The proverbial hot seat has haunted Washington State University’s football coach Paul Wulff since he took over the position in 2008.
Six weeks into the 2011 season and that hot seat has cooled as much as the Palouse weather. The Cougars are 3-2, including an impressive conference victory in Colorado.
They have established themselves as an offensive force in the Pac-12, and are doing so without their all-world quarterback Jeff Tuel. At this point it could be considered an upset if the Cougars do not go bowling for the first time since 2003. The three years prior were a completely different story for Washington State.
When Wulff took charge of the Cougars they became a Pac-10 doormat. Even as recently as last season the Cougars average margin of loss was a staggering three touchdowns. And the Cougars have suffered double-digit losses in each of Wulff’s first three seasons.
And Wulff was the man the Cougar nation held responsible. However, none of the blame was warranted.
Wulff inherited a struggling program, and to use a common phrase for when a coach takes over a program deficient in talent — the cupboards were left bare. In Wulff’s case, his predecessor Bill Doba not only left the cupboard bare, but tore the cabinets from the kitchen walls and threw them into the dumpster behind Martin Stadium.
Of the 13 players that represent WSU in the National Football League, only six of them were recruited to Pullman by Doba. A confounding number considering that Doba coached WSU for five seasons (2003-2008) and was able to ride the success of WSU’s conference championship in 2002 and Holiday Bowl victory the following year.
Wulff had to save this program from the black, and he did. Three years after his takeover the Cougars have enough talent to not only compete, but to win. Of the eight players that were mentioned by the Pac-12 as All-Conference honorable mentions, six of them were recruited by Wulff.
It should come as no surprise that Washington State is a completely different football team than it was four years ago. Wulff, a former player himself at WSU, has completely changed the culture around the program.
Former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti’s name has been tossed around commonly as a coveted replacement for Wulff should a coaching change occur, but could he really do a better job?
It’s not an easy task to build a perennial winner in the Palouse. WSU doesn’t have the abundant resources or prestige as a few of their other Pacific Northwest rivals. It takes a coach who both wants to be there and who understands what the program has to offer in order to sell it. Mike Price spent more than a decade making a lot out of a little in Pullman, and has two conference championships to show for it.
It’s time to pay attention in Pullman, because that’s what Wulff has been doing for four years now.