I really liked Bray. I think he's a great guy, and he's indisputably a great defensive coach and coordinator. He just hired the wrong people, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. And he was unwilling to let those individuals go when it was clear that they were in over their heads.
Best of luck to Bray at WSU. I think he's going to do great things there.
I'm not sure about that. Although it's on Scott Barnes for hiring a guy who was not ready or equipped for the position, I think Barnes supported him until he couldn't anymore. Do you think Barnes should have continued to support despite the inexcusable losses, embarrassing special teams play, and weak administrative performance? What would you have Barnes do?
I enjoyed the interview with Trent Bray and I think he'll be a great fit at Washington State. One of the problems the Cougars have had over the years are disgruntled coaches and they're even more disgruntled wives, who don't like Pullman. I get it, it's isolated. But you have to find someone who actually embraces WSU and the community, like Mike Price and Mike Leach.
I will always respect Coach Bray for being loyal and not leaving with CJS and the rest of the coaches to MSU. He was put in a tough spot. If you look at the OSU games last year, there were 3 or 4 more that the Beavs shoulda won. He's a great tactician and DC. It's gonna be tough facing his defense when the Beavs play WSU. Part of me will always root for him.
I’ll say again now what I said about Bray when he got fired. Beaver Nations owes him a debt of gratitude. He was exactly what we needed when the world was collapsing. And he took the job for Beaver Nation, not himself. He loved his Alma mater more than himself. He was given an impossible task. He wasn’t ready to be a head coach but he did it for us. He will forever be a Beaver great. A legend. He stuck with us when everyone else bailed.
I wish we could have kept him as DC, but that doesn’t happen. You don’t have a HC demoted to OC/DC or position coach on the same team.
If I ever have the opportunity to meet Bray, I’d say, “what’re you drinking? I’m buying.”
I loved that Bray saved the Oregon State defense in 2021 and helped bring the team to national respectability with Top 20 rankings. I liked that he was the MLB on my favorite college team in 2002-05. I loved that he was tough but fair with his players and they admired him and listened to him. I did not know if he could be an HC when Smith left, but thought if he wanted it he deserved a shot. Those who knew better than me, who know Bray personally, failed him by putting him in a position to lose. To Bray's credit, he is back where he belongs as the DC for WSU
Love this Lynn! Trent is a great guy and was a heck of a D-Cordinator for OSU. We were all happy when he stepped and didn't get on the plane to East Lansing. He bleeds Orange and Black and I hope he is back on our sideline in near future once again as our D-Corrdinator. He is a GOOD one!!!
John, you may not llike this feed back, but I can't believe I'm the only person that feels this way. I feel as if you are kind of short sheeting so to speak, the readers here since you restarted your radio pod show...It seems to me that you tell us now, just enough to spur interest in a subject, in order to drive us to listen to your show...IMO that is not really fair, As I don'thave time, (and I'm sure there are others too) to sit and read, then sit longer and watch a podcast.
I'm glad you said it, because I agree. I am way too busy to sit down and watch an hour of YouTube. Yes, I can listen to it while I work out, but having to listen to something for an hour is way less preferable than getting the same content by reading for 5 minutes. John's number 1 outreach to his subscribers has been, and I think should continue to be, this forum, and since it's a paid site, it should not consist of short summaries of a podcast.
My "personal preference" is read/skim. I am just not a big fan of podcasts. And, for the most part will not dedicate time to do so for John or otherwise. But, John's income has to derive from as many sources as possible to support his family including a couple young ladies who will be in college in a few years. If he has sponsor income for the podcast, then so be it.
I presume he also feels some interview subjects may best be understood if "readers" also can judge their demeanor during interviews.
Also personally, I would rather watch a dedicated 15-20 min podcast than wade through an hour of "other stuff" to accomplish that. But, the sponsorship agreement may require a certain minimum amount of minutes in content.
I listen to the podcast and liked it but I think the print should be the biggest priority. Don't worry about John's kids or his money. He has close to 60,000 subscribers here at $7 a month. You do the math.
Bray should have been a Coug back in the day. I am pretty sure he was committed to WSU and Bill Doba. I remember Erickson was jokingly quoted as saying his dad was the only one who could legally buy him a car to sign with OSU. Glad he's a Coug now and hope he has great success here.
JC.... that long snapper situation was baffling. I have never seen a football team who did not have adequate contingencies at every position on the field. You can carry 100+ players in FBS. You can certainly cross train even 230 lb guys to long snap. They don't need to hold the block very long up the middle. I understand when someone goes down with an injury. But there has to be a capable backup, at every position. THAT was very frustrating to watch. Kind of pee-wee league
Last year's first starting long snapper was the starter in 2024, when Black was out with cancer. He performed excellently.
Black was the starter for Game 1, but got hurt (hand). For some reason, his backup - last year's starter - got the yips. NOBODY has a plan to use the No. 3 long snapper in Week 2.
i was at that game. i swear, the ball from the long-snapper is still sailing over the alumni center and into the Peacock parking lot on 2nd st. and to think, it happened again. and again in the same game...
Great interview Canzano and Coach Bray and thank you for sharing. I want to think Coach found his way home to Pullman, even if not forever, he no doubt is feeling the love being there. Looking forward to meeting him this fall hopefully and seeing a smile on his face.
I would like to second the comment. John, please don't leave us old readers out. I don't have time to watch an hour a day. the people that live with me don't want to listen to you. My computer won't let me listen to on ear bus which I hate any way. I signed up for your text. Please continue with your text column.
I've known Trent for more than 20 years, great guy, outstanding coordinator. But he never should have taken the OSU job. OSU wanted him to stay on as DC, but Chryst wouldn't guarantee he'd hire him. So Chryst didn't get the job.
I wish him well at WSU, I think he will flourish there. But he will always be a Beaver. Unlike #9, Trent is always welcome back in Corvallis. Heard there were sightings of him at OSU road baseball games, at the CCC, and sometimes at Clod's.
I really liked Bray. I think he's a great guy, and he's indisputably a great defensive coach and coordinator. He just hired the wrong people, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. And he was unwilling to let those individuals go when it was clear that they were in over their heads.
Best of luck to Bray at WSU. I think he's going to do great things there.
Go Beavs!
It also seems like he didn’t get the support he needed from his boss.
I'm not sure about that. Although it's on Scott Barnes for hiring a guy who was not ready or equipped for the position, I think Barnes supported him until he couldn't anymore. Do you think Barnes should have continued to support despite the inexcusable losses, embarrassing special teams play, and weak administrative performance? What would you have Barnes do?
Trent was 1-13 in his final 14 games. Almost 3/4 of the crowd left at halftime of the Wake Forest homecoming game last year. Barnes had no choice.
Same with hiring Blue Print Sports.
Must not have been a big deal, since USF hired Blaylock as its AD.
I enjoyed the interview with Trent Bray and I think he'll be a great fit at Washington State. One of the problems the Cougars have had over the years are disgruntled coaches and they're even more disgruntled wives, who don't like Pullman. I get it, it's isolated. But you have to find someone who actually embraces WSU and the community, like Mike Price and Mike Leach.
the "Mikes"--great coaches :)
I will always respect Coach Bray for being loyal and not leaving with CJS and the rest of the coaches to MSU. He was put in a tough spot. If you look at the OSU games last year, there were 3 or 4 more that the Beavs shoulda won. He's a great tactician and DC. It's gonna be tough facing his defense when the Beavs play WSU. Part of me will always root for him.
I think he will go great as a DC again.
Wish things had went better for him at OSU
I’ll say again now what I said about Bray when he got fired. Beaver Nations owes him a debt of gratitude. He was exactly what we needed when the world was collapsing. And he took the job for Beaver Nation, not himself. He loved his Alma mater more than himself. He was given an impossible task. He wasn’t ready to be a head coach but he did it for us. He will forever be a Beaver great. A legend. He stuck with us when everyone else bailed.
I wish we could have kept him as DC, but that doesn’t happen. You don’t have a HC demoted to OC/DC or position coach on the same team.
If I ever have the opportunity to meet Bray, I’d say, “what’re you drinking? I’m buying.”
Trent's a Coors Light man. Bring your wallet.
Well said Cody. Totally agree.
I loved that Bray saved the Oregon State defense in 2021 and helped bring the team to national respectability with Top 20 rankings. I liked that he was the MLB on my favorite college team in 2002-05. I loved that he was tough but fair with his players and they admired him and listened to him. I did not know if he could be an HC when Smith left, but thought if he wanted it he deserved a shot. Those who knew better than me, who know Bray personally, failed him by putting him in a position to lose. To Bray's credit, he is back where he belongs as the DC for WSU
Great interview! A good person. Had him in class when I taught at OSU!
Love this Lynn! Trent is a great guy and was a heck of a D-Cordinator for OSU. We were all happy when he stepped and didn't get on the plane to East Lansing. He bleeds Orange and Black and I hope he is back on our sideline in near future once again as our D-Corrdinator. He is a GOOD one!!!
Should have taken the plane ride and looked out for himself instead of catching a life raft to save ungrateful OSU.
Paying him $8M to coach Football for 19 games is hardly ungrateful.
The way that he was treated was ungrateful regardless of the money involved.
Something just occurred to me in our discussion here about whether OSU and WSU would become rivals over time.
Notice how encouraging Beaver fans are about Bray's new position at WSU. Not just for him personally, but in wishing WSU well in general.
You rarely see such sentiments between actual rivals.
John, you may not llike this feed back, but I can't believe I'm the only person that feels this way. I feel as if you are kind of short sheeting so to speak, the readers here since you restarted your radio pod show...It seems to me that you tell us now, just enough to spur interest in a subject, in order to drive us to listen to your show...IMO that is not really fair, As I don'thave time, (and I'm sure there are others too) to sit and read, then sit longer and watch a podcast.
I'm glad you said it, because I agree. I am way too busy to sit down and watch an hour of YouTube. Yes, I can listen to it while I work out, but having to listen to something for an hour is way less preferable than getting the same content by reading for 5 minutes. John's number 1 outreach to his subscribers has been, and I think should continue to be, this forum, and since it's a paid site, it should not consist of short summaries of a podcast.
My "personal preference" is read/skim. I am just not a big fan of podcasts. And, for the most part will not dedicate time to do so for John or otherwise. But, John's income has to derive from as many sources as possible to support his family including a couple young ladies who will be in college in a few years. If he has sponsor income for the podcast, then so be it.
I presume he also feels some interview subjects may best be understood if "readers" also can judge their demeanor during interviews.
Also personally, I would rather watch a dedicated 15-20 min podcast than wade through an hour of "other stuff" to accomplish that. But, the sponsorship agreement may require a certain minimum amount of minutes in content.
I listen to the podcast and liked it but I think the print should be the biggest priority. Don't worry about John's kids or his money. He has close to 60,000 subscribers here at $7 a month. You do the math.
I don’t begrudge JC for providing a written lead-in to his podcast. He produces plenty of content in written form at present.
There's a bunch of guys now assistants who may not regret no longer being a head coach:
Gary Patterson
Will Muschamp
Bobby Petrino
Al Golden
Chip Kelly
Ed Orgeron
Zach Arnett
Todd Orlando
Tim Beck
Jim Knowles
Not a total list, but wonder how many really want the "top job" again in the current era?
Bray's hire at WSU told me as much about Kirby Moore as it did Bray. Very smart hire - even if it seems like kind of a no-brainer in hindsight.
Bray should have been a Coug back in the day. I am pretty sure he was committed to WSU and Bill Doba. I remember Erickson was jokingly quoted as saying his dad was the only one who could legally buy him a car to sign with OSU. Glad he's a Coug now and hope he has great success here.
JC.... that long snapper situation was baffling. I have never seen a football team who did not have adequate contingencies at every position on the field. You can carry 100+ players in FBS. You can certainly cross train even 230 lb guys to long snap. They don't need to hold the block very long up the middle. I understand when someone goes down with an injury. But there has to be a capable backup, at every position. THAT was very frustrating to watch. Kind of pee-wee league
Last year's first starting long snapper was the starter in 2024, when Black was out with cancer. He performed excellently.
Black was the starter for Game 1, but got hurt (hand). For some reason, his backup - last year's starter - got the yips. NOBODY has a plan to use the No. 3 long snapper in Week 2.
i was at that game. i swear, the ball from the long-snapper is still sailing over the alumni center and into the Peacock parking lot on 2nd st. and to think, it happened again. and again in the same game...
Great interview Canzano and Coach Bray and thank you for sharing. I want to think Coach found his way home to Pullman, even if not forever, he no doubt is feeling the love being there. Looking forward to meeting him this fall hopefully and seeing a smile on his face.
I would like to second the comment. John, please don't leave us old readers out. I don't have time to watch an hour a day. the people that live with me don't want to listen to you. My computer won't let me listen to on ear bus which I hate any way. I signed up for your text. Please continue with your text column.
I've known Trent for more than 20 years, great guy, outstanding coordinator. But he never should have taken the OSU job. OSU wanted him to stay on as DC, but Chryst wouldn't guarantee he'd hire him. So Chryst didn't get the job.
I wish him well at WSU, I think he will flourish there. But he will always be a Beaver. Unlike #9, Trent is always welcome back in Corvallis. Heard there were sightings of him at OSU road baseball games, at the CCC, and sometimes at Clod's.
He's a good dude.
also glad Trent gets to come back to his hometown