After reading tweets and other social media posts, I have gathered most Cougar fans’ dream scenario. WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos meets men’s basketball Head Coach Ken Bone in the locker room of the MGM Grand after another first round exit in the Pac-12 Tournament and gives Bone the boot.

Speculation fills the streets regarding who will be the next head coach after this year, but I already have the answer: Ken Bone. I understand people have valid reasons why he should be fired after this season. However, there are better reasons why he should stay and finish out his career.

Bone currently makes $850,000 per year in base salary, and he will continue to make that every year until his contract is over after the 2015-2016 season. Is it Bone’s fault for signing a seven-year deal that former Athletic Director Jim Sterk offered him? Absolutely not. Looking at the logistics, whether or not Bone is with the team next year he will be paid a guaranteed $1.7 million. That is a large chunk of cash to buy out for a school that has never been considered a basketball school.

Pullman historically hasn’t been a destination for highly-touted basketball coaches, and after the past few years it appears history will repeat itself. The turnaround for college basketball coaches this year will not be in WSU’s favor. If Washington State wanted to grab a big name from a different program along the likes of a VCU, it would be hard to attract Shaka Smart with a failing program at the bottom of the Pac-12.

If WSU was to somehow magically get interest from a coach like Smart or former UCLA Bruin Coach Ben Howland, a significant issue presents itself: money. The $1.7 million payout Bone is entitled to if he’s fired at the end of the season means that money cannot be used to pay a high-profile coach.

Another route to hiring a new coach is acquiring an assistant coach from an already established program. However, to longtime Cougar fans that may sound familiar mostly because that is the exact thinking that landed Bone in the first place. With current football Head Coach Mike Leach’s early success, it is hard to argue against getting a prestigious name to join the WSU family as the new basketball head coach. An assistant coach would be cheaper, but the fan base is growing tired of starting over and putting faith into a new regime.

The talented players Bone has at WSU will be here for the next couple of years, and he should be allowed to groom them. In the past he has shown he can build players into Pac-12 stars. This squad is very young and possesses players with high ceilings like redshirt freshman guard Que Johnson and freshman guard Ike Iroegbu.

So where does that leave us now? Well, WSU should keep Bone for the final two years of his contract. There is no sign of our program turning around in the next four years. The talent is limited and recruiting has not been a strength of the program since the years with Klay Thompson and Brock Motum.

People may wonder if giving up nearly $2 million is worth the experiment, and some people may suggest starting fresh with a new coach and new squad. A large amount of people at WSU are Seahawks fans, which means they be familiar with being patient. That also means they should be comfortable allowing Moos to do what he does best: win.