Poster from WSU Athletics. Martin Stadium photo by Evergreen
with graphics added by News for CougGroup.
How a WSU poster helped new baseball clubhouse
become reality
By BRADEN JOHNSON Cougfan.com
2/4/2019
DONNIE
MARBUT, the former baseball coach at Washington State, tells the story with
gusto. Ten years ago, Justin Felker,
then a WSU fundraiser, discovered a cache of nearly 300 copies of Bobo’s Best,
a commemorative lithograph commemorating Chuck "Bobo" Brayton's
33-year legacy at Wazzu. A light bulb went on, and years later it helped pave
the way for last week’s announcement WSU’s state-of-the-art $10 million
baseball clubhouse that will open in Fall 2020.
Felker
wanted to have every living Cougar player depicted in the poster, plus all the
“honorable mentions” listed at the bottom, to sign the lithos to 1) reconnect
those Cougars with Wazzu, and 2) come away with special collectors' items
Marbut could use in his fundraising efforts to build a clubhouse. It meant
there were 59 star Cougar baseballers to try and track down. The quest took
more than two years.
“One of
the cool things that happened when we knew we wanted, and needed, to build a
facility, Justin started that really, really great project,” Marbut told CF.C's
Barry Bolton. “While I was lucky enough to go along with Justin some of those
times, the credit goes to Justin for really getting the ball rolling … It also
allowed us to engage with as many donors as we possibly could. Justin played a
huge role in that, and then there are also some really, really great people who
never wanted, and to this day, to take any credit.”
Marbut and
Felker together raised more than $3 million dollars for the project.
Related:
WSU baseball: state-of-the-art clubhouse will open in fall 2020
“I’m just
really happy for the program that it finally happened, it’s not about me or
anything I did,” said Marbut. “I’m just thrilled for Cougar Nation and the
program because It’s going to attract more players there and it will be a great
fan experience. I’m looking forward to
going over and enjoying a Cougar baseball game and to see the program enjoy a
top-notch facility.
“This is
such a great start for Cougar baseball. And I hope when the project is done, I
hope Cougar Nation looks at it that way -- as a beginning, because this is just
the start of what they truly need.”
Marbut was
dismissed by then-AD Bill Moos in 2015 one day after a Spokesman-Review article
where Marbut lamented a lack of support from Moos in the clubhouse fundraising
efforts. These days, Marbut does broadcasting work for the Pac-12 Network and
ESPN, owns a printing company and is a partner in a sports recovery and therapy
business. But once a coach, always a coach, and Marbut says he’s thinking about
“getting back into uniform.” Felker left
WSU in 2014. He is now a business development manager for Burkhart Dental.
Brayton
led WSU 33 seasons from 1962 to 1994. He is the winningest coach in school
history with a record of 1,162 wins, 523 losses and eight ties—the fourth-best
win total in NCAA history at the time he retired.
ATHLETIC
DIRECTOR PATRICK CHUN said last week on the radio WSU President Kirk Schulz was
among the first to tell him fundraising
for the $10 million project, which was approved by the Board of Regents on
Friday, needed to be one of his top priorities.
“President
Schulz made it crystal-clear to me that we have to do this,” Chun said. “We’ve
got to start pushing philanthropy to people about how their passion for
Washington State and their giving will make a difference for WSU baseball.”
Chun
called the current state of WSU’s baseball facilities “sub-standard,"
noting the Cougars and Utah are the only Pac-12 schools without a clubhouse
adjacent to their home stadiums.
“We’ve got
to give coach (Marty) Lees the ability to recruit and develop
student-athletes,” Chun said. “We’re all comfortable in terms of the work coach
Lees has done in recruiting with a sub-standard facility.”
Lees
assembled two top-30 recruiting classes in 2016 and 2018, according to
D1Baseball. The Cougars are 57-91-1 since Lees took over in 2016.
THE
COUGARS HAVE advanced to 16 NCAA Tournaments, but 14 of those appearances came
before 1990 under coaches Arthur “Buck” Bailey and Brayton, whom Bailey-Brayton Field is named
after. WSU nicknamed the clubhouse
project “Back to Omaha” in part because the Cougars have made the College World
Series four times but have not qualified for the eight-team Series since 1976.
“You can
make an argument that it’s our most esteemed program and program with the most
history,” Chun said, noting the athletic department has met with several
construction teams. The facility with feature a 1,800 square-foot locker room,
pitching lab, weight room and offices.
“Ultimately,
our job is to complement the mission of the athletic institution and work
together to help move the athletic brand forward,” Chun said. “It’s nice that
collectively, we got a win for our baseball program.”
NOTABLE:
The Cougars open the 2019 season with a four-game series against St. Mary’s on
Feb. 15 in Moraga. WSU’s home opener comes against Nevada on Feb. 28 at
Bailey-Brayton Field (4:05 pm PT).
::::::::::::::::::
== > Pullman
Radio’s Morning News reports on Feb 4, 2019, at 2:21 pm that WSU President says
university close to a deal to sell naming rights to football field in Martin
Stadium
“Washington
State University President Kirk Schulz says a deal to sell the naming rights to
the football field in Martin Stadium is close to being finalized. Schulz provided Pullman Radio News with an
update on negotiations during an exclusive interview for the Morning News. He expects that an agreement should be signed
within the next few weeks with an announcement coming prior to the spring
football game which will be played in Pullman in April. You can listen to part one of our exclusive
interview with WSU President Kirk Schulz at 6:30 and 8:30 during the Tuesday
Morning News on AM 1150, FM 102.1 and online here:”
::::::::::::
Trojans
slip past Women’s Basketball Cougars in LA
WSU scores
30 points in first quarter, shoots over 50 percent from field in eight point
road loss to USC
By COLIN
CONNOLLY, Evergreen
February
3, 2019
WSU
women’s basketball lost its sixth straight game Sunday in Los Angeles against
USC 81-73 in a back-and-forth contest.
The Cougars
(7-15, 2-9) got off to a hot start thanks to junior guard Chanelle Molina who
hit a trio of three-pointers in the first three minutes.
Molina
ended the first quarter with 12 points as WSU tied a program record with 30
points in the first quarter. WSU led 30-24 after 10 minutes. The Cougars also
scored 30 points in the first quarter against Boise State on Dec. 1.
WSU went
silent offensively in the second quarter. The Cougars failed to score a single
point in the six minutes of the quarter which allowed the Trojans (13-8, 3-7)
to go on an 11-0 run.
The
Cougars wouldn’t hit their first field goal of the quarter until there was 1:28
left. Despite this, WSU would finish the half on an 8-2 run to take a 40-39
lead into halftime.
In the
second quarter, redshirt junior forward Borislava Hristova knocked down a pair
of free throws to move into sole possession of third place on the WSU all-time
scoring list. She would finish the day with 1,559 career points.
WSU shot
51.9 percent from the field in the first half and 46.7 percent from behind the
three-point line. The Cougars were able to hold USC to 25 percent shooting from
three-point range.
Hristova
scored 10 quick points to open the second half as the Cougars grabbed an
eight-point lead. However, the Trojans used free-throws to crawl back into the
game.
Despite 14
points from Hristova in the quarter, WSU trailed 64-59 at the end of 30 minutes
of action.
The Cougar
offense failed to show up in the fourth quarter as USC slowly grew its lead
over WSU.
Molina
tried to pull the team back in the game with her fifth three-pointer to cut the
deficit to just four points, but it was too little, too late, as the Cougs fell
81-73.
Hristova
finished the game with 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Swedlund had 18
points and five rebounds and Molina added 17 points, six rebounds and five
assists. The rest of the team only scored 14 points in the game.
Senior
guard Aliyah Mazyck led the Trojans with 27 points. USC shot 52.3 percent from
the field in the game while WSU hit 50.9 percent.
WSU will
look to end its losing streak 7 p.m. Thursday when it returns home to face
Arizona State at Beasley Coliseum.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Cold
Cougars Men’s Basketball miss first 10 shots, bow to Trojans in Pullman on Saturday
WSU
stumbles early in 93-84 loss to USC
By Colton
Clark, Lewiston Trib
Feb 4,
2019
After only
five minutes of basketball, Beasley Coliseum spectators might have forecasted
the result.
Washington
State had shot 10 times, and netted nada. Meanwhile, Pac-12 adversary USC had
11 points already tallied.
The Cougs
appeared jumbled and drained — traits they’ve generally adopted down the
stretch, rather than out of the chute.
Though the
Cougars came around as the game progressed enough to snip the Trojans’ edge to
single digits on occasion, it was early turmoil that ultimately brought about a
93-84 WSU loss Saturday afternoon in front of a reported crowd of 2,559.
“We had
just a horrendous start to the game shooting,” said WSU coach Ernie Kent, whose
team has lost 11 of 12. “I didn’t feel like we were very talkative on defense
either. When you don’t have that kind of energy on defense, it will affect your
offense a bit.”
Defense
was again the Cougs’ affliction, and it was painted like a portrait in those
opening stages — WSU was losing track of cutters, failing to close out on
spot-up shooters and, later, answering only after allowing USC streaks and
leisurely buckets.
The
Cougars (8-14, 1-8) woke up offensively and staked an 18-5 retort that was
quelled after Marvin Cannon hit a 3 to make it 26-21 with seven minutes left in
the first. And like clockwork, a USC rally crushed WSU’s spark and it was never
again that close.
A 17-2 run
followed for the Trojans. USC’s Nick Rakocevic constantly found slivers of
space underneath, Jonah Mathews loitered beyond the arc and Bennie Boatwright
powered his way past every Coug and onto the glass to procure a 19-point
advantage.
Rakocevic
tied the game-high with 25 points and added 13 rebounds, Mathews chipped in 20
on 6-of-7 from deep, Boatwright logged 18 and Derryck Thornton rounded out the
Trojans’ leaders with 12.
“We’re
talented enough to stay with them, particularly on first possession, first
rotation,” Kent said of USC’s upperclassmen-laden group. “If that rotation goes
a couple of times, and you break down … they’re gonna get you.”
Afterwards,
the Cougs clipped the edge to eight a few times in the second half, but
couldn’t fashion a genuine threat to the streaky-shooting Trojans (13-9, 6-3),
who booked a 58.9-percent mark from the field en route to their sixth straight
toppling of Wazzu.
“If a team
is shooting 50-some percent on you, there’s not gonna be many looks in
transition,” said Kent, who acknowledged that WSU’s juco transfers need to get
accustomed to this level of play. “Sometimes, the littlest thing can knock you
out of rhythm. The key thing for me is they hung in there.”
Point
guard Ahmed Ali, who entered as a sub, spearheaded WSU’s attack, oftentimes
skittering about at the perimeter and drawing enough attention to furnish
3-ball openings, many of which he assisted on. He had seven assists and zero
turnovers.
WSU, which
Kent said tinkered with its lineup to combat USC’s athleticism, placed three in
double figures — Robert Franks had 25, though the Trojans succeeded in limiting
his drives; Ali booked a career-high 18 and, with his parents in town, and
Aljaz Kunc also had a career-high 14 off the bench.
Given his
tone postgame, Kent considered Ali’s showing the tilt’s bright spot, although
Ali was none too pleased.
“We feel
like we’re better than every team. … We’re just coming up with losses,” Ali
said. “I don’t know what it is, but we look at the scouting report and (think),
‘We’re gonna win this game.’
“We don’t
have an excuse at this point. We practice hard. We need to believe we can win,
and it’s not just saying it, it’s doing it.”
WSU
appeared to believe in its deep game, where it launched a program-record 41
3-point attempts. Thing is, the Cougs hit just 14 of them, and ended with a
42-percent mark from the floor.
“I’d like
to get that any night,” Kent said, “because I thought about 30 of them were
wide open.”
After the
contest, Kent talked of continuity and seniority, and how many of WSU’s
opponents possess it, while the Cougars remain a work in progress. He also
mentioned how program-regular Viont’e Daniels only played six minutes because
the Trojans had him bottled up in their game plan.
“Guys
individually are emerging before your eyes, they just gotta do it
collectively,” Kent said.
SOUTHERN
CAL (13-9)
Rakocevic
9-16 7-9 25, Boatwright 6-12 5-7 18, Thornton 6-10 0-1 12, Mathews 7-9 0-0 20,
Aaron 1-2 5-6 8, Uyaelunmo 1-1 0-0 2, Brooks 0-2 0-0 0, Weaver 0-1 0-0 0,
Porter 3-3 0-2 8. Totals 33-56 17-25 93.
WASHINGTON
ST. (8-14)
Pollard
1-3 0-0 2, Elleby 3-10 0-0 7, Franks 8-17 6-6 25, Cannon 1-5 0-0 3, Robinson
0-2 0-0 0, Wade 3-3 0-0 6, Kunc 4-5 4-4 14, Ali 6-15 2-2 18, Daniels 1-3 0-0 3,
Skaggs 2-6 0-0 6. Totals 29-69 12-12 84.
Halftime_Southern
Cal 47-33. 3-Point Goals_Southern Cal 10-18 (Mathews 6-7, Porter 2-2, Aaron
1-2, Boatwright 1-5, Weaver 0-1, Thornton 0-1), Washington St. 14-41 (Ali 4-12,
Franks 3-9, Kunc 2-3, Skaggs 2-6, Daniels 1-3, Elleby 1-3, Cannon 1-4, Robinson
0-1). Fouled Out_Wade, Kunc. Rebounds_Southern Cal 35 (Rakocevic 13),
Washington St. 28 (Franks 6). Assists_Southern Cal 19 (Thornton 6), Washington
St. 17 (Ali 7). Total Fouls_Southern Cal 15, Washington St. 23. Technicals_Aaron,
Elleby. A_2,559 (11,671).
::::::::::::
Coldest
weather of season expected this week on the Palouse
Temperatures
expected to drop to as low as 10 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday
By Garrett
Cabeza Moscow Pullman Daily News s
Feb 4,
2019 U
The
coldest weather of the season is expected to hit the Palouse this week as
temperatures are forecasted to dip to around 10 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday
nights, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Spokane.
Snow is
expected to accompany the cold temperatures this week. The Palouse awoke to a
blanket of white this morning, and light snow is expected to continue through
Tuesday before a break Wednesday. Snow is possible Thursday through Saturday as
well, according to the NWS.
A high of
31 is expected today but winds may range from 14 to 21 mph.
A
hazardous weather outlook for the Palouse issued by the NWS said the cold
temperatures and brisk winds this week will create extremely cold wind chill
values.
“Although
the winds will subside by midweek, the cold temperatures will continue,” the
outlook said.
High
temperatures are expected to only reach into the low 20s Tuesday and Wednesday
and then climb to the upper 20s the rest of the week. After 10-degree lows
Tuesday and Wednesday nights, low temperatures are expected to reach the upper
teens later in the week.
Tom Dang,
a meteorologist for the NWS in Spokane, said the frigid temperatures are a
result of cold winds that are expected to blow in from Canada.
So far,
the coldest temperature measured this winter at the Pullman-Moscow Regional
Airport was 16, Dang said.
“It’s not
unusual for us to see these kind of arctic outbreaks through the course of a
winter,” he said. “What makes it a little strange this winter is that we
haven’t really had one of those really cold arctic outbreaks.”
Dang said
the Palouse has experienced a weak El Nino winter so temperatures have
generally been warmer than usual.
The
average high for Feb. 6 — this Wednesday — is 39, and the average low is 28.
The record low recorded on Feb. 6 at the airport was negative 1 in 2014.
“It’s cold
but we’re not in record-breaking territory here,” Dang said.
Dang
recommended residents remember the P’s when cold temperatures hit — protect
your pets, pipes and plants.
He said
the weather system gracing the Palouse with cold temperatures is a different
source than what caused the arctic blast in the Midwest last week.
::::::::::::
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Washington-State-baseball-clubhouse-Patrick-Chun-Marty-Lees-Bobo-Brayton-Donnie-Marbut-Cougars-Cougs-WSU-128483976
How a WSU
poster helped new baseball clubhouse become reality
By BRADEN
JOHNSON Cougfan.com
2/4/2019
Bobo's
Best commemorative lithograph (Photo: Cougfan.com/Witter)
DONNIE
MARBUT, the former baseball coach at Washington State, tells the story with
gusto. Ten years ago, Justin Felker,
then a WSU fundraiser, discovered a cache of nearly 300 copies of Bobo’s Best,
a commemorative lithograph commemorating Chuck "Bobo" Brayton's
33-year legacy at Wazzu. A light bulb went on, and years later it helped pave
the way for last week’s announcement WSU’s state-of-the-art $10 million
baseball clubhouse that will open in Fall 2020.
Felker
wanted to have every living Cougar player depicted in the poster, plus all the
“honorable mentions” listed at the bottom, to sign the lithos to 1) reconnect
those Cougars with Wazzu, and 2) come away with special collectors' items
Marbut could use in his fundraising efforts to build a clubhouse. It meant
there were 59 star Cougar baseballers to try and track down. The quest took
more than two years.
“One of
the cool things that happened when we knew we wanted, and needed, to build a
facility, Justin started that really, really great project,” Marbut told CF.C's
Barry Bolton. “While I was lucky enough to go along with Justin some of those
times, the credit goes to Justin for really getting the ball rolling … It also
allowed us to engage with as many donors as we possibly could. Justin played a
huge role in that, and then there are also some really, really great people who
never wanted, and to this day, to take any credit.”
Marbut and
Felker together raised more than $3 million dollars for the project.
Related:
WSU baseball: state-of-the-art clubhouse will open in fall 2020
“I’m just
really happy for the program that it finally happened, it’s not about me or
anything I did,” said Marbut. “I’m just thrilled for Cougar Nation and the
program because It’s going to attract more players there and it will be a great
fan experience. I’m looking forward to
going over and enjoying a Cougar baseball game and to see the program enjoy a
top-notch facility.
“This is
such a great start for Cougar baseball. And I hope when the project is done, I
hope Cougar Nation looks at it that way -- as a beginning, because this is just
the start of what they truly need.”
Marbut was
dismissed by then-AD Bill Moos in 2015 one day after a Spokesman-Review article
where Marbut lamented a lack of support from Moos in the clubhouse fundraising
efforts. These days, Marbut does broadcasting work for the Pac-12 Network and
ESPN, owns a printing company and is a partner in a sports recovery and therapy
business. But once a coach, always a coach, and Marbut says he’s thinking about
“getting back into uniform.” Felker left
WSU in 2014. He is now a business development manager for Burkhart Dental.
Brayton
led WSU 33 seasons from 1962 to 1994. He is the winningest coach in school
history with a record of 1,162 wins, 523 losses and eight ties—the fourth-best
win total in NCAA history at the time he retired.
ATHLETIC
DIRECTOR PATRICK CHUN said last week on the radio WSU President Kirk Schulz was
among the first to tell him fundraising
for the $10 million project, which was approved by the Board of Regents on
Friday, needed to be one of his top priorities.
“President
Schulz made it crystal-clear to me that we have to do this,” Chun said. “We’ve
got to start pushing philanthropy to people about how their passion for
Washington State and their giving will make a difference for WSU baseball.”
Chun
called the current state of WSU’s baseball facilities “sub-standard,"
noting the Cougars and Utah are the only Pac-12 schools without a clubhouse
adjacent to their home stadiums.
“We’ve got
to give coach (Marty) Lees the ability to recruit and develop
student-athletes,” Chun said. “We’re all comfortable in terms of the work coach
Lees has done in recruiting with a sub-standard facility.”
Lees
assembled two top-30 recruiting classes in 2016 and 2018, according to
D1Baseball. The Cougars are 57-91-1 since Lees took over in 2016.
THE
COUGARS HAVE advanced to 16 NCAA Tournaments, but 14 of those appearances came
before 1990 under coaches Arthur “Buck” Bailey and Brayton, whom Bailey-Brayton Field is named
after. WSU nicknamed the clubhouse
project “Back to Omaha” in part because the Cougars have made the College World
Series four times but have not qualified for the eight-team Series since 1976.
“You can
make an argument that it’s our most esteemed program and program with the most
history,” Chun said, noting the athletic department has met with several
construction teams. The facility with feature a 1,800 square-foot locker room,
pitching lab, weight room and offices.
“Ultimately,
our job is to complement the mission of the athletic institution and work
together to help move the athletic brand forward,” Chun said. “It’s nice that
collectively, we got a win for our baseball program.”
NOTABLE:
The Cougars open the 2019 season with a four-game series against St. Mary’s on
Feb. 15 in Moraga. WSU’s home opener comes against Nevada on Feb. 28 at
Bailey-Brayton Field (4:05 pm PT).
