“The University of Idaho has reached an agreement in principle with Coach Robb Akey on a contract extension. The details remain under discussion at this time and a final proposed contract will go before the University Board of Regents for review and final approval.”

After an extended period of negotiations, Idaho football coach Robb Akey said Thursday that he has agreed in principle to a contract extension with the university.

The agreement came about this week and must now be approved by the Idaho State Board of Education.

“We needed to come to an agreement on what the contract was going to be, to get it extended so that it would be a good thing so we can keep taking this thing forward,” Akey said. “And we got details worked out, and we came to an agreement this week that needs to go to have their approval.”

Talks of renegotiating Akey’s current contract began during the 2009 season as the Vandals started to see success on the field. UI athletic director Rob Spear said near the end of January that an offer was on the table, but it took more than a month from that point for the situation to finally come to a conclusion.

“I know that myself, I know that Rob and the president, the university — we’ve all been anxious. As have, I think our fans have been anxious to have it taken care of,” Akey said.

“And it’s just a matter of making sure that it got done the right way. And so that took a little more time, but at least it’s getting done the right way. And that’s what matters the most.”

After a short and very public search process, it’s official — Bill Moos is coming back home.
A source confirmed Tuesday that the WSU alum and former Oregon athletic director has accepted WSU’s offer to become the AD at the Pullman school — not suprising since Moos was offered the job last Thursday by school president Elson Floyd and was the only known candidate for the position.
WSU has announced a press conference for 2 p.m. today at the Compton Union Building to announce the hiring of a new athletic director, who was not named in the press release. The Spokesman-Review reported that Moos is expected to start on May 1.
Moos was a first-team All-Pacific 8 Conference football player for the Cougars back in 1972 and directed athletic development at WSU for more than five years, starting in 1982. He was also associate athletic director for almost two years in Pullman, and was the athletic director at Montana before holding that position at Oregon from 1995 to 2007 — a time of growth and success for the UO program.

PULLMAN – It was far from an offensive masterpiece.

As a matter of fact, the Washington State Cougars scored the same measly 51 points that they put up in Thursday’s apathetic 71-51 defeat to UCLA.

But that 51 suddenly became acceptable on Saturday against USC, since the Cougars held the Trojans to a mere 47 points with a much better defensive effort to claim a victory that could be crucial to any potential postseason berth.

The 51-47 score (and 23-19 halftime tally) might have taken some of the Friel Court spectators back to the Bennett era, but after three straight losses the Cougars (16-11, 6-9) had no right to be picky. In reality they had to be feeling a little fortunate, since point guard Reggie Moore banked in a crucial 3-pointer in the final minute and USC missed a tying 3-pointer after WSU couldn’t convert crucial free throws.

“I think we just refocused. We had some good discussions in the last couple days, and encouraged the guys that they’ve done it before,” WSU coach Ken Bone said.

“They’ve played very, very good basketball. … If we’re going to bring it, we’ve got a chance. If we’re not, then we’re not giving ourselves a chance to compete. And that’s not what any of us want.”

After not bringing anything on Thursday in a rollover loss to the Bruins, the energy was clearly back against a Trojans team that had won four in a row.

“I think we got a little more pride. We saw how it hurts to lose on our home court by 20,” senior Nik Koprivica said. “So I think we kind of got together and talked a lot and we just said, ‘We’ve got to come out firing.’”

But the reappearance of that intensity didn’t keep the game from turning into a grueling half-court grind. The slower pace of the Trojans, combined with some less-than-stellar shooting, resulted in a cringingly comical 10-10 score with less than eight minutes left in the first half.

Dwight Lewis has been USC’s most consistent threat on offense, but the Trojans have also just missed a lot of shots. Some turnovers for both squads, but not necessarily a sloppy game — just lots of clanks.

*Although, after looking at the stat sheet, WSU is shooting 40.9% — not terrible. USC is at 36.4 percent.

PULLMAN – Washington State’s problem on its road trip last week was an inability to put two halves together, as it lost double-digit leads to both Stanford and Cal in the final 20 minutes.

Well, the Cougars certainly put two halves together on Thursday night at Beasley Coliseum. Two pretty ugly ones, that is.

Unable to stop to slow down UCLA’s offensive efficiency and stymied again by the Bruins’ extended zone defense, WSU (15-11, 5-9) continued its freefall down the Pac-10 ladder with a 71-51 loss that is likely the low point of the season thus far.

“Very poor performance,” WSU coach Ken Bone said after staying in the locker room to talk with his team for an extended period after the game.

“Just a whole lack of energy, which really, really surprised me because we just came off of a game where I thought we played with very good energy on the road against a high-caliber team.”

The problems against the zone weren’t anything new for the Cougars against UCLA. WSU struggled against it down in Los Angeles earlier this season, and Thursday was merely a discouraging repeat for a team that has now lost six of its last seven games.

There was nothing tricky about the Bruins’ 2-3 setup. They extended out past the perimeter and held WSU to 3 for 19 shooting beyond the arc, but were still tight enough to keep the Cougars out of the paint and turn them over when they tried to get there.

“I thought that our zone was really active today,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We did a good job again matching up wherever (Klay) Thompson was in particular.”

WSU never found any sort of offensive rhythm and ended up shooting 36 percent for the game, with Thompson going 2 for 9 for just eight points (only two in the second half).

“They have great length, and it’s hard to sometimes create good shots,” said Bone, whose team posted its second-lowest point total of the year. “Especially when you have smaller guys looking for shots.”

The Bruin zone has been an extended 2-3 that is overplaying the perimeter. WSU has had a tough time getting anything inside and has often turned the ball over when it tries to. Reggie Moore picked up his third foul of the first half on a charge on the baseline.