Northwest Notes July 19, 2023

Coeur d'Alene Juniors plan

another fundraiser car wash

COEUR d'ALENE — Needing a little more money to pay for their trip to Bend, Ore., for the regional tournament, the Coeur d'Alene Junior baseball team has planned another fundraiser car wash.

This one is scheduled for Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Black Sheep parking lot at the Silver Lake Mall, near the old Pizza Hut.

Seven Cougars named to

2023 Preseason All-Pac-12 team

SAN FRANCISCO — Seven Washington State players were named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Conference team, the conference office announced Tuesday.

Four players were named to the second team in EDGES Ron Stone Jr and Brennan Jackson, defensive back Chau Smith-Wade and punter Nick Haberer. Defensive back Jaden Hicks, kicker Dean Janikowski and running back Nakia Watson were each named honorable mention.

Stone Jr., a redshirt senior, is coming off a 2022 campaign that saw him earn his second straight all-conference honor after being named to the first team in 2021. Stone Jr., from San Jose, Calif., recorded 34 tackles including four for loss with two sacks, three pass breakups and tied for second in the Pac-12 with 11 quarterback hits.

Jackson, a redshirt senior from Temecula, Calif., was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2022, his third career all-conference accolade after receiving honorable mention the previous two seasons. Jackson recorded 41 tackles, tied for fourth in the Pac-12 with 12 tackles-for-loss including a team-high six sacks. Jackson also forced one fumble, broke up three passes and led the team with 38 quarterback pressures.

Smith-Wade, a junior from Denver, earned his first career All-Pac-12 accolade in 2022 after making 42 tackles with 2.5 for loss, tied for the Pac-12 lead with three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, a team-best eight pass breakups and two interceptions. Smith-Wade earned the fourth-best defensive grade and fourth-best coverage grade in the Pac-12 by PFF College.

Haberer, a junior from Sunshine Coast, Australia, picked up his first All-Pac-12 honor in 2022 after finishing the regular season third in the conference with a 42.4 average and recorded six punts of 50+yards including a long of 62. Haberer also led the league with 30 punts fair caught and produced the best hang time average (4.14) and was second with 22 punts inside the 20.

Hicks, a redshirt sophomore from Las Vegas, Nev., was named a Freshman All-American by College Football News after posting totals of 76 tackles, the most among Pac-12 freshmen defenders, along with two tackles-for-loss, one sack, six pass breakups, one interception and one fumble recovery he returned for a touchdown.

Janikowski, a redshirt junior from Fallbrook, Calif., a 2021 first team All-Pac-12 selection, connected on 11 of 14 field goal attempts, long of 50, while going 40 of 41 on PATs in 2022. Janikowski recorded 73 points, fifth-most among Pac-12 Conference kickers last season.

Watson, a redshirt senior from Austin, Texas, earned his first career all-conference honor in 2022 after finishing the regular season ninth in the Pac-12 with 13 total touchdowns and seventh with 96.7 all-purpose yards-per-game, seventh with 69.9 rushing yards-per-game and tied for eighth with nine rushing touchdowns. Watson had three 100-yard rushing games, forced 36 missed tackles on runs and was third in the Pac-12 with ten runs of 20+ yards.

Eastern rounds out men’s basketball coaching staff for 2023-24

CHENEY — Eastern Washington men’s basketball head coach David Riley announced on Tuesday the hiring of two new assistant coaches and promotion of two existing staff members.

Joining the Eagles will be Jerry Brown from the University of Denver and Donald Brady from Bellevue College while Ben Beauchamp and Blake Fernandez will take on new assistant coach titles.

Brown and Brady fill spots on the staff vacated by former assistants Mark Darnall and Arturo Ormond. Darnall is now the head coach at Jessup University in California while Ormond joined the staff at the University of Portland. Assistant coach Pedro Garcia Rosado remains with the Eagles in the same capacity.

Brown was an assistant coach with the Denver Pioneers in 2022-23 after time as an assistant at the University of San Diego.

Prior to Denver, Brown served three seasons as an assistant at the University of San Diego (2019-22). He also boasts stints as Director of Player Development at Stanford (2019), Director of Scouting and Game Preparation at UTEP (2018-19), video coordinator for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons (2017-18) and operations manager for Team Esface Basketball Academy in Redwood City, Calif. (2016-17).

Originally from Richmond, Calif, Brown played three seasons at Fresno State (2009-13) and one at Santa Clara (2013-14). He was Santa Clara’s leading rebounder and ranked second in blocks and free throw attempts. At Fresno, he earned the team’s Defender of the Year Award in 2013 and was named All-WAC Fourth Team by College Sports Madness in 2011-12.

He went on to play professionally overseas for BCGO in France (2014-15) and the Iserlohn Kangaroos in Germany (2015-16).

Brady arrives at Eastern after a five-year tenure as head coach of Bellevue (Wash.) College of the NWAC (2018-23). Under his leadership, the Bulldogs went 72-60 (35-36 in conference), including a stellar 45-17 (18-10) mark over the last two seasons, culminating in an 85-71 victory over Everett to win the 2023 NWAC Championship, the program’s first conference title in 30 years. The championship game appearance was the second of back-to-back as Bellevue finished runner-up in 2022. The 2023 championship also earned Brady NWAC Coach of the Year honors.

Prior to Bellevue, Brady was head coach at Shoreline Community College, also of the NWAC, from 2015-17. He earned North Region Coach of the Year accolades in 2017 after leading the Dolphins to the program’s fourth-ever North Region Championship. He was an assistant at Bellevue from 2009-14 and at the University of the Redlands (D-III) from 2007-09.

During his playing career, the Palm Desert, Calif. native was a four-year contributor and two-year captain at the Redlands from 2003-06. He ranks sixth in program history with 370 career assists.

Beauchamp joined the Eagles as the program’s Director of Player Development and Recruiting Coordinator in 2021. Prior to Eastern, he served on the staff at his alma mater, Western Colorado University, including two seasons as an assistant coach.

Originally from Louisville, Colo., he played for Western Colorado from 2015-18 and was a two-time All-RMAC performer, earning All-RMAC First Team his senior season after leading the team in scoring (17.8), 3-pointers (68), assists (3.2), steals (25) and free throws made (125). He earned All-RMAC Second Team his junior year after averaging 18.8 points and 3.9 rebounds. Overall, Beauchamp made 82 starts as a Mountaineer and scored 1,334 points.

After college, he played overseas for CB Marbella in Marbella, Spain.

Fernandez joined Eastern as a graduate assistant under Shantay Legans in 2020 before taking on the Director of Basketball Operations role for the 2022-23 season. Prior to Eastern, he coached at his hometown Mountlake Terrace (Wash.) High under the legendary Nalin Sood, who has coached at MTHS for over 30 years and served as president of the National High School Basketball Coaches Association.

Fernandez played three years at Western Washington University. He was the starting point guard for the 12th-ranked Vikings, helping them achieve their first conference championship and a combined 69-29 record during his three seasons in Bellingham. He transferred from Edmonds Community College, where he helped the Tritons to a 27-6 record in 2014-15.