New coach, old team
PULLMAN – A redshirt sophomore leads the Cougars through stretches before practice. A 37-year-old first-year head coach walks the sidelines, and his assistants are all in the same age bracket or younger.
So when this Washington State team touts experience as its primary asset, understand why an eyebrow or two arches upward.
“I think the best thing my dad did, and I’ve said it before, is he left this program and has given it a fighting chance,” said Tony Bennett, who takes the reins this season after his father, Dick, retired last spring. “That’s big because I don’t think I would have wanted to inherit last year’s team.”
The Cougars sent the elder Bennett off with 13 losses in 15 games and a last-place finish in the Pac-10, and the new head coach can only hope that the extra year on the floor can help him turn things around in a hurry.
“I think it’s improved. I can’t say how much yet,” junior swingman Kyle Weaver said. “The potential is there for us to be really good. We have the experience, the games under our belt. And we’ve got a good surrounding corps around us. I think we can be real competitive this year if we just work hard and work together.”
Bennett will be relying upon a group of juniors from his first big recruiting class as a Cougar assistant, with Weaver, guard Derrick Low and forward Robbie Cowgill topping the marquee. Those three will have the primary responsibility of carrying the Cougars on the floor, but by no means is there an expectation that they alone will be able to shoulder the load.
WSU brought in a pair of new point guards, and North Idaho College transfer Mac Hopson currently has the starting job. That allows Low to slide over to the off-guard position, and also creates a glut at forward, where Bennett hopes to be able to pick and choose from his bench in ways that his father wasn’t able to in recent seasons.
“You have to start in the college game with having a good point guard,” Bennett said. “You can’t have enough depth at that spot.”
The big question facing Bennett at the start of his tenure, though, has to do with style. Both he and his players agree that getting away from Dick Bennett’s defense-first mentality would be a mistake, but at the same time it’s clear that Tony Bennett is trying to give his team more freedom on offense to force the issue at times.
How easy it will be to balance those two philosophies remains in doubt.
“We still need to make sure that the defense is still our identity,” said sophomore Daven Harmeling, who is still a vocal leader despite missing nearly all of last season with a shoulder injury. “Because in practice sometimes it seems like it is and sometimes it fades out. That’s something that can’t be a variable for us.
“I don’t think anyone on this team thinks Tony is going to compromise our defense. We know he’s not.”
To no one’s surprise, the preseason Pac-10 poll had the Cougars making a return trip to the basement. With nearly all of last year’s major contributors returning, this season will prove above all else how much playing time can make a difference – even if the man directing it doesn’t have much.
“We’ve taken some bumps and bruises as freshmen and sophomores, and there’s no better teacher than experience,” Bennett said. “They have that now. Can they put that to use and will they put that to use? I believe so. I do.”