(7) June Daugherty vs. (10) Zack Williams: Coug of the Year First Round
by Grady Clapp on Jul 25, 2011 10:02 PM PDT
in Coug of the Year
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PrintCOTY keeps on truckin', with a potential upset special. This one should get interesting.
(7) June Daugherty
I guess it's darkest before dawn, huh?
For those of you who don't follow Cougar women's basketball closely, I'll fill you in. On January 6th, the women's basketball program had essentially confirmed my long-held belief that it is cursed. The Cougs' loss to Oregon put them at 0-3 in conference and a horrific 2-13 overall. This included the downright travishamockery of a 77-38 loss to UC Davis (later a 16 seed in the NCAA tournament... but c'mon).
The Cougs would then catch fire (as much fire as a maligned program can ignite)... going on to win three of their next four in Pac-10 play, and six of their next ten. That might not seem exceptional, but consider for a moment that the Cougars had only won six conference games in a season one other time this millennium (2000-01). Also consider that from Fall 2001 to Spring 2005 the Cougars only won five Pac-10 games. Total. This program has been to depths that modern science once thought unreachable. Now, finally, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. And it's all thanks to June Daugherty.
Oh, and her replacement at the UW? Ask a Husky fan about how that went.
(10) Zack Williams
The 203rd pick in the NFL Draft, and WSU's only player to hear his name called in New York. As football is still king in college athletics, I fully expect this to be a 7-10 upset in Williams' favor. It is quite strange, though, that our one and only draft selection this year would also come from the unit that caused a good deal of our troubles that last three seasons. Let's hope the next few years feature more Zack Williamses and less [insert underperforming lineman here].
Now that the lockout's over, there's another Coug playing at football's highest level. Never a bad thing.
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Snaps
One of my final opportunities to meaningfully convey my frustration with Zach’s snaps is to vote for his opponent in this shindig. Sorry, Zach … appreciate all you gave the program, but it will be awesome to not see snaps bounced consistently this season.
How are people voting for Williams here?
I appreciate that we had someone drafted, but there have been much better players not drafted than Williams. What exactly did he do for the Cougs this year? (Hell, what has he ever done for the Cougs?) June should win this going away. I’m not sure people understand just how bad the girls team was before she began the ridiculously difficult task of turning it around.
I’m not saying June deserves to win the entire COTY tournament, but she deserves to beat Zack Williams.
Zack Williams is the ultimate teammate.
He spent countless hours with Jeff Tuel practicing grounders for Tuel’s future career as a gold glove caliber shortstop.
by Mark Sandritter on Jul 25, 2011 11:22 PM PDT up reply actions 7 recs
June was brought in to resurrect what was, for all intents and purposes
A dead program. I covered the team for 3 years with her at the helm and after every game, you could tell the mounting losses tore at her but she always stayed positive. After one of the hardest non-conference schedules in the country last year (top 5 if I recall) she was able to guide WSU to their best conference record in over a decade. She’s bringing in tremendous recruiting classes and she has a passion for basketball unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was a pleasure to cover her teams and be able to interact with her all season long. A class act in every sense of the word.
Zack Williams has trouble getting a football 4 yards behind him to a gigantic target.
Yeah, this was easy.
Two in the cake, one in the puddin'! -Kevin Calabro, Twitter: MichaelPreston3
by Michael The Coug on Jul 25, 2011 11:50 PM PDT reply actions
And Grady makes a fantastic point above
We shouldn’t actually have her because there’s no way Scott Woodward should’ve fired her. We are insanely lucky. UW is now paying a guy 5 times what Daugherty makes to resurrect a program that was fine before June left.
Two in the cake, one in the puddin'! -Kevin Calabro, Twitter: MichaelPreston3
by Michael The Coug on Jul 25, 2011 11:52 PM PDT up reply actions
Easiest decision Jim Sterk ever made
This program was quicksand. Sherri Murrell was a good coach before she came here, and has proven to be a good coach a Portland state. But here? Indescribably bad.
I really thought June would be winning by now, but I still have no doubt she can turn it around.
by Aaron Whiteman on Jul 26, 2011 6:17 AM PDT up reply actions
Ya, thanks UW.
I think June is a great coach. I don’t think many of us understand how bad the women’s basketball program was. People think Wulff had it bad, June had it worse. At least the football team had tasted success recently. I can’t remember when the women’s basketball team ever had success. If they ever make it to a Final Four, a movie could probably be made on her feat.
"Borrow money from a pessimist - they don't expect it back"
Women's hoop success
One probably has to go back to the ’90s to find it. Under Harold Rhodes, they made the NCAA tourney in ’91 and had a nice record in ’96.
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