News for CougGroup 5/7/2019

Mitzi Montoya named Washington State University provost and executive vice president

May 7, 2019 from WSU News

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Mitzi Montoya, a senior administrator who has served in leadership positions at universities across the United States, has been named provost and executive vice president at Washington State University.

The new provost will work closely with WSU President Kirk Schulz to provide overall direction and leadership for the WSU statewide system. The provost is the university’s chief academic officer, responsible for all aspects of WSU’s academic mission.

Montoya currently is the Sara Hart Kimball Dean of the College of Business at Oregon State University. She is also executive dean of the business and engineering division, the senior administrator for OSU’s Portland operations, and a professor in the College of Business.

Prior to joining OSU in 2015, Montoya held multiple leadership positions at Arizona State University and North Carolina State University. Her roles have spanned college-, campus-, regional-, and institutional-level responsibilities.

“Mitzi’s proven leadership skills, experience, and vision promise an exciting future for the university,” Schulz said. “Her expertise in creating innovative and collaborative partnerships with campus and stakeholder communities will play a pivotal role in advancing our goal of becoming a top 25 public research university by 2030.”

“I am very excited to be joining WSU,” Montoya said. “I look forward to contributing to the university’s commitment to serve communities statewide and supporting the faculty and students in their pursuits of excellence and opportunity.”

One of Montoya’s first priorities will be to assist Schulz with the creation of WSU’s next five-year strategic plan. The effort will include development of a plan that addresses the future of all of the university’s campuses and locations as well as a plan for the WSU Pullman campus.

“We will build the next chapter in WSU’s future together. President Schulz and I will emphasize listening, teamwork, and shared governance during the strategic planning process,” Montoya said. “The Drive to 25 will include a persistent commitment to student success and advancing diversity and inclusiveness.”

Montoya’s field of research, teaching and industry expertise is innovation process and strategy. She has published more than 35 papers and served on the boards of dozens of civic, economic development and university organizations. She has served as an advisor and consultant to a wide variety of industries around the world.

An international scholar, Montoya has taught courses on innovation and marketing strategy at the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels around the world. She has received research funding from numerous organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Education, USAID, and many private and corporate foundations.

Montoya will begin her new duties August 1. She will replace Dan Bernardo, who is stepping down as provost after more than five years in the position to work on special projects for Schulz.

A native of Texas, Montoya holds two degrees from Michigan State University: a doctorate in marketing and statistics and a bachelor’s degree in applied engineering science. She is a former American Council on Education Fellow.

Oregon State highlights

As the leader of Oregon State’s Portland operations, Montoya oversaw the design and launch of a 40,000-square-foot university facility in downtown Portland that opened last fall. She has led the university’s engagement with Portland metro area municipalities and economic development agencies to build a pipeline for workforce development partnerships.

As dean of the business college, Montoya spearheaded student success initiatives focused on student recruitment and student engagement. Those efforts boosted the college’s enrollment by 31 percent in three years and improved freshman retention from 78 to 90 percent, without changing admission requirements or retention standards. Under her leadership, the MBA program achieved tremendous growth, advancement in rankings and a historic first: gender parity in the part-time MBA program.

Montoya also led several initiatives focused on faculty success within the college including doubling the investment in research support and establishing professional development opportunities for faculty.

Arizona State highlights

Montoya served in a variety of administrative positions and as a faculty member at Arizona State University from 2010 to 2015. Her administrative positions included dean of the College of Technology & Innovation, vice provost of ASU’s polytechnic campus, and the inaugural vice president and university dean of entrepreneurship and innovation.

At ASU she worked closely with university leadership to advance ASU’s vision for “One University in Many Places,” a transition from a main campus with satellite campuses to a new operating model in which all colleges and all locations contribute equally to the vision of access, excellence and impact. She also developed a strategic plan and designed the entrepreneurship and innovation unit, which was created to advance entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the university.

North Carolina State highlights

Montoya spent 15 years at North Carolina State University, where she served as an administrator and professor in the College of Management. Her accomplishments included designing and leading an industry-sponsored, project-based innovation lab with faculty and students from four of the university’s colleges. She also served as special assistant to the vice chancellor of research and graduate studies, working on university-wide strategic research initiatives.

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WSU topples Zags in baseball; Cougars pick up hoops transfer

May 7, 2019 from Moscow Pullman Daily News

SPOKANE — Washington State freshman Kyle Manzardo recorded four hits to lead five Cougars with multiple-hit showings in a nonconference win at Gonzaga.

WSU (10-33-1) used six pitchers, including four freshmen, and collected 14 hits to clinch the season series from the Bulldogs for the first time since 2011.

Dillon Plew, Bradley Polinsky and Danny Sinatro each recorded two hits while Tyson Guerrero added two hits and pitched the final two innings. Manzardo and Plew each drove in two runs and scored twice.

Freshman reliever Connor Barison earned his first career win after working 1.2 scoreless innings, and freshmen righthander Zane Mills retired all eight batters he faced.

WSU 013 202 001—9 14 2

Gonzaga...021 010 001—5 9 2

Bush, Barison (3), Newstrom (4), Mills (4), Mullins (6), Guerrero (6) and Polinsky. Naughton, Shulte (4), Trogrlic-Iverson (7) and Pinorini.

W — Barison (1-2). L — Naughton (1-2).

WSU hits — Sinatro 2 (3B),Dillon 2, Manzardo 4 (2B), Guerrero 2, Gouldsmith, Thurber, Polinsky 2.

Gonzaga hits — Yake, Morrison, Johnston, Pinorini, Nyquist, Harris, Fredrickson 2, Marenco (3B).

BASKETBALL

Cougs sign grad transfer

The Washington State men’s basketball program announced the signing of a graduate transfer from Colorado State.

Deion James, 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, signed a financial-aid agreement with the Cougars.

“We are thrilled to have Deion in the program,” new WSU coach Kyle Smith said. “He was the first recruit to embrace our program.”

James spent the last two seasons at Colorado State where he played as a junior in 2017-18, averaging 10.4 points and 5.3 rebounds a game, and redshirted the following season after knee surgery. Prior to that he played at North Carolina A&T in 2015-16 and at Pima Junior College in Arizona the next year, when he was named JC Division II National Player of the Year.

James will have one year of eligibility.

TRACK AND FIELD

Littles placed sixth

TUCSON, Ariz. – Ray Littles of Washington State placed sixth Sunday as the men’s heptathlon concluded at the Pac-12 Multi-Events.

Littles’ point total was 6,772.

Lindsey Schauble of WSU took 10th in the women’s heptathlon with 5,028 points.

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WSU men basketball

Washington State’s Robert Franks, CJ Elleby and Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins to participate in G League Camp

Mon., May 6, 2019, 1:24 p.m.

By Theo Lawson Spokane S-R

Washington State and Gonzaga will both be represented at the upcoming NBA G League Elite Camp, held May 12-14 in Chicago.

The Cougars’ Robert Franks and CJ Elleby, and the Bulldogs’ Josh Perkins, have chosen to attend the inaugural three-day scouting event at Quest Multisport, designed to give NBA hopefuls and top G League prospects more exposure leading up to the 2019 NBA Draft.

The camp field includes 40 draft-eligible college players and 40 more players who spent the 2018-19 season in the G League.

The Chicago-based event, held in front of NBA coaches, scouts and executives, will be a good opportunity for all three players to showcase their skills.

Franks and Perkins, both seniors last season, haven’t appeared on many mock draft boards in recent months, but will likely pursue professional basketball regardless of whether their names are called in the draft.

Elleby, one of the Pac-12’s top freshman players last season, is testing the draft waters and could still return to the Cougars next season as long as he withdraws his name before the May 29 deadline.

The Seattle native recently hired an agent and has already gone through multiple workouts with NBA teams. Elleby has worked out with the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets already and was scheduled to work out for the Philadelphia 76ers today. The forward has a few more workouts scheduled for later in the week.

Elleby was WSU’s second-leading scorer in 2018-19, averaging 14.7 points per game, and was second on the team with 7.1 rebounds per game. He was only outdone by Franks, who scored a Pac-12-leading 21.6 ppg and grabbed 7.2 rebounds per game. Elleby was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, while Franks earned All-Pac-12 First Team honors.

Perkins started all 37 games he played in as a senior, recording 234 assists on the season and breaking the program record previously held by Matt Santangelo. His 712 career assists also rank third all-time in the WCC.

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WSU basketball men

Australian point guard Ryan Rapp flips from San Francisco to Washington State

UPDATED: Fri., May 3, 2019, 6:08 p.m.

By Theo Lawson of the S-R of Spokane/Inland Empire

PULLMAN – Washington State is returning to a familiar source for basketball talent.

The Cougars and Kyle Smith have flipped Australian point guard Ryan Rapp, two weeks after he signed a letter of intent with the University of San Francisco. Rapp announced that he would follow Smith, the former USF coach, to Pullman on his Instagram page, and the San Francisco Examiner reported that the Dons plan to grant him his release.

Rapp posted this message from his page: “A lot of things have changed these past few weeks, and I’m glad to say that I will be signing with Washington State University! I’m honoured to have had the opportunity to play at San Francisco but decided to follow my head coach to the Cougars to play in the Pac-12!”

WSU abandoned the Australian pipeline during Ernie Kent’s five years at the helm, but it was a popular pit stop on the recruiting trail for former Cougars coaches Ken Bone and Tony Bennett, who brought in Aussies Brock Motum, Aron Baynes, Dexter Kernich-Drew and James Hunter.

Rapp is a 6-foot-5 combo guard who played for Mazenod College in Melbourne and was named to the All-Associated Catholic College team in 2017 and ’18.

He also played club hoops for the Dandenong Rangers of Victoria’s Junior Basketball League.

In a USF press release from April 18, Smith’s replacement, Todd Golden, said this of Rapp:

“Ryan is a big combo guard, and his best basketball is ahead of him. He already has a great understanding of how to play the lead guard position. He has great feel, and is very comfortable operating out of the pick-and-roll. He’s made big strides in his all-around game over the past year.”

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News for CougGroup 5/2/2019

WSU women’s hoops recruiting gets 6-foot-3 player from Australia

Coug’s women’s hoops led by coach Kamie Ethridge added 6-3 Australian big Emma Nankervis.

Nankervis, along with previously signed Bella Murekatete, Leah Mafua and Grace Sarve, join a WSU roster that returns stars Bobi Hristova and Chanelle Molina  while losing Alexys Swedlund and Maria Kostourkova to graduation.

Nankervis and Murekatete are likely going to be key for a Cougar squad that significantly lacked size last season.

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WSU men’s hoops recruiting: Smith casting a wide net from LA to Canada

By Jamey Vinnick Cougfan.com

KYLE SMITH offered a new name -- a 4-star standout from north of the border in the 2020 class. And the Washington State head hoops man is also reportedly giving serious looks at a pair of 2019 and 2020 recruits in the Los Angeles Basin.

The new offer from Smith is to Class of 2020 small forward Matthew Alexander Moncrieffe (6-7, 195), per verbalcommits.com. Hailing from Vaughan, Ontario, Moncrieffe is one of the top players in the 2020 cycle, he’s the No. 39 overall prospect nationally on 247sports’ proprietary rankings.

A quick check revealed little statistical info on Moncrieffe (possibly due to him playing in Canada), but in last year’s FIBA U-17 tournament, the Orangeville Prep product averaged 11 points and 7 boards over six games despite somewhat limited minutes. His tape shows physicality, athleticism and a guy who loves to attack the rim.

Moncrieffe already holds offers from Florida, Georgetown, ASU and others.

IN THE CURRENT CYCLE -- with the signing date deadline now two weeks away -- Smith has taken interest in four from East Los Angeles College; two 2019 prospects and two from the 2020 class, according to JUCORecruiting.com and ELACHoops. Most notable among the quartet is an athletic forward (with an awesome name): Babacar Thiombane (6-7, 198).

A former Army Black Knight, Thiombane averaged nine points and seven rebounds this season for ELAC, while shooting 55 percent from the field and 38 percent from 3-point range. Thiombane has interest from several smaller schools, with WSU the top program to have expressed interest in the athletic big man.

What's interesting: the stats of Malik Muhammad, LeVelle Ziegler and Raefel Agee are modest indeed -- and Ziegler was the only one to even average double-digit minutes. While ELAC is a high-end JC, none exactly set the world on fire with eye-popping numbers, so how are they going to excel in the Pac-12? Muhammad stands 6-9 and has three years of eligibility remaining, while Agee is also 6-9 but with two years left. At 6-1, Ziegler is the point guard and has three years to play.

So what gives?  Two things to keep in mind that might explain Smith's interest: 1) Smith looks at a LOT more than just the stats we all focus on in the box score. Smith and his staff have over 50 analytic metrics to evaluate players, from the well known to the obscure, so they're likely seeing something the “surface stats” don’t show.  And 2) Smith’s entire philosophy is predicated on finding overlooked players, the outlier who is toiling in anonymity, but someone Smith believes well capable of blossoming.

A JUCO player or four, with a nondescript stat line but with a great work ethic and a burning desire to prove others wrong who really wants to wear crimson, would fit that blueprint.

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Why Gardner Minshew was drafted could return him to WSU one day

By Barry Bolton Cougfan.com

THE CHIEF REASON Jacksonville selected Cougar quarterback Gardner Minshew in the sixth round of the NFL Draft was made clear moments after they made the pick. And it's the same reason why the Washington State quarterback could return to the Palouse one day, albeit in a different capacity than his starring role in 2018.

Minshew is a "really smart guy" who aced not only the Wonderlic at the NFL Combine, but the tests that Jacksonville put him through as part of the pre-draft process, Jaguars director of college scouting Mark Ellenz said on Saturday.

"Yes, you will sit down with him and (realize) this guy could be a coach -- it is impressive," said Ellenz. "We interviewed him at the combine, a formal interview, and he was at the Senior Bowl also, but he is a sharp dude."

Funny thing, Minshew has long wanted to be a coach.  He mentioned it when CF.C first spoke to him in March of 2018 on the day he verbally committed to Wazzu as a grad transfer QB out of East Carolina.

"I've got these two goals; one is to play in the NFL and the other is to become a coach," said Minshew back then. “ … As far as coaching goes, I've always been a huge follower of the Air Raid, I love that style of football. And to be able to learn under one of the creators of it will be such a great experience, and it's such a great coaching tree to get into."

MINSHEW IS ABOUT to accomplish the first of his goals. But the reality is NFL careers are short, something Minshew himself pointed out in our first conversation with him more than a year ago.  And Minshew's "second career" in coaching might ultimately turn out to be his true calling.

Imagine Minshew back at WSU but this time as a GA or offensive quality control coach, followed by a promotion to full assistant coach. His knowledge of the Air Raid (and other offenses) would be the perfect fit.

Now consider Minshew out on the recruiting trail -- talking to recruits, parents and high school coaches.

Given how he grabbed the attention of the college football world last season, anyone want to be against him winning a few living room recruiting battles?

IT WOULD BE great fun to see Minshew buck the odds and have a long NFL career, maybe even prove the draft analysts wrong who have said his best-case scenario would be as a "career backup" in the National Football League.

But it might be even more fun to see what he could accomplish at Washington State as a coach.

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Gardner Minshew meets the mustache pioneers of Cougar QBs

By COUGFAN

THE MISSISSIPPI MUSTACHE, Gardner Minshew, took the Pac-12 — and the world of facial hair— by storm in last football season, and earlier this month in Pullman he had a chance to meet the two trailblazers who first mixed mustaches and quarterbacking at Washington State.

Chuck Peck and John Hopkins are widely believed to be the first WSU QBs to sport ‘staches.

Not surprisingly, they both came to Cougarville in the era of Three Dog Night, Black Sabbath and bell bottom jeans.

Peck, a horseshoe 'stache guy, played for the Cougs under Jim Sweeney from 1972-74. And Hopkins, a handlebar man, was in crimson from 1973-76 under Sweeney and Jackie Sherrill.

Consequently, at the historic gathering of generations of Cougar quarterbacks earlier this month at the CougsFirst! QB Classic in Pullman, it was destiny fulfilled to find the two pioneers in the same place with the legendary Minshew, who is now a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Thus the photo at the top of this page. Hopkins, on the left, is now clean shaven and Peck, on the far right, has elevated his face game to a classic Tom Selleck chevron.

PECK, KNOWN FOR HIS SENSE of humor back in the day, chuckled when reminded of WSU’s win over Stanford in 1972 when he landed in Sweeney’s doghouse. After the Cougs' last TD of the afternoon, Peck (the holder) and Joe Danelo (the kicker) switched places for the extra point. As they were jogging onto the field for the PAT, Peck told Danelo that Sweeney authorized the position swap since the game was sealed. So Peck split the uprights out of Danelo’s hold. When they returned to the sideline, Sweeney was less than amused.

HOPKINS SHARED A STORY about his final game as a Coug in the 1976 Apple Cup in Spokane. After team warm ups, he changed jerseys to a different number and put on a jacket. So when he was inserted into the game at running back for a gadget play, the Huskies had no idea it was the team's former starting quarterback. When the new starter, Jack Thompson,  pitched him the ball, Hopkins proceeded to fire a 20-yard bullet down the middle for a first down.

NOTABLE:

Both Peck and Hopkins also hold places in Apple Cup lore. In 1973 in Seattle, Peck -- a Ballard High product -- led the Cougars to their largest-ever win over the Dawgs: 52-26 (42-6 at halftime). In 1975, Hopkins had the Cougs on the verge of another victory in Seattle. Leading 27-14 with the ball at the Husky 14 and just minutes remaining in the game, Sweeney wanted to play things safe, run the ball and kick a field goal. His players wanted to run up the score. A breakdown in communication -- run or pass on third down? -- ensued, along with calamity. No need for gory details, but the Cougs lost 28-27 in a miracle final two minutes for the Dawgs.

Peck has been a long-time broker and financial manager in the Portland area. Hopkins is a real estate developer in southern California as well as a long-time assistant coach for one of the nation's most storied prep football teams, Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif. (stay tuned for an interesting story on that later).

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Pac-12: No plans to change schedule philosophy says Larry Scott, conference commissioner

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Pac-12 has no plans to change its football scheduling policies and philosophies, including playing nine conference games, to enhance the league's chances to place a team in the four-team playoff.

Commissioner Larry Scott said Wednesday that conference coaches and administrators discussed during meetings this week whether there are ways to better position their teams for College Football Playoff selection. The Pac-12 has failed to have a team chosen three times in the CFP's five-year existence, more than any other Power 5 league.

In addition to playing nine conference games, several Pac-12 schools infrequently play FCS teams and routinely schedule two Power 5 nonconference opponents in the same season.

"It's pretty apparent our schools do not singularly focus on, 'How do we skate through as easily as possible?'" Scott told reporters.

The Big 12 and Big Ten have nine-game conference schedules, and Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference teams play eight-game league schedules. The Big Ten and Big 12 have each missed the playoff twice. The SEC and ACC have had playoff representatives every season.

Scott said CFP considerations are only part of scheduling decisions. Pac-12 television contracts with ESPN and Fox were struck with a nine-game conference schedule in mind.

"We've got obligations. It doesn't mean it would be impossible, but up until now, our schools haven't wanted to change," Scott said. "Our schools like playing against each [other]. Don't really like going into the buying of games market."

Paying for one-off home games against lower-level Division I opposition has become costly. Top Power 5 schools frequently pay more than a million dollars to have an opponent come to their stadium with no return road game. Also, Scott said, Pac-12 schools have a difficult time drawing fans for games against lesser competition.

"Our fans aren't going to come out to our stadia for any game. They come out for high-quality games," Scott said. "There's pressure our campuses feel to have a high-quality slate of games. There's a perception that scheduling to make the playoff is the first priority for our schools."

Scott cited Southern California's and Stanford's traditional rivalries against Notre Dame as an example of the Pac-12's scheduling philosophy.

USC has also played a home-and-home series with Texas and a neutral-site game against Alabama in recent seasons, in addition to the annual game against the Fighting Irish. This season, Stanford will play Northwestern and UCF in the nonconference, along with Notre Dame.

There is nothing the Pac-12 can do to push the SEC and ACC to play more conference games, though Scott said the Pac-12 would support the Power 5 conferences agreeing to have their teams play at least 10 games each season against Power 5 competition, regardless of conference.

"Directionally, that would create the kind of parity we want," Scott said. "I would say it would definitely be a step in the right direction."

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News for CougGroup 5/1/2019

WSU tennis players Bayerlova, Sato/Mylonas duo chosen for NCAAs

May 1, 2019 Moscow Pullman Daily News

Washington State tennis’ Michaela Bayerlova and the pairing of Tiffany Mylonas and Hikaru Sato have been selected to compete respectively in the singles and doubles fields at the NCAA women’s tennis championship, which begin May 20 at Winstom-Salem, N.C., the week after the team championship.

The school announced the selections Tuesday.

Bayerlova, WSU’s No. 1 seed sophomore from Krumbach, Germany, has now reached the event twice in a row. She’s ranked 39th nationally and holds a 22-6 record. She’s the fifth WSU singles player to make the NCAAs.

“Michaela continues to improve her game and having competed at the NCAAs last season will benefit her greatly this season,” Wazzu coach Lisa Hart said.

The Cougs’ doubles team of senior Mylonas — from Belgium — and freshman Sato — from Japan — boast a 25-6 doubles record. They are the first WSU doubles team to make the NCAAs since 2002. The two began the year 12-0, and eventually defeated the 14th-ranked pairing in the country (Stanford) and No. 5 duo (UCLA).

“Tiffany and Hikaru have really come on late in the season and developed into one of the top teams in the Pac-12,” Hart said. “Their ability to compete has permeated our lineup and for them to reach the NCAAs is a testament to how hard they have worked this seaso

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Nearby History: History in a handful of ink drawings

By Mark O'English

May 1, 2019

Moscow Pullman Daily News

In the early 1960s, with the 75th anniversary of the 1890 founding of Washington State University just a few years away, Richard Thornton hit upon the idea of a combined art/history book about campus and the town.

There had been previous books about the school’s history, notably President E.A. Bryan’s 1928 “Historical Sketch of the State College of Washington” and William Landeen’s 1958 work on President Holland’s administration. However, the two were historical works first: 450 to 550 pages each, with no photographs in Landeen’s book, while Bryan’s had relatively few.

Thornton felt there had to be a market for something combining the beauty of the campus with its history.

Thornton had moved to the Palouse in 1960 as a newly hired instructor in the art department. Previously employed as assistant art director at the Ford Motor Co.’s advertising department, and having a newborn son and a 3-year-old daughter to raise, Thornton was looking for ways to bring in extra money beyond his WSU salary.

Putting together a handful of pen and ink drawings, Thornton went to the Alumni Association with his idea for an art/history book. Struck by his drawings, they agreed to fund it. Thornton recruited Sally Adams, editor of the campus alumni magazine, to write the history. While some of his drawings were taken from historic photographs of the school, the modern images were all drawn from life. Richard would park his 1958 VW bug in an aesthetically satisfactory spot and draw the campus and town from the driver’s seat, with his pad perched on the dash or steering wheel. In this manner, he put together about 115 renderings of the area. As part of his contract, he retained ownership of the original drawings, which he sold for extra income.

“WSU: The Hill” was published in 1963 and was quite successful. A second edition was published in 1966, with some newer campus images replacing a few of the outdated ones. It has been out of print since. Copies do occasionally turn up in local bookstores or at online retailers, but you have to know it’s there and go looking for it to find it. It was put online in 2018, and can today be found through WSU’s digital collections or at https://archive.org/details/wsuthehill.

Thornton left WSU in 1979, and taught for the rest of his career in Connecticut; today he’s enjoying retirement in Poulsbo, Wash. Later WSU campus publications echoed his template, some almost all photographic (2006’s “Picture WSU”), but most being balanced between text and imagery. In an era where photographic images, both modern and historic, can be found online through image search engines, Thornton’s nearly 60-year-old drawings provide a simplified and streamlined elegant look at our campus and town.

Mark O’English is the university archivist in Manuscripts, Archives & Special Collections at Washington State University.

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Pullman Barber shop owner, car swept by flood; said he floated on street

‘It’s definitely not my fault I got hit by a river’

BY DYLAN GREENE, Evergreen

April 10, 2019

Some people used air mattresses to float the raging river down Grand Avenue Tuesday night. But Jonathan O’Brien one-upped them when he rafted down the street in a Kia Optima.

“I legitimately f-cking floated,” he said.

O’Brien, the owner of Cave Cutz, 362 S Grand Ave, Pullman,  was driving north on Grand after work when he hit about two to three inches of water covering the roadway.

He was following a pickup truck that was clearing the path and allowing his mid-size sedan to trek on. Unfortunately, once O’Brien reached the laundromat on Grand, the water was about 4-feet deep and he quickly realized he was in trouble.

Things became even worse when the pickup took a left and all the water it had plowed out of the way rushed onto O’Brien’s Kia, nearly submerging it. Then he started to float near Nye Street and was along for the ride.

“It’s the craziest sh-t I’ve been through in a long time,” he said.

When O’Brien realized he had no control of his car, he turned it off, cranked up the radio and lit a cigarette. He then dialed his girlfriend, Sylvia Aguila, and informed her about his precarious situation.

“I called her while I was floating,” O’Brien said. “She said she had a burger waiting for me and I was like just throw the f-cking thing out.”

O’Brien was not scared or nervous but there was one thing on his mind.

“All I could think about was my insurance better cover this,” he said.

O’Brien took photos as his car spun aimlessly without any water entering the vehicle. He floated for fewer than five minutes and about 100 yards before his car came to a rest just before reaching Ritchie Street.

He sat in his car another 10 minutes before the fire department came and told him he needed to exit the vehicle.

Wading through shin-deep water, O’Brien made it to shore safely. He stood there for another 10 minutes and realized there was nothing he could do to rescue his car, so he went home and tried to relax.

“I went home, lit up a joint and just jumped on [Call of Duty: Black Ops 4] because I just wanted to zone out and forget,” he said.

O’Brien called a towing company and told them what happened to his car, but they just laughed and hung up the phone.

Just past midnight, O’Brien headed back to retrieve his car. The water had receded, which allowed O’Brien to reach his vehicle with ease. The problem was starting it.

Muddy water shot out the tailpipe as he turned the key about 10 times before it finally started. With a weed-filled front bumper, O’Brien managed to drive his car home, but he was surprised by the durability of his Kia and that it even started.

“Kind of makes me want another one because the thing is a tank,” he said.

O’Brien is getting a rental car from Enterprise while he sorts out the damage to his vehicle. He hopes his insurance company determines his Kia is totaled because he isn’t to blame.

“It’s definitely not my fault I got hit by a river,” O’Brien said.

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Spokane

Ed Schweitzer joins legends with induction into National Inventors Hall of Fame

Wed., May 1, 2019, 1:43 p.m.

By Amy Edelen Spokane S-R

Further Review: The Idea Man

Edmund O. Schweitzer III remembers one of his early inventions and the potential it held to revolutionize the electric utility industry.

He recalls the exhilaration when his first potential customer requested a demonstration of the device and the anticipation as he traveled more than halfway across the country to make his pitch.

Only to see it fail with a flip of a switch, and then succeed because of the glitch that highlighted its promise and ultimately led to his recognition as one of the country’s greatest inventors.

The device, the first microprocessor-based digital protective relay, was developed by Schweitzer as part of a thesis project during his doctoral studies at Washington State University in the late 1970s.

The SEL-21 relay – which Schweitzer subsequently brought to market in 1984 after founding Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman – revolutionized the electric utility industry by making it safer, more reliable and economical.

Schweitzer’s relay was able to self-test, record data and pinpoint faults to the exact mile, allowing power lines to be repaired and returned to service quickly, at a time when utility companies relied on bulky relays made of springs, magnets and coils.

“The problems that we were able to solve were kind of interesting. Instead of taking a whole refrigerator-size panel of electro-mechanical things, we could do the whole job in the size of a space equal to a couple of shoeboxes,” said Schweitzer, president and chief technology officer of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. “I like to say that the result was an eighth of the size, a tenth of the weight and a third of the price. Plus, we could do things that nobody had ever done before.”

Schweitzer is being honored Thursday for his revolutionary invention, joining more than 19 inventors who will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. He will be among the ranks of more than 560 legendary inventors who have received the honor, including Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Nikola Tesla.

The National Inventors Hall of Fame, which works with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is dedicated to honoring legacies of patent holders as well as advancing innovation and entrepreneurship.

Schweitzer, who holds more than 200 patents relating to electric power system protection, was sitting at his desk at SEL headquarters in Pullman earlier this year when he received a phone call that he was nominated for the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

“I was in complete shock,” he said. “I still don’t know how it happened. It’s been surreal.”

In the family

Schweitzer, who is from a family of inventors, was born in Evanston, Illinois. His grandfather developed the first reliable high-voltage fuse and his father, Edmund Schweitzer Jr., invented several fault-indicating devices and founded E.O. Schweitzer Manufacturing in 1949. Schweitzer merged part of his father’s company into Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in 2004.

As a child, Schweitzer often read biographies about famous inventors such as Thomas Edison, Eli Lilly and Marie Curie, and occasionally assisted his father with inventions in his home workshop.

“I was always out there helping him do something,” he said. “Even when I was pretty young, I was helping him make some of his products. He had a very strong role in my life.”

Schweitzer graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor’s degree in 1968, followed by a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1971.

He recalls the first day of engineering school at Purdue in 1965, when students were asked to write down why they wanted to become an engineer.

“I remember writing down I want to be an engineer so that I could take science, math and technology, and hopefully put them together and somehow make the world a better place,” he said.

After graduation, Schweitzer worked for the U.S. Department of Defense at Fort Meade, Maryland, and a Bay Area defense contractor before choosing to pursue an advanced degree at Washington State University in 1974.

“I drove up here from Northern California – the Bay Area – to interview as a grad student, and when I was coming up to Walla Walla and crossing the Snake River, coming into the Palouse Hills, I couldn’t believe anything could be this beautiful. I was just struck by the natural beauty of it,” he said.

Schweitzer taught electrical engineering at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, for two years before returning to WSU in 1979 to become a professor.

“I loved teaching. I loved being a professor. It was a lot of fun. But, I was still really hankering to fulfill a dream,” he said. “I really felt the need to invent, design, manufacture, sell and see these things that we were making with our minds and our hands come to life and be used by people and know that it was appreciated because people were benefiting from it.”

The start of SEL

Schweitzer launched Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in the basement of his Pullman home with $2,000 in 1982. He began most days at 5 a.m., making phone calls, and wouldn’t stop until he spoke with a potential customer.

The company garnered interest in the SEL-21 relay from Fergus Falls, Minnesota-based Otter Tail Power Co., which invited Schweitzer to conduct a product demonstration. The inventor arrived for the presentation with a Doble F3C test set, which looks like a large guitar amplifier, and switched on the fault current, but the relay was unresponsive.

“So, then, everybody sits back in their chairs, folds their arms and looks at me,” he said at a company event earlier this year. “So I’m thinking gosh, what am I gonna do? This was really the first demo I had ever done to try to sell anything.”

Schweitzer triggered an event report to examine voltages and currents, and with a technician’s help, they diagnosed the problem: one output on the test set had failed.

“Then the guys leaned in again and they said, ‘Wow, the relay tested the test set, not the other way around!’ So, they got really interested. They bought three units and figured out where their faults were, and they’ve been a wonderful customer ever since,” he said.

Schweitzer moved the company from his basement to its first building on Merman Drive in 1984. Four years later, the company grew to more than 34 employees and relocated to a building on the site of the company’s current campus on the north side of Pullman.

The company, whose products prevent power outages from spreading by detecting and isolating problems on the grid, has grown to more than 5,200 employees around the world with customers in 164 countries. The company eventually expanded beyond protective relays to metering, communications, equipment and cybersecurity. It owns and operates three manufacturing facilities in Pullman, Lewiston and Lake Zurich, Illinois.

A rewarding aspect of operating SEL is hearing positive feedback from customers about its products, Schweitzer said.

“It’s the ultimate reward. One time, a customer called and said, ‘We bought these things for a particular purpose but we are finding out we can use them for more,’ ” he said. “ ‘We had no idea of the benefits we would be experiencing using your products.’ It was particularly rewarding.”

Schweitzer said a particular challenge early in his career was navigating how to run a business for the first time.

“I didn’t know anything about human resources, about sales, about business, so it was a continuous pattern of challenge that I guess appealed to me. Still does,” he said.

‘A rock star’

Dave Whitehead, SEL’s chief operating officer, has known Schweitzer for more than 25 years.

“If you were to travel with Ed to the technical conferences we go to, he’s like a rock star,” he said. “I think after 25 years of working with him, I almost take that for granted. He’s just a great friend of mine.”

Whitehead said Schweitzer is not only a prolific inventor, but is generous, pointing out the many donations Schweitzer and wife, Beatriz, have given to the community.

“He’s a great engineer, a great businessman and has just a big heart,” Whitehead said.

Schweitzer said he loves spending time with his family as well as coming to work, inventing and inspiring people toward simplicity and creativity.

He aims to continue being productive and patenting inventions.

“My favorite (patent) will probably be the next one, especially if it leads to a product and people use it,” he said.

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WSU football

Miami Dolphins waive former Washington State QB Luke Falk

UPDATED: Wed., May 1, 2019, 4:12 p.m. by Theo Lawson, S-R of Spokane

Seven months after he was waived by the Tennessee Titans, former Washington State quarterback Luke Falk is looking for a new home in the NFL once again.

The Miami Dolphins, who recently acquired former UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen from the Arizona Cardinals, waived Falk and two other players Wednesday afternoon.

The former walk-on who became the Pac-12’s all-time leading passer while playing for the Cougars was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL draft. Falk played with the Titans in the preseason, but was waived on Labor Day weekend and immediately claimed by Miami.

Falk had a spot on the team’s 53-man roster until sustaining a wrist injury in October, which prompted the Dolphins to place him on their injured reserve. The Logan, Utah, native leaves Miami having never thrown a pass for the Dolphins.

In his four years as the Cougars’ starter, Falk amassed 14,481 passing yards, breaking the previous Pac-12 record held by Sean Mannion and completes 1,403 passes. He threw 119 touchdowns compared to only 39 interceptions.

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WSU basketball

Elleby signs with agent, schedules workouts with five NBA teams

UPDATED: Tue., April 30, 2019, 6:56 p.m.

By Theo Lawson of Spokesman-Review/Inland Empire

PULLMAN – Washington State freshman forward CJ Elleby has hired an agent and plans to work out for a handful of NBA teams in the coming weeks while still preserving his college eligibility, The Spokesman-Review learned Tuesday.

Elleby declared for the NBA draft without an agent on March 29, going down an increasingly popular road for college underclassmen who wish to obtain feedback from professional teams while maintaining their eligibility.

The NBA permits players to “test the waters” of the draft and return to school as long as they withdraw their name before May 29. Up until last year, the NCAA prohibited players from hiring an agent and then returning to school, but a bylaw that was passed in 2018 changed that rule, allowing NBPA-certified agents to represent college prospects as long as they request an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee.

According to a source, the agency Elleby signed with will be revealed later this week. He has five workouts lined up before the NBA Combine takes place May 15-19, and is expected to have a few more after it.

Elleby, a Seattle native who played at Cleveland High School, was WSU’s second-leading scorer and rebounder as a true freshman, averaging 14.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-6, 185-pound small forward earned Pac-12 All-Freshman honors last season after starting in 28 games – a team high – and passing Klay Thompson and Steve Puidokas to secure WSU’s freshman scoring record.

Elleby’s name isn’t listed on any mock draft boards, and it’s widely expected that he’ll return to Pullman for his sophomore season. He has participated in every practice for new coach Kyle Smith to this point, and should be the focal point of the Cougars’ offense next season, with senior forward and Pac-12 leading scorer Robert Franks having graduated.

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