Jeff Hironaka leaving WSU for Portland State
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A year after he was reassigned into a non-coaching role, Jeff Hironaka is reportedly leaving WSU for Portland State.
In a move which shouldn't surprise anyone, WSU director of player development and former assistant men's basketball coach Jeff Hironaka is leaving Washington State. Hironaka is headed to Portland State where he will return to a coaching role.
As far as I can tell, former WSU coordinator of basketball operations Tim Marrion broke the news.
Known as an excellent strategist and an above-average tweeter, Hironaka was moved from the bench into an operations role last season due to Ken Bone's desire to add recruiting diversity to the coaching staff. Hironaka and Curtis Allen both had strong ties to the Seattle area and Bone replaced Hironaka with Ray Lopes to broaden the staff's recruiting ties.
If you missed the situation last year, you can catch up with Brian's post on the initial move and Jeff's on what it all meant.
As for Hiro, hopefully this move puts him back on the track to becoming a head coach. He's been in contention for several head coaching jobs in recent seasons, but the "reassignment" couldn't have helped his chances. Now back to doing what he does best, Hiro will hopefully get an opportunity sooner rather than later.
It will be interesting to see how this move affects WSU on the court next season. While he wasn't allowed to do hands-on coaching, Hiro was still involved in preparing for opponents last season. We'll now see how Bone is able to cope without Hiro's input.
Hironaka's run at WSU may have come to an end, but we'll always have the memory of his JC recruiting trip which included a brawl and police armed with rifles. There were also the many words of wisdom and that one time Hiro tweeted his address. Good times.
http://www.cougcenter.com/2013/6/3/4392174/wsu-basketball-jeff-hironaka-ken-bone-washington-state" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A year after he was reassigned into a non-coaching role, Jeff Hironaka is reportedly leaving WSU for Portland State.
In a move which shouldn't surprise anyone, WSU director of player development and former assistant men's basketball coach Jeff Hironaka is leaving Washington State. Hironaka is headed to Portland State where he will return to a coaching role.
As far as I can tell, former WSU coordinator of basketball operations Tim Marrion broke the news.
Known as an excellent strategist and an above-average tweeter, Hironaka was moved from the bench into an operations role last season due to Ken Bone's desire to add recruiting diversity to the coaching staff. Hironaka and Curtis Allen both had strong ties to the Seattle area and Bone replaced Hironaka with Ray Lopes to broaden the staff's recruiting ties.
If you missed the situation last year, you can catch up with Brian's post on the initial move and Jeff's on what it all meant.
As for Hiro, hopefully this move puts him back on the track to becoming a head coach. He's been in contention for several head coaching jobs in recent seasons, but the "reassignment" couldn't have helped his chances. Now back to doing what he does best, Hiro will hopefully get an opportunity sooner rather than later.
It will be interesting to see how this move affects WSU on the court next season. While he wasn't allowed to do hands-on coaching, Hiro was still involved in preparing for opponents last season. We'll now see how Bone is able to cope without Hiro's input.
Hironaka's run at WSU may have come to an end, but we'll always have the memory of his JC recruiting trip which included a brawl and police armed with rifles. There were also the many words of wisdom and that one time Hiro tweeted his address. Good times.
