Cougars Put Their Trust In Bauman
Credibility can be framed and left to hang from the office wall: Jim Bauman, Ph.D.
Trust must be earned every day.
“It takes a long time to get accepted,” said Bauman, Washington State’s 49-year-old sports psychologist, as the Cougars prepared for Thursday’s Rose Bowl.
Bauman has gained acceptance at WSU by privately helping athletes deal with difficult issues, from depression to personal tragedy to substance abuse and beyond.
“Jim was my support, my rock for quite a few months,” said WSU offensive lineman Jason McEndoo, whose wife was killed in a traffic accident 18 months ago.
“I counted on him, leaned on him. He’s a real asset to the athletic program.”
Only a handful of college athletic departments employ a state-certified psychologist like Bauman, making WSU a pioneer of sorts. Most athletic departments defer to campus counseling centers, which are largely ignored by athletes, Bauman said.
“Former players like Milford Hodge and Mike Walker come back and say, ‘We never had this stuff and I wish we would have,”’ Bauman said.
Performance-enhancement techniques, including mental imagery and relaxation, have been a hit with many players. WSU quarterback Ryan Leaf credited Bauman with helping him to focus.
“I’ve always kind of been a dreamer and fantasized about future things, but Jim has sat me down with it and we’ve gone through it one-on-one,” Leaf said.
Bauman is the Cougars’ third psychologist since the position was created in 1986. What started as a parttime job has evolved into a full-time, 12-month task. An intern shares some of the burden.
Bauman, who also provides services to the Spokane Chiefs hockey club and the U.S. Ski Team, graduated from Eastern Washington University with a degree in physical therapy in 1971. He later earned a master’s in education at UTEP.
A Spokane native, Bauman then returned home and spent nine years working in the mental-health field. He enrolled at WSU in 1989 and earned his doctorate in counseling psychology three years later.
Bauman was hired in his current capacity in ‘94.
The job requires Bauman to draw upon nearly three decades of experience, during which time he has administered substance-abuse programs to Vietnam veterans, helped the developmentally disabled and worked with inmates.
At WSU, Bauman estimates that 90 percent of his time is spent helping athletes with personal problems. Other times, he’s just Jim Bauman, average guy.
“He’s got a switch he turns on and off,” McEndoo said. “You could go into his office and you could talk about your deepest, darkest secrets, but when you see him out in public, he’s just normal Jim. He doesn’t deal with what was said in the office.
“It makes it easy. You trust him.”
The wrong kind of no-hitter
WSU tailback Michael Black is the quiet type on the field, although a missed block might get him to speak up on occasion.
That’s the word from McEndoo, a three-year starter at left guard.
“Never to me, though,” McEndoo joked. “He always talks to Robbie. He always gets on Robbie for getting out there and throwing no-hitters on the counter blocks.”
As the only non-senior on the line, left tackle Rob Rainville takes more than his share of ribbing from older guys like McEndoo.
“Gawd, Rob’s gonna hate me for that one,” McEndoo added.
Revisionist history, or just the facts?
Ryan McShane, WSU’s right offensive tackle, played well against Washington’s Jason Chorak in the Apple Cup.
So well, in fact, that McShane had some choice words for Chorak, the Pac-10 defensive player of the year in ‘96.
“I walked up to him and said, ‘Man, I overprepared for you,”’ McShane said. “I said it to his face. Last year, he got the best of me. This year I was killing him.
“I’m all, ‘Chorak, man, I’ve overprepared for you.’ Then we scored a touchdown - it was Chris Jackson’s long one - and I slapped him on the butt and I’m all, ‘Hey, come on, we’ve got to go do the extra point.”’ < Notes
Mike Price is feeding some of his oldest lines to the media, some of whom are biting. USA Today and the Los Angeles Daily News recently quoted Price about “turning an underdog into a wonder dog.” … WSU defensive coordinator Bill Doba worked under ESPN commentator Lee Corso when Corso was head coach at Indiana in the 1970s. In recent days, Corso has repeatedly praised the WSU coaching staff, singling out Doba. … The Cougars held a closed practice Monday and will do so again today.
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