Those oldsters on the south side will love it. Easier to get in and out. More RV parking available. Can let Rolo go in a couple years and bring in a "real northwest guy" like Beau Baldwin so WSU can go 4-8, give UW "all it can handle" in the Apple Cup with trick plays and other BS, and allow a lot of time for drinking since you don't really have to watch the game.
No, oldsters have been to the promised land, the Rose Bowl, twice. When you have done that, while beat the Dawgs in Montlake, a 2/3 empty "Holiday" Bowl after getting blown out by the Dawgs feels like getting sh*t in your Christmas stocking. I would trade the NM, Cheez it and Holiday bowl appearances for one meaningful win over the Dawgs and another Pac-12 championship any day. Here is an analogy that might help explain it to you fans that haven't had the good fortune of witnessing the Cougs win the Pac-12 . Winning a gold medal in the Olympic just once, in a career otherwise fraught with failure, is far better than making the Olympic finals 4 times, but failing medal.
"Oldsters" was a bit of a loaded term. Not all fans over a certain age are big fans of lovable losers and don't really know what's going on. Just a lot, based on my time in the stands there.
I said when Rolo was hired he was likely Mike Price with a lower ceiling and much larger floor.
Maybe Banker, but none of these coaches would have their heart and soul into taking over. It would be a continued disaster anyway you cut it.
No. It does no good to have a lame duck coach. Cut bait and move on. He’s clearly not up to the task…and from my point of view he doesn’t seem to give a shit. You may keep him around the rest of the season, but the search starts now.
Fixed it for you.
I disagree with you completely. When he’s in the game, the entire offense picks up. When he’s not, we look like slugs.
Damn. I respectfully disagree with everything here. Were you at the game? He was throwing rockets on the money. On time and accurate on the toughest of routes - long out routes. There was one ball in the first half that he missed on badly. Total command of the offense. Absolutely the leader of the offense which showed when he went down. He had no business limping back in the game when it was not going to be salvageable at that point. Another stupid decision by Rolo. Had the ball been caught in the EZ, USC may have mailed it in…probably 21/28-0 at half.
That’s not a high bar.
Yes, I was there. Two drives ended in the end zone. One of those was a 6 minute drive that looked pretty good for the most part. But there was still a lack of consistency and a degree of panic from him. Plus he was getting some yards from the run game. After that, we started ignoring the run, and the wheels came off.
Yeah, but a third should have if his receiver catches a ball that hits him in the hands. There’s going to be some rough patches and on the field learning he’s basically a RS Freshman. I see a pretty consistent improvement from game 1 to 3. He shouldn’t have been out there in the 2nd half. I’m not saying you name him the starter for the next 3 years but I like what I’ve got if he gets any decent coaching. That I’m not confident in.
What is the real value we are seeing in going to a bowl game every year. Part of what we are seeing today is because Leach left a ton of holes because of his recruiting. When you stack up his third recruiting class for example with a guy who had no success here and the guy with no success had a much better recruiting class says a lot.
In brief, I think going to a bowl every year has its virtues because it is one of the few ways WSU's image will change in the longer run. Even then, it wouldn't necessarily work. As we have seen, even a top-10 finish at WSU and going 11-2 doesn't really matter in terms of changing the narrative around the program. Winning the conference is another matter, but I feel like in today's world, if WSU was 6-7, 8-5, won the Pac-12 but lost the Rose Bowl, then was 7-6, the conference championship year would just be thrown out as a fluke.
Fantastic post and points. Also, I think there an easier path to the “under radar kids”. Every play of every high school game is online now, you just gotta do the work. This “culture” bullshit is such a cop out for a lazy POS that doesn’t want to do his job and never did. There was and is plenty of talent here. There’s plenty of opportunity to bring in talent with the improvements to the stadium, FOB, and past 6-7 years of relative success. The right group of 3 stars will compete just fine against a collection of premadona 4 and 5 stars that are poorly coached. Happens every Saturday in CFB.
Did you see that 3-star QB play last night? There’s no justice if he’s not a player of the week. He willed his team to a win, and then carried them to it.
In the end, it falls on the HC, but Leach also had all of his top assistants and best recruiters poached. Mastro, Big Joe, Wilson, McGuire, Mele, Simmons, Manning, Grinch all poached within a few years. That’s just off the top of my head. I know there were a few more
a classic corporate business move, no doubt instigated by Phil Knight, poach competitors talent to weaken them and it worked. we aren't far from the Wulff era right now
All of the recruiters were there I believe in 14 and that was the start of decline in recruiting .
There is a two word response to the, "how can WSU recruit in the modern world with all the disadvantages stacked against it?," wailing and gnashing of teeth. Those two words are "Kyle Smith." We have more talent, top to bottom, now on the basketball team than at any time since Raveling, 40 years ago. Whether he can coach these kids to success is yet to be seen, but the man has blown up the you can't recruit to Pullman narrative.
So Leach had 1.5 classes in your mind, and then the decline began?
It is getting the right mix. Price didn't sign only 4-5 star kids. It was some 4-5 star kids (Bledsoe), it was some talented, but troubled kids (Leaf), some under the radar kids (Derting and Darling), as well as the overachievers (Gleason) and generally quality above the radar kids (Gesser). Throw in a heap of luck and bam your considered the top dog, AKA 2002.
I stand corrected, Volero and Breske were fired. Simmons was around, Wilson, Mastro, Joe S....the 13 class was the foundation of the program.
Oh, I forgot about Graham Harrell as well.
That was the strategy on the OL. Wulff tried to recruit 2-3 a year. 2 or 3 x 5 classes on campus at once = 10-12 good OL every season, right? No way. Leach realized he had to throw 5 schollies a year at it. Just by the numbers, that means some guys aren't going to play. But, the guys that DID make it? I'd say Leach probably recruited the OL better than any coach we've had in recent memory. Dahl was in the league, Dillard was a 1st rounder, Abe is going to the league, Madison had a cup of coffee, O'Connell was an All American, then you've got just solid guys like Ryan, Sorenson, Watson, Mauigoa.
I never said Leach's Oline strategy was bad, or incorrect, I said he invested a lot in that position that never played.
