WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos said in a teleconference last Tuesday that he prefers to hire a head coach who’s experienced it all and earned the opportunity to coach at the Pac-12 level.

Though Moos’ list of possible candidates to become the next WSU men’s basketball head coach is currently all head coaches, the former Oregon AD should add one more coach to the list. Instead of adding another proven head coach, Moos should add assistant coach Damon Stoudamire.

The 40-year-old assistant coach for the Arizona Wildcats has done it all. He’s played for one of best college basketball coaches, Lute Olson at Arizona and was an All-American point guard and Pac-10 Player of the Year. The Arizona assistant has played in the Final Four and spent 16 years in the NBA – 13 as a player and three as an assistant coach.

Moos also said the biggest area he wants the next WSU men’s basketball head coach to succeed in is recruiting. Stoudamire helped the Wildcats land another solid recruiting class that includes three 4-star rated high school players and one 5-star rated player who happens to be 6-foot-7, 220 pound small forward Stanley Johnson who’s ranked as the No. 3 player in the country in the 2014 recruiting class, according to rivals.com.

Stoudamire has helped the Wildcats to a 32-4 record so far this season, a No. 1 seeding in the tournament and still has the opportunity to help Arizona win their first national championship since 1997.

Before coaching at Arizona, Stoudamire was an assistant coach at the University of Memphis for two years where the Tigers went 57-14. Memphis men’s basketball Head Coach Josh Pastner treated his entire coaching staff including Stoudamire as if they were head coaches too.

Moos said he wants the next WSU men’s basketball head coach to have flash and bring excitement to the basketball program. Stoudamire possesses all that, which can not only attract fans but recruits too.

College basketball freshmen this year that include Julius Randle, Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins and Aaron Gordon all chose to play for the best school that would not only set them up for a national championship, but prepare them for the NBA Draft as well.

Stoudamire’s played and coached in the NBA; he knows what it takes to make it to the league.

“To be honest with you, a lot of kids, they don’t really have a clue to what it took to make it in the NBA,” Stoudamire said in an interview with sportingnews.com, reminiscing his days of scouting players at the NBA Combine for the Memphis Grizzlies. “They thought it was a joke. I don’t think they really understood that it’s a man’s game. The NBA is a man’s game. If you’re not all the way in, and you’re looking at it as a paycheck, then you’re probably not going to make it.”

Persuading top high school basketball players to come to Pullman has been difficult in the past, but having the pitch of the NBA can make the Palouse that much more appealing.

Stoudamire is well prepared for this position because he’s learned from former Arizona men’s basketball Head Coach Lute Olson not only on the court but off the court as well.

“He (Olson) taught you about accountability, trying to do stuff the right way,” Stoudamire said an interview with sportsnews.com. “That’s the type of things that he taught me, and those are the type of things we all in the coaching profession need to get at these kids.”

Moos said he hopes to make a decision to fill the next WSU men’s basketball head coaching position in the next 10-14 days.

He better hope Arizona loses their Sweet 16 against San Diego State this Thursday so he can have the chance to speak with the proven Arizona assistant coach.