Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington State University welcomed its new men’s basketball coach to Pullman Tuesday.

Ken Bone is the former head coach at Portland State. On the first day of his new job, he said he’s going to loosen up WSU’s playing style and encourage more three-point shots. Correspondent Anna King reports.

Ken Bone says he’s glad to be moving to rural Pullman. He’s lived in big cities all his life. The newly-minted PAC-10 coach joked with the press and smiled during his formal introduction.

Bone spent the morning watching his new team workout and getting to know the players. Those players say they are excited to shake up their program a bit and adapt to a new playing style.

Abe Lodwick is a sophomore guard/forward. He says he has some idea of what Bone will be like from playing the coach’s former team. 

Abe Lodwick: We’ve kind of played against them a little bit. They are a little more aggressive on defense, a little more aggressive offensively. He likes to open it up a little bit, you know transition through and stuff like that. So we know a little bit of what he’s bringing to the table as far as his philosophy is concerned."

New coach Bone replaces Tony Bennett who became the head coach at the University of Virginia just about a week ago.