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WSU has made official what was reported and confirmed by multiple media outlets: Ernie Kent will be the 18th men's basketball coach at Washington State University, athletics director Bill Moos announced.
More on Ernie Kent
More on Ernie Kent
Kent has agreed to a five-year rollover contract, and financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. It also has not been disclosed what will trigger the rollover, which can range from a simple athletics director option to win totals, like the one in Leon Rice's contract.
Expect to learn about those terms no later than Wednesday, when Kent will be introduced to WSU fans in a 2 p.m. PDT news conference.
"I am excited that Ernie will be the leader of our men's basketball program," Moos said via release. "I have witnessed firsthand his many talents. He has proven that he can win championships in our conference. Together we saw tremendous success at his alma mater and I have every reason to expect to see the same at mine."
For his part, Kent is excited to be at WSU.
"I'm looking forward to providing the kind of passion and leadership to help potential student-athletes understand how special WSU is," Kent said via release. "Getting back into coaching for me has meant finding the right program that matches up with my passion, my vision, my beliefs and my commitment; and I feel Washington State University fits all that criteria for me. Bill Moos has a vision and has created enormous energy around Cougar Athletics and I want to be a part of that. Now is the time.
"As a player I saw the energetic environment that George Raveling's teams created, as an assistant I witnessed Kelvin Sampson's squads and saw the magic here and as a head coach I saw the excitement created by Tony Bennett. When WSU is having success, Beasley Coliseum is one of the best environments in the West. The students are so passionate, I saw 5,000 of them out there ready to go during warm-ups, one of the few places I've ever witnessed that. When you've seen that arena full and the program was at its best and now you have the opportunity to lead that program and you understand the potential that exists, that is very special to me."