Washington State HC Ernie Kent starts game on Idaho bench

If one was to take a look down the Idaho bench at the beginning of the Vandals' game against Washington State on Wednesday, Cougars head coach Ernie Kent would have been sitting next to Idaho bench boss Don Verlin.

Just before tipoff, Kent made his way over to Verlin, where he spent the first 30 seconds of the game chatting with his opposite number.

In September, Kent bid $2,000 during a live charity auction on a package that included an all-access pass to one of Idaho's games during the 2016-17 season. The package featured a chance to attend a pregame shootaround, pregame meal, and talk in the locker room, as well as a chance to sit on the bench and even call the first play of the game.

The charity event was the 15th annual Coaches vs. Cancer gala. Both Kent and Verlin lost their fathers to cancer.

"I don't think anybody's ever seen that anywhere in the country, where opposing coaches stood on one side of the field, sat on another team's bench, sat in another team's dugout," Kent said. "But that's not the importance of what transpired. It was the fact that you have coaches, again coaches, standing up for such a worthy cause."

The Cougars won the game 61-48.