This entire story seems somewhat familiar to that of a school just an hour north in Spokane, Wash., Gonzaga. Their men’s team started making a name for the school with their NCAA tournament runs in the mid 1990’s and that visibility has allowed head coach Kelly Graves to build a WCC powerhouse there as well.

It has not been an easy 12 months for Washington State University Head Coach, June Daugherty. Following last season, while she was on the bench in her tenth year as coach of cross-state rival, Washington, and after securing verbal commitments from a National Top 20 class, she was buzz cut from Washington with her contract not being renewed.

The athletic department said they wanted a buzz in the program and they parted ways with Daugherty. She and her husband, Mike, who has been an assistant coach throughout the years, took the short trip over the Cascade Mountains to Pullman and took the reigns of a Cougar program on April 20. A program that year after year found itself at or near the bottom of the conference standings.

Then May 23, tragedy struck the Daugherty and Cougar families when she suffered a cardiac arrest from a viral infection in her heart. The incident was not caused by a blockage of an artery and not considered a heart attack. She was released on May 30 after having a defibrillator attached to her heart. The family persevered and the Daugherty era in Pullman kicked off with an outstanding inaugural recruiting class.

The incoming class includes players at every position so the team could potentially be better at every position next season. The team was just 1-17 in conference play last season and a new system and new coaches alone cannot change it for WSU, they need an influx of talent. The challenge going forward for Coach Daugherty is to continue to improve the talent year after year until they are competing with the top teams in the conference for players. But this first class is a very special one. Maybe it has to do with Daugherty’s new lucky number, seven. It’s 2007, the cardiologists giving her emergency CPR brought her back on their seventh attempt and she signed a fantastic class of seven players.

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Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women’s Basketball at HoopGurlz.com. He leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz. Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chris@hoopgurlz.com.