PULLMAN – Kyle Smith, whose introductory news conference as the Washington State men’s basketball coach was Monday, seemingly is ahead of the game.
Smith has held practices since being hired last week and is working to keep veteran players from leaving.
“All hands on deck,” the 49-year-old Smith said. “Let’s get better here.”
The Cougars haven’t had a winning season since the 2011-12 campaign, and coach Ernie Kent was fired last month after going 58-98 over the past five seasons.
Smith comes to WSU after a successful three-year run at San Francisco, where he went 63-40 and became the first coach in program history to win at least 20 games in each of his first three seasons.