A seasoned veteran of the Seattle-area high school basketball circuit, with ties to the Cougars, Ed Haskins, has been named Washington State men’s basketball assistant coach, head coach Ernie Kent announced.
“We are very excited to have Ed Haskins join the Cougar men’s basketball program as an assistant coach,” Kent said. “Coach Haskins is one of the most successful high school coaches in the country, not just for the wins he’s collected, but for the players he’s mentored. I have no doubt that Coach Haskins will add a lot to the Cougar basketball program and community.”
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.
“Since the first time I came over to Pullman when I was around 8 or 9 years old and I watched my brother (Aaron) step on the court when he played for Coach (George) Raveling, I wanted to be a part of Washington State basketball,” Haskins said. “It was dream of mine and from that time, around 1980, to now, this is a dream fulfilled for me. I am passionate about Washington State, and always have been, even on the other side of the mountains. I am extremely grateful to Coach Kent for the opportunity that he’s afforded me to fulfill a life-long dream. At this point he renewed that passion for Cougar basketball when we sat down and talked about his vision and where he hopes to take the program. To be a part of that is monumental. He can coach and I believe we’ll turn the whole program, town and Pac-12 around.”
Prior to his time at GHS, Haskins was an assistant varsity coach and the head junior varsity boys’ basketball coach at Rainier Beach High School in Seattle for nine years. RBHS won the 3A Boys’ State Championship three times during Haskins’ tenure (2002, 2003, 2008). Haskins also coached the USA Junior National Team in the Nike Global Challenge in 2007.
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.
