Something to help ease the time to go by, while waiting for Saturday night.
Dennis Dodd catches up with Jake Dickert
- Thread starter M-I-Coug
- Start date
He is a Pullman guy and I like the Bohl influence. On the sidelines and in some limited clips, he may not appear that dynamic at first blush--and he doesn't have built-in name recognition--but he does well in press conferences and interviews like this, and I think what he's selling could play well in living rooms, too, with certainty about his position.
The best lobbying he can do besides winning, is keep talking. Refreshing.
It sure is hard not to root for the guy to get the job.
Glad Cougar
Glad Cougar
great communicator - engaging and straight shooter - a breath of fresh air in comparison to mumbling without eye contact or preferring to answer questions about Halloween candy over football topics
and apparent tireless worker - maybe even lives in Pullman year round
Coach Dickert passes the foxhole test - whom would you rather have next to you compared to the last 3 guys ?
and apparent tireless worker - maybe even lives in Pullman year round
Coach Dickert passes the foxhole test - whom would you rather have next to you compared to the last 3 guys ?
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He’s got the it factor for a coach. We are stupid to pass on him.
Good attitude? Yes. Great guy? Yes. Kids play hard for him? Yes. Walk into a room and you know he is the head coach? No. If someone acts up and he gives them the eye do they stop? No. He has zero aura around him. Nothing about him screams head coach. Watch other HCs in interviews. He is nowhere near a CEO. Maybe that’s a good thing for some people?
There is a reason Bohl told him to go and make mistakes and learn. He would hire him 8 years later. Unless he can win these games down the stretch, I feel the same. I would pass. He isn’t ready. Too much boyish energy to him.
There is a reason Bohl told him to go and make mistakes and learn. He would hire him 8 years later. Unless he can win these games down the stretch, I feel the same. I would pass. He isn’t ready. Too much boyish energy to him.
Dickert doesn't seem to care for our coug logo much. Last game nether the shirt or hat he chose to wear had it and as you can see in this interview as well. No head job until he starts wearing it more prominately is all I have to say about that.
So generally there's a compromise on everything in life, right? He checks all the boxes on EVERYTHING, except the "zero aura around him", and "nothing about him screams head coach" and that he has "boyish energy", not a Mario Cristobal or Nick Saban feel. I get it.
But you expect The Universe to drop down and give you someone who is perfect? Unless you and I walk on water, we're not perfect either!
I'd rather compromise on "boyish energy" for a coach who can and just might grow in Pullman for a decade or more. Not to mention, with Dickert, we'll probably win 7, 8, 9 games, (or more) each and every year. No more 6 games and "we're going to the Cheeze-It Bowl!"
I'll take Disneyland over Cheeze-It and so would you!
Choose your compromise, because chances are, you're not going to find the perfect candidate.
By the way Biggs, you forgot one more box to check!
You forgot to mention recruiting. He absolutely hits a home run there, right?. 1. He loves to recruit. 2. He works his butt off, and 3. Parents are going to love him, (in the family room).
Isn't that the most important role? Acquiring talent to win games?
Biggs: Choose your compromise, because you're not going to find perfection.
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So that is the only check against him ? He don’t competing against chip Kelly . And chip is sitting on wads of talent and is 10 games below .500.
There is a real estate agent I know. One of ten most successful ones in the market . Non personality . NONE. He wouldn’t be my agent , but he just grinds and grinds .
Mike Price wasn’t Don James or Terry Donahue . He wasn’t Rick N … but guess who went to two rose bowls . If Dickert sucks at talent evaluation and can’t get guys like Thornton to walk on and contribute then I worry.
Jimmy Lake was a great recruiter they say … he is already out if you believe all that are involved .
I dont disagree on a lot of what you said. It isnt going to be a perfect candidate. What are you willing to compromise on? What will the person hiring compromise on?
He is getting his ass kicked in recruiting and I am not sold that he knows what he is looking at.
You knew MP was the HC when you walked into a room. You knew Doba was the HC when you walked into a room. You sure as hell knew Leach was the HC when you walked into the room.
Dickert isnt that guy right now. And I am wildly unimpressed with the offers and verbals so far. This class has been ruined. Can he salvage it? Dunno.
I think Dickert was the best hire on the Rolo staff coming in. I disagree WSU will never find someone "perfect" and there won't be "compromise." I don't know if I agree on his "home run recruiting"...and with that I don't know if I agree on "no more 6 games (wins)" due to that...right now. I haven't seen much of a great talent list to prove me otherwise.
I'm rooting for Dickert and he's a good dude, but the next few weeks will be telling if he's the guy or not, IMO.
Win out the the kids will want THE LOGO.
And I mean December 3rd, too. Win out and the heads will roll & the tables will turn.
I would agree with Biggs in that he doesn't have that "Aura" around him, however not everyone is born with it and it is something can be be developed and earned over time. Chris Peterson is one that has aura now, one could argue he didn't have it when he was an assistant or Portland St or at Oregon, but it is something that developed over time with winning and experience, and I think it is something he can develop. It appears Dickert has great communications skills, which is key to any good coach. He took over a program after a coach was let go, that was beloved by all his players, and let's face it he was handed a crap sandwich. And he not only kept things together but actually has all the players performing at a high level. As for recruiting, that is on the previous head coach, you can't turn that around in 4 weeks. Recruiting is also a team effort, you need great assistants on staff and players and coaches that can sell the program. Right now if I am a recruit, I am not committing to WSU, because I don't know who the coach is or what they are running, and until that is established, recruiting is extremely difficult. It is refreshing to hear a coach with a positive attitude that credits his players for the success, we had a coach that blamed players for failures and had aura, remember sending the offensive line to the press conference after giving up too many sacks. Leach had aura, but there was a selfishness about him that rubbed many the wrong way, he won, so people accepted it. Dickert's style is different and refreshing, and I hope he has success in these next 3 games, because he just maybe a diamond in the rough that we lucked into.
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Nope. Too late. The relationships with recruits goes back 2 years or more. Winning a few games down the stretch, having so much turmoil and turnover on the staff, not being able to offer consistency for so long…. while WSU was dealing with its issues, other staffs werent. They were calling.
This is a two star class.
Agreed, but look around the league, are things stable at UW, Colorado, AZ,? how about ASU with possible sanctions still hanging over their head, Cal, Stanford? This years class is a problem and their isn't a quick solution, even aura won't solve that, and the 4-5 coaches that have enough aura to fix it quickly aren't coming here, because they aren't leaving where they are for one of many reason. So if you look at all the other pac 12 schools that are competing for west coast recruits, with a strong finish, next years class could be above average by WSU standards with the right people in place.
Good grief… Dona had the worse classes after coming off three straight 10 win seasons .
Wulff after traction had a third year recruiting cucle better than leach’s third year .
Give me a grinder, someone who eats sleeps and dreams about recruiting any day .
And respect comes in many different forms .
Grinding for the sake of grinding isnt going to land recruits. Relationships lands recruits. Consistency lands recruits. Turnover, turmoil, inconsistency, unknowns, all of which WSU has right now, are killing the class.
A kid with no offers in November finally gets a Pac 12 offer….. no verbal commitment. Why? Every BCS and FCS school on the West Coast has shown up at ECHS. They’ve all seen this kid. Why no offers? And when he does get one, why no commitment?
I see a lot of similarities between Dickert and Dabo Swinney, and I’m ready to roll the dice on him.
Rolo really put recruiting behind for his vax status and his unknown job status. Dickert is sort of in limbo and the majority of kids aren't going to commit to an unknown coach. Reality.
I feel Dickert has a LOT OF UPSIDE. He has the passion and determination factor I personally like and want in a head coach. To me, he presents WAY BETTER than Rolo publicly.
Trust me on this. If Dickert wins the APPLE CUP, despite this weekend, WSU will be under a ton of pressure to retain him and give him a shot.
So...start working on a favorable WSU deal -- think separation terms -- and if we don't see improvement and growth in recruitment and play, we go in another direction and we get the next guy.
I feel Dickert has a LOT OF UPSIDE. He has the passion and determination factor I personally like and want in a head coach. To me, he presents WAY BETTER than Rolo publicly.
Trust me on this. If Dickert wins the APPLE CUP, despite this weekend, WSU will be under a ton of pressure to retain him and give him a shot.
So...start working on a favorable WSU deal -- think separation terms -- and if we don't see improvement and growth in recruitment and play, we go in another direction and we get the next guy.
The time is now.
Colorado has 17 commits.
Stanford has 21 commits.
Arizona has 16 commits.
UCLA has 12 commits.
Schools with issues are landing guys. Schools without HCs are gonna struggle.
First signing date is a month from now. Waiting until after the first date to start recruiting isnt a plan for success. Its a plan for failure.
This is a mess.
This is 3 coaches in 3 seasons. Firing and hiring the next guy and having a revving door isn’t the answer.
This may not be the time to hire a guy with no head coaching experience and little P5 experience.
I dont disagree with the personality comparison.
What did Dabo’s resume look like before he was hires as HC? 8 seasons at Alabama and 5 seasons at Clemson. Dickert’s resume isnt similar.
No, but neither of them had head coaching experience and they both were hired by legendary coaches. Saban is just a little better known.
So P5 football experience has no value? Working for the bluest of blue blood programs has no value?
Bohl is not legendary.
Current rankings and recruits
Oregon ST 49- 13 recruits
USC 52-9
UW 54-10
Cal 66-10
Utah 78-8
WSU 79-9
Needless to say those aren't great numbers, but there are 4 teams on that list that are historically in the top 30, they have 10 or less recruits. WSU's number suck right now, but so do a lot of others, they came up with an earlier commitment period, but it seems like kids are waiting longer and longer to commit. WSU has a lot of recruiting obstacles to over come, and not having a head coach right now is a huge problem, and your solution is to hire a big name legendary coach. Well it's not going to happen, and it won't necessarily fix the problem. at least USC and WSU have a reason, no head coach, what's with UW ,CAL, and Utah?
Oregon ST 49- 13 recruits
USC 52-9
UW 54-10
Cal 66-10
Utah 78-8
WSU 79-9
Needless to say those aren't great numbers, but there are 4 teams on that list that are historically in the top 30, they have 10 or less recruits. WSU's number suck right now, but so do a lot of others, they came up with an earlier commitment period, but it seems like kids are waiting longer and longer to commit. WSU has a lot of recruiting obstacles to over come, and not having a head coach right now is a huge problem, and your solution is to hire a big name legendary coach. Well it's not going to happen, and it won't necessarily fix the problem. at least USC and WSU have a reason, no head coach, what's with UW ,CAL, and Utah?
Of course P5 is better Biggs, but this is WSU. Jay Norvell isn’t P5. Rolo wasn’t P5. Kyle Smith wasn’t P5. Tony Bennett wasn’t P5.
And Bohl is legendary. 3 consecutive FCS National Championships. Division championship at Wyoming. MWC coach of the year. Multiple bowl games after Wyoming hadn’t appeared in one in 5 seasons before he got there. He’s a Hall of Fame coach who chose Dickert as his DC. That’s good pedigree.
I don’t know that the weak class is Dickert’s fault, though. I love the guy, but if he walked into my living room today and asked my son to play ball at WSU, I would not make that commitment until I knew who was coaching the team in the future. That is not on Dickert. He was handed a shit sandwich on that front.
Enough. “But this is WSU.”
If you wanna think of WSU as a back of the busser job, go ahead. It isnt. And this thinking does nothing to help the school, program or brand.
Why not hire Bohl then??? He’s legendary right?
Yes. And this class will be a struggle. In fact, so will next year. As was the two years prior.
If your son had no other offers for a full ride education and one showed up, there is no thinking to be made. You take it. At best you have your school paid, you have more exposure now that your kids name hits the commitment line and you can always back out if something else you like more comes along. At worst????? What’s the downside? Which is why I ask, why no commitment?
My solution is to hire someone that has a brand name. Someone that walks in the room and people know who he is, what he has done and what schemes he runs. The job pays $4,000,000 for the right guy. For $4,000,000 fuc$ing dollars you can’t find a good ball coach??? The woe is me, trail of tears story has to stop. This is not the $600,000 for Wulff and that’s the best WSU could do.
Some of you dumb fuc$ers need to stop looking at what has gone wrong or what hurdles WSU and START looking at the great things WSU has. Last 25 years of football WSU has a resume better than half the damn conference. And here some of you turds are talking about “who would wanna coach here?” or “no one will come.” GTFO with that bullshit story.
2 Rose Bowls
1 Heisman candidate
1 Outland Trophy winner
Name for me the other Pac 12 schools that have all 3? It’s a short list. But none of them have brand names as poor as WSU.
Stop the insanity. Dont buy into other people branding WSU as lesser than. It isn’t fuc$ing true.
If we're talking to people with a brand name then great. I'll buy that all day long. It sure wasn't Rolo. And I haven't seen anyone mentioned on this board with a brand name.
If we're talking to guys that are in the, "ooh... he might be a good one..." category then screw that. I'd just as soon see what Dickert can do.
I've been excited when we've announced our head coach exactly once since I was old enough to care and I'm damn near 57 years old. That was when we hired Leach. My feelings about the rest when the hires were made?
- Walden - too young to even remember
- Erickson - crap shoot
- Price - bigger crap shoot
- Doba - a little exciting - I hope he can do it
- Wulff - WTF?
- Mike Leach - Hell yes!
- Rolo - who the f@ck is this guy? Why did we give him so much money?
Edit: Peterson was a brand name - he's not coming - has to get big endorsement deals for fuskies now
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Even getting Leach required a unique situation where he had been out of coaching for a couple of years and nobody else was ready or willing to give him a job at that point in time. Walden was a career assistant, Price came from I-AA Weber State, Doba a career assistant, Wulff from I-AA EWU, and Rolo fresh off a whopping 2 winning seasons at Hawaii. Even Erickson's resume didn't scream "brand name" when he was hired at WSU.
There's more to be proven by Dickert, and he's getting that opportunity over the next 3+ weeks. But I'm willing to give him the inside track based on his ability to bring this team together under extremely difficult conditions. And I think he's sincere about wanting the job & wanting to be in Pullman. All pluses in my book. Absolutely consider any big name coach who might be interested (As an example, Jay Norvell is not a big name coach). But if they are the John L. Smiths and Kevin Sumlins of the world, forget it.
Glad Cougar
There's more to be proven by Dickert, and he's getting that opportunity over the next 3+ weeks. But I'm willing to give him the inside track based on his ability to bring this team together under extremely difficult conditions. And I think he's sincere about wanting the job & wanting to be in Pullman. All pluses in my book. Absolutely consider any big name coach who might be interested (As an example, Jay Norvell is not a big name coach). But if they are the John L. Smiths and Kevin Sumlins of the world, forget it.
Glad Cougar
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