SportsLink

WSU’s Bone expects to stay the course

Posted by Vince Grippi

Jan. 19, 2010 11:40 a.m. • 11 comments

COUGARS

A quick post on coach Ken Bone’s teleconference with the WSU coverage group. I was going to just post this as an update on the morning post, but decided to give the notes their own headline. Read on.

••••••••••

• The first topic of conversation was the lineup. Bone said on Saturday he was contemplating a change in the starting lineup after the weak beginnings to games and second halves recently. Well, Bone and the staff are still contemplating. He said they haven’t made a decision yet. His guess: He won’t be making a change, but there is still a chance. … I asked him about his philosophy as it relates to the starting lineup, which led to a long answer. He compared it to a chess match and said he’s not the type of coach who like to change starting lineups much. The juggling, he said, seems to get into kids’ head more today than in the past. But still, he said, changes might have to be made. … What changes? Bone talked about starting either Xavier Thames (for either Reggie Moore or Marcus Capers) or Nik Koprivica (for Abe Lodwick) or possibly even starting James Watson or Charlie Enquist for DeAngelo Casto. … After listening to him talk, my feeling is the USC lineup will be the same. But if there is another slow start, expect a different one Saturday at Pauley. … Speaking of USC, he thinks Kevin O’Neill has turned a corner with his team and they are playing with confidence. The Trojans, Bone said, are physical, athletic and quick. Which sounds a little like Kansas State. … Bone was asked who the emotional leader of the team is, and he’s not sure there is one. It’s obvious this group is quiet and less emotional than most college teams. … He talked in depth about Koprivica, about his leadership qualities, stemming from his attitude, about his ability to play more than one position – he’s been playing more and more of the 3, giving Klay Thompson a break – and his basketball IQ – highest on the teams. … Speaking of Thompson, Bone said he’s capable of playing 35 minutes or more a game, but he wonders if Thompson might be more effective if he played around 30 or so. … The next three games – all on the road – are key as Bone sees it. They will tell a lot about what type of team the Cougars are, Bone said. When they are done, WSU will have reached the halfway point of the Pac-10 season. … The Cougars practiced Sunday, though the six guys who played the most minutes against Stanford did nothing more than watch video. Then they took Monday off. They’ll go late this afternoon, then travel to LA tomorrow.

•••

• That’s it for today. We’ll be back later if news warrants it. FYI, I’m traveling to LA today to spend tomorrow taking my father, who is 84 and not in the best of health, to a doctor’s appointment. We’ll post in the morning with our Thursday items then spend as much time with him as I possibly can. I’m sure you understand. Until then …

11 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

ECoug01 on January 19 at 12:40 p.m.
Not sure how many here are football season ticket holders but i found it interesting that the heat is definitely being noticed in Pullman. They sent the thanks for your support letter just give us time letter but included a supplement page this year with lists of what has been accomplished and trying to explain how bad things are on the team. I found this interesting. Obviously Sterk is feeling the heat against Wulff. I am willing to give Wulff more time but his leash is definitely getting shorter.

My expectations for football next year: (feel free to comment i am curious on others feelings)

competitve games (my definition) = being within 2 scores half way through the 3rd quarter. That would be close enough to say hey we competed a few bounces our way couple less mistakes we are right there for chance at a W. Not games where I want to turn off the TV/Radio in utter disgust watching us do absolutely nothing and being embarrassed. SC last year was a “competitive game” for a young team like us. At least i could stomach watching it seeing good things happening and hope for the future.

4+ wins / majority of games competitive - phenomenal year. Pac 10 looks tough next year and looking at the schedule thats a big leap in wins. One win bein the apple cup even better.

3 wins / majority of games competitive - Good year. Hope to improve with experience to get 5/6 wins the next season with JR QB and seasoned team.

2 wins / decent amount of competitve games - OK year. Hope one is apple cup and hope that they improve a lot with the next season. Wulff needs 5/6 wins to keep job after 2011 season.

1 win / some competitve games - MY PREDICTION FOR 2010 as sad as it makes me… Leash gone hand on the collar on Wulff, he must produce a major jump in success the next season and be sniffing a bowl game at 5/6 wins with a lot of close losses. Looking at the schedule hard to find more than Montana State as a W. SMU possible close game but on the road and barely squeaking past them last year makes me think thats a L. Wulff needs 5/6 wins to keep job after 2011 season.

1 win / numerous blow out losses very few competitive games (repeat of 2009) - I cry and cuss in disgust in losses like the hawaii beat downs. Wulff clearly over his head and not the man for the job and the search should be started. Clean out many assistant coaches Wulff MUST produce a bowl berth in 2011 to even have a prayer of keeping his job since we can’t afford a buy out.

0 wins - Losing to Montana State in Pullman - IMMEDIATE DISMISSAL TO PAUL WULFF. Sterk on the HOT SEAT. Basketball program success keeping Sterk employed. Fans riot, Stadium remodel stopped, I seriously reconsider being a life long season ticket holder and hide all sharp objects from myself on saturdays. WSU offically announces we are a basketball school and funds will be shifted accordingly.
GaryRCox on January 19 at 3:46 p.m.
ECoug01-

Misery loves company, so I will only comment on one of your observations, that being: “0 Wins-Fans riot and the partially renovated Stadium is burned to the ground” should be the more accurate forecast, eh?

But all joking aside, next year mandates tangible progress on all fronts and your context is proper. The PAC-10 is an elite conference which requires major resources to remain competetive in, no small task for Wazzu.

The three 10 win seasons in early part of this Century have spoiled us all, yet it did not take long for the crash & burn to occur. The slide to oblivion has been hard to stomach, but is par for the course of Cougar Athletics for the most part.

The future bodes well and I wish Paul Wulff the best, but he has a hard road to hoe amidst dwindling resources from a sour economy, but we will toil on.

Go Cougs!
fitz on January 19 at 4:48 p.m.
Best wishes to you and your Dad, Vince. Take him to an In-n-Out, it’s good for what ails you.
indiecoug on January 19 at 5:15 p.m.
Gary R Cox- AKA Closet Husky Fan: I don’t think you can get closer to oblivion than 0-12, something WSU has never approached. UW- the only Pac-Ten team to have the perfect 0-12 season. That is one season I will never forget.
johnnycougar on January 19 at 6:17 p.m.
Gary is a fine Cougar fan, I don’t know what you’re talking about indiecoug. He can maybe see the reality a little better than you can though.

WSU has indeed “approached” 0-12 a few times. We were 1-10 that season (only beating an FCS team at home) and needed double OT to beat the Huskies in the Apple Cup, the only FBS game all year in which we were remotely competitive.

For oblivion, how about this five year stretch: 3-7 in 1966, 2-8 in ‘67, 3-6-1 in ‘68, 1-9 in ‘69, and 1-10 in ‘70. I really hope our 2-11 and 1-11 consecutive seasons don’t go on for another 3 years.

A couple years of bad records usually only means bad or young players. Four or five years of ineptitude means a bad program. I believe Wulff will drag us out of the muck but like Gary said it will be hard and require patience from all of us! Go Cougs!
rufus on January 19 at 7:07 p.m.
dirty dog alert- they are back at it again- trying to get state/king county tax $$ to fund the husky stadium project
Ned on January 19 at 8:29 p.m.
Do we really need to discuss the abysmal football team right in the middle of the basketball season?

I’m interested to see how the Cougs do on this road trip and respond to Bone. It’s obvious he’s just trying to rally the troops with this lineup change business. Subing X for Moore or Watson for Casto is silly - the only one that makes remotely any sense is X for Abe.
coug79 on January 19 at 8:34 p.m.
Vince—hug your dad. At 84, my guess is that’s all a Dad really wants.

Ecoug01—prepare yourself for 1-11. We should get a win against MSU, but I can’t see any others….maybe SMU, but we won this year with not one but two lightening strikes (two defensive TDs). If we are competitive in the losses, PW gets one additional year. If not, I think we’ll be looking for a new coach come early December.

Go Cougs. Beat the Trojan cheaters.
indiecoug on January 20 at 2:26 a.m.
There is a big difference between “approaching” 0-12 and actually achieving 0-12. And actually WSU was 2-10 the year UW went 0-12. Don’t be an apologist for the “mighty” UW. This is another example of the “woe is me” mentality many WSU “fans” have.
johnnycougar on January 20 at 9:18 a.m.
I don’t see it as that big of a difference. Attending every home game that year, it sure didn’t feel much different. Taking your philosophy the other way, are mediocre SEC teams actually great because they finish with 9 wins every year by scheduling 3 or 4 complete cupcakes?

If we had played UW’s schedule we would have been creamed. I’m thrilled we won the apple cup in Pullman and I rushed the field like all the other crazy fans, but I knew the reality of the situation. For all their horribleness, UW was one blown coverage and a gimpy kicker away from winning that game. We won, we probably deserved to win, but we did get lucky too. We avoided a winless Pac-10 season but that year we were basically worst in the NCAA in every meaningful statistic.

I’m hardly “woe is me.” I just don’t see the point of rah-rah-rah attitudes blindly in the face of evidence. I believe in Wulff and what he’s doing, and I think he was the right hire. But that was just a horrible season, and only scheduling an FCS school and having a few lucky bounces at home in a rivalry game kept us from 0-13. If that’s a big difference to you, there’s no point in arguing. To me it’s barely more than semantics. We will always be able to point to 0-12 UW 2008 in the record books, and that’s a beautiful thing, but pretending we had anything more than a negligibly better season is just delusional.
indiecoug on January 20 at 7:41 p.m.
Even “negligibly better” is still better. Best regards,
Indiecoug