April 29, 2008

Courtesy of dailyevergreen.com

Two top-5 rankings. Two new coaching hires. Two NCAA tournament victories. Oh, and don't forget, a stadium renovation.

Following a difficult first semester - albeit one with a memorable Apple Cup win - the Cougars came through with a brilliant second semester of play, highlighted by a 20-point blowout of Notre Dame in the second round of the men's NCAA basketball tournament.

That win might not even be the biggest achievement by WSU athletes this year. Freshman Ebba Jungmark won an indoor national title in the high jump, and rowing and outdoor track and field still have postseason play around the corner.

Through it all, WSU Athletic Director Jim Sterk has been forced into some difficult spots along the way. He was right in the middle of one of the most controversial moves in recent memory with the decision to let Bill Doba go at the end of the football season, reported at the time as a mutual decision. He also had to deal with rumors that men's basketball coach Tony Bennett was going to leave WSU for Indiana, and toward the end of the year replaced volleyball coach Brian Heffernan with Andrew Palileo following a 1-17 mark in Pac-10 play.

Sterk said the overall success of athletics impacts WSU as a whole, including the admissions office. He noted that WSU has seen spikes in applicants following the 1998 and 2003 Rose Bowls and 2007 men's basketball season, and the result of the Sweet 16 run is paying dividends in a variety of ways this year.

"(Athletics success) helps alums and fans feel good about what Washington State is about," he said. "I think it's also a plus benefit to have the type of people in the program trying to do it in the right way. I wouldn't feel as good about a tainted victory if you did it the wrong way."

One benefit of having happy alums is that they are more likely to donate money to the department. Phases I and II of the Martin Stadium renovation are almost complete, and money is being raised to complete the project with Phases III and IV.

Sterk said they will kick off a public campaign after the final bid is selected during the summer, but the department has had early success with private donors in the past year and a half.

"We're closing in on $14 million, and that's just from 70 people," he said. "You can tell they're some significant gifts."

Sterk said Phase III alone will cost $40 million, and the targeted donation goal before beginning construction is $22 million. Phase III will be highlighted by luxury suites and a club seating level behind the student section on the north side of the stadium. Groundbreaking won't occur after the 2008 season, meaning fans will be able to enjoy the upcoming Cougar football campaign without the same distractions caused by ongoing construction this past year.

Students and fans should be especially happy to hear about one of the final pieces of the Phase II puzzle, which should be in place by the home opener against California on Sept. 6. Measuring 25 feet by 52 feet and costing a cool $2.4 million, a new, sparkling, state-of-the-art scoreboard will adorn the west end of Martin Stadium.

"The video portion will be more than twice the size of the board now - and it will be clear," Sterk said with a laugh. "It should be pretty dynamic and fun. We're really, really excited about that."

Beasley Coliseum could also be seeing the addition of video technology, although Sterk said no decisions have been made yet. He said the department will run tests to see if the structure can hold a center-hung scoreboard, something it could not do 10 years ago because of the weight of screens at that time.

Also on the basketball front, Sterk said that while head coach Tony Bennett made no demands, an addendum will be added to his current contract with a pay increase. The team will also get more access to Beasley for practices, something they weren't able to do with any frequency this year. Chartered flights for the team and assistant coaches' pay are also potentially up for discussion, although Sterk did not address those items.

Sterk was very thankful to have new women's head coach June Daugherty in Pullman, naming her first season in Pullman "the year of the heart" in reference to both her heart problems before the year and positive experience she provided members of the team during the season.

"She really instilled with her players a sense of heart and determination not to give up, and I think that showed up throughout the year," he said. "And for the `Cougs Have Heart,' we had 1,200 people at a women's basketball game. I think that's a sign of things to come."

Sterk expressed excitement about the success of the No. 5-ranked WSU women's rowing team, and also disappointment in the snub of the soccer team by the NCAA tournament selection committee.

He said it's the ultimate goal of the athletic department for each team at WSU to make postseason play, more so than things like the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics rankings that favor schools like Stanford with more than twice as many varsity sports as WSU. "(Making postseason play) is a truer test of whether we're providing a great student-athlete experience," he said. "We can do it academically and student development-wise, but in order to feel like we've really had success (we want) to make postseason play.

"In a perfect world, everyone graduates and every team makes postseason play. That would be at the pinnacle of what we want to do."