Consider this a pathetic attempt at starting a game thread. Hey some of us got nothing else to do on a Friday but watch a bunch of long legged young ladies run, jump and bounce around.

How did WSU’s Jake Dickert minimize roster turnover? ‘It takes a team’​

Greg WoodsJan. 19, 2024 at 5:14 pm
By
The Spokesman-Review
Weeks before Washington State’s football season ended, before the Cougars played their final game in the Pac-12 as we know it, Jake Dickert went public with one assertion.

“It’s going to be open-target season on our players,” Dickert said.

By that he meant the way representatives from other schools would surely try to lure his players away, using lucrative NIL offers to ransack his team through the transfer portal. Dickert believed in his program, he said, but retaining players in this day and age isn’t always so simple.

So all the Cougars did was hold on to nearly all non-graduating seniors and maintain nearly their entire staff. Starting wideout Josh Kelly hit the portal and transferred to Texas Tech. Quarterback Cam Ward declared for the NFL draft, then veered course and committed to Miami. Those were the only WSU starters to hit the portal and transfer elsewhere.

In total, 18 Cougars hit the portal, which closed this month. Outside of Ward and Kelly, the Cougars’ costliest loss might have been backup cornerback Javan Robinson, who transferred to Arizona State. After that, running back Jaylen Jenkins and wideout DT Sheffield each hit the portal, but both departed the program during the season, long before transfer season had begun.

On the coaching staff, Washington State lost only a couple of support employees. No major assistant coaches took jobs elsewhere, a change of pace from the previous couple of seasons, when the Cougars lost coordinators over the winter.

It’s encouraging for the Cougars, because, on the surface several factors were lining up against them. They had just wrapped up a 5-7 season, missing a bowl for the first time in nearly a decade (outside of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season).

They scored a giant victory in court, securing the rights to the Pac-12, but as they try to rebuild the conference they’re entering a temporary scheduling agreement with the Mountain West — a departure from the Power Five status the program enjoyed for so long.

All of which is why for Dickert, losing only two starters to the portal amounted to a promising development.

“Tremendous amount of pride,” Dickert said. “The biggest thing is, you gotta realize in today’s world, everyone chooses to be here. It wasn’t like that all the time. Everyone made a choice, right? So you gotta take advantage of it. That means they’re connected to it. It means they’re connected to our staff, which I think is vitally important, and the importance of all those guys in the room and how they’re doing it and what we’re doing. And they want to be part of this program. I don’t take that lightly at all.”

Central to that approach, Dickert explained, is recruiting his own players throughout the season — not just on the day after the season ends. “If you think you’re gonna recruit them all of a sudden when [Dec. 1] hits,” Dickert said, “you’ve whiffed.”

Dickert added:

“It isn’t just the front-line starters. It’s about maintaining competitive depth so you can put them through the developmental process. … Retaining the young guys is just as important as retaining the starters. But now it takes a team of people. It isn’t just me. It’s the program. It’s how you treat them. It’s the staff. It’s a whole community of people that help retain these players.”

The Cougars also suffered just one decommitment, which came from four-star prospect Trae Davis, who flipped from WSU to Kansas State in December. Otherwise, in December WSU signed a 25-man signing class, which has ballooned into the 30s thanks to transfers like former Oregon players Kris Huston and Keith Brown.

This time around the offseason, part of that process meant Dickert staying at Washington State. Last week, when the coaching carousel began to churn with the departure of Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, Arizona’s job opened up and The Athletic named Dickert a potential candidate.

Dickert brings stability and structure to the WSU program, reporter Bruce Feldman wrote, which is part of what made him a promising candidate for the Wildcats opening. The same reasoning held back in the fall, after the Cougars bolted to a 4-0 start and Dickert’s name surfaced for the opening at Michigan State.

“There was never a conversation with Arizona, same as there was never a conversation with Michigan State,” Dickert said. “Anything that’s out there is noise until anything really happens. So didn’t pay it much credence. At the end of the day, it’s what we wanna do here at Washington State to be successful, and to me, it’s being better with the outside noise — including myself. I think at some point last year, I really felt a deep connection to be the voice for our university.”

That, Dickert said, is part of why he doesn’t feel pulled to leave WSU any time soon.

“I think coaches get themselves in trouble by overpromising,” Dickert said. “I love it here. This is my job. I’m investing in my job each and every day. If anyone could see the amount of hours and time that we all put in here. … We just kept the whole staff here, maybe for the first time in a long time. So it just shows that we’re doing things right, and we never have taken shortcuts to create success.

“Any time opportunity comes up, just put your head down and just keep working. That’s what I’ve always been about. Have I taken new jobs over time? Yeah, I wouldn’t be sitting in this seat. But I’m just really appreciative of the people that have given me this opportunity, to say the least. And I think I embody Cougs. I love Pullman, here and our place. I’m everything that Washington State stands for, so I’m excited to represent everybody.”

Greg Woods on Twitter: @GregWWoods. Washington State beat writer for The Spokesman-Review

Our former DB coach who was fired for not getting the vax has landed in Montlake via Arizona. Will all the dog vax mandate alums allow this?

So I can see that a nearly 100 year old stadium could use some TLC. But replacing an already very small (by B1G standards) stadium of 47K with a new stadium that holds 35K and costs $800 million? And will displace them for two years? Shit why not just play your home games at Soldier Field? Looks like about 15 miles max from the NW campus?

All other arguments aside, it was sort of a miracle the WSU and Moos got the Martin Stadium renovation done in one offseason. The Press box/luxury thing (what do we even call it?) and the FOB coming together that fast is unheard of at a public institution.

The Stanford stadium and their entire demolition in 2006, downsizing to 50K, and a complete rebuild while only losing one home game along the way was pretty amazing. Didn't I read somewhere back in the day that the whole thing was basically bankrolled by 4 alums?

Oh and this is interesting.....

guess he was reading the board and realized his mistake.

Men at Stanford at 8 tonight, women at home against ASU tomorrow at 7. Both on the Pac-12 network.

Fairly important, winnable games (I guess they all are) against middling competition.

Gotta say I like that tattoo:

Edit - Oh and Jenna Villa in her sorta short shorts licking her lips. Oh Gawd - self-identified dirty old man alert - a freshman and a sophomore. Damn near young enough to be my granddaughters. Not quite though.

Trying to start a thread about upcoming M and W games on the Beasley Board.

Or we could just keep discussing COVID.

Pros for UW:

Quick resolution; avoided prolonged rumors and angst.
Proven coach.
Will probably hang on to nucleus of roster.
May poach Arizona.
They didn't want DeBoer, anyway.

Cons for UW:

He will leave for the first better offer.
He needs a lot of NIL money, especially with the big roster turnover at UW.
He has a buyout that I have to assume UW will be forced to pay...on top of a big raise...on top of losing a chunk of PAC money...on top of a halfsie share of B10 revenue.
UW has been crying the budget blues and this won't make the crying any quieter.

This promises to be interesting!

Nice story here. Sounds like Luke Falk is set to become the OC at Northern Iowa. If true, that's a rapid ascension in the coaching ranks for Luke, which could be good news for WSU downstream.

Luke Falk

“High level NFL guy.”
Jake Dickert

Can’t wait to see Kiper’s draft rankings.

Still can't get a grip on how nuts this has become. As mentioned somewhere else, Reggie Bush lost his Heisman and USC had to vacate wins over actions that are more than commonplace now. Wasn't SMU's death penalty over the same things?

As I see it, the only way to rein this in is for the have nots (that's us) to band together and try to get the Supreme Court and NCAA's decision (and lack of) modified to reflect the true intent of the SC ruling. Yes an athlete can go sign up with Joe's Chevrolet and be a poster boy for money. It might be outrageous in some cases but it should be Joe writing the checks for the world to see. This Collective crap totally flies in the face of the NIL concept. Name, Image and Likeness. Like a side job. That's all athletes wanted originally was some pizza money.

Would take some pressure off of the schools as well. You want to transfer here for money? Well, son (or daughter), have at it. I suppose supplying a list of potential suitors would be OK.

I know, ridiculous of me to think these horses could be brought back into the barn. But would be curious to hear what folks here, particularly you attorneys, think about this possibility. Otherwise we are looking at 3 levels of Division I.

Crazy Crazy Crazy. As a mere mortal, I just can't get my arms around what's going on in the NFL and CFB.

• UW was going to "more than double" DeBoer's $4.2 million salary. But he went anyway, for I assume $10 million or better. Wonder what his wife and 12-ish year-old daughter think of moving to Alabama. Older one is around 18 so no sweat for her
• Smith leaving OSU for MSU. OSU probably couldn't come close to approaching the MSU money, but still. The guy is worshipped at his alma mater, makes millions in sleepy Corvallis, but jumps into that snake pit?
• Carroll's departure. Just don't get that. Nor do I get him still wanting to coach at 72. Retire already
• Harbaugh, after bringing home the Natty, allegedly wanting to leave his alma mater to go back to the NFL? He left the NFL to go to Michigan! Can't be the money - he must be making close to $10 million with bonuses. How much do you need?
• Belicheck. So is he retiring at almost 72? That one doesn't surprise me as much, NE was heading downhill

The official staff writeup from the paid UW 247 site says: we'd have won if not for the refs! He describes it as an "up and down battle," although, since UW never led, I think it was always a "down battle"? Goes on to say the game was "mired in controversy," though only UW seems to be talking about it, and the only evidence are Tweets, including from Dave "Softy" Mahler. Maybe they should replay the game but give UW a 21pt head start since Seattle-based Softy thinks the Mutts got hosed?

If we could just get out of neutral in the 1st quarter and not dig holes. Coug's score 11 in the 1st to go down 7 to dub. Score 61 points the next 3 quarters and win by 13.

E Villa 16, Bea 12, J Villa 10, Bella 10, Wallack 9, CL-W 8. Looks like Bennett-era scoring in terms of the balance. Bea seems to be coming around after the injuries. Hope we can get Tuhina back in the lineup and going allowing E Villa to come off the bench. CL-W is going to go off at some point.

Much needed win obviously. Need to win on the road next week before 4-straight current top 20 (3 in the top 10) programs.

...saw a statement that he wasn't just a fraud that didn't want to be here....better off without him.

The Montlake meltdown is going to be AMAZING to watch.

this is fun.

Short video of a courageous rescue of a drowning young girl. Wonderful effort by the trooper!

The Oregonian's article was written by Nick Daschel and is titled "Cost of rebuilding Pac-12 using Mountain West schools could exceed $50 million in fees". Link here:

The world according to Nick Daschel

Inside this article is an attached document titled "The Mountain West-PAC-12 Scheduling Agreement".

I understand that some members of this forum may not be able to access The Oregonian's website. Sorry in advance. It may take a day or two before we're able to find this article copied somewhere else.

as their next head coach? His Louis Vuitton bags are already packed..

One can only hope. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/c...-kalen-deboer-replacing-nick-saban-at-alabama

"Secondly, the Huskies very easily could have gone 8-4 this year. They provided perhaps the most entertaining season in Seattle sports history, but not because they were dominant. They barely escaped Arizona State, Stanford and Washington State "

Softy is my new favorite person

I don't think this is a big surprise, but apparently it's official...

https://sports.yahoo.com/report-ala...r-17-seasons-with-crimson-tide-221300348.html