Feb. 15—Kirby Moore is the kind of guy you could get a beer with.
While the Washington State University head football coach did not imbibe, drinks were flowing among Cougs fans and alums who packed the Swinging Doors on Thursday to mingle with the freshly hired coach.
Moore visited the north Spokane sports bar to warm fans to their beloved team's new leader. He spent more than an hour Thursday stopping by each fan table at the restaurant: answering questions, flashing smiles and taking selfies with giddy fans.
"With their support, and a lot of fans who care, there's a lot of direction right now with the program, and so we're excited about this upcoming season," said Moore, who said he has fond memories in Spokane watching games at the old Joe Albi Stadium and playing in Hoopfest.
"Personable," "humble," "knowledgeable," "excited," were all words used by fans to describe the 35-year-old from Prosser.
"He looks at you when he talks to you," said Karyn Teague, WSU class of '79. "His energy, his focus, is one of the things I would say that struck me when I was talking to him; he's very focused on the program."
Karyn's husband, Gary Teague, played Cougar Football during his years at the school. When Moore made his way to the couple's table, Gary took the chance to tell him "how special Pullman is," he said. The two have visited college towns of SEC schools, and said the parallels in those towns are "striking."
"We can't compete with the money elsewhere. You've got to have culture, you've got to have the ability to recruit both mom and dad plus the kids, and do what we can with all of that," said Gary Teague, class of '83. "I think that's what's special about what Pullman has to offer. If you view it as an advantage, it can work. If you view it as a disadvantage, it's self-pity."
Moore's Eastern Washington roots were a point of pride for many other small-town Cougs, especially in a group of five longtime friends raised in rural Whitman County who never miss a game.
"The guy's from Eastern Washington," said Dennis Gunnels, raised in Malden and now living in Spokane. "He's like our guy."
"It doesn't get more hometown than that," added Byron Henry, originally from Rosalia.
"I just hope he feels very welcome here," said Terri Brown, the third Coug in a four-generation line that started with her grandmother in 1915.
Moore's origins were not lost on even the youngest Coug fans at the restaurant Thursday. Brothers AJ Espindola, 9, and Alex Espindola, 6, beamed when they said their dad was raised in Wapato around the same time Moore's football family dynasty reigned over the region.
"I'm excited that he's my coach because I'm just excited," AJ said, showing off a hat, jersey and WSU flag that Moore signed for him.
His brother also got his hat and flag autographed.
Asked what he would do with his signed merch, AJ said he would "probably frame it or bring it to Cougs games to try to get Cougs to sign it."
"I think with a coach like Kirby Moore, we could improve and bring, I don't care what trophy, some sort of trophy back to Washington," AJ said. "Just like the Seahawks did."
Just about every seat at the Swinging Doors was occupied by a Coug fan on Thursday, and about a third of the cars in the full parking lot sported WSU emblems, license plate holders and a few vanity plates competing to declare themselves the number one fan of the Cougs.
"One thing everyone here has in common here is we all like the Cougs," AJ said. "...If you're a Husky, you're gonna get cooked."
Resoundingly, Cougs had two hopes for Moore in his leadership: stick around for longer than the last guy and win some games.
"We just hope that he has a very successful season, and that he builds a program like we haven't seen in the last 15, 20 years," Gunnel said.
His pedigree offers some reassurance for the latter hope, Gary Teague said, also pleased by the praise he's heard on Moore's behalf.
"The folks that follow him, they don't follow if they don't feel confident and feel like they can believe in building something," Gary Teague said. "I just like the momentum he's created, the momentum when you listen to the other folks that are with him."
As for the former hope, that Moore is here to stay for at least a couple years before seeking a bigger pond, only time will tell.
"We asked him if he was going to stay more than a year or two," said Sheryl Henry, married to Byron, as the rest of the five-Coug table erupted into laughter.
"He just shook her hand and moved on," said friend Wendy Gunnels, married to Dennis. "But he didn't say no."
Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct a quote from Dennis Gunnel.
Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.