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Seattle Times staff reporter Bob Condotta provides a running commentary on the Huskies.

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April 5, 2008 9:50 AM

Romar lauds Montgomery hire

The hiring of Mike Montgomery as Cal's new head coach will become official today, and only make the Pac-10 that much tougher --- he has the sixth-most conference wins of any coach in history with 213 (against 111 losses).

This story from the San Francisco Chronicle details the hiring and also includes this quote from UW coach Lorenzo Romar: "It'll be a shock if they don't do well. Montgomery could take four guys from down at the boy's club and do pretty well and I think Cal was going to be good anyway.''

Here's more on the hire:

--- San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami points out that the Pac-10 is a lot stronger now than when Montgomery left it after the 2004 season.

--- This story from the Contra Costa Times also includes a quote from Romar, calling Montgomery "one of the best coaches in the history of the Pac-10.''

--- Romar is also included in this roundup of quotes, saying "I think it's a great hire.''

IN OTHER NEWS:

--- While former UW assistant Ken Bone might seem like an obvious choice for Oregon State now, the school continues to interview other candidates as well, reportedly talking with former Saint Louis head coach Brad Soderberg. Interestingly, Soderberg has ties to both Romar and the Dick Bennett family tree of coaches. He spent one year at Saint Louis as an assistant under Romar, then took over when Romar came to UW. Soderberg played for Dick Bennett and later was an assistant for him, and took over for the elder Bennett when he retired early in the 2000-2001 season at Wisconsin. When he didn't get the head coaching job there, Romar hired him to be an assistant at Saint Louis.

--- Now that LSU has finally hired an athletic director, the school is getting serious about hiring a new basketball coach, and Tony Bennett remains in the mix, according to this story.

All for now.

ONE LAST LINK:

--- Also found this today from the Arizona Daily Star that Bellarmine Prep High guard Abdul Gaddy says, through his AAU coach, that he remains solid in his commitment to Arizona.

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Posted by Everett Dawg

12:25 PM, Apr 06, 2008

How many different ways does Tony Bennett have to tell the world that he is not interested in leaving Pullman?? Bob’s story about LSU having Bennett high on their ‘hit list’ for a coach now that they’ve hired an AD is really old.

Get a clue world – Tony likes WSU, is making a life in WSU, and will bring WSU an NCAA Tourney championship – or at a minimum keep the Cougars alive in the Tourney every year giving them a chance to get there. Meanwhile, all Husky fans to read about are their two lousy, losing, disgraceful coaches Roma-(r you ready yet?) and Williing-(ham or steak with your eggs?).

Losers – both of them. Might as well belong to the Huskies. You know, tit for tat?

Posted by Everett Dawg

3:42 PM, Apr 06, 2008

Everett Dawg - you are right on in your assessment of Tony Bennett. It would be nice for schools to get a clue and see that a good coach, no – that a great coach can be happy at a school that appreciates him as a coach and not as a figure head to hire and fire on a whim.

A lot of these schools with mega budgets can hire someone one year then think twice about firing him after one…two bad years. And to top things off feel simply anyone who’s been half decent would want to coach their players only to give them the boot as well after two successive bad years.

WSU will take care of Tony Bennett, his staff, and his family. They will compensate him fairly. Anything beyond that is greed and Tony is aware of this.