SPOKANE -- Many in this city haven't forgotten how Kelly Graves turned Gonzaga women's basketball from dreadful to dominant during 14 years at the school's campus along the Spokane River.
His return this week for the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 with the second-seeded Oregon Ducks was front-page news in the local paper. On Thursday, a nightly news anchor on one television station gave Graves a shout-out.
The triumphant return comes 29 years after coaching brought him to Washington for the first time under far less glamorous circumstances.
He showed up in a small central Washington farming town 105 miles southwest of Spokane because he wanted to follow his heart with basketball.