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Wazzu men's hoops will hope to get their mojo back tonight when they host New Mexico State at 7pm in Beasley Coliseum. They will need a better performance from junior guard Noah Williams to bring balance to the Cougar offense. His 1-9 shooting in the loss to South Dakota State still has many scratching their head and wondering, "What happened?" The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
https://wsucougars.com/news/2021/12/14/mens-basketball-cougs-break-from-finals-to-face-new-mexico-state.aspx -
Today is 2021 signing day for college football student-athletes. At the moment there are just eleven young men who have signed with Coach Jake Dickert. It's still relatively early in the day and there may be more added. Four of the eleven look to play in the defensive secondary. Because of injury and graduation, that is the weakest link for the Cougs. We'll have more information for you Thursday afternoon.
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Things are changing for the offense of Washington State. Now that Eric Morris will be bringing back tight ends to run his version of the Air Raid, it could be speculated that Cougar fans will see more of the style of offense they saw last season. Coach Jake Dickert is moving away from the run-and-shoot, but not very far. Where Mike Leach's version of the Air Raid featured five wide receivers, Morris' version will likely see running backs getting more touches. He favors a more traditional offensive set that makes use of a tight end to block on running plays. That should translate into drives eating up more clock with an aggressive rushing game. Andre Dollar signed today with WSU after verbally committing yesterday. He de-committed from Oregon and held a handful of Power 5 scholarship offers. With on tight ends on the Wazzu roster, the chance to play early had to be a factor in choosing to go crimson and gray. Here's a link penned by Colton Clark of the Spokesman-Review with the info on this subtle change:
https://www.khq.com/sports/washington_state_university/andre-dollar-becomes-first-tight-end-commit-in-a-decade-for-washington-state/article_ae1fef93-9373-5d74-b6b4-e2eed94a20e6.html -
On the topic of Wazzu's football roster, several players are still up in the air about their plans to forego playing in the Sun Bowl with their teammates. Formal announcements are expected next week. For the moment, there is a possibility that Travell Harris may return for a final season of eligibility. It would be a boost for the Cougs if Harris, an All Pac-12 player, does come back as a wide receiver and kick returner. For more details, Colton Clark put together this story:
https://www.khq.com/sports/washington_state_university/sun-bowl-notebook-washington-state-preparing-for-postseason-opt-outs-slot-travell-harris-considering-another/article_e7dccfdd-190a-5d76-a287-efe336816fb3.html
- 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 ...
