Karns named Coeur d’Alene

High head baseball coach

COEUR d’ALENE — Erik Karns, head coach of the Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen American Legion baseball team this past summer, has been named head varsity coach of the Coeur d’Alene High baseball team.

Karns replaces Nick Mahin, who resigned following four seasons as Vikings coach.

Karns was also an assistant coach for the Vikings under Mahin. He teaches science at Coeur d’Alene High. He has coached youth baseball in Coeur d’Alene at various levels for the past decade.

“We are excited to hire a quality candidate,” Coeur d’Alene High athletic director Mike Randles said. “Erik not only brings a wealth of baseball knowledge to the position but his ability to communicate that knowledge is highly regarded.”

Karns played baseball at McMinnville (Ore.) High and at Whitworth University in Spokane.

Viking Country Auction

set for March 14

COEUR d’ALENE — The Viking Booster Club and Education Foundation is planning the annual Viking Country Auction, scheduled for Saturday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m. at the Best Western Plus Coeur d’Alene Inn.

The event, which features a live and silent auction and a surf and turf dinner, is designed to support students and activities at Coeur d’Alene High.

Cost is $50 per person, or $400 for a table of eight.

Information: chsvikingboosters@gmail.com

Ex-Wyoming assistant Dickert

named WSU defensive coordinator

PULLMAN — Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich announced Tuesday that Jake Dickert has been hired as the Cougars’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Dickert owns 13 years of collegiate coaching experience and worked the last three seasons at the University of Wyoming including the 2019 campaign as the defensive coordinator while working with the linebackers and safeties.

This past season, the Cowboys were sixth in the country in red zone defense, No. 11 in the country in rush defense (107.1) and scoring defense (17.8), No. 40 tackles-for-loss (83) and No. 43 in total defense. Dickert saw four Cowboys earned All-Mountain West Conference honors led by second-team All-American linebacker and Butkus Award Finalist Logan Wilson while redshirt-freshman defensive end Solomon Byrd was named a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America.

Before arriving at Wyoming, Dickert spent the 2016 season as the safeties coach and co-special teams coordinator at South Dakota State. Earlier in his career, Dickert was a part of current Wyoming coach Craig Bohl’s coaching staff at North Dakota State from 2008-10.

He was also defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Minnesota State, and a defensive coordinator at Augustana.

EWU’s Peatling named Big Sky

hoops Player of the Week

Eastern Washington senior Mason Peatling, who averaged 25.6 points, 16.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 4.0 blocked shots per game in two overtime victories last week, was named Big Sky Conference men’s basketball Player of the Week.

Peatling came three assists from a triple double in an 89-84 win over Northern Colorado, finishing with 21 points and 22 rebounds — second most in school history. Peatling also had seven assists and three blocked shots as he had the 12th performance in school history to come within a combination of three points/rebounds/assists from a triple double, in addition to the lone triple double in school history.

Gonzaga women named

NCAA Team of the Week

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team was named the NCAA’s Team of the Week following runaway wins over Pepperdine (70-36) and Loyola Marymount (78-52) last week, becoming the first team in the nation to 20 wins while extending the nation’s best win streak to 18 games.

The 12th-ranked Bulldogs (20-1, 9-0 West Coast Conference) play host to San Diego on Thursday.