Montana State’s Matt Logie turns down WSU men’s basketball coaching job, per report

PULLMAN — Washington State will have to move on from Matt Logie as a head-coaching candidate.

The Montana State coach, who was offered the job at WSU on Monday according to multiple reports, just about announced as much on social media Tuesday, writing, “Home is where the (heart) is. Job’s not finished. Circle the Wagons Bobcats! The Best is YET to come!”

Logie elected to stay at MSU on a longer-term extension, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, who reported Monday that Logie was undecided on the WSU offer because MSU countered with a pay increase on an extension. 

In one season with the Bobcats, Logie’s team collected a 17-18 record, won the Big Sky Tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament, where the team exited with a play-in-game loss to Grambling State. A Mercer Island native, Logie previously coached at Division II Point Loma and Whitworth in Spokane.

With Logie staying at Montana State, Washington State might turn its attention to Eastern Washington coach David Riley, who has been in the mix all along, according to multiple reports. In three seasons at EWU, Riley has led the Eagles to an overall record of 62-38 (42-14 Big Sky) with two postseason appearances, his first year in The Basketball Classic and his second in the NIT.

EWU took the top seed into each of the last two Big Sky Tournaments, only to get upset in its first game on both occasions. 

Washington State, looking to replace former coach Kyle Smith, is joining the West Coast Conference next season as an affiliate member, a measure to find opponents as WSU and Oregon State — the two schools left over in the Pac-12 — attempt to rebuild the conference.