If you look at the history – the raw numbers of history, at least – the easy conclusion to lunge at is that Washington State mixed some unconventional thinking in its search for a new basketball coach with a dash of desperation.
Good thing it’s more nuanced than that.
There’s absolutely nothing desperate about the hiring of Kyle Smith, who is seasoned but still outside the box, a comer but still under the radar – and best of all, accomplished but with no miracle-worker hype burnishing his profile.
It smacks, in fact, of sound thinking – something all too rarely exhibited in the Cougars’ various trawls for basketball leadership over the decades.