Eastern Basketball: The Beatings Go On And May Not Stop

The humor was cruel, callous, caustic. Sportswriter humor.

At halftime of last year’s Big Sky Conference tournament championship game in Boise, a cheer went up that reverberated back to the press room.

“They must have announced John Wade’s contract extension,” someone said.

So very droll, but what did you expect? On the surface, the notion of Eastern Washington University re-upping its basketball coach beggared reason. Indeed, rarely has a newspaper headline so dripped with irony:

“Wade, 28-78 at Eastern, receives three-year contract extension.”

The big-picture factors that won Wade his second chance remain resolutely in focus - his dedication, his diligence, his commitment to matters academic and attention to issues of character. He is a good man and a good solider who made do with mouth shut “under difficult circumstances,” as both athletic director John Johnson and EWU president Mark Drummond have colored the context of Wade’s hiring.

Alas, the record that arched eyebrows when the extension was announced has only gotten worse.

Eastern’s losing streak in Big Sky games now rests at a record 28. On opponents’ courts, EWU is 0 for its last 43. At home, the Eagles have bowed to the likes of Whitworth and Sac State. They’re 3-15 - only two of the losses by fewer than nine points - and will have to hustle to even equal last year’s nadir of 5-21.

Just across the parking lot from Reese Court is Elm Street. “And some nights,” said Wade, “it’s like `Nightmare on Elm Street.’ I never thought this would happen. Obviously, I thought we’d be better.”

They should be better. They need to be better.

Yet more and more, there is reasonable doubt they ever will get better.

The ennui at Reese Court is an epidemic. A trip to the restroom is just cause for the band to break into the school song, so happy is it to see somebody on their feet. The startling crowd of 2,178 for Saturday’s game with Montana goes into the books with an asterisk, what with half of the patrons owning UM diplomas.

As usual, the Eagles were inspired enough by the hostile vibes to give the Grizzlies a go. Also as usual, they found a way to go to pieces.

And the question was put to Wade whether his team had improved at all in the past month.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know,” he said. “A week ago, I would have said yes. This is our court and we don’t play like it’s our court. On the road, we play with more poise. Maybe guys are trying too hard.

“People say you keep losing, but every year is a different team. I’m starting four different starters this year - guys who weren’t part of the losing before. So I don’t think that’s it. I have a hard time with that.”

It may not be the same team, but it’s doing a killer impression. This Eastern team rebounds the ball better, but has the same penchant for panic and bad decisions - hardly evidence of growth.

And it suffers, too, from what has become Wade’s trademark frantic shuttle. There may be no one ready to step up to be a star at Eastern, but a few guys would seem to deserve a chance to play through an error - which may speak to what Wade sees as the team’s biggest need: “somebody to lead us.”

As for the coach’s marks in that department, Johnson hasn’t wavered. In extending the contract, the AD noted that “we didn’t have full deck of cards in the program” - and has tried to remedy that by reinstating Wade’s second assistant and finding him additional recruiting money, improvements that won’t see immediate results.

And as for the contract, well, “it’s for three years - to be evaluated after the third year,” said Johnson, denying it was structured as three one-year pacts.

That’s a stunning commitment for the sake of continuity, for among NCAA Division I teams, Eastern’s stay in the Big Sky basement is rivaled by only three schools. One, Colorado, has the excuse of being in the second-best basketball league in America. Another, Prairie View, gives no athletic rides. And the third, St. Bonaventure, has taken the cure - the Bonnies are 14-8 and last night beat George Washington, which just upset then-No. 1 UMass.

Eastern, meanwhile, is on its way to finishing last again with the nicest guy in the world.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review