Washington State assistant Curtis Allen to reunite with Lorenzo Romar, Ken Bone at Pepperdine

PULLMAN – Washington State assistant Curtis Allen, a former Washington Husky guard who spent two years playing for Lorenzo Romar and 11 more coaching for Ken Bone at Portland State and WSU, will reunite with two of his mentors at Pepperdine.

Allen announced via Twitter on Monday he was leaving WSU for Pepperdine, though it’s not clear what title he’ll hold for the Waves.

Pepperdine announced last week that Romar, the Waves’ head coach from 1996-99, would be returning to coach the program for the second time. Romar spent 15 years as the head coach at UW, taking over the reins of the program when Allen was a junior for the Huskies.

That’s Allen’s first connection to the Pepperdine staff.

The other is Bone, who coached the Cougars from 2009-14 and Portland State from 2005-09. Bone gave Allen his first college coaching job when he hired the Tacoma native as a PSU assistant in 2005, then brought him to Pullman in 2009 when Bone was hired to replace Tony Bennett.

When Ernie Kent was hired by then-athletic director Bill Moos in 2014, Allen was the lone holdover. The 2017-18 season was Allen’s ninth as an assistant coach for the Cougars and his fourth under Kent, who recruited the Wilson High standout he was the head coach at Oregon, but lost out when Allen committed to the Huskies.

Allen’s recruiting ties to Tacoma have been instrumental in bringing some of that area’s best players to Pullman over the years. Starting point guard Malachi Flynn, a Bellarmine Prep guard who was the Washington 4A State Player of the Year, calls Tacoma home, and fellow guard Viont’e Daniels hails from nearby Federal Way. Daniels was a 3A State Player of the Year at Federal Way High School.