Dave Boling: In Jaylen Wells and Isaiah Watts, David Riley gets first of what could be many Ws as WSU coach

After Jaylen Wells and Isaiah Watts publicly announced their intentions to stay at Washington State (after most of their teammates had entered the transfer portal), one fan voiced his belief that the two stalwarts would someday deserve statues erected outside Beasley Coliseum in Pullman.

Imagine them together, hoisting up clutch jumpers, with the plinth inscribed: “Those Who Stayed.”

If not statues, at least abundant kudos are due for the rare show of program loyalty at a time when college sports have disrupted most normal notions of object permanence.

But let’s wait until the portal officially closes (May 1) before casting any statues, since the personnel still can change dramatically in a month.

It is that exact reason that the Cougars may have found the coach perfectly suited to transitory circumstances.

David Riley.

Riley thrived in a turbulent portal vortex at Eastern Washington – perhaps to an even greater degree than WSU has. He was particularly familiar with the outflow, and how to piece together a functional roster on the fly.

Wells and Watts could be the anchor-talents, and will provide instant firepower for Riley’s perimeter-based offense. Both came up with key shots in conference and postseason play this season.

Perhaps even more important, since every coach needs a solid core of players to frame the foundation of a strong program, these two have already shown they are made of stern stuff, apparently rooted in Pullman, and willing to stick to a commitment in uncertain times.

That’s valuable at face value, and more so in the way it can establish the cultural expectations for others Riley can bring in.

After word of the hiring of Riley seeped out, some goofus writer (me) wished him luck because he would be starting the rebuild from scratch. That was poor wording once it became clear the two talented guards were staying. Apologies. Far better to have said Riley was entering a situation with a vastly diminished roster.

Several promising redshirts also still appear to be available for Riley’s roster.

To mine the past for a glimpse of a possible bright future, let’s go back to March 2021, when EWU coach Shantay Legans guided the Eagles to a Big Sky Conference Tournament win and an NCAA berth.

In the first round of the NCAAs, the Eagles were stunning No. 3-seed Kansas with an eight-point lead at halftime before being overtaken in the second half. Shadle Park grads, brothers Tanner and Jacob Groves, combined for 58 points in that near upset.

In the aftermath, Legans was offered the job at Portland, a West Coast Conference school, and he took with him three players and a couple of coaches. The Groves brothers, meanwhile, transferred to Oklahoma. Altogether, players who accounted for 88% of the team’s scoring that season were gone.

Riley was elevated to head coach. If nobody wrote it at the time, surely many thought: Good luck, coach, you’re starting from scratch.

Somehow, Riley pulled it together to the tune of an 18-16 record in 2021-22, followed by Big Sky championships and conference coach of the year awards the next two seasons. Incidentally, the 2022 season featured an NIT win over Kyle Smith’s WSU Cougars.

And off the 2023 team, Riley lost leading scorer and conference player of the year Steele Venters, in the portal to Gonzaga. Apparently undeterred, Riley again won the conference regular season this year before losing the tournament opener against Sacramento State.

EWU watchers report that Riley is hypercompetitive and extremely bright, from a family of hypercompetitive and bright folks, which includes uncle Mike Riley, former football coach at Oregon State, Nebraska and San Diego Chargers.

David Riley was a dead-eye shooter in college at Whitworth, but more relevant to his new job, he’s reputed to be well-connected in the basketball community of the Northwest.

The stakes and competition will be different for Riley at WSU, but perhaps not that much, as the Cougars will be facing WCC opponents rather than the usual full slate of Pacific-12 Conference foes they met before the conference dissolved.

His contract was announced as a six-year deal. Fair enough; patience definitely should be given.

But if Riley can pull off this rebuild anywhere near as quickly and thoroughly as he did at EWU, they may consider fashioning a statue of him, too.