Gilkey earns another

AD of the year award

St. Maries High athletic director Todd Gilkey was named 2A Athletic Director of the Year last week at the Idaho Athletic Administrators Association state conference in Boise.

It was the fourth AD of the year honor for Gilkey, who previously was honored at 2005 at St. Maries (3A), and in 2009 and 2012 while AD at 5A Coeur d’Alene.

Other ADs of the year honored last week were Richard “Barney” Garner of Hillcrest (5A), former Bonners Ferry AD Ted Reynolds of Middleton (4A), Beth Holt of Fruitland (3A), Brian Hardy of Valley (1A Division I), Hutch Swan of Rockland (1A Division II) and Lana Moss of Filer (middle school/junior high school).

Watson, Dornan to be inducted

into NIC Athletics Hall of Fame

Former North Idaho College men’s basketball coach Hugh Watson and ex-Cardinal volleyball standout Collese Dornan are the inductees for the seventh NIC Athletics Hall of Fame class.

The induction will be held in conjunction with the annual Athletics Awards Banquet, scheduled for May 6 at the NIC Edminster Student Union Building.

The banquet begins with a social at 5 p.m., dinner at 5:30 p.m., the Cardinal Athletics Awards ceremony at 6 p.m. and the NIC Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the induction ceremony and athletics awards dinner are available for $30 and can be purchased at the NIC Athletics Department Office in Post Hall. Those interested in attending are asked to pre-purchase or reserve a ticket.

Watson spent eight years as the head coach of the Cardinals. Hired in 1996, Watson immediately put together one of NIC’s most successful teams ever. The 1996-97 Cardinals played to a 33-6 record and a fourth-place finish at the National Junior College Athletics Association national tournament, the highest in Cardinal history. Watson’s success was highlighted by being voted 1997 Coach of the Year for the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC). The Tennessee native returned to his home state to coach at NCAA Division II Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., after leaving the Cardinals in 2004.

Dornan, a Fife, Wash., native, found her way to North Idaho in 2004 and helped lead the resurgence of NIC volleyball. Dornan was selected as the first NJCAA volleyball All-American in school history in 2005. Dornan helped the Cardinals earn the highest ranking in school history at the time at No. 2, and the Cardinals finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the final NJCAA poll. Dornan was first-team All-Region and earned NJCAA Region 18 All-Tournament honors as the Cardinals won their first SWAC volleyball title as co-champions, with a record of 9-1, and 29-4 overall. Upon graduation, she continued her volleyball career at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn.

Information: 769-3348, nic.edu/athletics

Haskins named assistant men’s

basketball coach at WSU

PULLMAN — A seasoned veteran of the Seattle-area high school basketball circuit, with ties to the Cougars, Ed Haskins, was named Washington State men’s basketball assistant coach, head coach Ernie Kent announced.

Haskins has spent the last nine years as the head boys’ basketball coach and the last seven serving as the athletic director at Seattle’s Garfield High School, a perennial basketball powerhouse in the state of Washington. At Garfield he’s compiled a 213-34 record and has the highest winning percentage (.862) for a head coach at GHS. He was named the 2016 Tacoma News Tribune Coach of the Year, the 2015 Seattle Metro League Coach of the Year, and the 2009 and 2012 KingCo Conference Coach of the Year. Haskins led Garfield to the 3A Boys State Championship in 2015 and the 4A State Championship in 2014.

Among the players Haskins coached and helped coach are current and former NBA players Tony Wroten, Isaiah Thomas, Spencer Hawes, Lodrick Stewart, Nate Robinson, Will Conroy and Jamal Crawford; as well as former WSU student-athletes Mike Ladd and Reggie Moore, both of whom are Rainier Beach HS graduates.

A graduate of Eastern Washington, Haskins attended Washington State for one year. His brother, the late Aaron Haskins, played basketball for four years at Washington State (1980-83), where he helped lead the Cougars to two NCAA Tournaments during his playing career becoming one of the first two WSU student-athletes to do so.

The Cougars have one more assistant coaching vacancy to fill, following the departures of Silvey Dominguez and Greg Graham in March.