A New Era...

If you are anything like me then you were cheering for the Virginia Cavaliers in the NCAA tournament. Former WSU Coach Tony Bennett brought this program along nicely in his five years as their head coach. His best offensive player was Joe Harris from Chelan who would have played for the Cougars had Bennett stayed in Pullman.

For anyone who wants to know how to win basketball games without a lot of scoring weapons, then they should look at what Bennett’s team did and how they won with tight, aggressive defense and a patient offense. I was hoping they could make it to the Final Four because Bennett’s boys were fun to watch if you happen to love defensive basketball. And yes, I love good defense.

The man who replaced Bennett at WSU, Ken Bone, fell on hard times with injuries, a player that was dismissed from the team for off court infractions and one that left the program for San Diego State because Bone was unlucky enough to choose the bad boy to be his point guard instead of the kid who transferred and eventually lost them both when it mattered most.

Ken Bone is a good coach in the right situation and the right situation means having the best available talent to go with his ability to coach. He had success at each place he was at and did well with the remaining players from the Tony Bennett era. Bone will regroup with the two years of remaining money owed him from a seven-year contract. Bone can be a great assistant for a bigger program or a head coach at a smaller program, but it is tough to recruit big name players to Pullman.

Enter former Oregon Head Coach Ernie Kent, a guy that Athletic Director Bill Moos knows well since he hired Kent when he was the AD at UO. The hire was speculated upon for some time and for Kent, the timing is pretty good. At his age this will most likely be his final stop, but his batteries are recharged after his stint as the Ducks coach ended about four years ago.

Coach Kent didn’t leave the game; he became an analyst and color commentator for NCAA basketball games. Kent is a guy with a great personality who knows the game very well. He had a couple of elite eight runs with the Ducks and always seemed to have UO playing their best basketball at the right time at the end of the season. His teams had the ability to pull off big upsets and play on when many felt they had little chance. To me this means his players worked hard for him and he instilled a special kind of confidence in his teams.

There are some who thought Boise State Coach Leon Rice would have been a good fit. Rice is a WSU alum and former assistant for Mark Few at Gonzaga and I’m sure it was a tough decision for him to make, but BSU appreciates what Rice has accomplished in Boise. BSU rewarded him with a raise. Rice may not have liked the idea of playing Gonzaga each year and maybe he thinks it’s easier to recruit players to Boise than Pullman whatever the case he made the right decision for his career and that is all that really matters.

I really think that Ernie Kent will be able to recruit better athletes to Pullman than Ken Bone could. I think the students will get behind him and get excited at home games and that is a must. I think it is interesting that fans will only support a winner. It is the team that is struggling that needs the most support not the team that can win on the road as well at home. When there is a lack of energy in the team they need to get a lift from a strong fan base but when they fail to show up then it makes it tough for a less than confident team to fight through to the end.

Ernie Kent has the ability to get those fans to come back to watch the Cougars play and maybe just to watch Coach Kent. It is a new era at WSU and if anybody can bring life to a cat that has lost a life or two it is Ernie Kent.