Regents to hold special meeting to approve extra money for hiring men’s basketball coach

With the hiring of San Francisco Dons coach Kyle Smith as the new men’s basketball coach of the Washington State Cougars now being reported in multiple locations, all that’s left is for WSU to officially announce the 49-year-old’s employment. Before they can do that though, it looks like there’s one final procedural hurdle to clear: the Board of Regents.

Thursday at 11 a.m. PT, the Regents will take part in a special meeting via teleconference to approve spending of no more than half a million extra dollars on hiring a new men’s basketball coaching staff.

Because the additional money to pay for a new coach and his staff wasn’t in the original athletic budget, the Regents have to approve it because it exceeds a $250,000 threshold through the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on June 30th. Assuming the Regents approve the additional dollars, Washington State could announce their hire shortly after Smith signs on the dotted line.

The additional money being approved by the Regents is not necessarily just for Smith himself and his bi-weekly paycheck; it could also include any assistants he would want to hire. We should know more about Smith’s contract when he’s hired or when it’s made available to us through a public records request. Assuming the Regents approve the additional money, the program’s financial docs will also have to be posted online, though an exact timeline for when that would happen isn’t provided.

The agenda for tomorrow’s meeting can be read here.