Northwest Notes June 30, 2010
WAC puts expansion talks
on hold until at least 2012
DENVER — The Western Athletic Conference will delay any expansion of its membership until July 1, 2012 at the earliest, commissioner Karl Benson announced.
This means that for the 2011-12 season, the WAC will operate as an eight-team league that consists of Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State.
“The WAC and its eight member schools remain well positioned for the future,” Benson said. “Over the past few weeks, the WAC’s Board of Directors and athletics directors have explored several membership options. We believe it is in the best interest of the WAC to operate as an eight-team league for the 2011-12 season. We will now take several months to ‘drill down’ on the various membership options before making any decisions that would impact the 2012-13 season.”
Vandals ink deal with
Spokane radio stations
The University of Idaho, Learfield Sports and Radio Spokane have reached a radio agreement to have all Idaho Vandal football broadcasts on 1510 KGA in Spokane.
The agreement includes football and men’s basketball broadcasts as well as coaches shows and internet coverage of all broadcasts. Vandal football games will be on Sports Radio 1510 KGA and basketball broadcasts will be on KGA and 790 KJRB.
For listeners in Kootenai County, Idaho football and men’s basketball games have been broadcast on KVNI 1080 for years.
EWU football, basketball
broadcasts move to ESPN 700
Eastern Washington University and KXLY Radio Group have reached a radio agreement to have all home and away EWU football and men’s basketball games broadcast live on 700 ESPN The Ticket.
The three-year agreement includes football and men’s basketball coaches shows, as well as internet coverage (www.espnnorthwest.com) of all broadcasts. Larry Weir (play-by-play) and Paul Sorensen (analysis) will return as the broadcast team in football, with Dennis Patchin taking over Eagle basketball play-by-play duties.
Chiefs to name
new coach today
SPOKANE — The Spokane Chiefs have scheduled a press conference for today at 1 p.m. at the Spokane Arena to name their new head coach.
Hardy Sauter was fired after last season, his second as Chiefs coach.
• The Chiefs have selected Marek Kalus from the Czech Republic with the 49th overall selection in the 2010 CHL Import Draft. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound forward will turn 17 on July 22 and be eligible for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
Kalus joins 18-year-old forward Dominik Uher, also from the Czech Republic, as one of Spokane’s two import players, the maximum allowed on a Canadian Hockey League roster. Uher will be entering his second season as a Chief after scoring four goals and 15 points in 53 games last year.
• The Chiefs will open the home portion of their regular season on Oct. 2 when they host the Tri-City Americans. It will mark the 19th time in the last 21 seasons, and fifth year in a row, that the two have kicked off the Chiefs’ home schedule in the Spokane Arena.
Spokane will travel to Tri-City in the season opener Sept. 25.
The remainder of the Chiefs schedule will be set at the annual WHL Western Conference scheduling meeting July 26-27.
Idaho women’s basketball
team adds JC transfer
MOSCOW — The University of Idaho announced the signing of Keri Arendse from Skagit Valley College to its women’s basketball team. Arendse, who stands 5-foot-8 and can play both guard positions, will have two years of eligibility at Idaho.
Arendse averaged 15.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.0 steals last season as she led the Cardinals to a 21-4 overall record and a 15-1 record in Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges play.
She was MVP of the eight-team NWAACC Crossover Tournament and was a two-time first-team NWAACC Northern Region selection.
“Keri is a great pickup for us this late in the recruiting process,” said Idaho women’s basketball coach Jon Newlee. “She is a great scorer and a hard-nosed defender and she will provide depth at the point guard and the off-guard position, as she is capable of playing both.”