Washington State Hires Ernie Kent; Danny Manning Interested In Wake Forest Job

A couple quick afternoon updates on the college basketball coaching carousel.

Just as one head coaching gig opened up out in the Pac-12, another was filled. Former Oregon coach Ernie Kent has been hired as the next coach at Washington State, according to multiple reports. Kent replaces Ken Bone, fired after five seasons back on March 18.

Kent, who has spent the past few seasons in the broadcast booth, has six NCAA Tournament appearances on his resume (one at St. Mary's, five at Oregon). He's a familiar hire of Washington State athletics director Bill Moos, as Moos plucked Kent out of St. Mary's while serving as the athletics director at Oregon.

Cal's Mike Montgomery made it official this afternoon. The long-time Cal and Stanford coach will officially hang them up after 45 years of coaching. Not a shock, but Ben Howland's name has been floated as a possible candidate to replace Montgomery at Cal. Howland would get to jump back into the coaching game with a power conference program in a league he's familiar with closer to home; all while not having to go head-to-head with former assistant Jamie Dixon at Pitt.

Seems like the opportunity is Howland's to lose.

Over at Wake Forest, Tulsa coach and former Kansas assistant Danny Manning has emerged as a candidate to fill the vacant Demon Deacons position.

Reports surfaced early this evening (first reported by ESPN's Jeff Goodman) that Wake Forest has interest in Danny Manning and that he has a legitimate chance at the job. Although, the report also indicates that it is unknown exactly where Danny Manning falls on Ron Wellman's "wish list."

Manning is 38-29 (.567) in two seasons at Tulsa, leading the Golden Hurricane to a 21-13 record and NCAA Tournament berth this season.

Finally, Marquette has interviewed Duke associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski for the Golden Eagles coaching vacancy. Wojciechowski joins Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin and Howland atop the list of coaches rumored to be eyeing Marquette.

Remaining job openings (14-15): Appalachian State, Boston College, California, Coppin State, Delaware State, Florida Atlantic, Houston, Jacksonville, Manhattan (?), Marquette, Marshall, Montana State, Southeastern Louisiana, Tennessee State, Wake Forest, Washington State