Daugherty "fired up" to coach Cougars

The woman fired at Washington for lack of a "buzz" in the women's basketball program has created precisely that in less than a day on the job at Washington State.

The most moribund team in the Pac-10 in any major sport suddenly was the talk of the Palouse and the state.

June Daugherty, 50, got a warm welcome as new Cougars coach and got off a shot at Washington in her introductory news conference in Pullman Friday.

Asked if she is excited about the chance for revenge against the Huskies, Daugherty said, "More than you'll ever know."

She also said, "Welcome to the new championship era in Washington State women's basketball. I am fired up. I am fired up."

Daugherty, WSU's seventh women's basketball coach, inherits a floundering program. The Cougars have won only 10 Pac-10 games this century and have finished in the league cellar seven of the past eight seasons. The last winning season was 1995-96.

Home crowds averaged only 503 this past season. The team finished 5-24 overall and 1-17 in league. Coach Sherri Murrell resigned April 5 after five years on the job.

"We all felt we hit a home run with June Daugherty," said athletic director Jim Sterk in introducing the new coach at an afternoon news conference.

Final details of a seven-year deal are being worked out, but a school spokesman said Daugherty is guaranteed $225,000 a year. She made about $300,000 at Washington last season.

Murrell made $175,916 this season.

Daugherty said her staff will include her husband, Mike, as associate head coach. She said she hasn't decided on other staff positions.

Katie Appleton, a WSU sophomore captain this past season, said, "Everyone on campus is very excited and very welcoming.

"We're all very excited and very happy that coach Dougherty is going to be our new coach."

The Daughertys visited Pullman this week, spending considerable time with men's basketball coach Tony Bennett and meeting his father, Dick, the previous WSU men's coach. The Bennetts are credited with turning around the WSU men's program.

After Friday's news conference, the Daughertys met with the team.

UW incoming recruits have the option of requesting a release to sign with the Cougars.

A Seattle recruit, 6-foot-3 Mackenzie Argens of Roosevelt High School, said Friday, "As of now, I'm sticking with the UW."

Argens said she has yet to meet with new Huskies coach Tia Jackson, but has heard good things about the former Duke assistant.

Argens said it is doubtful that she will want to switch schools but isn't closing the door completely.

Dougherty, predictably, said Friday that any incoming recruit who wants to change schools should be given her release to do so.

The Cougars have a couple scholarships available, and Dougherty planned to make late-afternoon recruiting calls.

WSU suffers from a huge talent gap. The best player from the past season, Kate Benz, has graduated. Daugherty cited her AAU, high-school and international connections in recruiting to stock the program.

The Daughertys, who have 12-year-old twins, Doc and Breanne, live in Mukilteo. She said the family already has begun house-hunting in Pullman but won't make a final move until the school year ends.

Daugherty was 22-0 against WSU as coach of the Huskies for 11 seasons. She was 191-139 overall as UW coach. Six of her teams, including her last one, made the NCAA tournament. She was 123-74 at Boise State from 1989-96. She played at Ohio State.

Daugherty becomes among the best-known coaches to switch Apple Cup schools. Marv Harshman coached 13 years at WSU before moving to UW to coach men's basketball for 14 seasons until 1985.

Two WSU football coaches since 1950, Jim Sutherland (1956-63) and Bert Clark (1964-67), went to WSU after being Huskies assistants.

Former UW baseball coach Bob MacDonald, who led the Huskies from 1977-1992, was once the top assistant on the Cougars' staff.

Daugherty's news conference included two words that weren't in her vocabulary a week ago: "Go Cougs."

Note

• Jackson has added Fred Applin, Wake Forest associate head coach, as an assistant to her Huskies staff. Applin is Jackson's second hire, joining former UW standout Loree Payne.

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com