One of the unanswered questions of the past week is the fate of Tony Bennett’s staff and the makeup of Ken Bone’s. For some news on that front, read on.
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• As the week winds on, both Bone and Bennett need to get their staffs filled. They are both getting closer. Ron Sanchez, who was offered a position in Virginia by Bennett right off the bat, interviewed with Bone this week, entertaining the notion of staying in Pullman and assisting the new coach. But Wednesday night, Sanchez sent me a text saying he’s decided to take Bennett up on his offer and move his family to Virginia. With his decision, and the earlier one by Matt Woodley to seek employment elsewhere, the only one of Bennett’s WSU assistants still debating whether to stay is Ben Johnson. How Sanchez’s decision will affect the status of the WSU recruits remains to be seen.
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• That’s it for this evening. We’ll be back in the morning. Until then …
CougMish on April 08 at 9:11 p.m.
Vince, has Ronnie made a decision officially?
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Ned on April 08 at 9:11 p.m.
The seeming mass exodus of assistant coaches can't be good for recruiting. Bone better get on the phone (or the road).
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Grady on April 08 at 9:44 p.m.
C'mon Ben Johnson. If we can't keep any assistants here we may get in a lot of trouble.
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VictoryBell on April 08 at 10:43 p.m.
Vince:
Great job reporting on the current coaching search and hiring process. Once again, you have shown yourself to be the true Washington State Sportswriter of the Year.
I was wondering if you could comment on the development of Watson this year. There's been a lot of talk about several of our young lads over the last few weeks, but there's been zero talk about Watson since you indicated that he would redshirt in November.
Did he improve this year? Do you think that he would have figured in Tony's plans? Does he plan to stick around?
Thanks for all of your work Vince.
And remember, never let those sophomoric bloggers bring you down.
They all want to be you, after all.
And don't be afraid to give me a ring sometime.
-VB
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coreyb on April 09 at 7:22 a.m.
Yep, it's all down to Ben Johnson, we need to keep that Australian pipeline going.
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MikeOCoug on April 09 at 7:53 a.m.
The first thing is to have assistants that Ken Bone wants. Beyond that, it could be a bonus to retain some guys for continuity. But there is no continuity if the assistant is not on the same page as Bone. It's Bone's ship, he is the captain, he needs his crew. If that includes Ben Johnson, great, if not, ok……
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rufus on April 09 at 8:11 a.m.
most likely will lose some of the recurits and a few players -due to thechange in coaches - ken bone will need to rebuild - both.
if he wins and stays for the long- run … WSU will be ok. Ken does not have his Dad to set the stage for him… however.
Ken will be good fro WSU.
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DeerLakeRon on April 09 at 2:08 p.m.
I heard Someone say, I think was Vince. That Ben Johnson may have been leaving even if Tony had stayed so now I would think his decision would be easier. this all may hurt short term but as said above Its Ken's ship to Float or sink for the long term.
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coreyb on April 09 at 3:02 p.m.
Ben Johnson is staying according to Bone on his KJR interview with Ian.
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