I’ve Been Thinking…

I’ve officially been a Coug for almost 12 years and unofficially been one for far longer (something like 17 years if you count when WSU really hit my radar or almost 30 if you’re considering the point at which I was genetically predisposed to being a Coug. However long it’s been, I’ve spent a lot of that time realizing some truths: Crimson and Grey are the greatest colors in the world, Busch Light tastes better in Pullman than anywhere else, etc. While the cold hard facts are easy to understand, there are a couple of WSU-related topics that render me baffled. No matter how much time I spend thinking about them, I can never reach an understanding. These are those topics…

Pullman, WA: The Geographic Disadvantage

Pullman is a small town. It is not in proximity to a major city of significance (Sorry, Spokane). These are the facts and they are indisputable. It seems that most people believe these facts also create a competitive disadvantage in college athletics. The theory is that the average 18 year old “big time athlete” will have little or no interest in spending four years in a rural location and it therefore takes special effort to convince him that going to Washington State will be worth his time. I don’t in any way subscribe to this theory for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the average 18 year old “big time athlete” is interested in two things: hot babes and really hot babes. Pullman has both categories in abundance so there really is no problem. In all seriousness, while the reasoning may not be completely sound, I stand by my argument. To me, there is no inherent disadvantage in recruiting athletes to Pullman relative to recruiting them to any other location, urban or otherwise. The goal of recruiting is to convince a player that your school is his best possible destination to achieve success. A talented recruiter should be able to do that regardless of circumstance. For the record, I’m of the belief that in the Paul Wulff era the strengths that Pullman offers from a recruiting perspective (family/community atmosphere) are being used effectively. The good people of State College, Pennsylvania, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Blacksburg, Virginia and many other primarily college towns like them would surely argue that their hometowns are in no way detrimental to the success of collegiate athletics. It seems to me that the “it’s hard to recruit kids to a small town” justification is merely another in a long line of excuses that lead to the acceptance of mediocrity among Cougar athletics, which leads me to my next topic…

Washington State Cougars, Lovable Losers

I can freely admit that I am a hyper-competitive person so I have an extremely difficult time accepting failure of any sort (or even perceived failure). As such, it drives me nuts that there is a sense of resignation among the Cougar faithful that our teams are meant for nothing more than predominant mediocrity with occasional moments of glory. Part of it is associated with the small town complex described above, but it’s also compounded by decades of – if we’re being honest withourselves – futility. Sure the track record isn’t great overall, but should this mean that the benchmark for success of WSU athletics is really somewhere between bad and kinda subpar? Absolutely not. The most significant statements that Bill Moos has made in his tenure have not been related to new jerseys or facilities or branding. It’s been his belief that anything other than sustained success is unacceptable. The tangible changes to the athletic department during the Bill Moos era may be what are most readily remembered, but if he can successfully change the culture into a winning one, that will be his legacy.

There are dozens of other things in the world that I don’t understand: wind, the successful career of Taylor Swift and how Joe Husky Fan consistently thinks that to belittle the education of WSU alumni relates in any way to sports. I’ll save those details for another day, but the other two issues I had to get off my chest. 81 days from now I’ll no longer have the free brain cells to think about such confusing things and can go back to a season of thinking only about Cougar Football. Until then…

Go Cougs.