It didn’t take long for the Huskies to find the person to continue their momentum in women’s basketball. And they didn’t have to go far.
He was already here.
Washington has hired top assistant Mike Neighbors as its new women’s basketball coach, three days after Kevin McGuff suddenly took a lucrative offer to lead Ohio State. It’s a move the players were hoping for, for continuity and familiarity. They found out early Friday evening in a team meeting at UW’s Conibear Shellhouse, following a team weight-lifting session and then dinner in University Village.
Washington will formally introduce Neighbors as its 10th women’s basketball coach at a press conference next week, with the day and time still to be determined.
Neighbors, a 44-year-old native of Greenwood, Ark., signed a memorandum of understanding Friday evening for a five-year contract starting at $350,000 in guaranteed compensation for the 2013-14 season.
"I’m elated," Neighbors said, moments after signing the agreement that calls for his pay to increase by $20,000 each season, through the $430,000 he is scheduled to earn in the final year of the deal ending March 31, 2018.
"When Kevin left, the first words out of my mouth were `I want to be the head coach of the basketball team at the University of Washington – this particular team, these players, the recruits we have coming in.’
"When I got into this business 13 years ago, Washington wasn’t one of my `dream jobs.’ My dream jobs were regional. But when I got here to Seattle with Kevin two years ago, to this program and this university, this became my dream job.
"And now here I am."
Director of Athletics Scott Woodward and Shondell Reed, Washington’s senior associate AD, fielded queries and calls from across the country during a whirlwind search to replace McGuff, who in two seasons revived UW’s recruiting and on-court success with the first consecutive 20-win seasons since the mid-1990s.
In the end, continuity was key.
"The more we looked, the more we realized our best candidate was right here on our campus," Woodward said. "Mike Neighbors is ready to continue what he and Coach McGuff and the staff have started. I want to continue the trajectory the program is on, in wins and losses, in how we are recruiting, and in academic performance. In my mind, Mike was the chief operating officer of the effort that started this trajectory.
"Hiring Mike shows we remain committed to Husky women’s basketball returning to national prominence. We think Mike is ready, and that he will continue that momentum."
He was the players’ choice once McGuff left Tuesday. And they were as pumped as their new coach at Friday night’s news.
"Coach `Neighb’s ready," Huskies rising senior guard Mercedes Wetmore said of Neighbors becoming a head coach for the first time. "He is the guy to lead this program into a national powerhouse.
"We wanted him to be the guy to come in and lead us. It’s the perfect fit. We are motivated. We are excited. And we are picking up right where we left off."
Neighbors, who came to UW from Xavier with McGuff in April 2011, also gets the same incentive bonuses McGuff had at Washington: $25,000 for winning the Pac-12 regular-season championship; $20,000 for winning the Pac-12 tournament; $15,000 for making the NCAA tournament with incremental bonuses for advancing; plus one month’s base pay for an annual team academic progress rate of 980 or higher, as defined by the NCAA.
"It’s been a crazy week, and our fast-paced search since Kevin left gave us many impressive candidates," said Reed, whom Woodward credited for leading the search. "We ultimately decided we value the ability of Mike, (assistant) Kevin Morrison and this entire staff to continue our program’s rise to the top of the Pac-12.
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