Philly Gym Rat (The Perry “QM” McMullin Story)

[JMD]

All's well, it ends well.

[CoachC]

Gary Winston says: Good luck with the new program Q!

[PointGuard]

I depart New Hampshire with a certain amount of sadness in leaving what has been a great place to live, a very fulfilling job, and some close ties to the players I’ve seen make the program a success.

The administration at New Hampshire asks me to leave the assistant coaching staff in place and I accede to their wishes.

While I attended college and began my assistant coaching career in the state of Washington, that was in Seattle which is a very different place from Pullman, Washington where Washington State University is located.

Pullman is a town of about 30,000 people. It’s in the middle of an agricultural area. The weather is hot and dry in the summer and cold and snowy in the winter. Washington State College was founded in 1890 as an agricultural college, but now has a wide-ranging variety of degrees and specialties. There are over 20,000 students at what is often referred to as Wazzu. There is an intense rivalry with the University of Washington, which is located on the other side of the state.

Although the basketball program has had a few years of success, the school is typically the doormat of the Pac-12. In the past 10 years, they’ve had one winning season (2012-2013) in which they were 19-12 and got to the NCAA Tournament, but were out after one round. In the past 5 years, their cumulative record has been 40-101. Last year they finished with a 6-10 record in the Pac-12 and a season record of 10-18.

Maurice Ellis finished his 4th year as head coach, but was also finished as head coach when it was found that he and his assistants hosted a team party that included far too much alcohol, a funny smelling weed, and too many girls. The scandal toppled the entire staff, so I have to hire 3 assistants.

The administration told me they want a clean program with control of the players and their actions, a rise in academic achievement (3 of the returning layers are very close to going on academic probation), and oh yeah, to win some games (don’t finish last in the conference, finish above .500, and improve school prestige). I’m not sure about if any of those 3 goals are possible to achieve this coming year. I let the board know that our facilities need to be improved since the facilities at other schools in the Pac-12 not only make it easier to develop players but also to recruit good players. I’m not optimistic that they will agree…and I’m not let down…they deny the request.

Right now team prestige is 32 whereas the Pac-12 as a whole has a prestige of 77. Facilities are rated as C-. Academics are rated as C+ and the minimum SAT score is 900. The budget for assistants and recruiting is $193,250 which is by far the lowest in the Pac-12. The team plays home games at Beasley Coliseum with a capacity of 12,058. Not many pluses, huh? Well they DO have one of the better logos.

[PointGuard]

Sometimes going 3000 miles can seem like going to the Moon. I intended my trip across the country to be a lark in the park. Instead it was a more like going pell mell to hell. My car broke down half way across Ohio so I spent 2 days in a jerk water town waiting for parts and repairs. I wanted to drive the by-ways rather than the highways, but made a mistake by not having GPS, so got lost in Wisconsin and nearly ended up in Canada. Since I was behind schedule, I took to the freeways and while driving through the night in Montana, hit the biggest pothole known to mankind, blowing a tire. Getting into Pullman late, I arrived on a Saturday in the summer to find the athletic department doors locked for the weekend. And my furniture must have gone from New Hampshire to Washington via Florida, Arkansas, and Arizona, because it arrived 10 days later than expected. I was wondering if I really was ever going to coach again.

(In reality, I truly thought this dynasty might end since I had to recover my hard drive, wasn’t sure if my backups prior to that really saved the CB2 save files, and was concerned that I might have messed up my restoration of files. But…the files came back with the last CB2 save in place and so the dynasty continues.)

[CoachC]

"I took to the freeways and while driving through the night in Montana, hit the biggest pothole known to mankind, blowing a tire."

lucky it was a pothole and not a moose!

[CoachC]

"BRRING" Gary: Hey Q! Now that you are a big shot with that enormous Pac 12 budget, I should make you come to us! But if you are still interested in a closed scrimmage this year, we'll still come to you. At least we don't have as far to travel now. You'll have to take it easy on us. We are a lowly mid-major after all, and lost one the starters from our National Championship team from last year."

[PointGuard]

"Hey, Gary, nice to finally get to talk with you instead of exchanging voicemails. Congratulations on your success down in New Mexico and your National Championship. Yeah, coming to WSU has been quite a change for me. My office here is twice as big as the ones I had at CSU Bakersfield and New Hampshire. Unfortunately the basketball facilities aren't much better than what I had before though. Wazzu is the small fish in a big Pac-12 pond, so playing a National Champion is like climbing Mt. Everest for us. So far, I about the only thing I know about my players is their names on a roster sheet. And I'm hearing that getting recruits to come to Pullman is like getting polar bears to go to the Sahara Desert. But my answer to your question about the two teams having a closed scrimmage is still "Hell Yeah". And the after-scrimmage feast/party is still on for you and your team also. Maybe instead of lobsters, though, it will be steak and potatoes. I've only been here a few days and have already seen lots of wheat fields and cows, and the border with Idaho is only about 6 miles away, so there should be lots of potatoes. Maybe after the party, we can all go out cow-tipping."

[Wayne23]

Masochism runs in Q's family.

[PointGuard]

LOL...yeah, just look at the lashing scars all over my back. A whipping at the hands of New Mexico and Son of a Shark will hardly be noticeable.

[CoachC]

"Thanks Q! I'll bring some southwestern chili with us... I'll sit on the pot on the plane to keep it warm"