Although the Cougars already played – and beat – their cross state rivals, they are looking forward to another kind of rivalry on Thursday as Head Coach Ernie Kent will face off against his former team, the Oregon Ducks.

When asked about his thoughts on the season, Kent showed he is passionate about his team.

“With young people this day and age, there are two things you have to be able to be consistent with,” Kent said. “That is, being able to give them confidence and letting them know they can count on you.”

Though the season has barely met its halfway point, the conference has already been filled with upset wins. However, Coach Kent believes it only makes the game better.

“It gives you more of a blueprint of how to play different teams,” Kent said. “It’s going to make for some exciting basketball.”

The Cougar men’s basketball team will be playing Coach Kent’s former school Thursday at 8 p.m. in Beasley Coliseum.

“We want to keep this thing rolling and a big part of that is to protect your home court,” Kent said. “We need our fans with us to put pressure on those other teams.”

While Cougar athletics continue to stride through the season in Pullman, the WSU spirit squads are heading to Orlando, Florida next week to compete at the UCA/UDA College National Championships.

The Crimson Girls, WSU cheerleaders, and Butch T. Cougar, will all be competing Jan. 16-18 at Disney World.

Spirit coordinator Chris Opheim spoke of the team’s anticipation for the competition on Cougar Calls yesterday.

“We’re really making waves to not just be the best in the Pac-12,” he said. “We want to be recognized all over the nation.”

This is the first year that WSU’s Butch will be the only mascot in the Pac-12 to compete.

Both the cheerleaders and Crimson Girls earned 12th place in the final round of competition last year, and this year they are aiming to place in the top 10, Opheim said.

Following the financial deficit reports against the WSU Athletic Department last week, WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos took to Cougar Calls to clear up the rumors.

The report from the Spokesman-Review stated that the department received approximately $7 million from the institution is false, Moos said. Money used to spend on athletic additions and development was from the Cougar Athletic Fund (CAF).

Moos emphasized that due to the fiscal calendar, money received from the season won’t show up on the budget until the following year.

Attendance played a major factor to supporting the recent athletic developments. Martin Stadium operated with three sellouts out of six home games last season.

As for a new defensive coordinator, Moos said a decision will like be made at the end of the week.

“This is a huge hire, it’s got to be the right person,” Moos said. “We want this to be as exciting offensively as defensively and once that’s in place, lookout.”