Prosser grad’s coaching for Dallas Cowboys grabs attention from other teams

Prosser High graduate Kellen Moore has been a popular guy over the last month.

Currently the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, Moore was courted by Boise State University officials to become their head coach.

Moore — who starred as quarterback for the Broncos in college — apparently took the job, then decided not to take it when he felt he didn’t have the support from the BSU administration for him to be successful.

Moore then signed a reported three-year contract extension with the Cowboys to stay as the OC.

But he wasn’t done.

The Philadelphia Eagles got permission from the Cowboys to interview for their head coaching position. So he interviewed for the job, which eventually was given to Indianapolis Colts assistant Nick Sirianni.

But it gave Moore the NFL head coaching interview experience, and it shows that other NFL teams have an interest in the talented coach.

Other sports news

▪ The Butler women’s basketball team is off to a very slow 1-11 start. Kamiakin grad Oumou Toure, however, has yet to play for the Bulldogs this season. Toure had some off-season surgery on a knee and has been rehabbing it.

▪ The University of Washington men’s basketball team has a 3-11 record through Jan. 29.

But Richland High grad Riley Sorn is getting more time coming off the bench to play for the Huskies. A 7-foot-4 sophomore center, Sorn is averaging almost 11 minutes a game.

He is shooting a sizzling 69 percent from the floor (23 for 33), is averaging 4.2 points and 3.1 rebounds. Sorn is also blocking shots, like he did at Richland High. He has 14 blocked shots, which has him tied for the team lead.

▪ Parker Hodge and I recently did a podcast (SportsintheTri.com) with Richland High grad Eric Yardley, who is a member of the Milwaukee Brewers’ reliever corps.

The submarine-pitching right-hander said that two of the toughest hitters he’s faced in his relatively young major-league career “are (Dodgers slugger) Mookie Betts in the playoffs, and (Detroit’s) Miguel Cabrera.”

Cabrera has been in the big leagues for 18 years, and Yardley remembers watching him on TV as a little kid. But Yardley had to shake that image from his head before facing him.

The 30-year-old earned his first call-up in August of 2019 with the San Diego Padres, was sent back down not long after, then called back up for the entire month of September.

After being released by the Padres after the 2019 season, Yardley was signed by the Brewers for the 2020 season, and he did well with a 1.54 earned run average in 24 appearances.

“I struggled in my (2019) debut, and in my second outing,” Yardley admitted. “But I knew I had the confidence to get major-league hitters out.”

He said he had made things bigger than they should have been.

“It’s definitely been a process,” Yardley said.

He said he’s excited to get the 2021 season going in February. Yardley is definitely proof that anyone can play big-league baseball if they work hard enough — including a guy who was almost cut from his Seattle University team his sophomore year, spent time in independent baseball, and then lived the minor-league life for seven years before getting his chance.

“It shows you don’t have to be a first-round pick, or the star of your high school team, to make it,” he said. “For me, I just love the game, and I know I have the support of everybody — my parents, my brother, his wife, my wife, her parents and my friends.”