I can also confirm that the WSU Athletic Department/Pullman central apparently made concerted efforts/decisions to cut down on interaction with Cougar fans/alumni over the years. The Cougar Club presidents were all invited to summits with the AD before a home game for several years and the presidents ALWAYS pleaded for more interaction and reaching out by the gang from Pullman. The presidents, most of whom were business men and women in their communities, begged for help with drumming up support. They pointed out that there needed to be investments made in order to receive a return, but the results were dropping more and more events as the years went on. Apparently the feeling was that a few post cards, emails, and a phone call from a student every year or two was entirely adequate. Sure, let's pay attention to the main hive in Pullman rather than listening to the movers and shakers in the communities that WSU needs the support from.
For those that may be ignorant of how it used to be, there were 11 Cougar Club golf tournaments that raised money for the AD back in late 90's into the 2000's. Whatcom, King, Pierce, Vancouver, Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Tri Cities, Spokane, Walla Walla, Pullman all had tournaments that were a lot of fun, raised money, and raised the WSU profile in those communities. All fund raising ideas that were put forward by the presidents were ignored. Got a lot of "We'll look into it and get back to you on that". Funny how that just never seemed to work out.
Should any of you be surprised that enthusiasm faded away over time?
