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Late Friday night and into the wee hours of Saturday morning, it was being confirmed that Leon Rice would not be the next WSU Men's Basketball coach, in spite of an official offer having been made.
Before the clock hit noon on Saturday, talk that Rice might possibly coming to Pullman after all was revived with reports that both President Elson Floyd and Athletic Director Bill Moos were en route to Boise to try to persuade Rice to change his mind and return to his alma mater to coach. By mid-Saturday afternoon, it was reconfirmed that Rice would be remaining in Boise with a significant raise.
Nothing like spending all afternoon waiting on an email to confirm what you reported the night before! #IGuessShortlyMeansMultipleHours
— B.J. Rains (@BJRains) March 29, 2014
I guess I can feel your pain a little this time.
The events of Friday and Saturday sort of reminded me of what I came to call the Coug-Hawk Combo in 2008 and 2009 when the Cougars would predictably lose on Saturday, by a lot, and the Seahawks would usually follow suite on Sunday. A slap in the face on Saturday. A kick in the gut on the Sunday. Back to work on Monday. Life moved on a year or so at a time.
But look how things went in 2013 when the two teams played during the same week in comparison to the way they were:
|
Outcome |
2008 |
2009 |
2013 |
|
Cougs Win, Hawks Win |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
Cougs Win, Hawks Lose |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Cougs Lose, Hawks Win |
1 |
4 |
5 |
|
Cougs Lose, Hawks Lose |
8 |
5 |
1 |
|
Back to Work on Monday |
11 |
10 |
11 |
With only one "double whammy," granted it was a harsh one at the time (Dec 21-22), things were a heckuva of a lot better than what they were in just five not so short years ago. In 2008 and 2009, there was not a single double "Me happy"TM Woolybugger. Last year, we had four. And unless you're a complete "glass half empty" type of person (sorry, if that is the case), you should have had at least one good thing to say on Monday on almost every week you did a double.
Could there be another 2008 or 2009 in our lifetime? Probably, if all of us live as long as we hope to. But we can always remember that things change, and they seem to change for the better when we get the right people in the right place. That's so intuitive, that we all know it.
But let's break it down by where things are at now:
Jim Mora is in the right place and doing quite well for himself. Paul Wulff might be in the right place. Pete Carroll is in the right place. Mike Leach is in the right place. We've got the right President, who is in his place for at least another five years (belated congrats). And we have the right Athletic Director. They'll get us the right basketball coach to get going in a better direction, even it is their second or third choice.
So, let's have faith in our people. They've done pretty well during their time here, and I don't have any reason to believe they will do otherwise now. They'll go back to work on Monday in their hard-earned and well-deserved positions and find us the right coach. And we'll go back to work Monday doing what we do, working for our hard-earned money, and being supportive fans waiting to hear who the right coach will be.
I'm going to take the plunge. Anybody coming with me?
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Bud Withers wrote up a pretty good summary of what went down this weekend and where things might go from here.
FOOTBALL
Some guaranteed good noise will be heard around 3 pm on Monday when pads will be popping in Martin Stadium for the first time since December. On Saturday, the Cougs resumed Spring Camp with a helmet and shorts practice only.
Cougar Football Continues Spring Practice - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
WSU continued spring practice with a two-hour workout in helmets and shorts in Martin Stadium Saturday.
Spring practice report: day 2 - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - March 29, 2014
From Pullman -- Forgive me if today's practice report isn't as meaty as Thursday's and ones to follow. During practice some basketball news was happening that proved to be more than a little distracting. Still, I think we got most of it. There were a couple new faces running with the ...
BASEBALL
The WSU Baseball team continued its roller coaster season in a grand fashion Saturday by snapping a four game losing streak and starting a two game winning streak. Yale Rosen was the "Man of the Day" hitting a home run in each game. In the first game that was resumed from Friday night, the Cougs fought back from an 8-4 deficit and set the table for Rosen to hit an 8-8 tie-breaking grand slam in the bottom of the eighth. In the second game, Rosen went deep again in the bottom of the first and finished the day 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Freshman closing phenom Ian Hamilton recorded saves in each game for WSU.
Yale Rosen Leads Cougars to a Pair of Victories - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Junior belts two home runs.
TENNIS
Cougars Fall to No. 12 USC, 4-1 - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Junior Charlotte Koning posted a convincing win at No. 6 singles but it was not enough as No. 12 USC defeated No. 53 Washington State 4-1 in a Pac-12 conference tennis match Saturday.
GOLF
Cougars Look to Improve - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
The Cougars carded a 297 (+17) on the par-70 course and are currently in 17th place.
TRACK AND FIELD
Erin Allen Sixth in 400m Hurdles at Texas Relays - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Erin Allen finished sixth in the intermediate hurdles final Friday night at the Texas Relays.
#530SLIDE and #OSOSTRONG
If there was ever a time for perspective for us, that time is now. People living literally miles from many of us are suffering horrible tragedy. So far, there has been a pretty decent outpouring of support with $1.5 million raised for the victims. Still, several organizations that are providing relief to the victims are still short of their goals. The goals are set for a reason, to meet identified needs, and it is up to us to see that those needs are met as much as we can. NBC News has provided this webpage linking to organizations doing work in Snohomish County.
And to the first responders and others on the ground, a sincere "Thank you." You have the "what it takes" that people like me don't have to do that kind of work, and we too often take for granted that our lives and those of our families' depend on people like you. It's probably a good time to stop letting tragedies remind of us of that.