WSU and athletics director Jim Sterk will introduce Ken Bone as the 17th Cougar men’s basketball head coach during a press conference Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in the Camp Room at the Bohler Athletic Complex.
Bone spent the past four years as the head coach at Portland State, leading the Vikings to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2007-08 and 2008-09. The Vikings went 23-10 during each of the last two years, the two best seasons in the 48-year history of the program. In his four seasons with the Vikings, Bone posted a 77-49 record, recording the best winning percentage of any PSU coach since basketball was reinstated in 1996-97 (.611).
Bone led Portland State to its finest season in school history in 2007-08, winning a school-record 23 games en route to the Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament titles and making the school’s first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament. As a result, Bone earned Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year honors, becoming the first Viking basketball coach to do so.
A Seattle native, Bone graduated from Seattle Pacific in 1983 and received his master’s in athletic administration in 1993. He played two seasons (1980-82) at SPU after one-year stints at Shoreline and Edmonds (Wash.) Community Colleges. He is a Shorecrest (Wash.) High School graduate.
He and his wife Connie have three daughters – Kendra, Jenae and Chelsea.
Over the last two seasons at PSU, Bone coached a Big Sky Conference Player and Newcomer of the Year, the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year and four All-Big Sky selections. Portland State also notched its first win over a ranked opponent in school history, defeating No. 7 Gonzaga, 77-70 in Spokane (Dec. 23, 2008). This season the Vikings gave Washington a scare with a one-point, 84-83 loss in Seattle (Dec. 14, 2008).
Bone holds a 335-167 record in 17 years as a head coach, including 12 seasons at his alma mater, Seattle Pacific University. He registered a 253-97 (.723) record with the Falcons between 1990-2002. Bone’s SPU teams claimed six outright or shared Pacific West Conference championships and earned eight NCAA playoff appearances. The Falcons made five trips to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 over a span of eight years, including a semifinal appearance in 2000 that capped a 27-5 season. In 2000, Bone was recognized as both NABC District 8 Coach of the Year and PacWest Conference Co-Coach of the Year.
During Bone’s final season at Seattle Pacific, the Falcons posted a 24-5 record, advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs and were ranked ninth in the final 2002 poll.
Between his stints at SPU and PSU, Bone spent the 2002-05 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Washington, playing a major role as the program returned to national prominence.
Between his stints at SPU and PSU, Bone spent the 2002-05 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Washington, playing a major role as the program returned to national prominence.
In 2005 Bone helped direct Washington to the Pacific-10 Conference title as the Huskies earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16. The previous year, Washington had a runner-up finish in the Pac-10 regular-season standings. In 2004 the Huskies advanced to the championship game of the Pac-10 Tournament and competed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. That season UW swept the three meetings with highly-ranked Arizona and capped the regular season with a win over No. 1 and undefeated Stanford.
