The pros and cons of hiring Ernie Kent

Washington State's two-week coaching search came to an end on Monday with Ernie Kent tabbed to be the new head man. Kent was rumored to be the top candidate early and despite a few other rumors -- and whatever happened with Leon Rice -- he proved to be the ultimate choice.

There are plenty of positives to hiring Kent. He's had success at the Pac-12 level, is praised as a solid recruiter and actually wanted the job. It's not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows however. Time to dig deeper and look at some of the pros and cons of the move.

Pro: Kent has won 325 games as a head coach, including 235 at Oregon.

Con: The Ducks went just 24-39 during his final two seasons, 9-27 in Pac-12 play. For comparison, WSU went 23-40 during the last two seasons and 7-29 in Pac-12 play.

Pro: Kent coached teams to the NCAA Tournament six times.

Con: According to SRS, Oregon got worse in Kent's first season (the Ducks did lose some talent) and got better in the first season after he left. Oregon had a SRS of 13.55 in Jerry Green's final season, then a 6.03 in Kent's first. The Ducks had a 4.00 SRS in Kent's final season and a 6.92 in Dana Altman's first.

Pro: The hiring means we won't have to listen to Kent as a Pac-12 Network analyst anymore, a role he didn't receive a lot of praise for.

Con: This might mean we have to listen to the analysis of Don MacLean more.

Pro: Kent is lauded for his recruiting ability. He was able to successfully recruit multiple NBA players during his time at Oregon and some very good Pac-12 players who went on to play professionally in Europe.

Con: Oregon didn't have as much recruiting success late in his tenure as it had early. He missed out on multiple in state targets like Kevin Love, even when the Ducks were at their peak under Kent. A lot of players in his his final few classes weren't long for Eugene and eligibility issues cropped up shortly after he left.

Pro: Kent went 23-7 against WSU in his career, so he obviously knows how to win in Pullman. That included Kent winning 20 of his first 21 games against the Cougars.

Con: Kent won't get to rack up wins against the Cougars anymore and went just 86-118 against the rest of the conference, good for a .421 winning percentage.

Pro: Opposing fans will no longer be able to mock WSU for being "Boned" or "Bone'ing it" or whatever else they came up with.

Con: Opposing fans will have plenty of new material to mock WSU for.

Pro: Kent is probably the most-qualified coach WSU realistically had a shot to hire.

Con: Kent is not HAMBONE who would have won multiple National Championships.