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Northwest Notes July 8, 2020

| July 8, 2020 1:10 AM

Washington pushes back start

of prep fall sports practices

The executive board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association decided at a meeting Tuesday to delay the start of fall sports practices for its member schools — to Sept. 5 for football and Sept. 7 for all other fall sports.

The move will affect several schools in North Idaho, many of whom are scheduled to play football games against Greater Spokane League and other Eastern Washington schools on Sept. 4 and Sept. 11, which is originally the first two weeks of the high school football season in Washington, and the second and third weeks of football in Idaho.

Football practice in Washington was originally scheduled to start on Aug. 19, and Aug. 24 for the other fall sports.

It was unclear when the first football games for Washington schools would now be — either Sept. 18 or 25.

Fall sports practice in Idaho is scheduled to begin Aug. 10. The first football games for most Idaho schools are Aug. 28.

The Idaho State Board of Education is scheduled to meet Thursday, at which time Idaho schools could have a better idea when fall sports in Idaho actually begin.

The WIAA said it would make its next statement concerning the start of fall sports on July 22, following its next scheduled meeting.

Meanwhile, administrators on both sides of the border will be busy making adjustments to their early season schedules.

Former Coug Bennie Seltzer hired as Idaho assistant

basketball coach

MOSCOW — Former Washington State standout Bennie Seltzer was hired as assistant coach of the University of Idaho men’s basketball team, Idaho coach Zac Claus announced Tuesday.

“We are fortunate to add someone of his coaching talent, but even more so due to the quality man that he is,” Claus said. “Our staff and players will benefit from his wealth of knowledge, his positive energy for the game, and the class in which he carries himself. I know that I will lean on him daily as he impacts our program moving forward.”

Seltzer comes to Idaho from the University of Evansville, where he was assistant coach and also acted as interim head coach for six games. They defeated then No. 1-ranked Kentucky at Rupp Arena.

Prior to his time with the Purple Aces, Seltzer spent two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater — Washington State. He returned to the Cougs after playing from 1990-93. He is still the all-time career assists leader (473) and currently sits ninth in career scoring (1423), third in steals, and 12th for minutes played at WSU. Seltzer was inducted into the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Hall of Honor in 2015.

Seltzer began his coaching career at Oklahoma, where he spent nine years as an assistant coach.

Seltzer then spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Marquette under Tom Crean. He then followed Crean to Indiana, where he spent four years as an assistant.

In 2012, Seltzer returned to his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., as the head coach of Samford. He coached there for two seasons, then spent two seasons as an assistant at Loyola Chicago before returning to the Palouse.