Ernie Kent has filled one of the two assistant coach vacancies on his staff.

The fourth-year WSU men’s basketball head coach ventured over to the west side and landed in Seattle, where he zeroed in on Garfield High School (GHS) boys’ basketball Head Coach and Athletic Director Ed Haskins.

“At this point, he renewed his passion for Cougar basketball when we sat down and talked about his vision and where he hopes to take the program. To be a part of that is monumental,” Haskins said in a news release from wsucougars.com. “He can coach, and I believe we’ll turn the whole program, town and Pac-12 around.”

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Haskins, 44, spent the past nine years at GHS building the Bulldogs into one of the top high school basketball programs in the country, compiling an overall record of 213-34 (.862) and winning two state championships in 2014 and 2015, according to the release.

“Coach Haskins is one of the most successful high school coaches in the country, not just for the wins he’s collected but for the players he’s mentored,” Kent said in the release. “I have no doubt that Coach Haskins will add a lot to the Cougar basketball program and community.”

In addition to compiling the highest winning percentage of any athletics head coach in GHS history, Haskins has a reputation for mentoring future Pac-12 and NBA players. This past season, Haskins coached four-star guards Daejon Davis and Jaylen Nowell, who signed with Stanford and Washington, respectively. Haskins has also coached current NBA players Nate Robinson, Spencer Hawes, Tony Wrotten and two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas.

“I needed him in this program not only because he is an outstanding basketball mind,” Kent told Bill Moos on his weekly radio show on KXLY in Spokane. “The mentoring I saw him do firsthand at Garfield, I think is a huge plus to have him in our program.”

Haskins attended WSU for one year in the early ‘90s before graduating from Eastern Washington University. Haskins’ late brother, Aaron, played on two NCAA tournament teams under former WSU Head Coach George Raveling, according to the news release.

“Since the first time I came over to Pullman when I was around eight or nine years old and I watched my brother step on the court when he played for Coach Raveling, I wanted to be a part of Washington State basketball,” Haskins said in the release. “It was a dream of mine and from that time, around 1980, to now, this is a dream fulfilled for me.”

After dismissing former assistant coaches Greg Graham and Silvey Dominguez on March 27, Kent still has one vacancy to fill on his staff.