Northwest Notes May 6, 2023
Idaho adds three assistant basketball coaches
MOSCOW — University of Idaho men's basketball coach Alex Pribble announced the addition of Brandon Laird, David Dunham and Matt Jones to the Vandal coaching staff. Laird will serve as the associate head coach while Dunham and Jones will handle assistant coach duties.
Laird joins the Vandal men's basketball staff with over 20 years of coaching experience with stops at Sacramento State, UC Davis and Menlo College.
Most recently, Laird was a program analyst for a UC Davis team that won 18 games in 2022-23.
Dunham spent the past seven seasons as the head assistant coach at Western Washington University.
With 17 seasons of collegiate coaching experience, Dunham has been a part of 16 winning seasons, four conference championships and two NCAA appearances.
Prior to his time at WWU, Dunham was the head coach for three seasons at Whatcom Community College from 2013-16. He led the Orcas to a pair of playoff appearances, a runner-up finish in the NWAC championship game, a 48-37 overall mark and an NWAC North Region Coach of the Year honor.
Jones spent the past five seasons at Seattle University, working with the Redhawks men's basketball program.
Jones served as a graduate assistant manager for two seasons from 2018-2020 before being elevated to Director of Operations in November 2020.
Former U-Hi standout returns to area, transfers to EWU
CHENEY — Ellie Boni, who played the past two seasons at San Jose State after playing one year at Colorado State, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Eastern Washington University.
Boni, who graduated from University in 2020, earned All-Greater Spokane League first-team honors three times, along with a second-team honor during her freshman season.
At Colorado State, Boni started 17 games and averaged 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds.
At San Jose State, Boni appeared in 34 games and made nine starts. In the 2021-22 season, Ellie averaged 7.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
EWU went 19-11 last season.
EWU men add transfer from Salt Lake CC
CHENEY — Andre Mulibea, a transfer from Salt Lake Community College, has committed to the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team for the 2023-24 season.
Mulibea spent the 2022-23 season at NJCAA Salt Lake CC of the Scenic West Athletic Conference, averaging 12.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 33 appearances while shooting 47.9 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc. Salt went 29-5 to win its regular season and Region 18 tournament championships before losing to Tallahassee in overtime in the first round of the NJCAA Tournament.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Mulibea spent his freshman season at Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State), where he started twice and appeared in 18 games, averaging 4.5 points and 1.7 rebounds.
Mulibea was a four-year letterwinner at East High in Salt Lake City, earning Region MVP and 5A first team all-state honors as a senior while averaging 24.1 points and 7.2 rebounds.
He will join Eastern as a junior with two years of eligibility remaining.