Smith says WSU post interests him

John L. Smith, who has been head football coach at four universities including Louisville and Michigan State, says he is "definitely interested" in the Washington State vacancy.

Smith, 59, has a 132-86 record at Idaho, Utah State, Louisville and Michigan State. He was fired last year after his fourth season at Michigan State, where he was 22-26 overall but was Big Ten coach of the year his first season.

"I spent years on the Palouse," Smith said. "That's where my kids grew up. It was a great place."

Smith was on Dennis Erickson's staffs at Idaho and WSU, then served as Idaho head coach from 1989 to 1994.

Smith is an adventurer and has run with the bulls at Pamplona, Spain, gone paragliding in Switzerland and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

At Michigan State, a message hanging on a wall behind his desk said: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Smith can be frank about his interest in the WSU job because he is doing scouting for the St. Louis Rams.

Likely candidates currently in coaching jobs have to dance around the topic.

Tim Lappano, Washington offensive coordinator, said he knew nothing about talk linking him to the WSU opening but added he has yearned to be a head coach.

"I wanted to be a head coach 15 years ago."

Lappano was a WSU assistant from 1987 to 1991 under Dennis Erickson and Mike Price.

One former Cougars player known to be interested is Eastern Washington head coach Paul Wulff, whose I-AA Eagles are in the national quarterfinals this week.

Wulff, who was on the 1988 Aloha Bowl team, was diplomatic and said, "We're trying to win a national championship. I respect everyone at Washington State and in our program and our focus right now is our football team."

One of the likely top candidates is California defensive coordinator Bob Gregory, who grew up in Spokane and played at WSU in the mid-1980s.

Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin, who was a graduate assistant at WSU, has been mentioned as a possible candidate.

Note

• Bill Doba's termination as Cougars coach, an event that athletic director Jim Sterk refused to call a firing and that Doba refused to call a resignation, has senior quarterback Alex Brink steaming.

Brink told reporters the decision to change coaches has the fingerprints of new president Elson S. Floyd all over it.

"It's unfortunate that the decision was made by somebody who's only been here for a few months," Brink said.