G&T blog matters: Luke Meikle leaves Gonzaga basketball, Cougar football on ESPN, Vandal football’s revolving door of assistants

A sampling from the past week of entries in The Spokesman-Review blog SportsLink at www.spokesman.com/ sportslink/

6:

Washington State’s football game at Nevada on Friday, Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. will be televised on ESPN. The game was originally scheduled for the following Saturday, but was  moved up one day to accommodate a nationally televised broadcast. 

The game is WSU’s second of the season and its first scheduled national broadcast. The Cougars played three games on ESPN last season, including the New Mexico Bowl, and two more on ESPNU. 

• Wayne Phipps will take over as the director of the cross country and track and field programs at Washington State. He comes to WSU after 19 years of coaching at Idaho, including four years as the director of cross country and track and field. He takes over for Rick Sloan, who is retiring after leading the Cougars for 32 years.

Phipps was named the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year this past season in men’s indoor and outdoor track, as well as women’s outdoor track. The Vandals have brought home nine WAC championships since 2010 in men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and men’s and women’s cross country.

Jacob Thorpe

For the fifth consecutive season, the Idaho football team will have a new offensive line coach this fall.

Jon Carvin, who held the post last season in Paul Petrino’s first year as head coach, has left the program, the school confirmed (May 24). He’ll be replaced by offensive coordinator Kris Cinkovich, who will relinquish his role as receivers coach, FootballScoop.com reported.

Petrino is seeking applicants for the now-vacant receivers coaching job. In an  online job listing for an assistant football coach posted on May 20, UI put the pay at $46,000 per year.

Josh Wright