Count me and kind of surprised. I thought Moos would have Walden "retire" rather than terminate him. I have mixed bag of feelings. I enjoyed the homerism of Walden in the booth. That's why I listen to a Coug broadcast. I don't neutrality for my Coug broadcasts! He also was a major mover in bringing the AC back home to Pullman as well as contributed $300k for our weightroom. The guy clearly loved the Cougs. On the other hand, his comments were completely inappropriate about his thoughts on Wulff's firing. First, you are part of the company, you start questioning the chief publicly you should be canned. Second, Moos was on the hiring committee. Moos was eating crow for hiring Wulff, so don't think for a second Moos didn't want PW to succeed.

Coug women are now 8-4-1 on the season, with losses to #1 Stanford (1-0) (winning goal came in the 84th minute or so), no. 18 Santa Clara (1-0), and no. 4 Portland (1-0). Matt Potter has taken this program to the next level and I truly hope all of us can appreciate this and I certainly hope that Moos makes it worth his while to stay at WSU. Women's soccer is one of those sports that cold weather locations can still succeed in the sport and their is talent in the NW for this sport to mine.

I have heard a number people talk about the possibility of Tuel redshirting the remainder part of the season.  I am bit frustrated by this because many fans don't get the rule so I thought I might as well enlighten everyone so we can put this to bed.

As a former NCAA compliance guy (interned at good ole Wazzu) I know a bit about this subject.  Below are excerpts from the NCAA Div 1 Manual for your convenience in review.

 

First, to understand everyone gets 5 years to play 4 years in a sport.  The 5-year clock starts clicking when you enroll full-time or compete for the team.

Second, the lingo.  Redshirting is for those players who never get into regular or post season competition.  Hardship waiver is for your medical injury cases. No such thing as a medical redshirt.  You either played and got hurt and need a waiver, or you didn't play at all and can redshirt.

Third, some guys get a redshirt and a medical hardship waiver, thus 6 years to play 4.  However, this is a bit more difficult to obtain.  The NCAA is more likely to grant a hardship waiver when a guy hasn't redshirted and gets injured.

 

Bylaw 14.2.4 Hardship waiver. A student-athlete may be granted an additional year of competition by the conference or the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement for reasons of “hardship.” Hardship is defined as an incapacity resulting from an injury or illness that has occurred under all of the following conditions: 

(a) The incapacitating injury or illness occurs in one of the four seasons of intercollegiate competition at any two-year or four-year collegiate institutions…;

(b) The injury or illness occurs prior to the first competition of the second half of the playing season that concludes with the NCAA championship in that sport (see Bylaw 14.2.4.3.4) and results in incapacity to compete for the remainder of that playing season; and

(c) In team sports, the injury or illness occurs when the student-athlete has not participated in more than three contests or dates of competition (whichever is applicable to that sport) or 30 percent (whichever number is greater) of the institution’s scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition in his or her sport…

 

Based upon the above, no question that Tuel's injury meets (a) and (c), but if you read (b) closely his injury probably doesn't satisfy this prong.  Sure the injury occurred in the first half of the season (duh), but the injury must result in preventing the player from competing the remainder of the season.  That's the biggie!  This one causes the biggest issue and is examined the most closely. The NCAA pours over medical documentation to determine whether the guy could come back.  Now, the NCAA doesn't require you to play with a cast.  For example, Galvin.  He could have played with a cast.  It would have been difficult to be a running back with a cast, but he could have played gunner on special teams with a cast.  The NCAA wouldn't require you to play with a cast just because you might be able to.  You are still injured, but obviously this issue gets really gray with turf toe, hamstrings, and one starts arguing that he couldn't have played that year.

 

So you see that even if Tuel's injury is 8 weeks in recovery, he won't get a medical hardship because he will be back with a couple games left in the season.  Moreover, for those who are wondering if he came back in 5 or 6 weeks and re-injured his shoulder on the next play, see below. 

 

14.2.4.3.5 Reinjury in Second Half of Season. A student-athlete who suffers an injury in the first half of the season that concludes with the NCAA championship... attempts to return to competition during the second half of that season and then is unable to participate further as a result of aggravating the original injury does not qualify for the hardship waiver

Cougs handled B-C in the morning beating them 10-4.  Jackson was solid in his first Coug start.  I have a great feeling about this kid and looking forward to seeing him pitch in person this season.

Cougs rallied in the 2nd game late against Tex Tech to win 6-3.  Handed it to their key relief pitcher.  Arnold had a good start.

The offense has really been something.  We are putting guys in motion a ton and have had some timely hitting.  

thus far.  Stanford falls to 7-9 with games against AZ and CAL remaining.  AZ falls to 7-8 with Stanford, UCLA, and SC remaining on the schedule.  Or St at 6-8 is losing by 10 at half to UCLA.  We sit at 6-9, trying to move up to at least the crucial 7th spot.  Oregon (4-10) is losing at half to SC.  Come on SC!!   

Will be pulling for AZ over Stanford because that would likely result in a 7-11 for the Furd.  Next week is going to be huge for the Cougs.  Probably control our destiny for the 7th with our final games against the two teams trying to avoid the 8th and 9th position (oregon and osu).  

 

Below in quotes is what I pasted over at wsufootballblog and thought I would share. There has been some good dialogue on both websites.  I see the 2 camps as this: Camp 1 is supporting PW based upon his new recruits and some of the guys they already have in the program pointing to the fact that they are talented and class acts.  These supporters also pt to the injuries as the reason for non-competitive football.  Their position is that this yr is a complete throw away and we cannot truly even begin evaluating PW until next yr. 

Camp 2 is concerned that we are heading the way of UW with Paint Dry Tye.  Good recruits, class acts, but the coach (TW) was unable to produce results.  Obviously this camp does not want to waste another 2 years if this is where we are headed.  As support for their position, they pt to the lack of competitiveness with the majority of teams WSU has played over the last 17 games (and competitiveness being defined as being w/in 7 pts at half).  They also pt to PW's complete abandonment of his offensive philosophy last yr as someone who is completely unsure of himself and in over his head and the Lopina/Lobbestal/Tuel disaster. 

Camp 2 certainly recognizes the economics, but at the same time as an attorney I certainly know how companies spread costs, particularly unexpected costs over time with backloading contracts.  I am in Camp 2 and I have a number of buddies on both sides of the camp and everyone wants what is best for the Cougs.  So I tried to come up with an objective solution to appease my Camp 2, which is the reason for my below post.

BTW, I am just having fun because I recognize that even if PW is another TW that decision won't likely come until the end of next yr. unless of course he doesn't even meet my standard which is read by some big donor who then sends him packing as a consequence!

Ok, ok. I am beating a deadhorse, but I have to until Longball cries uncle.
Numerous posters has pointed to Idaho to show how to rebuild. I first have to disclose that I am a graduate of U of I as well as Wazzu, but my backing is solely of Wazzu but I am always glad to see Idaho do well except against Wazzu.
Here is a link or website to CFN season review of Idaho for 2008. http://cfn.scout.com/2/837819.html If you see, Idaho was competitive in some games, but often threw great one or two punches at the beginning of the game against some of their bigger opponents before being taken behind the woodshed.
So I am throwing down the gauntlet Longball, if you want me to believe that PW is rebuilding us like UI, then in the remaining games we need to be competitive (i.e., within 7 at half) or possess a lead sometime in the 1st qtr. If you don't think PW is capable of doing that, tell me why I should give him a free pass

 

Reports say that both Casto and Thompson made the cut for the U19 team.  Congrats to both.  Here is the link

http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=09_mu19_trials_roster_final

Go Cougs!

c

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No-no by Way through 4.  I knocked on wood.  Way has 7 Ks in 12 batters faced.  Yikes he is feeling it today.

Cougs up 1-0 through 3.5 innings.

Go Cougs

 

 

 

 

 

 

v v v v v v v v v v v v v v f v v v v v v v v f v v v v v v v v s s s s s s s s s s s s s s ss s

Take that you anonymous bracket projectors!  You continued to treat us like the 3rd best team and now we just took 2 out of 3 from the supposedly 2nd best team in the Pac.

How about ranking us in the to 25 now.

Sorry for the rant, but just frustrated with how it takes team forever to get national attention despite being very good all season like our Cougs.

Bring on the doggies!!  Go Cougs!

While Nuss is posting articles about EA lawsuits, here is one about our Coach Bone from ESPN.  (Note: Nuss if you already beat me to it, I apologize profusely).

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=4149727

By the way, I will be attending the 7pm Coug game against the lowly Ducks of Oregon.  Looking forward to a series sweep.  We need it desperately!!!! Go Cougs!

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But this time for our little ole Coug baseball team. Below is a link to Baseball America's projection for the field of 64.  Cougs are projected as a 3 seed (akin to 9-12 seed in NCAA B-ball).  The Cougs would square with Oklahoma in the first rd.  Thanks for shaking things up a bit.  Just so you know, Cougs split a 4-game series earlier this year against Oklahoma, a top 10 team.  The field also includes the following Coug regular season opponents: Zags, Arkansas, ASU, Rice, USC, and (soon to be) Oregon St.

Some huge series coming up, particularly vs. Stanford this weekend and Oregon St in a couple of weeks.  We should handle both Oregon and UW. 

    http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/on-campus/2009/268016.html

Per Cougfan, it appears that we have offered Reggie Moore.  We could certainly utilize another PG.  Bone can probably attest to that after wearing us ragged with the press in scrimmages with TR sitting on the sideline.

Also, why does my fanpost have to be 75 words?  Isn't there something to be said with being short and concise or is it simply not worth the time to read unless you have thrown in 75 words.

Nuss, I love you man, but you have been throwing around this "hey we are 6-8 since moving the game back to Pullman."  As you know, stats can be utilized to deceive.  Let's go first to overall record against UW.  WSU is 31-64-6, essentially a 33% winning percentage against the doggies.  So there is your baseline against the doggies.  We should win 1 out of every 3 games against them.

Now let's look at the period when WSU committed to playing home games in Spokane (1950-1981).  WSU was 9-23 overall (one was played in Pullman in '54 and we won).  During this period we were 3-11 in Spokane (21% winning %) and 5-12 in Seattle (29% winning %).

Now let's look at the period when games were moved back to Pullman in '82 (by the way we beat a really good UW team that year) to the present date.  WSU is 11-16 overall with a record of 6-8 in Pullman (43% winning %) and 5-8 in Seattle (38% winning %).

I would have to say that a 22% win increase is pretty significant.  The last 27 years in Seattle is a bit skewed because we haven't played as many games there as we did during the period 1950-1981.  Moreover, note that our win % at home against the Huskies over the last 27 years is greater than our overall winning % of 101 times we played.

The stats don't lie.  The funny thing is convenience for me is no big deal.  I live in the middle of the state and it takes about the same amount of time both ways.  I also have family on both ends of the state as well.  It has never been once about what's in it for me, but what is the toll on the players and coaches.  Why give into the mentality that everything is just better in Seattle.  It isn't.  If you lived in the downpour side of the state for any given period (summers are beautiful for that short 6-7 week period) you can easily acknowledge the same.

Plus, I would just love our recruiting pitch for our Seattle home games.  Hey guys while you are here considering us, let's wander over to UW to look at their campus and dine at their facilities.  Maybe we share recruiting costs with UW.  We split the airfare, and we can show the recruits photos of our campus while UW gives them the tour of their campus!

 

TB appeared to be unlike any other coach.  Sure money was nice, but small town life (e.g., going home for lunch, no crime) was worth more than any dollar that can be paid.

Many of us crucified you, MP,for leaving after giving us 13 years for the premier job of a lifetime.  We said pyou stuck it to us and broke promises.  That you were only in it for the money. 

MP we apologize.  You obviously stuck with Wazzu longer than any other coach even desires to do so.  You waited it out with us on Poop Island until a life raft came in the form of Gesser.  You knew the kid was special before us and had no problem sticking with him when many of said he was still small and fragile to be a good Pac-10 QB.

I truly though TB would outshine any prior coach, including you MP.  I thought TB would be inducted into our hall of fame.  Sadly that will never happen now.  However, MP I will be in the front row when you are inducted into Wazzu's Hall of Fame and cheer for you gladly knowing that you could have left us many times, but truly knew what it meant to be a Coug (and you partied like one too, even after you left us!)

Just looking towards next year and the hope of Nik and Capers actually giving us some semblance of a shooter's touch, here is the list of returning starters for each team, and I am assuming Harden, Budinger, Hill and Gibson go pro.

Oregon- Return 5; OSU- Return 4; CAL- Return 4; USC- Return 4; ASU- Return 3;

UW- Return 3; AZ- Return 3; UCLA- Return 2; WSU- Return 2; Stan- Return 2

Note: WSU starters are either KT and Capers or KT and Nik.

This is really absurd.  Per Grippi, we are on the NIT bubble according to most predictors.  What?!!!  Let's take a gander at our record.  We are 16-14.  We all know our wins, but let's look at our losses.

UW- 2 losses (Top 25 team)

UCLA- 1 loss (Top 25 team)

Pitt- 1 loss (Top 5 team)

LSU- 1 loss (Top 25 team)

Zags- 1 loss (Top 25 team)

Cal- 2 losses (top 50 RPI team)

AZ- 1 loss (Top 50 RPI team)

USC- 2 losses

OSU- 1 loss

Baylor- 1 loss

Stan- 1 loss

Yep that is all our losses.  None to SW Louisiana or Siena or Dayton.  I mean really, we have now learned one thing about scheduling, don't schedule top 25 teams or bottom 100 teams during the preconference season. 

 We don't deserve the shaft we are getting.  I am really pissed.     

Hey, for all the hating on Ehlo and his coverage of the Cougs, he was selected to be inducted into the Wazzu HOF! Congrats Ehlo.  I enjoyed watching you play ball and then trying to guard Jordan in the NBA.

By the way, my grandfather was selected as well.  I am a proud grandson!  He is a much more ferocious Coug than I and I am okay with admitting that, but maybe not to him ; )

I can't believe it.  SC down to Stan, Zona down to UW and now we are sitting 6th, at 8-9 with AZ a half game ahead of us at 8-8.  It's tough because I would almost take the 7th seed to give us a shot of getting an xtra win, but the UW game is everything now.

Hats off to TR.  Terrible game, played conservative the entire game, but let's one fly to win it for us.  You deserve it TR.  You had your fair share of last second misses.  Thanks for the memory of this game.

It's Tuesday, but we should still be talking about this game.  I mean only our 2 win in 53 tries in UCLA.  It was fun reading articles from the LA area.  They complained about officiating, etc.  I love it.  We have been jobbed so many times by refs in games against UCLA and AZ that you would think that we were a Harlem Globetrotters opponent.

Can you believe that the Bennett father-son combo is our only 2 wins at UCLA!! 

I want to personally thank TR for this win and showing us that a Coug may be down, but never out.

Go Cougs and I look forward to WSU knocking UCLA out of the Pac-10 tourney as well. 

Please let it be known that my level of frustration isn't over the top.  We have competed game in and game out and that is what I expect of a well-coached ball club.  Now don't get me started about the football team, particularly the SC game.  Man I can set your hair on fire with some of flames I would spewing.

I think why I am most frustrated is for 2 reasons:  First, TR just isn't as clutch as he has been in years past.  The scoreless period against OSU ultimately fell on TR who just made bone head play after play by forcing things.  Second, I am always a guy looking to the next season.  Some fans like those at Duke, UNC and UCLA look to their next year's recruits while as a COug I look to returning experience.  It just pains me when I think about the returners for next year and that is what frustrates me about this year because I want us to accomplish something with Baynes, TR, Forrest and Harms because they won't be back.  Give me the NIT at least fellas. I guess a .500 overall record won't kill me either because if .500 is the bottom for us now, I'll take it. 

I like Capers I really do, but he is much more behind offensively than KW.  Weaver couldn't hit an outside shot, but he was more fluid with the mid range game.  I don't think Capers even has a mid range shot.

Harthun has been disappointing to say the least, but there must be something about him as he was one of the first guys lately to get into the game.  TB sees something in practice. But TB must not do a lot of pressing in practice because Harthun doesn't handle it well in games.

Here is to hoping that Motum/Watson can fill out our 4 spot and Thames can be our 1 and that we hopefully find either a 2 or 3 who can flat out score.   

 

Funy how this past week essentially ended up where everybody thought it would when the week started.  One and one and 4-5 in the Pac-10.  Obviously the loss to UA has been a nice dagger to the heart or maybe the fact that OSU has creaped its way into a tie for 6th place!  Are you kidding me.

Well for those of you hoping for the NCAA tourney, it is my position that we must sweep the next 4 games.  It is certainly possible, but wow it will be a test.  Hey, at least our of the next 4 games, only one has a better Pac-10 record than us so at least that bodes well.

The only thing I really feel good about after the AZ loss is the hope that Harms has at least regained the confidence to launch the 3.  He was basically worthless to us for quite a while as he was not interested in looking for his shot.  I continue to contend that we need that guy more than anybody else to raise his level of his game.

It will be interesting if the ship starts sinking, whether we see more of Harthun.  As pointed out by jo jo I believe we need a PG for next year. 

If you asked me at the start of the season what I wanted, I would have said last team into the NCAA.  At this pt, I will settle for the NIT.  To get to the NIT, will be a huge leap forward for this program with 3 straight post-season tournaments. 

I am actually pretty excited about this.  I really want to get the NCAA committee to stop with their obsession of allowing AZ in the tourney.  Moreover the loss starts to help fill the bottom of the Pac.  We now have a clear bottom 3.  The next is to get Stanford to take a couple of losses to fill that 7th spot solidly. 

Man I wish we were playing the AZ's schools this week! 

As I was watching the Oregon-Wazzu game I stated to my buddy that the last year's Cougs would have made Oregon pay for how bad they were shooting in the 1st half.  I think they shot 25% in the first half yet we were only up 7 pts.

We definitely have got a more offensive flow, particularly with TR getting a better gauge when to dribble around and then stop and pop for a 3.  I think we really need Harmeling in order to pull some serious upsets.  We need a guy who can come off the bench and hit some dagger 3s against teams that are struggling with us.

I have really impressed with our defense this year and think we compare very favorably to last year's team, especially if Capers becomes more confident in Weaver's role.  I assume Capers will be on Shipp Thurs.  That will be exciting.

We definitely need a win this week.  UCLA will have a hard time matching up with us, especially if we force Drago to guard us in the post.  DC and Caleb are really to have to make sure he doesn't go off.  I actually think USC will give us more trouble with their athleticism and rebounding, but UCLA is UCLA and they are not 93-13 against us for nothing.