A Grip on Sports: Yes, who you know is crucial within college athletics but only because relationships are important everywhere
A GRIP ON SPORTS • There are more days than one might think we wake up not exactly sure what we are going to cover in this space. Many more. This is one of them. As always, though, our subject magically revealed itself. Talk about lucky.
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• Yep, it’s partly luck. The way life’s interconnections can drive one forward. Or derail you. It happens all the time in sports.
It’s happening at Washington State as we connect here. On the football field. In the basketball offices. In other Pullman hot-spots, we’re sure. And that’s enough to get us started.
Our muse this morning was played by Greg Woods, The Spokesman-Review’s Palouse-based beat writer. He put together two stories, one on David Riley’s first coaching staff hires and another on a trio of football assistants with a shared legacy. Both have to do with the Cougars, sure, but also with the State-system cousin up the highway, Eastern Washington University.
Let’s start with the collision sport.
Did you know there are three Coug assistants who were part of Eastern’s 2010 FBS title team? We did not. But there are.
We knew current WSU defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding was on Beau Baldwin’s staff, filling the same role he fills in Pullman. And we recognized Nick Edwards, one of the many talented receivers Baldwin had attracted to Cheney in those days. He’s never left the sport and shares what he learned in the past decade-plus with the Cougars’ receivers.
The newest member of the staff with Eagle roots joined this spring. Cornerbacks coach Allen Brown, who had a key interception in that season’s FCS title game against Delaware, is roaming the practice field with his two EWU expatriates.
As Greg highlights, the trio have spent the past decade or so in different parts of the country, only to come back together less than 100 miles south of where they combined for an exceptional college experience.
Ask any of them then if they saw it coming and, of course, they would have all laughed. Now, as they look back, there probably seems to be some guiding force in play.
And they wouldn’t alone in that regard.
Prior to the 2023-24 college hoop season, David Riley needed to revamp his Eastern coaching staff. He brought on board two assistants, one with extensive Division I coaching experience (Jerry Brown) and another coming off a successful stint as a Community College coach in Bellevue (Donald Brady). Turns out they must have had exactly what Riley was looking for, as he’s brought the duo with him to Pullman.
One can easily imagine Brady, say, weighing an offer from Riley last season, looking at his Bellevue roster, knowing he had just won the NWAC title and was poised for more success. Or Brown, just finished with his first year at Denver University, trying to decide whether to make his fifth move in seven years.
They both decided to head off to Cheney, where Riley had already experienced success but was leading a program that is always on the margins when it came to financial support and other peripheral aspects of college athletics.
No matter. The Eagles were successful again, winning a second consecutive Big Sky regular season title, part of an Inland Northwest Division I trio of schools that earned at least 20 wins, joining Gonzaga (always) and WSU (not as much).
And when Kyle Smith left Pullman for Stanford, Riley was tabbed as the successor. Now all three have entered a higher-rent district, not just financially but in pressure, expectation and national notice.
All because of relationships forged in a small town some 20 minutes from Spokane. With a chance to forge more just down the road.
Call it luck, call it destiny, call it what you will. It happens all the time in the world of college athletics.
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WSU: We linked Greg’s stories above, of course, but if you skipped our rambling discourse, we offer links to his basketball and football stories here as well. You’re welcome. … Greg has another football story. It’s about the fourth Cougar this spring to enter the transfer portal, edge Lawrence Falatea. Is that a lot? Well, compared to Pac-2 associate Oregon State, not really. The Beavers are up to 10 players in the portal since the spring period opened. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, the NFL draft is tonight. We could have used our column pulpit to bloviate on it. We didn’t. Why? Mainly no one really has any idea who will be picked where. We’ll cover that tomorrow, though we might not be writing about Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., who may not be a first-round selection. … The Huskies still have Cam Davis on the roster. … We wrote about relationships and how they are often good things in sports. Here’s the flip side. Jon Wilner details in the Mercury News how irresponsible Arizona State was when Herm Edwards left. He got his cash despite breaking NCAA rules designed to keep everyone safe during the pandemic. … Deion Sanders has it right. With the portal, it is harder to develop players these days. He’s using it like the NFL uses free agency. Without a salary cap, though. … We’re all in with Reggie Bush getting his Heisman back. But he wasn’t clean in all this – or at least his family wasn’t. Still, the USC sanctions became part of the impetus to make changes in NIL. … Utah always seems to turn out NFL-ready defenders. … Arizona State has a new leader on defense. … Arizona has added from the portal. … Oregon has a new president. He oversees a huge athletic machine. John Canzano talked with him about it. … The Duck football news just keeps on coming, including draft information, as do updates from men’s basketball and the rebuilding women’s program. … Former Oregon State guard Jordan Pope is headed to Texas. … Did Andrej Jakimovski not reach his potential in Pullman? Saying that seems to be a stretch. … UCLA has found a key replacement. … Arizona has lost a handful of players but the men picked up a transfer from Oakland on Wednesday. … Washington added a transfer as well. … California has added members to its basketball hall of fame. … The Colorado women have an addition ready who was already on the roster.
Gonzaga: There wasn’t a lot of WNBA pre-draft buzz concerning shooting guard Brynna Maxwell. That made her selection by Chicago with the first pick of the second round something of a surprise. It also elicited a celebration of epic proportions among the Maxwell clan – or at least we’ve been informed. Anyhow, now comes the harder part. Making the team. Jim Meehan has Maxwell’s comments as the Sky’s draft picks were introduced in Chicago yesterday.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, the spring portal window is hitting Montana a bit. … Matt Logie has added a Division II standout to his Montana State basketball roster.
Preps: Dave Nichols has a roundup of Wednesday’s action, which includes baseball, softball and soccer. … With Washington discussing changes in transfer policy, we thought it would be good to pass along the changes Utah is about to make.
Indians: Dave also has this coverage of Spokane’s 5-4 win in Canada over Vancouver. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, with Eugene’s 3-2 home 10-inning loss to Hillsboro, the Indians moved back into a tie atop the standings. … Tri-City handled visiting Everett 8-4.
Mariners: Back to .500. No, not a Michael J. Fox movie. It’s a Scott Servais production. The M’s are even again following a 5-1 loss to the Rangers, a loss punctuated by plays not made and pitches not executed. … Cal Raleigh missed the game after a dental emergency and J.P. Crawford was scratched after warmups with an oblique issue.
Seahawks: Will the Hawks pick tonight? They have the 16th selection but you never know if John Schneider will trade down. We’ll see. They have needs and questions to answer, including on both lines.
Kraken: Will Seattle need a new coach? We’ll see. … Here’s another subject we could have covered in depth today. The Kraken are leaving Root sports. We may delve into the change a bit more Friday, our TV-writing day.
Sounders: Alex Roldan is not happy about his recent red card.
Storm: Sue Bird can actually say she owns a WNBA team and not be speaking metaphorically any more. She’s bought a piece of the Storm.
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• One way you can describe the relationships around college sports is by using the word “networking.” Though it’s not the derided old-boys’ network, as it knows no gender and it also occurs among younger folks as well. But we do wonder if the transfer portal madness will eventually erode the relationships players develop with coaches, a big part of the down-the-road connections. Only time will tell. Until later …