Remember when Washington State basketball rose to a national prominence under a tough-minded defense coach? (Same defense as the vaunted wildcats run) who's team happens to be a number 1 seed? Who really hasn't been relevant since Ralph Sampson? Who knows Tony Bennett could have an itch to come back to the PNW if we throw some money at him. Let’s be realistic though, Washington has no shot at landing Bennett simply because he is in a great situation but the name that comes to my mind is Tommy Amaker yes the one who played for Duke and coaches at Harvard. Amaker's team don't make any dumb mistakes as Romar’s teams have done in the past driving me on the brink of delirium , they move without out the ball like their shoes are on fire, and play hard nose scrappy defense, Also they can actually execute a half-court offense. Overall I think Amaker's team is the most fundamentally sound team in the whole entire country and the cherry on top of the Sunday he can recruit even to a school that doesn't give scholarship and plays in an abysmal league, sorry ivy leaguers (ex. remember NWG was down to UW and Harvard). Another name that comes to mind is Chris Mack straight from the Sean Miller head coaching tree that as we know has had decent success in the pac-12. I really like How Mack's team plays with an edge and toughness sometimes over the top Cough, Cough..... The brawl Against Cincy. They play a pack line defense which Miller and Bennett run which is really effective and makes it hard to get in lane. As Legendary BAMA’ football Coach Bear Bryant put it so eloquently "Offense sells tickets, Defense wins championships" the same holds true for basketball, Amaker and Mack have these qualities they are just a few of the candidates that come to mind, drop a few you wouldn’t mind roaming the sidelines of your Washington Huskies.
Romar has done big things at UW getting to NCAA tournaments; multiple sweet sixteen’s and has led to huskies to a couple PAC-12 titles. He revitalized the basketball program when some people didn’t even know we existed and has led us to a land we have never really known. There are multiple reasons why quite frankly the huskies have S-U-C-K-E-D over the past few years. It might be the focus on big time recruits who play coach’s like a Fidel when local kid’s might be on the same talent level and is overlooked by recruiting services and/or coaches. It might be the facilities when compared to other schools like PKU look like a small high school gym, The Field Of Dreams godlike character said it best "if you build it they will come". It might be simply because the Athletic Department is running the basketball program on a tight budget (By big school standards) because of the new Football stadium and I totally get that. The theory I don’t buy is that the local talent has dried up and I simply do not get that we you have a probable 1st round pick that’s going to UCLA right now and other players who’ve had success at the college level (why didn’t Romar go after Tramine Isbell he’s a stud?). Maybe it’s not Romar and UW basketball has fallen on hard luck who knows there could be a number of reasons.
Do you want are basketball program stuck in a rut of mediocrity? Or a thriving program that is competing for national championships? to succeed I believe getting in a fresh face will be a one step for the huskies to get back on track. A change will get people excited about the and when people are excited about a program recruits are attracted to the program like Bugs are to a light. Or who knows Romar might regain his magic touch and led us to the the promise land.What do you want husky faithful mediocrity or success?