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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hironaka leaving WSU for Portland State

Basketball: Jeff Hironaka is leaving Washington State to become an assistant coach again.

Hironaka, who was reassigned prior to last season from an assistant coaching position to the role of director of player development, is headed to Portland State to work as an assistant coach, The Spokesman-Review has confirmed.

Neither WSU or PSU has officially announced the move, though Hironaka tweeted earlier Monday that he will miss WSU, and others – including former WSU basketball operations coordinator Tim Marrion – have congratulated him on his new position.

Hironaka spent three years as an assistant under coach Ken Bone at WSU before his reassignment last season. Prior to his stint in Pullman, Hironaka was the head coach of Seattle Pacific from 2002-2009, and was an assistant there from 1991-2002, including a long stint as an assistant during Bone’s head coaching tenure at SPU.

Hironaka, a native of Weiser, Idaho, will coach under PSU head coach Tyler Geving, who was an assistant under Bone at Portland State.

Christian Caple

Well-traveled Kim in U.S. Open

Golf: Michael Kim atoned for Cal not winning the NCAA title by earning a spot in the U.S. Open.

The final stage of U.S. Open qualifying stretched from one end of the country to the other on Monday with 11 sites hosting 36-hole qualifiers. Kim might have traveled the farthest to get to Merion next week for the U.S. Open. Cal lost in the NCAA semifinals in Georgia. He flew to Ohio to meet Jack Nicklaus as the top Division I college player, and then flew back to Georgia for U.S. Open qualifying.

Kim had rounds of 67-66 at Hawk’s Ridge in Ball Ground, Ga., to tie for medalist honors with Ryan Nelson.

In New York, amateur Gavin Hall birdied his last four holes to earn one of four spots.

In Federal Way, Wash., University of Washington sophomore Cheng-Tsung Pan was among the qualifiers.

Associated Press