Saturday was step one in building a winning culture

[ttowncoug]

First off, my voice is still gone.

Second, fans including the students need to know that we can directly effect the outcome of a game. The Utah game was a prime example of a nearly full stadium with a few thousand existing fans at halftime. I think the crowd was huge factor in the first half that rattled Oregon.

How many big time SEC schools vacate at half time when your team is in the game? To be a perennial winning program, fans need to be at the stadium making noise. I just don't get it but think apart of it is just we haven't had a winning culture so fans don't know what they don't know.

Second, support. The environment we saw and Saturday a few years ago was a pipe dream. Bill Moos gets all the credit for laying the foundation. That whipping of Oregon, on prime time TV, was a thing of beauty. We need fan support. We need school support. I believe it's a 50/50 investment.

The students started partying for game day early on Friday. Everyone was amped up. To say that WSU (and the students) shouldn't directly or indirectly support athletics is foolish. The exposure we got, as Chun said, is reason alone why we need Schulz to invest resources into this program.

To all fellow die hards. Time to rally the troops. We had this feeling back in the early 2000's. We lost it because of foolish decisions and/or inaction by our athletic dept and President. We can't relive the past.

 

[Coug90]

I think step one of building a winning culture was taken some time ago looking at what has transpired over the past few years. I’d rephrase that to say that Saturday was a step taken towards building a dominant program. Big time national champion contending programs can be built in places like Pullman. Gotta take advantage of this momentum, donors, ticket sales, recruiting, further growth of facilities, etc. everyone needs to play a part.

 

[SDCoug]

How many big time SEC schools vacate at half time when your team is in the game?

I'm sure I'll get some grief from this comment... hell, some of it may be deserved.

Most schools do not have in/out privileges as we do at WSU. They don't exist at The Collesium. In fact, the only one off the top of my head that still allows this in the Pac-12 (I could be wrong as it's been a while for a few stadiums) are the Beavs. Most schools won't let you back in. I wonder what happens at Coug games if re-entry isn't an option?

 

[Coug90]

I'm sure I'll get some grief from this comment... hell, some of it may be deserved.

Most schools do not have in/out privileges as we do at WSU. They don't exist at The Collesium. In fact, the only one off the top of my head that still allows this in the Pac-12 (I could be wrong as it's been a while for a few stadiums) are the Beavs. Most schools won't let you back in. I wonder what happens at Coug games if re-entry isn't an option?

Didn’t realize that was the case. Reentry shouldn’t be allowed then. I like drinking as much as the next guy but when I go to a game I stay in the stadium. Should be easy enough for anyone to pre-funk to keep the buzz going 4 hours. If not then sneak some shit in!

If you want to see the impact a fan base can have over 60 minutes of football look no further than Saturday. If lots of people had bailed at half when it appeared over we may not have had the stadium energy to help the team win. I was unable to go but props to all who stayed the full 60 minutes. It made a difference!

 

[CougPatrol]

Get your point, but step one (in my Coug lifetime) was beating UW in 1982. Since then, it’s been a slow, sometimes glacial progression. RPM, Dennis Erickson, Price, Bledsoe, Posse, 1997, Gesser, USC 2002, Rien Long/Outland Trophy, 2nd Rose Bowl, 3 10-win seasons, Ol’ Crimson, jolt back to reality with Doba and Wulff, Leach, and now Game Day.

Overall, considering our resources, our program has been an absolute blast to follow. The lows have made these highs all the sweeter.

 

[ttowncoug]

Re-entry is allowed so you can go to Cougville, IMO. I think you could have a section (beer garden) where only re-entry is allowed.

Again, call to arms. We have to build on Saturday and not view this as a "one time" thing. We can have Game Day on campus regularly. Those guys loved it. It looked great on TV. Friends on the east coast were texting saying it looked and sounded like a rock concert.

It's all about establishing the WSU brand. We did a good job last weekend. Next up: Stanford. Tough team, tough game, but we've beaten them.

Let's win out and go to the Rose Bowl. Leach for national coach of the year. It's within site. This team and program needs us. Rally the Nor Cal troops and make Stanford Cougar friendly.

 

[rity]

I think the importance of the fans need to be stated on the jumbotron at the beginning of the games.

When I was first attending football games, I didn't know I was supposed to make noise when the opponent's offense was on the field.

Therefore, the importance of the students/fans in making noise to disrupt the other team should be explicitly indicated the importance of the students/fans. If this is done, I believe more people will stay and make noise because they feel like they are needed/important.

 

[425cougfan]

Great post. People will pick at "step one" -- I was about to myself -- but if viewed in the way I think you intended, that fans need to build off of that showing on Saturday rather than to treat it as a one-off event, then I agree wholeheartedly. I don't think we will, nor do I think we are unique as a fan base in having this problem (even if it affects us disproportionately due to the in-out policy and some lingering effects of culture), but somehow being able to keep Martin packed all game would be huge for the prospects of the team going forward.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

I think step one of building a winning culture was taken some time ago looking at what has transpired over the past few years. I’d rephrase that to say that Saturday was a step taken towards building a dominant program. Big time national champion contending programs can be built in places like Pullman. Gotta take advantage of this momentum, donors, ticket sales, recruiting, further growth of facilities, etc. everyone needs to play a part.

Gotta agree with 90 here......step one happened a long time before last Saturday.

2012
Step 1: Hiring Mike Leach
2013
Step 2: Getting to a bowl game
2015
Step 3: Beating Oregon to prove that we could contend with anyone in the conference
Step 4: Beating Miami in the Sun Bowl to prove that we could beat a Power 5 team in a bowl game and finish with at least 9 wins for the first time in 12 years.
2016
Step 5: Making it a streak against Oregon
Step 6: Beating Stanford the next week to cement the fact that WSU was going to be contending for the North every year
Step 7: Winning eight in a row to show that we could put together a winning streak and beat (most) of the teams that we are supposed to beat.
2017
Step 8: Beat Montana State to end the silly season opener losing streak.
Step 9: Beating BSU in exhilarating fashion (RIP #3)
Step 10: Beating USC on a Friday night in exciting fashion in front of a national audience. (2.8 million people watched that game)
Step 11: Making it a 3 game streak against the Ducks. (they were 4-1 and thought they were back....sounds familiar)
Step 12: Destroyed Colorado 28-0 to post our first conference shutout in 23 years and their first shutout loss in 5 years.
Step 13: Beat Stanford to make it a streak against them
Step 14: Beat Utah to make it back to back years where the Apple Cup determined the North Champion.
2018
Step 15: Beat Utah to make it four straight wins over the Utes
Step 16: Not choke against Oregon State in a trap game to set up our Gameday appearance
Step 17: Beat the Ducks to tell the nation that it's WSU and not Oregon who has the best chance of winning the Pac-12 North and perhaps make the playoffs.

So, as stated by Coug90.......we started building a winning culture and taking steps to be a top team in the conference a long time ago. There have been some steps back along the way and moments of regret, but the number of steps forward far outnumber the missteps since Leach has taken over as coach.