Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful WSU weekend! Cougar teams excelled once again and we've got some notes and links for you.
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WSU volleyball (16-8,10-4 Pac-12) continues to play outstanding ball. Sure, they got off to a slow start by losing the first two sets, but a match is determined by winning three out of five. In other words, it doesn't matter how you start, it's how you finish. The Cougs came close in the first two sets, 21-25 and 23-25, then went on to dominate the Sun Devils in the final three to win the match. Here's a complete breakdown of the stats:
https://wsucougars.com/news/2021/11/7/volleyball-magda-magnificent-leads-cougs-to-reverse-sweep-of-asu.aspx -
Wazzu soccer continued its dominance of cross-state rival UW. Including their road win in Seattle on Friday night, the Cougs are now 71-15-9 all-time against the Dawgs. The final tally this time around was 4-2 after the teams played to a tie in the first half. For a full rundown of the game, here's your best source:
https://wsucougars.com/news/2021/11/5/soccer-leave-no-doubt.aspx -
WSU women's hoops get their season under tomorrow, Tuesday, November 9, 2021, when they host San Jose State at 7pm in Beasley Coliseum. If you want to watch the game on your favorite device, it will be broadcast on Pac-12 Plus which is available to everyone who has a Pac-12 Networks subscription. The game will also be streamed live on WSUCougars.com. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, SJSU only played four games last season, earning a 2-2 mark.
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If you think this has been rough going for Cougar football this season, Husky Nation must be put on suicide watch. After losing again this past weekend to Oregon, here's what many Dawg fans are saying:
https://thehuskyhaul.com/2021/11/07/washington-football-fire-jimmy-lake/
As if that isn't enough evidence of discontent, here's more. UW made the unusual move of firing their offensive coordinator following their loss to the Ducks.
https://www.si.com/college/oregon/football/washington-offensive-coordinator-john-donovan-fired-following-loss-to-oregon
- It seems fitting to put together a list of coaches who branch off of the Mike Leach coaching tree. Perspective on his football genius can easily be determined by a cursory glance:
Dave Aranda/Baylor head coach – Graduate assistant coach under Leach from 2000-02 at Texas Tech
Neal Brown/West Virginia head coach – Played under Leach in 1998 when Leach was offensive coordinator at Kentucky
Sonny Cumbie/Louisiana Tech head coach – Played under Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-03 and later served as a graduate assistant coach under Leach
Sonny Dykes/TCU head coach – Coached wide receivers and later was the co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000-06
Josh Heupel/Tennessee head coach – Played under Leach at Oklahoma in 1999 when Leach was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners
Dana Holgorsen/Houston head coach – Coached alongside Leach as assistants at Valdosta State from 1993-95, then served as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator under Leach from ...
- The news of former WSU Coach Mike Leach passing at the young age of 61 is very, very sad. I had the pleasure of writing about the Cougs when Leach was at the helm. To say that he was a unique person doesn't begin to describe the multi-faceted dimension of the man.
In terms of coaching football, Leach led his teams in a way that had most other coaches scratching their heads. His offensive creativity gave a multitude of defensive coordinators ulcers. To say that his techniques for molding student-athletes into football players were unusual would be accurate. Making guys run sprints in a sand pit named "Leach Beach" is a prime example. Crazy as that sounds, his players had fewer ankle injuries over the course of the season than any team in football. Only Mike Leach could get players to hit the beach. And if you look at the coaching tree that branches out from Leach, you'd find a myriad of men who owe him for their start in the profession.
When you examine the way Leach represented the schools ...
- Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so Wazzu's loss yesterday to UNLV by a score of 74-70 was just that, a loss. However, there were plenty of reasons to applaud both the performance and the progress the Cougs are making over the past few games. Let's get the bad observation out of the way. WSU turned the ball over a ridiculous 22 times. No one is going to beat many teams with such wreckless play, especially against a team that posted a 9-0 record going into the contest. Some of those errors might be attributed to Coach Kyle Smith going with a different lineup almost every game because of player injuries. Facts are facts and when there isn't a steady lineup, players struggle to play team ball. On the bright side, Wazzu shot a respectable 54.2% from the field, coupled with a very nice 56.5% from behind the arc. On defense, WSU held UNLV to just 30.4% from behind the arc and 50.9% overall. The Cougs outrebounded the Rebels by a margin of 33-20. Despite being down by ...
