the
campus police. The text asked her to come to the police station. She called the
police officer with whom she had been working three times, until he finally
called her back. The officer told Lauren that the text was fake and not to
answer the text. However, the officer failed to document or report to anyone
this crime of impersonating a police officer and also did not report the
alarming intent to lure our daughter out of her dorm.
It turns
out our daughter was not safe at all. She was murdered Oct. 22 as she was
returning to her dorm room from an evening class - the same day she reported
the fake text attempting to lure her from her dorm.
Lauren was
having a lively conversation with me and told me about class projects and how
she was looking forward to the spring semester. The last words I heard from my
daughter, when her cellphone dropped to the pavement, were "No, no,
no!" as he grabbed her, dragged her to a car and shot her to death.
Even the
most charitable interpretation of these events leads to the conclusion that the
university safety system was dangerously flawed and a number of individuals
tragically failed Lauren. Our daughter diligently reported facts to the police
numerous times, but no significant actions were taken.
The
University of Utah has neither acknowledged responsibility nor held anyone at
the university accountable. Remarkably, the university's position is there is
no reason to believe that her death could have been prevented. If that were
true, then fixing the flaws in the system would be a pointless exercise.
My husband
and I strongly reject the university's position, as we believe any reasonable
person would given the numerous and escalating concerns that were explicitly
provided to the campus police, Salt Lake City police, university counselors and
HRE staff.
If our
daughter's death could not have been prevented after she reached out to campus
police so many times, we have to ask, is anyone's daughter safe? She did
everything she could to obtain help from an organization that claims to have an
overriding objective of protecting the safety of students. This organization
fatally failed her.
What will
it take for them to treat women's concerns seriously and with urgency when they
complain about harassment, peeking through their windows, extortion and
impersonating a police officer?
As young
adults, students are learning how to deal with life. Skill, sensitivity and
attentiveness are needed when interacting with their concerns and worries. At
any age, police need to listen to and protect women from violence. Many police
departments are leaders in this area, but the University of Utah Police
Department is, to say the least, behind the times and dangerously inadequate.
Police
departments are often male-dominated. At the University of Utah, only three of
31 full-time officers are women. Research shows increases in the share of
female officers are followed by declines in intimate partner homicides and
nonfatal domestic violence. Recruiting and retention of highly qualified police
officers, with a more balanced male-to-female ratio, should be a national
priority.
My husband
and I are grieving the loss of our beloved daughter, Lauren, a beautiful woman
in all respects. We hope an outcome of this tragedy is that campuses - at the
University of Utah and across the United States - will respond with great
urgency when women report relationship violence.
It is our
deepest wish that, in the future, all daughters will be safe when they are away
at college. Our beloved daughter, Lauren, was not, and we will deeply miss the
rich and beautiful life that she was going to live.
Jill
McCluskey lives in Pullman with her husband, Matt McCluskey.
………………
Despite
renewed criticism from the mother of slain student Lauren McCluskey, the
University of Utah sticks to its plan for improving safety — without discipline
By Nate
Carlisle and Courtney Tanner, Salt Lake Tribune, 1/10/2019
In a new
commentary, the mother of slain University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey
said the school mishandled her daughter’s case — and has failed to hold anyone
accountable for its failure to respond with urgency to the track athlete’s
concerns.
But the
top trustee at the university and a former police chief on a team that reviewed
the university’s actions indicated Wednesday that there are no plans to change
course or to discipline anyone.
Jill
McCluskey’s opinion piece was published Wednesday in The Salt Lake Tribune. In
it, she recounted the several times Lauren McCluskey reached out to campus
police to tell them about Melvin S. Rowland, a man she had briefly dated who
harassed and extorted $1,000 from her after she ended their relationship.
Rowland fatally shot Lauren McCluskey on Oct. 22 — less than two weeks after
she first reported her concerns to officers — outside her dorm; he later died
by suicide.
Even the
“most charitable interpretation” of events concludes that the university’s
safety system was “dangerously flawed,” she wrote.
“The
University of Utah has neither acknowledged responsibility nor held anyone at
the university accountable,” Jill McCluskey wrote. “Remarkably, the
university’s position is that there is no reason to believe that her death
could have been prevented. If that were true, then fixing the flaws in the
system would be pointless.”
“My
husband and I strongly reject the university’s position,” Jill McCluskey went
on, “as we believe any reasonable person would, given the numerous and
escalating concerns that were explicitly provided to the campus police, Salt
Lake City police, university counselors and [Housing and Residential Education]
staff.”
Part of
her commentary was a response to the independent report the university
commissioned on what officers and others did, and did not do, before the murder.
That includes housing officials not relaying concerns to campus police from
Lauren McCluskey’s roommates, who worried that she was in a dangerous
relationship. The review found: “In the final analysis we will never know that
this tragedy could have been prevented without these deficiencies.”
On the day
the report was released, though, university President Ruth Watkins was more
resolute. She said at a news conference, “The report does not offer any reason
to believe that this tragedy could have been prevented.”
H. David
Burton, chairman of the University of Utah’s board of trustees, read the
commentary Wednesday and said the school will continue on its course of
implementing recommendations from the independent review. He said he’s not sure
if he agrees with Jill McCluskey’s conclusion that the university could have
done something to prevent Lauren McCluskey, a senior communications major and
heptathlete, from dying.
“It’s hard
to say,” he said. “It’s a perfect storm that really occurred. There are a lot
of situations that in retrospect, that in reviewing the timeline, things could
have been different.”
Rowland
was a registered sex offender and on parole, and some of Lauren McCluskey’s
allegations could have led to his arrest for violations of the terms of his
release. But the report said campus police never determined that Rowland was a
parolee. They were not trained to check for a suspect’s parole status; they
didn’t see the case as potentially involving intimate partner violence; they
waited days before opening a formal case, and even then, no one was
investigating in the days before the murder.
Burton
added that he reaffirms his support for the university and its administration
and said there are no plans — as Jill McCluskey called for — for anyone to be
disciplined or fired. The solution, he said, is to put in place the fixes
recommended to improve campus security, such as hiring more officers and a
victim advocate and training all police staff about interpersonal violence
issues.
“We need
to do better,” Burton said. “I hope that Lauren’s life was not taken in vain
and that we profit from what that tragic experience has been.”
The
university also put out a statement Wednesday, saying that Watkins "has
accepted the report’s findings and recommendations without reservation.”
But it
includes a small change to Watkins’ assertion that there is “no reason to
believe” anything could have been done differently to prevent the slaying.
The
statement says: “Although the report concluded that there is no way to know for
certain whether this tragic murder could have been prevented, it identified
mistakes and weaknesses in university procedures and actions that handled
differently, could have made a difference.”
The
statement concludes by saying the school recognizes “the need for constant
vigilance, and we welcome input from the McCluskeys and others.”
Sue
Riseling, the former police chief at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is
now executive director of the International Association of Campus Law
Enforcement Administrators, on Wednesday said part of the review team’s report
has been misinterpreted.
The
closing lines meant only to say that there’s no way to know if better policies
and responses from campus police and other university staff could have
prevented the murder, she said.
"The
deficiencies had an impact on how Lauren's case was handled,” Riseling said in
a telephone interview from her office in Silver Spring, Md., “to think
otherwise is not accurate at all.
"Nowhere
in our report are we saying this didn't add up,” she added. “It did add up and
it ended in a way that turned out tragically."
Riseling,
along with former Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioners John T.
Nielsen and Keith Squires, are working on a second report examining broader
questions of safety at the U.
Asked if
she would discipline someone, or expect to be disciplined or fired if she were
still a police chief on the Madison campus and Lauren McCluskey’s murder had
happened there, Riseling replied: “I would have to say that there are so many
systemic problems with this case. ... It really does make you wonder where did
the people fail and where did the systems fail.
“The
university needs to look at that and figure that out, and once they do that,
then they can make that decision about accountability.”
Jill
McCluskey wrote that beyond discipline, she hopes that her daughter’s case will
be a catalyst for change at the University of Utah and colleges nationwide. She
wants police departments to hire more women — the U. has three female officers
out of 31 full-time officers, she said — and take cases of domestic violence
seriously.
:::::::::::::::::::
Dennis Erickson
headed for College Football Hall of Fame
Former
Idaho, Washington State football coach also won two national titles at Miami
By Dale
Grummert
Lewiston
Trib
Jan 8,
2019
Dennis
Erickson, whose highlight-filled coaching career was rooted partly in his
repeated stints on the Palouse, is now a national Hall of Famer.
The former
Idaho and Washington State boss is one of two coaches to be inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame this year, it was announced Monday.
In all,
Erickson spent only seven seasons on the Palouse, but his success at Idaho from
1982 to '85 and at WSU in 1987-88, laid the groundwork for a career that
included two national titles at Miami and helped popularize the spread passing
attack.
He coached
at six schools and garnered 12 bowl bids and six outright or shared conference
titles in 23 seasons.
Also to be
inducted into the Hall is former Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals
quarterback Jake Plummer, who grew up in Boise and now lives in northern Idaho.
Erickson's
early stops at Idaho and WSU in particular were instrumental in propagating the
version of spread offense he'd learned from Jack Elway at San Jose State from
1979 to '81. Both Palouse schools continued to employ that offense after
Erickson's departure, and the schemes were among several influences on present
WSU coach Mike Leach when he collaborated with Hal Mumme on formulating their
Air Raid offense three decades ago.
Erickson
led Idaho to a Big Sky Conference crown in 1985, one of his four straight
winning seasons for a school that hadn't tasted even back-to-back such seasons
since 1938. He also coached the Vandals in 2006.
After a
year at Wyoming in 1986, he returned to the Palouse to coach WSU for two years,
guiding the Cougars to the Aloha Bowl in 1988, where they beat Houston for
their first bowl win in 73 seasons. That won him a gig at Miami, where he went
63-9 in six years and claimed national championships in 1989 and '91.
Those
Hurricane teams went 35-1 at home and never ranked lower than No. 3 in the
final AP polls.
Erickson
eventually became the first man to earn Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors for
three schools: WSU, Oregon State and Arizona State. His most recent stint in
the conference came as an assistant at Utah.
In his
first season at Oregon State in 1999, he led the Beavers to their first winning
record in 29 years and their first bowl appearance in 35. His best season at
Corvallis, Ore., came in 2000, when the Beavers snapped a 33-year losing streak
to USC and earned a share of the Pac-10 title for the first time since 1964.
Erickson
is the fourth WSU coach and the eighth Cougar overall to join the college Hall
of Fame. The other coaches were William "Lone Star" Dietz, Forest
Evashevski and Orin "Babe" Hollingbery. Inducted as players were Glen
"Turk" Edwards, Mel Hein, Rueben Mayes and Mike Utley.
The only
other Vandal to make the Hall was quarterback John Friesz, who played under
Erickson for a year.
Erickson
also spent four years with the Seattle Seahawks and two with the San Francisco
49ers. In 2018, at age 71, he was pulled out of retirement in northern Idaho to
coach the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football, set to
begin play next month.
He grew up
in Everett, Wash., and was an All-Big Sky quarterback at Montana State.
The only
other coach chosen for the Hall this year is Joe Taylor, who won 233 games at
historically black colleges.
Joining
Plummer as Hall of Fame players are Vince Young, Raghib Ismail, Darren
McFadden, Rickey Dixon, London Fletcher, Jacob Green, Torry Holt, Troy
Polamalu, Joe Thomas, Lorenzo White and Patrick Willis.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Cougfan.com
asks, “Could Alabama QB transfer Jalen Hurts actually end up at WSU?”
It also
says, “ALABAMA QUARTERBACK Jalen Hurts, the junior signal caller who just
entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, is looking for a new home....”
Remainder of story not available.
::::
Seen & Heard on Planet Coug: WSU fans more
miserly than thought
By BRADEN JOHNSON Cougfan.com
THE
"DOING MORE WITH LESS" REFRAIN applies in a major way to the 2018
Cougars when you look at their fellow top 10 members in the final AP football
poll of the season and the amount of donations that flow to the respective
athletic departments. Former WSU Board of Regents member Kevin Massimino
pointed out on Twitter the other day that, in the seven-year window from
2010-17, Coug fans donated $110 million LESS to their school's athletic program
than the next-lowest school (Clemson) in the top 10.
Being
efficient and effective in use of resources is a great thing that some will
point to with pride. But from this corner, Cougar fans ought think twice if
"doing more with less" is a point of pride for them -- because doing
more with less has landed WSU in the top 10 just once in the last 15 years.
Doing more with more has put those other nine schools in or near the top 10 in
many if not most seasons. Here's how the AP top 10 breaks down on athletic
department donations based on information compiled by USA Today Sports, which
broke down finances and expense reports of 230 public universities. For the full
report, and methodology behind the data collection, click here.
1. Clemson
- $169 million
2. Alabama
- $253m
3. Ohio
State - $218m
4.
Oklahoma - $280m
5. Notre
Dame - N/A
6. LSU -
$298m
t7.
Georgia - $266m
t7.
Florida - $365m
9. Texas -
$323m
10. WSU - $59m
THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL is out this week with its financial valuations of Pac-12
football teams, and again. WSU is at No.
11 with a net value pegged at $142 million. The full list breaks down this way:
1. Washington $441 million; 2. Oregon $349m; 3. USC $326m; 4. UCLA $302m; 5.
ASU $301m; 6. Stanford $233m; 7. Utah $214m; 8. Colorado $208m; 9. Cal $199m;
10. Arizona $166m; 11. WSU $142m; 12. OSU $128m
JEFF
BANKS, THE ALL-PAC-10 punter on Washington State's legendary 1997 (1998 Rose
Bowl) team, just finished his first year as the special teams coordinator at
Alabama following five years with Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M. Banks was
quoted at length this week in a San Jose Mercury News story by Jon Wilner about
prime time West Coast high school talent being susceptible to the overtures of
the Crimson Tide and other blue bloods on the other side of the country due to
the Pac-12's recent struggles.
“There’s
no doubt,” Banks told Wilner about West Coast homegrowns being open to
entreaties from afar. “Right away, you’ve got to point — and no negative, but
it’s just fact — you’ve got to point to the fact that USC has had a lot of
mixture in its coaching staff, in the head coaching position, and they’ve kind
of been a little up and down since Pete Carroll left. That’s probably the No. 1
issue, and UCLA hasn’t been as strong as it’s been in certain years.
“So those
two powers that really ran the Pac-12 … those two are down, and Stanford has
the limitations it has academically. Washington’s kind of moved up. It’s all
changed. It’s a little weaker, a little more (opportunity) for national people
to come in and take guys.” Click here to read the full story.
Banks got
his coaching start as graduate assistant under Mike Price at WSU from
1998-2000. As a WSU senior on the No. 9-ranked team in the nation, he led the
Pac-10, and was No. 15 nationally, in punting.
IN LOOKING
AT THE BALLOT BREAK DOWN in the AP's final top 25 poll, which we did in South
& Midwest voters propelled WSU into top 10, something that stands out more
broadly than how the voters voted is that only 13 of the 62 voters are from the
Western U.S. You'd hope every person with a ballot is objective in their
thinking but the simple fact is that familiarity yields knowledge. With only 13
of 62 votes in the Western half of the U.S. and the Pac-12 overall being down,
it's a wonder the Cougs cracked the top 10 even with their 11 victories.
Related:
Cougs ranked in top 10 for first time since 2003
WESTGATE
LAS VEGAS’ SUPERBOOK gives WSU 200-to-1 odds to win next season's College
Football Playoff National Championship. The SuperBook also gave Iowa State,
Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Purdue and Stanford 200-to-1 odds to win the
title.
:::
Soccer Cougars
add Grad Transfer Avery Collins from Stanford for 2019
Based on
info 1/10/2019 from WSU Sports Information
PULLMAN -
Picking up its second transfer of the new year, Washington State soccer and
Head Coach Todd Shulenberger has announced the addition of Averie Collins for
the 2019 season.
Collins
will have one year of eligibility for the Cougars after completing her degree
at Stanford in the spring. Collins joins a loaded Cougar roster that welcomes
back 21 letter winners from 2018 to go along with nine freshmen and one
transfer, Madison Carter, from the University of Portland.
"We
are really excited to add Averie Collins to our soccer program next fall,"
said Shulenberger. "Averie is a very talented player who I expect to jump
right in and contribute immediately. She is a leader, a proven winner, and a
great young lady."
Collins
comes to the Palouse after playing three seasons with the Cardinal, helping
Stanford to the 2017 national championship. As a junior in 2017, Collins netted
a pair of goals to go with an assists in 17 games played. The year prior she
started all 21 games for the Cardinal, finishing the year with 13 points on
five goals and three assists. The Cougars saw first hand what Collins could do
on the field that year as the second-year striker netted the game-winner in the
78th minute against WSU to lead Stanford to a 2-1 win in Palo Alto. She would
go on to earn Pac-12 All-Academic honors in 2016 in her first year of
eligibility for the award.
Prior to
Stanford, Collins graduated from Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Mont. She was
the 2015 Montana Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior while also earning
NSCAA High School Scholar All-America honors. Additionally, Collins was named
the NSCAA Montana Player of the Year for the second time in 2015. In four
years, she would score 57 goals while added 29 assists for the Hawks. On the
club level, Collins led Salt Lake City's La Roca FC to five State Cup
championships and the 2015 U18 Region IV championship.
::::::::::
News below
based on 1/10/2019 info from WSU Sports Information….
Soccer Cougs Taylor Mims Inks Professional
Contract With CV Haris of Spain
The WSU All-American from Montana looks to make
an impact overseas at the next level.
TENERIFE,
Spain – Washington State Volleyball All-American Taylor Mims signed her first
professional volleyball contract with CV Haris of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
announced Thursday by the organization.
The senior
from Billings, Montana, Mims was a force for the Cougars of Washington State
both offensively, and defensively throughout her four-year career. Taylor
finished the 2018 season ranked second overall on WSU in total kills with 411,
a hitting percentage of .224, and has been extremely efficient on the year with
a team-high 3.81 kills per set. She saw herself in the top ranks of various
stat categories within the Pac-12 as well, including sixth in points per set,
seventh in kills per set, 10th in overall kills, 11th in total points, and 12th
overall in solo blocks.
She has
continued to move up in the Washington State Volleyball all-time ranks as the
year progressed, after hitting the 1,000 kill mark earlier this season, and
currently stands at seventh overall all-time with 1,310 kills. Mims is also
ranked in multiple other all-time in Cougar Volleyball stat categories
including, third in total points at 1,639.0, ninth in total attack attempts at
3,562, and 10th overall in attack percentage with .214. Defensively Taylor has
been a force, ranked in the top ten in four different blocking stat categories
for the Cougars all-time as she is fourth in total blocks (437), fourth in
block assists (374), sixth overall in solo blocks (63), and finished 10th
overall in blocks per set (0.97).
Mims
helped anchor the Cougars this season to a 23-10 overall record, and a No. 16
overall seed in the NCAA Championship Tournament, earning the right to host the
opening two rounds of action. Washington State downed Northern Arizona and
Tennessee to advance into the Sweet Sixteen, where WSU ultimately fell against
No. 1 overall seed, and eventual 2018 NCAA Champion Stanford. She generated big
offensive numbers throughout the three post-season matches, totaling 48 overall
kills to fuel the Cougars on their best tournament run since 2002.
Taylor
will look to make a big impact for CV Haris, a member of the Women's Volleyball
Super League in Spain, which currently sits a top of the table, just a point
ahead of CV Murillo. Mims discussed that she will look to "grow as a
player. Tenerife seems like a great place to start my first experience as a
professional player." She will also continue "to learn and improve as
a player to contribute to the team as much as possible," as her
professional career begins to unfold, beginning in Santa Cruz de Tenerif
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