Buchanan to speak, Lakeland girls to be honored at banquet

COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho volleyball coach and former St. Maries High standout Debbie Buchanan will be the featured speaker at the 50th North Idaho Sports Banquet, scheduled for April 14 at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn.

Lakeland High's 2001-02 girls basketball team, which won the state championship for the second year in a row, will be honored as a "legends team" by banquet organizers.

Tickets to the banquet are available at the Coeur d'Alene Inn, as well as at local Les Schwab Tire Centers.

Banquet organizers encourage people to purchase their tickets early.

This year's Hall of Fame class includes Nick Menegas, David Snodgrass, Dave Fealko, Joe Tofflemire and Don Rinaldi.

Shaw to coach run game,

offensive line at Idaho

MOSCOW - Gordy Shaw is no stranger to Moscow or the Western Athletic Conference.

As the Vandals' newly installed run game coordinator and offensive line coach, Shaw has a season on the Palouse, as well as three in the WAC on his resume.

Shaw was at Idaho during 1989's championship campaign, as defensive coordinator and helped guide Idaho to a 9-3 record and 8-0 mark in the Big Sky Conference. He was most recently at Hawaii as offensive line coach from 2009-11.

His longest stint at one school was at Minnesota, where he was the offensive line coach (1993-96), defensive line coach (1997-2000) and offensive line coach again (2001-06).

He was the offensive coordinator at South Dakota in 2008 and has coached in 10 bowl games.

"I'm real excited we could get a coach of his caliber," Idaho coach Robb Akey said. "He knows what it takes to have success here. He's a great teacher; a great person. He's going to fit in very, very well."

Shaw is a graduate of Cal Poly in 1978 and earned his master's degree at Northern Arizona in 1984.

Ex-Vandal Strandley

joins Eastern football staff

Former Idaho defensive lineman Brian Strandley has returned to the Eastern Washington football coaching staff, but for the first time will be on the other side of the ball as the school's tight ends and offensive tackles coach.

After spending 2006 as defensive line coach at Eastern, Strandley moved on to Idaho State to serve as defensive coordinator.

Strandley coached the defensive linemen last season at Eastern Illinois.

After graduating from Idaho, Strandley coached at Potlatch, where he served as defensive coordinator and junior varsity coach.