Benson says move was right one

Wade Benson wanted a chance to coach volleyball at a BCS school and he didn’t know how many invitations would come his way.

So roughly two months before the 2007 season, Benson left his job as head coach at Eastern Washington University to become an assistant at Auburn. He was promoted to head coach last December and his Tigers are currently 5-8, 0-2 in the SEC, including a home loss to Arkansas, which fell to EWU in three sets in late August.

“My reason for making a difficult move like that, on paper some might not even look at it as a lateral move, but it was really to look at a BCS school and BCS conference and see what that was all about,” Benson said. “I was in that period of my life where I would only have a couple shots at that and this was one of them. It’s a great opportunity for me.”

The Tigers have struggled recently in the SEC, but Benson has a three-year plan for turning the program around. He’s making inroads with a 2009 recruiting class that he said includes two Top 100 recruits. By his third season, Benson said, “We should be pretty good.”

Auburn is young, with just one senior and no scholarship juniors. Sophomore Lauren Mellor, a Colfax High product whose older sister, Lizzy, played for Benson at EWU, sees time at middle blocker and right-side hitter.

Numerous factors assist Auburn’s recruiting, including the statistic that current and former Tigers earned 19 medals in the Beijing Olympics, 13 in swimming. Benson had 10 recruits visit Saturday when Auburn entertained LSU in a nationally televised football game.

“I was on the field for the LSU game, and there’s nothing like it in the country,” he said. “But there’s also pressure with the SEC and expectations to perform. You have a certain number of years and I certainly wouldn’t say I’m comfortable yet.”

Benson has enlisted the help of Janelle Ruen, a former Post Falls High and EWU standout, and Edgard da Gama e Silva, who has had coaching stints at EWU, Washington State and North Idaho College. Ruen, who plays on the AVP beach tour, is director of volleyball operations while Silva, known as ‘Dega’, is a volunteer coach.

“I’d like to balance both (playing and coaching) for a couple years,” said Ruen, a former Big Sky MVP who also earned All-Big Sky basketball honors while at EWU. “This is a trial to see if I want to get into coaching. I work more behind the scenes, but it’s great to be part of it.”

Cougars open Pac-10

Washington State (7-4) begins Pac-10 play on the road, facing Arizona on Friday and Arizona State on Saturday. The WSU-ASU match will be televised live nationally on the Fox Sports Network, but delayed in the Pacific Northwest with Fox Sports Northwest airing the WSU-Oregon football game. The match will be on Fox Sports Northwest at 8 p.m. Monday.

Pac-10 teams are 93-19 (.830 winning percentage) in non-conference matches. Arizona (10-1) is close to cracking the Top 25 rankings while ASU is the only team in the conference with a losing streak (2).

“We’ve been playing better since the Idaho tournament,” Cougars coach Andrew Palileo said. “We’re moving a little faster and it looks like we’re starting to understand our system better.”

Zags take a break

Gonzaga (6-9) should be well rested when it opens WCC play at No. 15 San Diego on Oct. 2. The Bulldogs don’t play this week, meaning they’ll go 12 days between matches.

The scheduling quirk is due to the WCC’s 14-match slate (the Pac-10 plays 18, the WAC and Big Sky 16) and no conference tournament.

Notes

Idaho (7-5, 0-1 WAC) faces a big test against New Mexico State (7-6, 2-0), a WAC contender that was ranked No. 23 in the preseason poll, at 7 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Gym. The Vandals lost at No. 7 Hawaii, but took a set off the WAC power for just the third time in nine meetings. … After 11 matches, EWU (4-7, 1-1 Big Sky) finally opens its home schedule against Montana State on Thursday and Montana on Saturday. The Eagles beat Montana 30-26, 35-37, 40-38, 22-30, 17-15 last October in Cheney in the second highest scoring match in Division I history. … NIC, ranked 15th in last week’s NJCAA poll, begins Scenic West Athletic Conference play with home matches against Eastern Utah on Thursday and Colorado Northwestern on Saturday.