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Ken Bone expected to interview for WSU job
http://www.oregonlive.com/vikings/index.ssf/2009/03/cougars_to_interview_psus_bone.html
Portland State coach Ken Bone is among the candidates expected to interview with Washington State to replace Tony Bennett, who surprised the Cougars on Monday by accepting an offer to take over as the head coach at the University of Virginia.
This season Bone, 50, led the Vikings to their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where his team lost to Xavier and finished 23-10. That matched their record from the previous season, when they won their first Big Sky Conference tournament championship.
Bone could not be reached for comment Monday.
PSU athletic director Torre Chisholm confirmed that Washington State contacted him shortly before 5 p.m. and that the Cougars are interested in talking to Bone about their coaching vacancy.
"Ken's a great coach and he's done a great job for us," Chisholm said. "We want him to stay as our coach for as long as possible, but one of the challenges of having a successful program is you attract people's attention.
"You have to respect Ken and the great work he's done for us. If he has a chance at a position that he feels might be better for him and his family, we're not going to deny him a chance to discuss that with them."
Speculation swirled Monday afternoon that WSU athletic director Jim Sterk may also try to contact Saint Mary's Randy Bennett, San Diego's Billy Grier and former UCLA coach Steve Lavin.
Sterk and Bone have traveled in familiar circles through the years.
Sterk was associate athletic director from 1990 to 1991 at Seattle Pacific, where Bone was an assistant coach from 1986-1990 and head coach from 1990-2002. Sterk also served as Portland State's athletic director from 1995 to 2000.
Bone signed a contract extension in December that runs through the 2013 season and included a $50,000 buyout clause in the event he wanted to leave for another job.
In an interview after this year's Big Sky tournament, Bone said he was happy at PSU and could envision finishing his coaching career with the Vikings.
"I really want to coach basketball in the Northwest where we can be successful," Bone said. "When you start looking around, there are a lot of schools like that in the Northwest, but I don't foresee those coaches going anywhere real soon."
Before coming to PSU, Bone spent three seasons as an assistant at Washington under Lorenzo Romar and helped the Huskies to national prominence.
In 2005, the Huskies won the Pacific-10 Conference title, advanced to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional, and reached the Sweet 16 before losing to Louisville. The previous year, Washington finished second in the Pac-10 regular-season standings and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.
Bone spent 12 seasons as the coach at Seattle Pacific, his alma mater, where he registered a 253-97 (.723) record with the Falcons between 1990-2002. Bone's SPU teams won or shared six Pacific West Conference championships and made eight appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
During Bone's final season at Seattle Pacific, the Falcons posted a 24-5 record, advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs and were ranked ninth in the final 2002 poll.
-- Jim Beseda, [email protected]
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http://www.oregonlive.com/vikings/index.ssf/2009/03/cougars_to_interview_psus_bone.html
Portland State coach Ken Bone is among the candidates expected to interview with Washington State to replace Tony Bennett, who surprised the Cougars on Monday by accepting an offer to take over as the head coach at the University of Virginia.
This season Bone, 50, led the Vikings to their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where his team lost to Xavier and finished 23-10. That matched their record from the previous season, when they won their first Big Sky Conference tournament championship.
Bone could not be reached for comment Monday.
PSU athletic director Torre Chisholm confirmed that Washington State contacted him shortly before 5 p.m. and that the Cougars are interested in talking to Bone about their coaching vacancy.
"Ken's a great coach and he's done a great job for us," Chisholm said. "We want him to stay as our coach for as long as possible, but one of the challenges of having a successful program is you attract people's attention.
"You have to respect Ken and the great work he's done for us. If he has a chance at a position that he feels might be better for him and his family, we're not going to deny him a chance to discuss that with them."
Speculation swirled Monday afternoon that WSU athletic director Jim Sterk may also try to contact Saint Mary's Randy Bennett, San Diego's Billy Grier and former UCLA coach Steve Lavin.
Sterk and Bone have traveled in familiar circles through the years.
Sterk was associate athletic director from 1990 to 1991 at Seattle Pacific, where Bone was an assistant coach from 1986-1990 and head coach from 1990-2002. Sterk also served as Portland State's athletic director from 1995 to 2000.
Bone signed a contract extension in December that runs through the 2013 season and included a $50,000 buyout clause in the event he wanted to leave for another job.
In an interview after this year's Big Sky tournament, Bone said he was happy at PSU and could envision finishing his coaching career with the Vikings.
"I really want to coach basketball in the Northwest where we can be successful," Bone said. "When you start looking around, there are a lot of schools like that in the Northwest, but I don't foresee those coaches going anywhere real soon."
Before coming to PSU, Bone spent three seasons as an assistant at Washington under Lorenzo Romar and helped the Huskies to national prominence.
In 2005, the Huskies won the Pacific-10 Conference title, advanced to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional, and reached the Sweet 16 before losing to Louisville. The previous year, Washington finished second in the Pac-10 regular-season standings and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.
Bone spent 12 seasons as the coach at Seattle Pacific, his alma mater, where he registered a 253-97 (.723) record with the Falcons between 1990-2002. Bone's SPU teams won or shared six Pacific West Conference championships and made eight appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
During Bone's final season at Seattle Pacific, the Falcons posted a 24-5 record, advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs and were ranked ninth in the final 2002 poll.
-- Jim Beseda, [email protected]
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