Got some time this morning?
COUGARS
We once worked for a boss who talked often about saving our readers' time. It was the one thing, he said, they had a finite amount of. Then we began blogging and found most of those same readers love to spend that finite amount invested with their favorite college athletic team, discovering every piece of news they can find on Washington State. But we still try to save their – or should we say, your – time. Read on.
••••••••••
• Washington State: Why that wordy, time-wasting intro? Two reasons. To fill the lead-in, a task we have every morning, and to explain I can't save you that much time this morning. If you want to know what new football coach Mike Leach had to say yesterday on the radio, you'll have to listen to the interviews. Unlike basketball coach Ken Bone's Tuesday press conference, which we summarized – saving you the time needed to watch it – we're just going to pass along links to the entire interviews. Leach talked with the Dennis Patchin show in Spokane on 700 ESPN and with Kevin Calabro's show in Seattle on 710 ESPN. ... Yesterday afternoon, at the boss' request, I sat down and wrote this story about Leach's staff hires thus far. None of them have been officially announced at WSU, but these guys were working in the offices before hitting the road, so it's sourced pretty well. Of course, later last night, while I was in the stands at a local high school basketball game, Twitter informed me – in that stern voice of his – Leach had moved forward with a defensive hire, linebackers coach Mike Smith. ... In my five years covering WSU athletics, I went through four major searches, two football coaches, a basketball coach and an athletic director. If ESPN.com's Ted Miller is right, then Christian won't have to worry about a football coach search any time soon. ... Below is video of Bone's press conference yesterday, courtesy of the WSU athletic department. I neglected to mention one element Bone talked about concerning his team's recent success. He praised the work of the scout team in practice, an underappreciated group in any program. But they harder and faster they can play, the better prepared the main players get for the up-coming opponent.
•••
•••
• Around the Pac-12: Flip a coin. Football or basketball first? Today we'll go with basketball. ... Oregon State bounced back from a loss to Idaho with a 95-53 rout of Illinois-Chicago. ... Washington's Tony Wroten earned praise from Coach K after Duke pounded the Huskies. ... On to football, where Oregon knows the Wisconsin line will offer a challenge in the Rose Bowl for its defense. ... Stanford will be without Andrew Luck next year. Who will play the quarterback position (just couldn't write, "who will replace him")? ... Jim Mora Jr., has his work cut out for him, though the changeover could help former Husky Marques Tuiasosopo. Former Cougar – and Cougar coach – Steve Broussard will leave Arizona State and join Mora's staff. ... Speaking of the Sun Devils, the defense let them down this year. ... Arizona's Rich Rodriguez likes to talk, and that helps a college football coach.
•••
• That's all for this morning, except for a tease. A lot of you have expressed dismay concerning my upcoming retirement and the loss of our voice with Cougar athletics – and, as I'm well aware, some of you have done cartwheels in celebration. Well, stay tuned for an announcement soon concerning my future. It's a change and it won't be as Cougar-centric, but it may either make you smile or frown, depending on which camp you are in. Until later ...
