My big question now is

[CougPatrol]

Do I send my son to WSU? He's heading into his senior year and has the grades to go anywhere in-state that he chooses, including UW. He's always to go to WSU, but with so many looming questions, I feel compelled to open up his recruitment, so to speak.

Dammit!

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

dafuq are you on about? Is this supposed to be parody?

 

[PeteTheChop]

Do I send my son to WSU? He's heading into his senior year and has the grades to go anywhere in-state that he chooses, including UW. He's always to go to WSU, but with so many looming questions, I feel compelled to open up his recruitment, so to speak.

Dammit!

First off CP, congratulations on your son's handling of his academic load well enough to attend the university or college of his choice!

Question: Is he planning on playing Division I sports for the Cougs?

Whether it's the Pac-12, Big 12 or some other conference, WSU should be able to hold its own — just like it pretty much always has done.

Don't believe that will change regardless of what Colorado or any other school might do as far as leaving the Pac-12

 

[CougPatrol]

dafuq are you on about? Is this supposed to be parody?

Not sure what you mean? I've got a high school senior to be and I'm now having reservations about the short-term viability of WSU.

Will WSU even be playing football in 2024? Is that not a fair question?

 

[CougPatrol]

Question: Is he planning on playing Division I sports for the Cougs?

Not unless the NCAA adds Call of Duty as a D1 sport.

 

[PeteTheChop]

Not sure what you mean? I've got a high school senior to be and I'm now having reservations about the short-term viability of WSU.

Will WSU even be playing football in 2024? Is that not a fair question?

Where is this coming from?

Haven't heard anyone say anything about getting rid of football after this coming season

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Not sure what you mean? I've got a high school senior to be and I'm now having reservations about the short-term viability of WSU.

Will WSU even be playing football in 2024? Is that not a fair question?

Maybe send him to the school thats going to give him the best degree for what he wants to do later in his life, regardless of if its UW or WSU. If not having a football program to watch on saturdays is that big of a deal then he can always transfer to Eastern or Central.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Do I send my son to WSU? He's heading into his senior year and has the grades to go anywhere in-state that he chooses, including UW. He's always to go to WSU, but with so many looming questions, I feel compelled to open up his recruitment, so to speak.

Dammit!

He needs to open his recruitment up with a Notes app screenshot and a "please respect my decision." (JK)

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Patrol, I have no idea what interests your son, but perhaps this is relevant. I actually had lunch with the dean of the engineering school yesterday. We had a long chat about the focus of the program. I was happy to hear that it is more along the lines of the Cal Poly's than the UC's here; I have a son who went through UCSD in ME and I frankly thought my WSU education prepared me better for that "real world" that we often discuss. I recruit from the Poly's (SLO and Pomona) far more than the UC's for that reason. I think our current dean "gets it". UW, by contrast, for the past 45 years at least, has been (like the UC's) more focused on preparing kids for grad school and using grad student teachers in undergrad classes while the prof's work their research machinery. Were I in WA now, there is no question in my mind what I'd recommend to kids looking at engineering/computer science as a career.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Not sure what you mean? I've got a high school senior to be and I'm now having reservations about the short-term viability of WSU.

Will WSU even be playing football in 2024? Is that not a fair question?

Asking if WSU will be playing football in 2024 is absolutely not a good question.

Now, is it possible that the Pac-12 itself will cease to exist as a conference in the next year or so? It's possible, especially with the dipsticks that are running the clown show. Because they "had no urgency" in closing the media rights deal, I'm pretty sure that anyone can bail with limited consequences.

WSU will still have football. My guess is that if everything goes to actual hell in a handbasket, we will be in the Mountain West pretty quickly....or whatever remains of the Pac-12 will start quickly adding MWC teams.

There's an outside shot that the Pac-12 tries to talk the Big 12 into a merger, although that's less likely to be accepted than it would have been a year ago. Regardless, WSU football will still be a thing.

 

[CougPatrol]

Patrol, I have no idea what interests your son, but perhaps this is relevant. I actually had lunch with the dean of the engineering school yesterday. We had a long chat about the focus of the program. I was happy to hear that it is more along the lines of the Cal Poly's than the UC's here; I have a son who went through UCSD in ME and I frankly thought my WSU education prepared me better for that "real world" that we often discuss. I recruit from the Poly's (SLO and Pomona) far more than the UC's for that reason. I think our current dean "gets it". UW, by contrast, for the past 45 years at least, has been (like the UC's) more focused on preparing kids for grad school and using grad student teachers in undergrad classes while the prof's work their research machinery. Were I in WA now, there is no question in my mind what I'd recommend to kids looking at engineering/computer science as a career.

Oh yes, without question. I was sort of being tongue-in-cheek with my post, but there's also some embedded truth there. My boys were born into the WSU tailgaiting life. I've had a Beasley Pass since they were born (they were easy to get back in the Doba/Wulff days), so their association with WSU has been centered around the game weekends. Driving over from Seattle, going to dinner, riding scooters and playing catch in the RV lot, etc.

Only one of my sons is considering WSU. His twin brother is a hipster, so Western WA is calling out to him. My potentially WSU bound son will likely major in Business. International, Marketing, not certain yet. That's what I do, and he see's how cushy my job is. LOL I agree with you though. Engineering and Computer Science are top career paths. So too are specialized sales and marketing positions. If you're bi-lingual and a good communicator (most kids today aren't), you can make serious money in sales and marketing. Same is true for science backgrounds. A well-spoken Biology or Chemistry major with an MBA won't have to look hard for a high paying career.

 

[dgibbons]

Do I send my son to WSU? He's heading into his senior year and has the grades to go anywhere in-state that he chooses, including UW. He's always to go to WSU, but with so many looming questions, I feel compelled to open up his recruitment, so to speak.

Dammit!

The problems with the conference coinciding with WSU's own problems is a double kick to the groin.

For whatever it's worth, my son is a junior and loves it.

 

[dgibbons]

Asking if WSU will be playing football in 2024 is absolutely not a good question.

Now, is it possible that the Pac-12 itself will cease to exist as a conference in the next year or so? It's possible, especially with the dipsticks that are running the clown show. Because they "had no urgency" in closing the media rights deal, I'm pretty sure that anyone can bail with limited consequences.

WSU will still have football. My guess is that if everything goes to actual hell in a handbasket, we will be in the Mountain West pretty quickly....or whatever remains of the Pac-12 will start quickly adding MWC teams.

There's an outside shot that the Pac-12 tries to talk the Big 12 into a merger, although that's less likely to be accepted than it would have been a year ago. Regardless, WSU football will still be a thing.

I can't conclude there was a lack of urgency. My sense is that the conference was getting squeezed and couldn't figure a way out of it. Too many schools not committing to stick meant/means the conference couldn't promise TV markets to the broadcasters who in turn wouldn't commit to the dollar amounts necessary to shore up the commitments from the schools, all coming on the heels of the Larry Scott shit show.

 

[wsudefense]

Gonzaga

 

[PeteTheChop]

Colorado is supposedly officially making up there minds today between staying or leaving for the Big 12

 

[M-I-Coug]

I've groomed my daughter all things Washington State since she's been a toddler. Now she is 20. She's been to Pullman many, many times.

A couple of years ago, I took her to an Oregon game at Husky Stadium, so she can see the U-Dub and their stadium, a day with her dad, and to check out the UW campus, Red Square, and Suzzallo Library. She fell in love with the UW.

She's been accepted to Washington State, but will be transferring from Bellevue College to the UW in 2025. Why? It's a better fit for her. Closer to home, a stronger school, and she can continue to work 40 hours a week. In addition, the UW looks better on the resume, regarding strength of academic reputation. This is what's important to her. Kind of like Stanford and Harvard has a stronger name.

On the flip side, she's probably going to be promoted to an Assistant Manager at a large retail clothing chain. She's been working there for 3 years, is a lead now, works 40 hours a week and goes to Bellevue College full time. UW doesn't offer online courses for an undergraduate degree. WSU does.

If she gets promoted and stays with her retail job, she can go to WSU and get her degree online, while continuing to work. She doesn't need to work, but she likes to work, likes to earn money, and it pays her car expenses, and her spending money. She also saves her money.

So she may go to WSU online and work full time, or go to UW Seattle, and earn a degree from (on paper) a better academic school, with one of the worst school colors and logos in the USA.

In summary: Let your kid make his or her own decision, then support that decision.

 

[PeteTheChop]

I can't conclude there was a lack of urgency. My sense is that the conference was getting squeezed and couldn't figure a way out of it. Too many schools not committing to stick meant/means the conference couldn't promise TV markets to the broadcasters who in turn wouldn't commit to the dollar amounts necessary to shore up the commitments from the schools, all coming on the heels of the Larry Scott shit show.

D-Gib,

Don't you feel that having Schulz chairing the Executive Committee can potentially be a difference-maker in the TV and streaming negotiations?

Klaitkoff and the lady president from UW (whom Dr. Schulz replaced) come across as know-nothings as far as big-time College Sports go, but Schulz has been in this environment for a long time

 

[Suudy]

Patrol, I have no idea what interests your son, but perhaps this is relevant. I actually had lunch with the dean of the engineering school yesterday. We had a long chat about the focus of the program. I was happy to hear that it is more along the lines of the Cal Poly's than the UC's here; I have a son who went through UCSD in ME and I frankly thought my WSU education prepared me better for that "real world" that we often discuss. I recruit from the Poly's (SLO and Pomona) far more than the UC's for that reason. I think our current dean "gets it". UW, by contrast, for the past 45 years at least, has been (like the UC's) more focused on preparing kids for grad school and using grad student teachers in undergrad classes while the prof's work their research machinery. Were I in WA now, there is no question in my mind what I'd recommend to kids looking at engineering/computer science as a career.

While I haven't have any recent meetings with any of the EECS faculty in the last decade or so, my evaluations of candidates coming out of WSU show this to be true.

Certainly when I was in undergrad at WSU in the early '90s, it was clearly preparation for graduate school. Heavily focused on theory, with almost zero examples of practical applications. When I was about 5 years out of school, interviewing WSU applicants still had that highly theoretical aspect to their schooling. They could derive the equations to bias a transistor, but they couldn't figure out how to design a circuit. Interestingly, the UofI graduates killed it in interviews and became productive much quicker. Looking back, I was fortunate to have a semester long co-op at a company to bring the theoretical and practical together.

But now, 30 years later, I can saw the WSU applicants are far less theoretical and more practical. They can answer real world engineering questions. I think the addition of the senior design project (which didn't exist when I was there) that leverages mentors from the private sector has helped with this.

But I will say that if one wants to go to graduate school (especially in some fields such as power systems and communications), WSU was the place to be 20+ years ago. Now, I'm not so sure. If you want to get into a quality (Wisconsin, UCLA--not MIT or Berkeley) graduate school, I wouldn't bet on an undergraduate degree from WSU, no matter how smart or hard working you are.

And looking back, in my program (EE), I never had an graduate student teaching the class. The grad students teaching the labs, but never the class. And in the upper division classes, there was nobody in the lab--just us students. And when I was in graduate school, I only ran lower level labs.

 

[Wazzubrooz]

All PAC-12 so-called leadership is completely clueless.

 

[Cougsocal]

If your son feels like he is being coerced in attending WSU, it is recipe for disaster. We all love WSU, but it is his life and dreams. Hopefully, WSU is his school of choice, and he develops the same love of the place we have. But the more you meddle and try to influence, the less likely that will be. I'll be crossing my fingers for you. Personally, none of my 4 that have attended college so far had anywhere near the same great college experience I had at WSU, and the Cougs remain everyone's favorite team, never though they are also, A Bear, Bruin, Banana Slug and Mustang, respectively.

 

[PeteTheChop]

Personally, none of my 4 that have attended college so far had anywhere near the same great college experience I had at WSU, and the Cougs remain everyone's favorite team, never though they are also, A Bear, Bruin, Banana Slug and Mustang, respectively.

Cal, UCLA, US-Santa Cruz and Cal Poly-SLO ... is that right?

Wow!

I'm not a college expert like 425 or Ed or some of the other posters here, but that's four prestigious universities from the little I know.

Congrats to you and your family SoCal.

Hope you're still not eating PB&J sandwiches 5 days a week while you pay off your kids' college bills

 

[mikalalas]

I can't conclude there was a lack of urgency. My sense is that the conference was getting squeezed and couldn't figure a way out of it. Too many schools not committing to stick meant/means the conference couldn't promise TV markets to the broadcasters who in turn wouldn't commit to the dollar amounts necessary to shore up the commitments from the schools, all coming on the heels of the Larry Scott shit show.

If the conference leadership had 1. Added SDSU, SMU, UNLV. 2. Then done a ACC/PAC JOINT SCHEDULING MEDIA ALLIANCE. 3. The PAC leadership would then have gotten about 36 mil to 38 mil to 40 mil per team deal, which would have made everybody in the PAC HAPPY.

The Leadership had SDSU, SMU, UNLV ready to go. The Leadership had a alliance with ACC pretty much done, but just didn't FINALIZE it.

Instead the MORONIC leadership stupidly chose not to get SDSU, SMU, first, to try to leverage a better deal. And they chose not to do a Alliance with the ACC before trying to get a media deal.

No, instead they stupidly insisted on not doing things to leverage a better deal, and decided to try to get a unleveraged deal first, with no leverage, bargaining power, and wanted the 37 mil per team deal, instead of a 22 mil per team deal, without having to do things like doing the alliance, expanding, etc, to leverage, get the 37 mil per team deal.

That's on them and their stupidity, not on the media, etc.

 

[PeteTheChop]

If the conference leadership had 1. Added SDSU, SMU, UNLV. 2. Then done a ACC/PAC JOINT SCHEDULING MEDIA ALLIANCE. 3. The PAC leadership would then have gotten about 36 mil to 38 mil to 40 mil per team deal, which would have made everybody in the PAC HAPPY.

The Leadership had SDSU, SMU, UNLV ready to go. The Leadership had a alliance with ACC pretty much done, but just didn't FINALIZE it.

Instead the MORONIC leadership stupidly chose not to get SDSU, SMU, first, to try to leverage a better deal. And they chose not to do a Alliance with the ACC before trying to get a media deal.

No, instead they stupidly insisted on not doing things to leverage a better deal, and decided to try to get a unleveraged deal first, with no leverage, bargaining power, and wanted the 37 mil per team deal, instead of a 22 mil per team deal, without having to do things like doing the alliance, expanding, etc, to leverage, get the 37 mil per team deal.

That's on them and their stupidity, not on the media, etc.

Good points Mik.

Klaitkoff's inexperience may be showing

 

[mikalalas]

Good points Mik.

Klaitkoff's inexperience may be showing

And not just the commish, but ALL the presidents, leadership, etc, including Schultz.

They ALL screwed up extremely bad.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

If your son feels like he is being coerced in attending WSU, it is recipe for disaster. We all love WSU, but it is his life and dreams. Hopefully, WSU is his school of choice, and he develops the same love of the place we have. But the more you meddle and try to influence, the less likely that will be. I'll be crossing my fingers for you. Personally, none of my 4 that have attended college so far had anywhere near the same great college experience I had at WSU, and the Cougs remain everyone's favorite team, never though they are also, A Bear, Bruin, Banana Slug and Mustang, respectively.

My son went to Wichita State (better fit for an Aerospace Engineering degree) and my daughter is pursuing a ChemE degree at the Colorado School of Mines. I was disappointed when my daughter decided to pass on WSU after she had been accepted and had a great campus visit...but she is happy with her choice.

She met a new boyfriend at Mines and because of that, she got to spend Summer 2022 selling bikinis on the north shore of Kauai. Every time I talk to someone about here attending Mines, they say, "that's a great engineering school!" When I say that I went to Washington State, they ask if that's the school that Ryan Leaf played at.

They are very happy with their decisions and I know that my daughter in particular would have been disappointed if we had not supported her decision.

FWIW, football is a relatively small part of the college experience for the majority of WSU students. About 1/3rd of WSU students go to every WSU game.....but the rest just make it when they feel like it. Most of my friends from my time at WSU have not been to campus since graduation and only a couple made it to a game when they go there.

 

[CougPatrol]

If your son feels like he is being coerced in attending WSU, it is recipe for disaster. We all love WSU, but it is his life and dreams. Hopefully, WSU is his school of choice, and he develops the same love of the place we have. But the more you meddle and try to influence, the less likely that will be. I'll be crossing my fingers for you. Personally, none of my 4 that have attended college so far had anywhere near the same great college experience I had at WSU, and the Cougs remain everyone's favorite team, never though they are also, A Bear, Bruin, Banana Slug and Mustang, respectively.

No, not at all. He's in love with WSU. What I meant to say is that I feel bad because the WSU he fell in love with (tailgating on football weekends) is likely gone now.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

The problems with the conference coinciding with WSU's own problems is a double kick to the groin.

For whatever it's worth, my son is a junior and loves it.

Is he following your path into law?

 

[Flatlandcoug]

No, not at all. He's in love with WSU. What I meant to say is that I feel bad because the WSU he fell in love with (tailgating on football weekends) is likely gone now.

There honestly will be very little difference for WSU fans even if we aren't playing the same opponents. If we play our cards right, we might find out that we enjoy more success and fans actually have more fun.

 

[CougPatrol]

There honestly will be very little difference for WSU fans even if we aren't playing the same opponents. If we play our cards right, we might find out that we enjoy more success and fans actually have more fun.

If the NCAA (with help from Congress) reels in the NIL and portal free for all, playing in a MWC hybrid league wouldn't be a terrible thing for us.

For example, one of the suggestions being kicked around congressionally involves putting guard rails on the type of NIL payouts that a player can receive, and more importantly for smaller programs like ours, athletes would only be able to transfer and play right away after completing their first three years of academic eligibility. Exceptions to this would include a death in the player’s family or a head coach or position coach leaving the school.

Restrictions on the ability to transfer and play immediately would give schools like WSU an opportunity to find and develop the "diamond in the rough" kids and stay reasonably competitive with the pay-for-play blue bloods. I don't know when this is going to happen, but I'm confident that it will. Damn near every prominent coach and AD in college football have spoken out against the current unregulated system.

As Biggs and others have said, put scholarship restrictions in place and tighten up the transfer rules. Let programs like WSU go out and find a kid like Cam Ward or Gardner Minshew and keep them on campus for a 2-3 years. Give high school recruits something to consider besides the promise of NIL money. Do you want to goto UCLA as a fringe WR and get buried on the depth chart, or come to WSU and play as a freshman? Develop your skills, build some tape, and THEN go for a portal payout 3-years down the line. At least that's a scenario where smaller programs can compete.

 

[roses04]

Do I send my son to WSU? He's heading into his senior year and has the grades to go anywhere in-state that he chooses, including UW. He's always to go to WSU, but with so many looming questions, I feel compelled to open up his recruitment, so to speak.

Dammit!

Send him my to Gonzaga, he can follow their football program.

OMG people calm down, WSU will continue to have D1 sports

As for your son,have him choose a school that is best for him and his future plans, and place that makes him feel comfortable. “Has the grades to get into UW”. I know of several friends kids that had a 3.95 GPA or higher, participated in ASB, sports and other activities and they didn’t get into the UW. So unless you have an acceptance letter it is not a sure thing

 

[CougPatrol]

This article pertains to college basketball, but obviously there's similar overlap with college football. I'm typically not optimistic about positive legislative change, but I think in this case, everyone realizes that you can't have an unregulated open market; particularly when we're talking about 17-22 year old kids and a disparity between payouts to football players vs. women's tennis, volleyball, etc. Something is going to change.

NIL / Transfer burnout

 

[Cougini5591]

Do I send my son to WSU? He's heading into his senior year and has the grades to go anywhere in-state that he chooses, including UW. He's always to go to WSU, but with so many looming questions, I feel compelled to open up his recruitment, so to speak.

Dammit!

I guess it depends if he still has gnads

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

If the NCAA (with help from Congress) reels in the NIL and portal free for all, playing in a MWC hybrid league wouldn't be a terrible thing for us.

For example, one of the suggestions being kicked around congressionally involves putting guard rails on the type of NIL payouts that a player can receive, and more importantly for smaller programs like ours, athletes would only be able to transfer and play right away after completing their first three years of academic eligibility. Exceptions to this would include a death in the player’s family or a head coach or position coach leaving the school.

Restrictions on the ability to transfer and play immediately would give schools like WSU an opportunity to find and develop the "diamond in the rough" kids and stay reasonably competitive with the pay-for-play blue bloods. I don't know when this is going to happen, but I'm confident that it will. Damn near every prominent coach and AD in college football have spoken out against the current unregulated system.

As Biggs and others have said, put scholarship restrictions in place and tighten up the transfer rules. Let programs like WSU go out and find a kid like Cam Ward or Gardner Minshew and keep them on campus for a 2-3 years. Give high school recruits something to consider besides the promise of NIL money. Do you want to goto UCLA as a fringe WR and get buried on the depth chart, or come to WSU and play as a freshman? Develop your skills, build some tape, and THEN go for a portal payout 3-years down the line. At least that's a scenario where smaller programs can compete.

I don't know why those kinds of restrictions would hold up in court.

 

[COUGinNCW]

The problems with the conference coinciding with WSU's own problems is a double kick to the groin.

For whatever it's worth, my son is a junior and loves it.

Field of study?
I’ve got a daughter going off to college next year majoring in - “undecided”.

 

[CougPatrol]

I don't know why those kinds of restrictions would hold up in court.

Restrictions on the revolving door transfer scenario should, and I think, will be allowable by the NCAA. Nobody would be saying that players can't transfer whenever they want or however many times they want, but the NCAA seems justified to establish a provision that states players cannot transfer and compete for another program without sitting out a full season (at minimum). I think it should be 2 seasons for incoming freshmen.

I have a non-compete with my company. I can't up and leave to one of our competitors for a period of 2 years.

 

[PeteTheChop]

I have a non-compete with my company. I can't up and leave to one of our competitors for a period of 2 years.

Would that sort of policy be applicable if the "student-athletes" are not employees?

 

[dgibbons]

D-Gib,

Don't you feel that having Schulz chairing the Executive Committee can potentially be a difference-maker in the TV and streaming negotiations?

Klaitkoff and the lady president from UW (whom Dr. Schulz replaced) come across as know-nothings as far as big-time College Sports go, but Schulz has been in this environment for a long time

No.

 

[dgibbons]

Field of study?
I’ve got a daughter going off to college next year majoring in - “undecided”.

Well, he's on the third major which is currently humanities. He may have one more change in him. I've suggested communications several times. I think he'd like the production side. He's one of volunteer DJs for KUGR.

 

[dgibbons]

Is he following your path into law?

Highly unlikely.

 

[95coug]

Restrictions on the revolving door transfer scenario should, and I think, will be allowable by the NCAA. Nobody would be saying that players can't transfer whenever they want or however many times they want, but the NCAA seems justified to establish a provision that states players cannot transfer and compete for another program without sitting out a full season (at minimum). I think it should be 2 seasons for incoming freshmen.

I have a non-compete with my company. I can't up and leave to one of our competitors for a period of 2 years.

As long as players are not considered employees, and football is a voluntary activity, rules regarding participation should be up to the NCAA and the schools. They should be able to put restrictions on eligibility post-transfer...although they can't have authority over the transfer itself.

Not sure where you are, but non-compete agreements have limited enforceability in Washington. I had one with a previous employer, which he tried to invoke when I left. But, he had inserted it into a revised employment agreement when he was giving a performance-based salary increase and revoking our profit-sharing arrangement. It was considered unenforceable because WA requires compensation for the non-compete itself. In other words, he should have given me the performance increase and then added something on top of that for limiting my options to leave. Since he was actually taking money away from me, his attorney told him there was zero chance a court would back it.

Funny thing was, I wasn't even leaving for a competitor. I was just leaving.