A Grip on Sports: With its reported first choice saying no, does WSU turn to Eastern Washington’s Riley to fill basketball opening?
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Just when you thought you were done with the Inland Northwest’s college basketball season, we are hit with a debate concerning Washington State’s next men’s coach. Like recruiting, maybe the season never ends.
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• The games are over though. Finished off with the opposite of a bang in Indianapolis, as the Cougar women were run over at Butler’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament’s semifinal. It may have been a neighboring “I” state that did the deed, but it sure seemed as if Illinois was at home Monday afternoon in their 81-58 victory.
At least the 3-point lines looked correct.
And yet even that season-ending loss doesn’t seem to be the main attraction in Pullman – and virtual Pullman – yesterday or today. That honor goes to the soap opera nature of the coaching search. You know, the quest to replace Kyle Smith and Nerdball and build on the one-year success of the men’s program.
It’s not going as planned, we would guess.
And, like everyone else, we are just guessing. Speculating. Masticating on the news Matt Logie was the guy – if the former Whitworth head coach wanted to be.
Talk about a lot to chew on.
We heard last Wednesday Logie was the guy. Passed along the well-sourced info in Thursday’s column. And then nothing happened. Except players began packing their bags and entering the transfer portal, that odd phenomenon illustrated so well in that one Dr. Pepper commercial. Then they were joined by assistant coach Jim Shaw, who informed The Spokesman-Review’s Greg Woods he had been passed over for the position, one he wanted.
What was going on?
It seems as if Logie, who left Whitworth after eight successful Division III years, put in four just-as-successful ones with Division II Point Loma and then used a magical Big Sky run to make the NCAA Division I tournament in his only Montana State season, was mulling an offer from the Cougars.
At least that was CBS’ Matt Norlander’s report yesterday.
Was it enough to leave Bozeman after one 17-18 season? Enough to turn down a reported raise and upend the family once more?
We were told early this morning by a source close to Logie it wasn’t, that he is staying at Montana State, a decision Logie shared on X this morning as well. We were also told Washington State’s unsettled future was a key factor.
Now what for WSU? Well, according to another national basketball writer, Jeff Goodman, the other name in Wazzu’s mix Monday was David Riley. Yep, Eastern’s head coach who, in his first head-coaching stint, has had three consecutive winning seasons, twice guiding the Eagles to the Big Sky’s regular season title and more than 20 victories. The same David Riley who played and coached at Whitworth.
Maybe we should begin to refer to Whitworth as The Cradle of Basketball Coaches.
We were sure of two things as this situation unfolded. Both coaches have a high upside. Each has proven capable of developing winning teams in less-than-ideal situations – and WSU’s is less-than-ideal these days.
With Logie out of the running, will Riley be the choice? If so, the Cougars just may have lucked themselves into the right guy.
A young, smart coach with a great pedigree – his uncle is former Oregon State football coach Mike Riley – and a hunger to get better. He will throw himself into the job, one that is going to be tough next season with the defections and the late start. Whether or not the Cougars are successful with Riley in charge won’t be determined by a lack of effort, engagement and energy.
He may just be the perfect guy to guide the program through the reefs the next couple WCC seasons will present as the department tries to rebuild the Pac-12. Even if it turns out he was not the first choice.
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WSU: The coaching search was the subject of Greg’s main story in the S-R. And of this online story this morning. … He also covered the latest player defection, as the eighth member of the roster hit the portal yesterday. … Basketball is over in the Palouse following the women’s loss in Indy. Greg Lee has the coverage of that game. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and around the nation, Jon Wilner lists his NCAA winners and losers in the S-R this morning. … He also sifted through the rubble of another Arizona season finished off with another NCAA upset. That column is in the Mercury News. … Can the NIT survive the new order of college hoop? … It looks as if Washington’s top recruit, Zoom Diallo is mulling his options. … Former Gonzaga Prep standout Jayden Stevens is in the transfer portal after two seasons at Oregon State. … Utah is in the NIT semifinals and plays Indiana State tonight in Indianapolis. … USC is looking for a coach. Andy Enfield is headed to SMU. … Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley is headed to the Final Four to support his brother. Bobby does not have far to travel. … We made a joke about the floor in Portland early on in this column. The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins doesn’t think it was amusing at all and just another illustration of the NCAA’s second-class treatment of women’s basketball. … John Canzano mentions it in a mailbag. … The last two Final Four participants were decided last night, though that’s a bit like saying Leonardo da Vinci painted a dinner scene on a wall. The wins by Iowa and Connecticut were things of beauty as defending champion LSU and Pac-12 champ USC couldn’t keep up. … The Trojans still had a special season. … So did Oregon State, who will be in the WCC next one. How will that impact the Beavers? Should it? … Stanford has a whole bunch of questions to answer before next season. … In football news, Christian Caple has 12 Washington players he’s interested in watching this spring. … Bo Nix saw a difference in the Pac-12 and the SEC. And shared his feelings about them. … Colorado has added another big name to its coaching staff: Warren Sapp. … There should be some new looks for the Arizona defense.
Gonzaga: Hey, we have one final Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast to pass along. You can listen to Jim Meehan and Richard Fox talk about Purdue and more here. … The baseball team lost at Oregon State.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, at least Montana State will not have to hold a coaching search for the second consecutive year. … With Idaho State losing its best shooter to rival Weber State, the portal can cut fans in a lot of ways. … The Bengal women may also lose their starting center.
Indians: Spokane’s roster of 30 players is set, as Dave Nichols passes along in this story. The Indians open their season Friday at Avista Stadium. Yep, Friday.
Mariners: Dominic Canzone hit a three-run home run, Emerson Hancock posted a good start and the bullpen held off Cleveland in a 5-4 decision Monday night at T-Mobile. … Matt Brash and Gregory Santos seem to be on schedule to rejoin the bullpen. When that actually will happen also seems up in the air.
Kraken: A quick flurry early allowed Seattle to roll over San Jose. … Shane Wright is getting a feel for the NHL game.
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• With the breaking news this morning, we fell behind a bit. We caught up though and made our deadline. We count that as a win. The inevitable mistakes? Those are losses that the interim guy should have to wear. Until later …