WSU’s Jim Shaw interviews for men’s basketball head job, with decision planned by Monday

PULLMAN — Washington State may be inching closer to deciding on a new men’s basketball coach.

Associate head coach Jim Shaw has interviewed for the team’s head coaching vacancy, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, giving serious consideration to a WSU assistant of five seasons.

WSU hopes to make a final decision by Monday, according to the source. The extent of other candidates remains unclear.

Shaw, who came along with former head coach Kyle Smith to Pullman in time for the 2019 season, helped last season’s Cougars achieve one of the best seasons in program history. As the team’s de facto defensive coordinator, Shaw implemented a matchup zone that helped WSU reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008, beating Drake before falling to Iowa State last weekend.

WSU is looking to replace Smith, who took the head coaching position at Stanford on Monday, leaving the Cougars after a five-year tenure. On Tuesday, athletic director Pat Chun took the same job at rival Washington, leaving Washington State without an athletic director and head men’s basketball coach.

WSU elevated senior deputy AD Anne McCoy to interim AD on Wednesday.

Before coming to WSU, Shaw worked four seasons as the head coach of his alma mater, Division II Western Oregon, where he posted an overall record of 102-30. He led the Wolves to a No. 1 ranking and the D-II national tournament on three occasions.

Shaw, who also previously spent nine seasons as an assistant at Washington, was named WSU’s associate head coach before the 2020-21 season.

On Thursday, three Cougars entered their names into the transfer portal: Star guard Myles Rice, wing Kymany Houinsou and walk-on center AJ LeBeau. Rice, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and an all-conference selection, amounts to the biggest loss of all, depriving the team of its best shot-creator and ball-handler.