Marbut a candidate at UW?

by Jeff Nusser on Jul 8, 2009 1:21 PM PDT in WSU Baseball News

It's been more than two weeks since Washington fired Ken Knutson as its baseball coach, and the search for his replacement is apparently spreading far and wide.

It's also reportedly hitting close to home.

Among the rumored candidates are Knutson's longtime assistant Joe Ross, Washington State coach Don Marbut, Gonzaga coach Mark Machtolf, Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso, Pepperdine coach Steve Rodriguez, San Francisco coach Nino Giarratano and Dave Grewe, LSU pitching coach and associate head coach. Grewe is a former coach at Michigan State.

I know we've gotten fairly used to our successful coaches being poached, but please, for the love of everything that is good and right, anywhere but Washington.

EDIT, 4:45 p.m.: Thanks to Sedihawk for pointing out this Marbut interview with KJR's Ian Furness, in which Marbut emphatically denies any interest in the UW job. Looks like a false alarm. But we know how those things go ... (Will we always be this paranoid thanks to Bennett?)

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I read on Cougfan Marbut thought his assistants would be great candidates

No link because I’m on my phone. But would you really want your assistant to be promoted to a position ahead of you in which he gets paid more and has more resources? I’m of course only assuming those cases are true at UW.

I never really liked the old tagline.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Jul 8, 2009 1:33 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

Actually, those close to the UW situation say it's one of the worst in the Pac-10 in terms of facilities and support

That seems hard to believe, but there it is.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Jul 8, 2009 2:10 PM PDT up reply actions

Really?

In the words of the great Ron Burgundy, "I don’t believe you."

In all seriousness, don’t you think that at some level the UW will want to upgrade to ensure that they’re at least better at baseball than their "little brother" across the mountains? The success of the Cougs this past season will only make UW that much more hungry, don’t you think?

Oh, I’m sorry…I forgot that we aren’t UW’s rival, that distinction belongs to Oregon (who, ironically, brought back baseball simply because they couldn’t stand the success that their "little brother" in Corvallis was having. Even though OSU isn’t Oregon’s rival, either. That distinction of course belongs to UW.) Now I’m going on some serious tangents.

Back to my point…Amusing how UW (and UO) never feel the need to call the Land Grant school in their state a rival, yet there are several ways that they subtly compete with them to appear “superior.” This could very well be the case with UW baseball, I think.

by '03CouveCoug on Jul 8, 2009 2:44 PM PDT up reply actions

Well considering WSU baseball has historically been better than UW baseball

I don’t think one season will cause any alarm.

I never really liked the old tagline.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Jul 8, 2009 3:40 PM PDT up reply actions

This is true...

I know that in baseball, WSU has traditionally been better. However, the fact that we had a better program in the 70s and 80s doesn’t hold much water in 2009 (just like we tell them about their football program).

I guess what I’m saying is that with the increased exposure that college baseball is getting these days (particularly the CWS), don’t you think that more UW boosters will have a bit more of an interest in seeing to it that they become better at it? And they’ll certainly want to be better than the lowly Cougs. If you’re UW, what better way to not only improve your team but also weaken your little brother than hiring away the coach that has brought them recent success? That whole Marv Harshman thing worked out pretty well for them, why not do it again?

by '03CouveCoug on Jul 8, 2009 3:50 PM PDT up reply actions

correct, but it's next up for renovations.

My guess is Scotty wanted his man in place as they update the fascilities.

it’s talked about a bit in the article about the firing – click here

by woolybugger on Jul 8, 2009 6:01 PM PDT up reply actions

No worries here Nuss

Heard Marbut on with Ian at KJR about 2 hours ago, and he flat-out said “I am NOT a candidate for UW”. Ian had him restate it like three times. He asked him “where did this come from?” and Marbut said he had no idea, probably a reporter trying to connect the dots, but he hasn’t talked to anyone about the job and he is not a candidate.

Really a pretty good interview overall, but if you believe Donnie’s words, it sure sounds like he’s staying in Pullman.

by Sean Hawkins on Jul 8, 2009 4:12 PM PDT reply actions

Thank you!

For putting my Cougar paranoia at ease, Sedihawk!

by '03CouveCoug on Jul 8, 2009 4:33 PM PDT up reply actions

Beautiful

Thanks for that.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Jul 8, 2009 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions

Not just Bennett...

Price, Erickson, Walden, Ravling, Harshman, and the list goes on and on.

Like another comment (I believe from SW WA Coug) on the post about Casto (I believe that you’ve said this too, Nuss) being a Coug fan means always expecting the other shoe to drop when things are going well. Glad that this appears to NOT be one of those occasions!

by '03CouveCoug on Jul 8, 2009 4:52 PM PDT reply actions

I don't believe I said it but I sure know what it feels like....

Everytime I play poker. Arghhhh!

I try NOT to think about it with the Cougs but I was there when Harshman turned traitor. I remember sitting in the stands about two hours before game time the firs time he came back to town. I was in the first row and I was staring at him with his Groucho Marx glasses on the minute he walked out of the locker room. It took a bit for the buzz to start circulating around Bohler. I don’t remember how bad he got booed but it’s a picture of him I can’t ever forget. I even told him all about it at the 4A tournament and he laughed like crazy when we chatted about it.

We never had a clue Marv was going to leave us but I think that was the beginning of us getting jilted. I’m optimistic about Coach Bone but even that is tempered by a few comments I received when he was hired. When will I ever learn? Prolly never.

Go Cougs!!!

by SW WA Coug on Jul 8, 2009 5:11 PM PDT up reply actions

Oops! It was Dancing Football

Talking about the “other shoe” always dropping…nonetheless, you sure experienced the flip side in your time at WSU, didn’t you SW!?! I remember how upset I was when Price left for Bama my senior year, I can’t imagine how pissed I would have been if he’d left for UW like Harshman did. Pretty cool that you got to chat with him about it, though!

by '03CouveCoug on Jul 9, 2009 8:38 AM PDT up reply actions