Happy Humpday Cougs, as we hit the midpoint of the week. And a good look at another beautiful morning on the Palouse, as Martin Stadium's football OPS building continues to rise. A poster at Cougfan who goes by the name "LowPorkWA" has snapped some of his own pics of the construction, which you can see here:
Nice.
As cool as the new press box/luxury seating structure is and how that big sucker is going to help bring in the money to the athletic department, many still believe that football OPS building might be the most important piece of the puzzle for Mike Leach and the program. When you think about the recruiting wars and all that you are up against in this conference, with Oregon and USC and UW and all those nice football-only facilities that are either in place or coming soon around the Pac-12? The OPS building was HUGE for the program in ways that the common fan like you and I can't even fully appreciate.
But it isn't just about blowing the kids away with bells-n-whistles and such, but more about keeping up with your conference brethren in the facilities department. These coaches and administrators are always looking for that "edge" to pitch to kids and their families, and if you have top-notch facilities you can actually see and touch and all that, it can only help to attract the high-quality players needed in order to compete on a regular basis!
One rumor going around Twitter yesterday was that there is talk that instead of just moving the scoreboard to the Stadium Way side of the field, that they are looking to purchase a new scoreboard instead of dealing with the existing one. I haven't heard much else about it but that was some Twitter "talk" yesterday.
Rumor is that Martin Stadium is likely to get a sweet new scoreboard this year. It will be placed on the opposite end-zone. #WSU #GoCougs
— Coughouse (@Coughouse) June 4, 2013
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I don't know if that makes a ton of sense though, I mean they just got the new scoreboard a few years ago (2008), so there has to be more life left in it? I guess we'll find out. I know everything is better now in the new Pac-12 and the cash is probably there to do something like that, but I don't imagine we are in the mood to just toss it out for something new and shiny. And what do you do with an old scoreboard anyway, just throw it in a dumpster behind a fraternity? Set it on the curb with a "FREE – Still Works!" sign? I don't know about you, but I just want my CRIMSON ENDZONES, finally!?!
Moving on…
Speaking of facilities and all that goes into it, the Cougs got some good recruiting news yesterday. Per Cougfan, Calvin Green, a 5-10, 175 lb running back from Sacramento reportedly committed to WSU, selecting the Cougs over ASU and Boise State among many offers. Cougcenter has a write-up about Green, including some eye-opening video of the kid making plays with speed to burn. You can check out some video on the kid here, and here. Pretty clear that hey, if you like speed, you'll love this guy!
Note – in Green's highlights, this happens a lot.
Of course, it's early in all this recruiting stuff. But Leach and staff are now up to 6 commits for this recruiting cycle, and per Cougfan that's the most in recent program history for this early in recruiting season. So you have to like the idea that it's all off to a strong start. So many things can change between now and early next year, so as usual we'll hold off on the parade down Main Street in terms of celebrations and all that. But so far it's pretty damn encouraging that it looks like some high quality players are committing early on in the process.
Another thing to like? Each of the 6 kids at this point all hold BCS offers from other schools. No, they aren't just players who might have interest in other BCS schools, but per Cougfan's list anyway, these guys hold other BCS school offers. If you've followed the recruiting game at all in the last 5-6 years, you know how that can make a difference in the bigger picture in building out a program and developing quality depth. When you are getting kids over some other lower-division schools, that's one thing. But when you are getting kids that your BCS competition actually wants as well? Now that is progress. Maybe we won't see the impact right away, but there is hope and promise for what's to come.
That's it for now. Enjoy your Humpday, and of course, GO COUGS!
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