A Grip on Sports: In what’s become a way-too-often chore, we have to say goodbye to a local sports personality, this time former NIC basketball coach Hugh Watson

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Life-long learning is an actually thing. If one wants it to be. When it comes to sports, I’m in the want-to camp. Always have been. Always will be. But it’s not just the sports themselves I want to know better. The people who participate in them are especially worth spending time to learn about.

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• Years ago, former Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Dan Fitzgerald held a coaching clinic each October. It was for high school coaches, though other interested parties – like myself – were welcome to attend. As long as the registration fee was paid. It was a check I wrote willingly, even if it meant skipping trips to 31 Flavors or Donut Parade for a couple weeks.

Such luminaries as Purdue’s Gene Keady, St. John’s Louie Carnesecca, Seton Hall’s P.J. Carlesimo and others visited Spokane for talks on press breaks, defensive drills and the transition game.

But the coach who caused the most commotion over the years was from right down Interstate 90.

North Idaho College’s Hugh Watson spoke one year on, well, I’m still not sure. Watson’s Tennessee accent was so thick, every time he would explain something he had put up on a white board in the Martin Centre, just about every coach sitting in the stands would turn to the person next to them and ask “what did he say?” Even though I had spent a couple high school summers in the backwoods of Eastern Tennessee and felt pretty fluent in the dialect, it was a challenge.

I’m exaggerating, of course, but Watson’s trademarked enthusiasm, combined with his honor of talking in front of a bunch of high school coaches – as he once was – sped him up and made his presentation a bit hard to decipher at times.

He admitted as much in the social afterward as I sought him out to talk about his East Tennessee roots and my summer stays in Dayton, about 50 miles away.

Watson, who died Thursday at the age of 84, wasn’t just some guy from the Tennessee hill country. He was an exceptional basketball coach from the Tennessee hill country.

It showed at its highest form in his eight years at North Idaho College. How could a coach who came West with Larry Eustachy in the early ‘90s, find success at a JC in an area where he had few connections? Easy. Watson was able to connect. With everyone.

Players. High school coaches. Other college coaches. His NIC teams weren’t just competitive, they were occasionally great. His first year the Cardinals went to the NJCAA Tournament. Finished the season with a 30-5 record. And continued to shine, though never again to that level.

But Watson was always successful, if the benchmark was molding young men. As Jim Meehan relates in his obituary of Watson this morning, the Tennessee native was a players’ coach – in all the good ways. He had their best interests at heart, it showed and they played at a high level for him.

Even if, maybe, they weren’t sure exactly what he was saying during time outs.

• I watched quite a bit of the BMW Championship from Maryland’s Caves Valley Golf Club yesterday. Not because the course interested me. Or the Fed Ex playoffs have added any excitement. All that is extra-curricular junk as far as I’m concerned.

What drew me in, and kept me watching while clicking back and forth to confirm more of the M’s offensive ineptitude, was a man-vs.-man showdown.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Hot as blazes – in multiple ways – Scotsman Robert MacIntyre. Two guys separated by a few strokes – MacIntyre led all day – trading shot after shot for 18 holes.

It was why I love watching golf. Competition. Player vs. player, sure, but also player vs. course. MacIntyre led by five strokes to start the day. Hit a 41-foot bomb to walk off 18 with a four-stroke lead. And I turned it off with a sense of anticipation. For today’s final round.

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WSU: Yes, the Cougars have a returning quarterback. One who started. Well, one game. Zevi Eckhaus. After John Mateer bailed, Eckhaus did his best in the Holiday Bowl loss. But that was then. Now? Eckhaus and at least three others are fighting to hold down the starting spot. Greg Woods profiles one of the competitors this morning, Julian Duggar, a left-handed throwing transfer from the University of Pittsburgh. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, maybe it would be the right thing to do to follow the Big Ten’s playoff idea. No, not the part with all the auto berths for the major conferences. The part about having two-dozen teams. That’s what the FCS has and the level has figured out to make it work. The FBS could too. … Washington played a “mock game” Saturday. And now will begin getting ready for its opener. … Oregon and Oregon State held their final scrimmages as well. The Beavers will kick off their season in two weeks. The Ducks will too, and will now begin game prep. … Colorado moved a player to tight end last season and expect big things from him this one. … Utah’s athletic director Mark Harlan shared some thoughts this weekend. … UCLA’s coaching staff is trying to build closer bonds among its players. … Arizona used to head to the mountains for camp. Would that help the Wildcats these days? … In basketball news, the USC women have done so well in recruiting this offseason, there have been tears shed. … A San Diego State men’s player will be competing this year with a heavy heart.  

EWU: Efton Chism III wasn’t drafted by the New England Patriots. But the former Eastern star is about to become a member of their receiving corps anyway. He stood out during the Pats’ exhibition win over Minnesota on Saturday. … I have to apologize. I missed this story on Friday. Former EWU women’s basketball coach Wendy Schuller and the state reached agreement on her wrongful termination lawsuit. Schuller will be paid $1.5 million. Cannon Barnett has more in this story. … Elsewhere in the (current and future) Big Sky, it’s time to move over to the defense at Montana, highlighting linebackers and safeties. … Montana State held its final scrimmage yesterday. … Yes, it’s true. If you can play, coaches will find you. Ask Northern Colorado how it found its new German punter. … The Weber State staff was not happy with Saturday’s scrimmage. … With all the changes, and proposed changes, at Sacramento State, the Hornets’ rivalry game with UC Davis is not on the 2026 schedule.

Weight lifting: How would you like to be known as a “professional strongman?” That has to be better than a lot of labels, right? That’s Zach Price’s avocation, lifting heavy objects in competitions. As Dave Boling tells us, Price could full-squat a (sedated, because who want to touch a non-sedated one?) grizzly bear. He hasn’t. But he could.

Indians: Spokane was down seven runs before Avista Stadium’s Saturday night crowd had settled in. And the Indians went on to a 12-2 loss, their fourth in five games in the series with Vancouver. Dave Nichols has the coverage. 

Mariners: Familiarity, it seems, breeds offense with this group of Seattle players. At least the converse of that is true. The M’s have struggled against pitchers they haven’t faced before. Such was the case Saturday as the Mets’ rookie starter Nolan McLean shut down Seattle in a 3-1 New York victory. … The teams finish their three-game set tonight from Williamsport, Penn., in MLB’s annual game at the Little League World Series (4:10, ESPN). … Ben Williamson was not a home run threat in his stint as the M’s third baseman. He’s working on rectifying that in Tacoma. …Could Cal Raleigh actually win the MVP award?

Seahawks: The Hawks’ 33-16 exhibition win over the Chiefs on Friday night featured an overpowering – at times – running game and other highlights. With the caveat Kansas City held out some of its better players.

Storm: We’ve linked this story in the Times. It relays all the particulars concerning Sue Bird’s statue unveiling today.

Sounders: If you are in the camp that believes soccer is a boring sport, you received some ammunition last night. Minnesota played a dreary, mind-numbing form of the game at home against Seattle. Then again, the United played a winning form of it too. Eventually. They scored after I fell asleep and won 1-0.

Reign: A Welsh midfielder has come on strong for Seattle after her inclusion in this year’s Euros.

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• This was a sad but fun Sunday of writing for me. More and more I’m writing remembrances of people whose paths crossed with mine, sometimes, as in Watson’s case, literally and other times in the they-were-important-and-meant-something-to-me-from-a-distance way. But when thinking of someone, also as in Watson’s case, that makes me smile, the writing is a little easier. Until later …