WSU announces Kyle Smith as its new
men’s basketball coach making him the highest paid coach in program history
by Evan Ellis, Pullman Radio News
3/27/2019
Kyle Smith has been hired as
Washington State University’s new men’s basketball coach making him the highest
paid coach in program history. Cougar
Athletics announced on Wednesday night that Smith has signed a 6 year contract
worth 1.4 million dollars annually. That
makes Smith the highest paid coach in Cougar basketball history tied with the
recently fired Ernie Kent. WSU is still
paying Kent 1.4 million dollars annually for the next three years.
Smith has been the head coach of
men’s basketball at the University of San Francisco for the past 3
seasons. He led the Dons to 20 or more
wins every season and finished 4th in the mid-major West Coast Conference last
year. Smith will be formally introduced
as the new WSU men’s basketball coach during a press conference on Monday.
Cougar Athletics is asking the WSU
Regents for approval to spend an additional half a million dollars to help pay
for Smith’s new contract. The regents
will meet on Thursday morning to consider the budget increase for the current
fiscal year which ends June 30th. That
meeting will be at 11:00 via teleconference from the French Administration
building room 422B.
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Kyle Smith Named Cougar Basketball
Head Coach
From WSU Sports Info
PULLMAN –Kyle Smith has been named
the 19th men’s basketball coach in Washington State history, Director of
Athletics Pat Chun announced Wednesday, March 27. Smith was signed to a
six-year contract at $1.4 million annually and will be introduced formally at a
press conference Monday, April 1. Details of the press conference will be
released later this week.
“We set a goal of finding the best
head coach for Washington State University,” said Chun. “Kyle Smith fulfilled
all of our criteria in meeting this goal. Coach Smith has a proven record of
success, a commitment to academic excellence and a passion for developing every
aspect of his student-athletes. The methodology he has created in building
basketball programs for sustainable excellence is like none other in the sport.
We are fortunate to have Kyle leading our program and welcome his wife Katie,
along with their sons Rocco, Bo and Luke to the Cougar Family.”
Smith brings nine years of head
coaching experience to the Palouse along with 18 years as an assistant coach.
He comes to WSU having spent the last three seasons at the helm of the
University of San Francisco men’s basketball program. There he compiled a
164-40 (.612) record, notching 20 or more wins each season and two postseason
tournament appearances. Smith’s three-straight 20-win seasons marked just the fourth
time in school history that USF had 20 or more wins in at least
three-consecutive seasons and the first time in nearly 40 years.Prior to his
stint in the Bay Area, he served as the head coach at Columbia where he put
together a 101-82 overall mark including a CIT Championship his final season
(2015-16).
“I was really impressed during the
hiring process with Pat [Chun] and his team,” said Smith. “Being married to a
Washingtonian myself, it really felt like home, there was just a lot of synergy
in the room. I also had an opportunity to meet with WSU President Kirk Schulz,
who was very impressive. To have a president like that who’s so in tune with
athletics is very exciting and I’m ready to be a part of it.”
“When I think of Washington State
basketball, I think of the great coaches that have been there, going back to
Marv Harshman, George Raveling, Kelvin Sampson and then Tony Bennett, to name a
few,” Smith continued. “The most recent success being Tony Bennett, who
actually offered me a job when his dad left and he was appointed head coach.
I’ve followed Tony’s career and he and I have often recruited some of the same
types of players. He’s obviously done great things and he’s always been kind of
a mentor of mine. I just hope I can honor the tradition of those coaches that
came before me.”
This past season, 2018-19, the Dons
finished with a 21-10 mark and 9-7 West Coast Conference record, finishing
fourth in the league. In Smith’s second season, 2017-18, he led USF to a 22-17
mark and a tie for fourth in the WCC with a 9-9 league record. In his first
season on the Hilltop (2016-17), Smith led the Dons to a 20-13 overall record,
including a 10-8 mark in the WCC, tying for fourth. It marked the first 20-win
season since the 2013-14 season and the program’s third since the 1985-86
season. The wins were also the most by a first-year USF head coach since Pete
Barry led the Dons to a 24-7 record in 1980-81. All three seasons under Smith
saw USF finish fourth in the WCC, while it advanced to the CBI in both 2016-17
and 2017-18, including a runner-up finish in 2018.
In his three seasons at USF, Smith’s
teams defeated three Pac-12 schools, including wins over both California and
Stanford in 2018-19 and a defeat of Utah in the Diamond Head Classic in
2016-17. The Dons broke the school record for 3-pointers made in a season in
both 2017-18 and 2016-17 with 333 and 304 3-pointers made, respectively. San
Francisco also improved defensively under Smith, lowering its opponent scoring
average by more than 10.0 points per game his first season from the previous
season (2015-16).
Throughout his tenure at San
Francisco, Smith produced seven All-West Coast Conference selections, including
two-time first team honoree Frankie Ferrari, two second team honorees and three
all-freshman. Ferrari also picked up NABC District 9 All-Region Second Team
honors in 2019 as his 73 3-pointers rank third in school history.
Prior to his arrival at USF, Smith
served as the head coach at Columbia for six seasons, guiding the Lions to a
101-82 overall record and two postseason appearances. The 101 victories were
the most in a six-year span at Columbia since the program posted 107 victories
from 1965-71. In his final season (2015-16), Columbia finished with a 25-10
record, third in the Ivy League with a 10-4 mark, and captured the
CollegeInsider.com Tournament championship with a 73-67 victory over UC Irvine
in the title game. The Lions became only the second Ivy League team to win a
postseason tournament after Princeton’s 1975 National Invitation Tournament
Championship.
The 25 victories established a
single-season school record while the 10 Ivy League victories were the most by
a Columbia team since the 1992-93 squad also went 10-4 in the Ivy. It was
Columbia’s second 20-win season in three years under Smith, who also guided the
Lions to a 21-13 record during the 2013-14 season.
During his last three seasons at
Columbia, the Lions compiled a 59-38 (.608) overall record. The 59 wins tied
Princeton for the third-highest total in the Ivy League behind Yale (64) and
Harvard (63).
During his six-year tenure, Smith
also developed 10 players who earned All-Ivy League honors, including Maodo Lo,
a two-time All-Ivy First Team recipient who ranks as the Lions second all-time
leading scorer and holds the school-record for three-pointers made.
Prior to his appointment at Columbia
in May of 2010, Smith spent 18 seasons as an assistant coach on the NCAA
Division I level, including nine seasons (2001-10) at Saint Mary’s College, one
season at Air Force (2000-01) and eight years at the University of San Diego
(1992-2000).
While at Saint Mary’s, Smithplayed an
integral role in building the Gaels’ program into a perennial championship
contender in the West Coast Conference. In his nine seasons in Moraga, the
Gaels made three NCAA Tournament (2005, ’08, ’10) appearances and earned one
NIT (2009) bid. Saint Mary’s averaged 23 wins over his last six seasons on the
staff, including an 81-20 record over his final three seasons. In 2009-10,
Saint Mary’s finished with a 28-6 record, advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA
Championship and were ranked 19th nationally in the final ESPN/USA Today
Coaches Poll. As the associate head coach under Randy Bennett, Smith was also
responsible for coordinating the team’s offense and played a key role in the recruitment
of all-conference players such as Matthew Dellavedova, Patty Mills, Diamon
Simpson and Mickey McConnell. Mills (San Antonio) and Dellavedova (Cleveland)
are currently playing in the NBA.
During his one season at Air Force,
Smith served as the Falcons’ offensive and recruiting coordinator and also took
a lead role with player development and scouting. He was instrumental in the
recruitment of 2003-04 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Nick Welch
along with all-conference players Antoine Hood and A.J. Kuhle.
Before joining the Falcons, Smith
served eight seasons as an assistant coach at San Diego from 1992-2000 under
Hank Egan and Brad Holland. During his time at San Diego, Smith helped lead the
Toreros to their second-highest win total in school history (20 in 1999-2000)
and as associate head coach, orchestrated a defense that allowed the lowest
opponent scoring average (62.6) in the West Coast Conference (62.6 in
1999-2000).
Born in El Paso, Texas, Smith
graduated in 1992 from Hamilton College with a degree in English literature. He
also played basketball and helped lead the Continentals to a 26-1 record and
the No. 1 ranking in the nation for NCAA Division III as a junior. He shot a
school-record 51.3 percent from three-point range and helped Hamilton to an
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship.
Smith also earned a master’s degree
in educational leadership from the University of San Diego, where he began his
coaching career. Kyle and his wife, Katie, have three sons, Rocco, Bo and Luke.
“I’m just really excited to be
associated with Washington State and the Pac-12 and to be able to compete at
the highest level. It’s truly an honor and I’m just really excited to get after
it, said Smith.”
What they’re saying about Kyle Smith…
“This is a tremendous hire for Pat
Chun and the Washington State men’s basketball program. Kyle is an incredible
leader who will have a plan in place to spearhead a positive culture from day
one. I was incredibly lucky to work under Kyle for two years at Columbia and
his direct influence on me is reflective in many of our analytical models and
teachings we currently use with the Cavaliers. Kyle was playing “MoneyBall” in
college before there was ever such a thing. Wazzu fans will marvel at the
improvement of their players and the program from year to year with real
tangible data. On top of all his coaching talents, Kyle is an even better
person and family man. He remains a consistent mentor of mine and I still rely
on him for advice often. Congrats again to the Washington State administration
on this brilliant partnership. It’s a perfect fit “
Koby Altman – General Manager,
Cleveland Cavaliers
“Washington State is extremely
fortunate to have Kyle Smith now leading their men’s basketball program. He’s a
fantastic coach but more importantly a better person who will get the most out
of his players. I was fortunate to be one of those players who learned and grew
because he pushed me to my best. Washington State is in good hands for many
years to come with this hiring.”
James Borrego - Head Coach, Charlotte
Hornets
“I have known Coach Smith for close
to 30 years. He was an assistant coach at the University of San Diego when I
played there and we are still very close to this day. He has won at a high
level everywhere he has coached and he will win at a high level at Washington
State University. His contagious passion and tireless work ethic will rub off
on everyone that’s part of the program. Coach Smith is a great coach but even a
better person. I told Klay Thompson now I have a real reason to root for the
Cougs!”
Mike Brown - Assistant Coach, Golden
State Warriors
“Kyle Smith is one of the biggest
influences on my basketball life and my personal life. He was a great assistant
coach that helped me see the game in a bigger and different way and now as a
young head coach in this league, he continues to mentor me and help me grow as
I move through the NBA. Washington State got a first-class, diligent worker who
will represent the university in an upstanding manner.”
David Fizdale - Head Coach, New York
Knicks
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WSU men basketball
John Blanchette: Washington State’s
hiring of Kyle Smith suggests determination more than desperation
UPDATED: Wed., March 27, 2019, 7:48
p.m.
By John Blanchette Spokane S-R
Kyle Smith accepts six-year contract,
will earn $1.4 million annually to become new Washington State basketball coach
If you look at the history – the raw
numbers of history, at least – the easy conclusion to lunge at is that
Washington State mixed some unconventional thinking in its search for a new
basketball coach with a dash of desperation.
Good thing it’s more nuanced than that.
There’s absolutely nothing desperate
about the hiring of Kyle Smith, who is seasoned but still outside the box, a
comer but still under the radar – and best of all, accomplished but with no
miracle-worker hype burnishing his profile.
It smacks, in fact, of sound thinking
– something all too rarely exhibited in the Cougars’ various trawls for
basketball leadership over the decades.
Now, will it work?
Reply hazy, try again.
The Cougars have reached Magic 8 Ball
stage in their basketball forecast, a nadir not unprecedented but surely
unwanted, despite the good souls in the program who have tried to make it work.
What’s been missing are enough good players and a good plan – or just a plan –
and they’ve been missing long enough now that it puts into question just how
plausible it for the Cougars to regain relevance.
Let’s state that a bit more directly:
This marriage is a bigger risk for Smith than it is for Wazzu.
If his stay at the University of San
Francisco had continued on its current arc, Smith would have been wooed and won
by someone eventually. There is no suggestion here that he was at a career
crossroads or that the Cougs were his last exit to Majorville – though, yes, 49
can be an itchy age when presented with an opportunity.
But, of course, fans are forever
convinced that their school is the one taking the gamble, and rarely can bring
themselves to unequivocally signal home run.
In this case, there’s the fact that
Smith’s recent success has come in the West Coast Conference, which for Cougs
is useful only when it comes time to disparage Gonzaga vis-à-vis the Pac-12.
And, no, it’s not as if the WCC has
turbocharged a lot of careers.
It has been 20 years since a coach
jumped from the WCC to a Power 5 job, dating back to when Dan Monson left
Gonzaga for Minnesota. In the meantime, 20 other WCC coaches have been fired or
quit, and BYU’s well-respected Dave Rose retired on Tuesday, though it may have
come with a nudge.
Of course, two coaches have dominated
the WCC landscape during that time – and with an outsized loyalty. Gonzaga’s
Mark Few could have named his next job on almost a yearly basis and Randy
Bennett of Saint Mary’s has been just as loyal, though he might be Cal’s coach
now had the Bears not tried to lowball him into a next-door-neighbor discount a
couple of years ago.
It’s hard to get the big career
chance when your ceiling in your own conference is third or fourth place.
This was Smith’s problem, too, in his
three short years at USF. He immediately remade the Dons competitively –
20-game winners each year – but never cracked the top three. Maybe for that
reason, you would like to have seen him cycle through another wave of recruits
there or in his previous stop at Columbia as further validation.
But the Cougs need some hope of a
quick repair, too, and Smith’s record hints it’s possible.
His devotion to analytics isn’t
exactly Moneyball and exploiting market inefficiencies, but he uses them to
adapt, adjust and improve his teams. That’s welcome. So is an offense with
Princeton elements that’s not just giddy-up horse – though the Dons fired up
their share of 3s, and more.
Still, the real challenge – always –
is getting players to Pullman.
He’s not recruiting to New York and
San Francisco, but Smith knows the terrain – his wife Katie was a State B
tournament legend at Manson before playing for Kelly Graves at Saint Mary’s,
where Smith assisted Bennett.
And now he arrives in an intensive
care situation not unlike what Dick Bennett stepped into 16 years ago at Wazzu.
Because at the moment, Washington
State isn’t a Power 5 job in basketball.
It’s a job in a Power 5 conference.
And until – unless – Kyle Smith can
get things going a little, and until – unless – the Cougars’ administration
grasps that token investment in the sport isn’t going to get it done, it’s
going to stay that way. There wasn’t any lowballing to start: Smith is getting
$1.4 million, the same as his predecessor, times six years.
At least it suggests determination
more than desperation.
:::::::::
Washington State tabs Kyle Smith to
restore long-dormant men’s basketball program
UPDATED: Wed., March 27, 2019, 7:57
p.m.
By Theo Lawson S-R of Spokane
Kyle Smith had a chance to be part of
Washington State’s last golden era on the basketball court. He passed up on an
offer from Tony Bennett in 2006, electing to stay put at Saint Mary’s instead.
But Smith still watched from afar,
scribbling down the occasional note as Bennett made the Cougars relevant again,
taking them to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2008.
Thirteen years later, an offer much
more lucrative than the last one, and an opportunity to restore WSU’s
long-dormant basketball program, have persuaded Smith to take a chance on the
Cougars and a job that many consider to be among the country’s most
challenging.
One day after initial reports
surfaced linking Smith to the position at Washington State, the two sides have
agreed to a longterm contract to make him the Cougars’ 19th coach. The school
annonuced Wednesday evening Smith has accepted a six-year contract that will
pay the former University of San Francisco coach $1.4 million annually.
“When I think of Washington State
basketball, I think of the great coaches that have been there, going back to
Marv Harshman, George Raveling, Kelvin Sampson and then Tony Bennett, to name a
few,” Smith said in a press release. “The most recent success being Tony
Bennett, who actually offered me a job when his dad (Dick) left and he was
appointed head coach. I’ve followed Tony’s career and he and I have often
recruited some of the same types of players. He’s obviously done great things
and he’s always been kind of a mentor of mine.
“I just hope I can honor the
tradition of those coaches that came before me.”
Smith will be formally announced
Monday at a press conference. WSU will release the time and location of the
press conference later this week.
Ernie Kent, who was fired after
leading the Cougars to a 13-18 record in 2018-19, was also earning an annual
salary of $1.4 million. It’s costing WSU $4.2 million over the next three years
to buy out the remainder of Kent’s contact, which was set to expire after the
2021-22 season.
But athletic director Pat Chun,
stating in a “”Cougs in 60” radio interview that “the cost of inaction was
going to be greater than the cost of action,” decided to pull the trigger on
firing Kent one day after WSU’s 33-point loss to Oregon in the Pac-12
Tournament.
Just 13 days later, the school moved
to hire Smith, who has an impressive track record at the mid-major level and
won at least 20 games in five of his last six seasons at USF and Columbia.
“Coach Smith has a proven record of
success, a commitment to academic excellence and a passion for developing every
aspect of his student-athletes,” Chun said. “The methodology he has created in
building basketball programs for sustainable excellence is like none other in
the sport.”
When Washington State’s Board of
Regents convenes Thurday, it will consider approving additional expenditures
“for the purposes of hiring a men’s basketball coaching staff,” according to
the meeting agenda.
WSU, which will be paying current and
former basketball coaches $2.8 million per year over the next three years, will
ask for an additional $500,000 at Thursday’s meeting, per the agenda. State law
mandates any expenditures over $250,000 not included in the previous fiscal
year’s budget be brought forth to, and approved by, the Board of Regents.
Multiple reports indicated that Boise
State’s Leon Rice and Montana’s Travis DeCuire both declined offers from WSU
before the Cougars reached out to Smith, but a source with direct knowledge of
the situation confirmed that was false. The source said Smith was the only
person who was offered the job.
Smith’s top assistant, associate head
coach Todd Golden, is reportedly in line to become the Dons’ next coach.
The Cougars are counting on Smith
transform a program that’s gone 11 years since last appearing in the NCAA
tournament, and 10 since last winning a game in the Pac-12 Tournament.
Smith doesn’t have any coaching
experience in the Pac-12, or at the Power Six level, but the 49-year-old who’s
touted as an analytics guru won 63 games in each of his first three seasons as
the Dons’ coach and has been to multiple lower-level postseason tournament
title games.
“I was really impressed during the
hiring process with Pat and his team,” Smith said. “Being married to a
Washingtonian myself, it really felt like home, there was just a lot of synergy
in the room.”
During a “Cougs in 60” interview with
radio host Derek Deis, WSU athletic director Pat Chun indicated what the school
was seeking in its next basketball coach.
“Our coaches that have been the most
successful here have a belief system of what their program needs to look like,”
Chun said, “and a conviction that no matter what the adversity comes, no matter
what the world is telling you, we are going to do it our way and we’re going to
be happy with the results.”
Advanced numbers became an integral
component of Smith’s tenure at USF, where the coach and his staff tracked 50
statistical categories for every player, including 12 for rebounding alone,
according to a profile in The Athletic.
The analytics-heavy approach employed
by Smith at USF was affectionately coined “Nerdball.”
“We might as well be putting our guys
out there in bifocals,” Smith told The Athletic.
The unorthodox approach has been
effective at both of the mid-major outposts he’s worked at.
Smith’s 2017-18 USF team was a
runner-up at the CBI and he took Columbia to the CIT championship game in 2016.
Smith, who has an overall head coaching record of 164-122, spent six seasons at
Columbia prior to his stint at USF.
In Pullman, Smith will inherit a
program that’s finished sub-.500 each of the last seven seasons and won just 22
Pac-12 games in Kent’s five seasons at the helm.
And he’ll be tasked with
reconstructing a roster that loses three seniors, including Robert Franks, who
was the Pac-12’s top scorer and a first team all-conference selection last
season. Reserve guard Carter Skaggs has elected to leave the program and pursue
other opportunities as a graduate transfer and starting forward Jeff Pollard is
reportedly browsing his options after entering the NCAA’s transfer portal.
So, Smith may have to re-recruit the
players on WSU’s current roster and potentially a few of the incoming
prospects.
Of the three players signed to WSU’s
2019 class, just one – transfer guard Ryan Murphy – has assured he’d be
sticking with the Cougars. Texan forward Nigel John has reopened his
commitment, but indicated WSU is still his first option, and forward Daron
Henson – a former Utah State Aggie – hasn’t given any hints one way or the other.
:::::::::
WSU’s Schulz: ‘A great time to be a
Coug’
President reviews accomplishments
during State of the University address
By JUSTYNA TOMTAS of the Lewiston Tribune
Mar 27, 2019
“(The) bottom line is I think it’s a great
time to be associated with WSU, and a great time to be a Coug,” Schulz said
Tuesday in Pullman.
..
PULLMAN — Washington State University
President Kirk Schulz shared the institution’s accomplishments and touched on
some of the challenges ahead during the annual State of the University address
Tuesday.
Schulz touted record student
enrollment of 31,500 students systemwide, progress toward WSU’s goal to become
one of the top 25 public research institutions, and steps that have allowed the
university to become a more inclusive community.
“(The) bottom line is I think it’s a
great time to be associated with WSU, and a great time to be a Coug,” Schulz
said. “... We have our challenges, but I think we have a great opportunity
ahead of us as we really proceed to work together as a campus community to say,
‘What do we want to be in the future, and what types of things are part of our
DNA that we are going to keep?’ ”
The university recently updated its
community standards for student conduct, which has taken what Schulz referred
to as an antiquated system and replaced it with a state-of-the-art plan.
There’s also been a focus on equality, inclusion and diversity, which has led
to the goal of all university committees completing an implicit bias training,
as well as training for cultural competency.
The university hopes to continue to
hire a diverse faculty and staff, which will in turn positively impact the
students, Schulz said.
Other accomplishments included the
opening of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, an overhaul of the curriculum in
the Carson College of Business, and a successful re-accreditation through the
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
WSU made large strides in two metrics
in its Drive to 25 initiative, which sets a goal for the university to become
one of the top 25 research universities by 2030.
WSU now ranks 44th in the nation for
the number of doctoral students who have graduated. The university also ranks
37th in the nation for the amount of awards and honors faculty have received.
According to Schulz, WSU ranks
between 26 and 50 in the nation in the six key measures used in the initiative.
“That is a really significant
accomplishment,” Schulz said.
Though the address is typically used
to enumerate the accomplishments that take place over the past year, Schulz
also touched on some challenges.
He said public universities are being
met with more criticism than ever before.
“The bottom line is higher education
is in the public eye for lots of things, and to me, we can worry about it or we
can look upon it as really an opportunity.”
He touched on WSU’s budget problems,
which he said have been improving. The university was facing a $30 million
annual deficit and by next year he said the deficit will be close to zero. But
that leads to other challenges.
“The question as you start getting
those positive dollars coming back is where do you invest them?”
He said the process will continue to
move forward in a transparent fashion.
Schulz also said the athletic budget,
which has also run a deficit in the millions, is working back toward the black,
although progress may be slower than some people would like to see.
“We have to get ourselves so we are
not a drain on other university programs,” Schulz said. “And that’s something I
know we will continue to work toward.”
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