Morning links: WSU hires a coordinator

Much was written about WSU sports yesterday, most of it centered on the hiring of WSU’s new defensive coach. But not all of it.

The men’s basketball team has the first of this weekend’s games today and we’ve got our weekly outlook just in time. We also have a story on WSU’s precocious post: Josh Hawkinson . And, as a special treat, we’ve got a John Blanchette column on Ernie Kent of WSU and Wayne Tinkle of Oregon State (and Spokane), the Pac-12’s surprising first-year (if not first time) coaches .

On the blog I wondered whether or not instate recruiting should be a priority and don’t miss the news that Bennie Seltzer is headed to the Pac-12 Hall of Honor .

Still, the big news was that the football team has a defensive coordinator. Alex Grinch is his name and I swear to you that I will not touch any Seussian rhymes with a 39-and-a-half foot pole.

Here at the S-R we have our story on the hire, a copy of WSU’s press release and some video of the new coach in action at Missouri. I also wanted to pass along this story from a Missouri writer, as well as a profile of Grinch written when he began at MU.

The Seattle Times has a story on the hire as does CougCenter . The news was first reported by Football Scoop .

A couple pairs of Pac-12 rivals got together on Wednesday to play basketball. UCLA made basketball look like something people do for fun for the first time in awhile in a win over USC, while California’s struggles continued against Stanford.