Bone ‘ecstatic’ to be coaching Cougars

PULLMAN – As soon as he heard Tony Bennett was leaving as Washington State’s basketball coach, Ken Bone knew it was the job he wanted.

In reality, he’s kind of had that feeling for years.

Back in 1967, Bone’s father, Walt, a longtime Seattle high school basketball coach, headed across the mountains to pick up another college degree. While Dad was on campus, his 9-year-old son came for a visit.

“My mom sent me here for a week because she was kind of tired of me after a month,” Bone said during his introductory news conference at WSU. “At that time, I remember, he got me a sweatshirt. I think I wore that thing for about five years straight.

“I was just like, man, I’m a Cougar. My dad’s a Cougar.”

Tuesday, Ken Bone became a Cougar for real.

“I’m not only happy to be here, I’m ecstatic to be here,” Bone said to open his remarks, before choking up while looking at his wife, Connie, and his daughters, Kendra, Jenae and Chelsea, sitting in the front row. “I’m just so happy to be a part of Washington State basketball and cannot wait for about two hours from now, to get on the court with these guys and start working with them.”

The journey Bone has taken from his days as a Seattle Pacific player, through his time as Seattle Pacific’s head coach, University of Washington assistant coach – the brunt of the news conference jokes – and finally Portland State’s head coach to the Camp Room podium culminated in a flurry of activity the past week.

WSU athletic director Jim Sterk has known Bone for 19 years, dating to his time at SPU. Associate athletic director John Johnson – who, with Anne McCoy, was part of the interview committee – has known Bone even longer, back to college when they were friends of friends.

“Just his passion for the job,” Sterk said of what stood out about Bone. “I knew his background and character and all that, but the passion he displayed. It means a heck of a lot for him to be here and he’s prepared himself to be in this place.”

That passion showed Tuesday, with Bone expressing his desire to be a WSU lifer.

“We’re excited to get out there and find ourselves a home and really kind of plant ourselves here,” he said. “I know this is a place that I would love to be for as long as I can stay.”

The job, at least the level of the job, is one he’s wanted for a long time.

“To be able to coach in the Pac-10 is the ultimate to me,” Bone said. “I know there are a lot of other great conferences around the country, but to me, the Pac-10 is as high as I’ve ever dreamed of going.

“And Washington State basketball is very, very good in the Pac-10 and I hope to keep it there.”

Bone has not signed a contract, the specifics of which have yet to be agreed upon. Bone’s PSU contract, which ran through 2013, had a $50,000 buyout clause.

“We’ve presented some different scenarios to him and we will have it, I would think, in the next day,” Sterk said of the contract situation. “It’s not like he’s going to be a holdout.”

Sterk said finances played a part in the process, but not an overriding one.

“They were secondary on that,” Sterk said. “We wanted to make sure of the right fit, the right coach, and then finances from there.”

Nik Koprivica represented the players on the podium, and caused the day’s loudest laugh.

“We trusted our staff, Jim and President (Elson) Floyd,” Koprivica answered when asked the players’ feelings about the search. “We knew they were going to bring the best guy for our team and I think did a great job.”

“He’ll play a lot,” Bone interjected.

Portland State’s style was on display at Beasley Coliseum last season in a closed scrimmage between the schools. The Cougars were without Aron Baynes and Taylor Rochestie because of injuries and the Vikings dominated.

“The first thing I learned was I ain’t in high school no more,” freshman Marcus Capers said when asked what that encounter taught about a Bone-coached team. “It wasn’t as structured as I thought a college team would be, it was pretty loose, but other than that, I liked it.”

“They were well-prepared, even for a scrimmage,” freshman DeAngelo Casto said. “They were ready to go.”

With Bennett taking his unique style of play to Virginia, the players and fans in attendance seemed interested in how WSU under Bone will play.

Bone answered that question with a story about talking with brother Len, a high school coach who was at University High for five seasons, in the mid-1990s about offensive ideas. Len proposed he used this blocker/mover offense from Wisconsin’s Dick Bennett.

“We incorporated that into our offense at Seattle Pacific, with more flexibility,” Bone said. “We want our guys to play pretty loose, sometimes I know it’s maybe a little looser than it should be. We shoot a lot of 3s. Last year I think we were in the top five or six in the country in 3-point attempts, around 26 a game.

“Like to get up and down the court, push it in transition and I like guys that can shoot the ball.”

On the other end?

“Coach Bone said the style of defense we’re going to play is the style he thinks fits us,” Capers said. “If we can’t play in the Pack, he’ll get rid of it. But if that’s what works for us, that’s what we’re going to have to do.”