Wazzu World
Cougarlew is dedicated to sharing positive, factual insights and information about Washington State University athletics
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Cougarlew @Cougarlew
December 04, 2022
Wazzu News and Notes - December 4, 2022
- It's official now. Wazzu will be playing in the LA Bowl on December 17, with kickoff scheduled for 12:30pm. The Cougs opponent will be a very good Fresno State team from the Mountain West Conference. How good are the Bulldogs? They have won their last eight consecutive games. That's how good. Their last victory was in the MWC Championship game, defeating Boise State 28-16 on the Smurf Turf in Boise.
For longtime Pac-12 fans, you'll recognize the Fresno State head coach, Jeff Tedford. Tedford had a very nice run at Cal but ultimately was asked to leave in favor of Sonny Dykes. Sonny Dykes? He happens to be the head coach of TCU and is in the National Championship tournament in his first year with the Horned Frogs.
Under the leadership of Tedford, FSU has won back-to-back MWC titles. A key component to that impressive run is the experience on the team. The Bulldogs start eight seniors on offense and five seniors on defense. This group knows what it takes to win. FSU has won 19-games in the past two seasons.
With just two weeks to prepare for the LA Bowl, Dickert has his work cut out for both him and his staff to get what's left of his roster ready to play. And talk about playing on a big stage, SoFi Stadium is the premier arena in the NFL and will host the college football playoff championship game.
Go Cougs!!! - The latest rumor for Cougar football has defensive coordinator Brian Ward heading down to ASU to take the Sun Devils DC job. If this move does take place, it will be interesting to see what direction Coach Jake Dickert will go. Remember that Dickert was the Wazzu DC before being elevated to head coach, replacing Nick Rolovich. Why does that matter? For one thing, there should be continuity in both scheme and terminology. Players won't have to be schooled in a completely new system. The biggest problem WSU had on defense last year was a lack of quality depth. When defensive players went down to injury, overall performance dropped. Also, it was feast or famine with Wazzu defense. They would completely stifle lower-echelon teams and get torched by teams with excellent players at skilled positions. Most would agree that the defensive line underperformed most of the season.
Another thing to consider in this age of the transfer portal, when coaches leave a school they tend to take some of their best players with them. Since Ward didn't recruit many of the players on the roster, it's not likely he'll take defensive guys with him to Tempe.
Finally, keep in mind that this time of year rumors fly constantly about coaches moving on to greener pastures. Ward isn't gone until he resigns.
https://www.houseofsparky.com/2022/12/3/23492089/asu-football-reports-indicate-washington-state-dc-brian-ward-will-take-over-in-same-role-at-asu
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Wazzu News and Notes - December 14, 2022
- It seems fitting to put together a list of coaches who branch off of the Mike Leach coaching tree. Perspective on his football genius can easily be determined by a cursory glance:
Dave Aranda/Baylor head coach – Graduate assistant coach under Leach from 2000-02 at Texas Tech
Neal Brown/West Virginia head coach – Played under Leach in 1998 when Leach was offensive coordinator at Kentucky
Sonny Cumbie/Louisiana Tech head coach – Played under Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-03 and later served as a graduate assistant coach under Leach
Sonny Dykes/TCU head coach – Coached wide receivers and later was the co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000-06
Josh Heupel/Tennessee head coach – Played under Leach at Oklahoma in 1999 when Leach was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners
Dana Holgorsen/Houston head coach – Coached alongside Leach as assistants at Valdosta State from 1993-95, then served as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator under Leach from ...
Wazzu News and Notes - December 13, 2022
- The news of former WSU Coach Mike Leach passing at the young age of 61 is very, very sad. I had the pleasure of writing about the Cougs when Leach was at the helm. To say that he was a unique person doesn't begin to describe the multi-faceted dimension of the man.
In terms of coaching football, Leach led his teams in a way that had most other coaches scratching their heads. His offensive creativity gave a multitude of defensive coordinators ulcers. To say that his techniques for molding student-athletes into football players were unusual would be accurate. Making guys run sprints in a sand pit named "Leach Beach" is a prime example. Crazy as that sounds, his players had fewer ankle injuries over the course of the season than any team in football. Only Mike Leach could get players to hit the beach. And if you look at the coaching tree that branches out from Leach, you'd find a myriad of men who owe him for their start in the profession.
When you examine the way Leach represented the schools ...
Wazzu News and Notes - December 11, 2022
- Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so Wazzu's loss yesterday to UNLV by a score of 74-70 was just that, a loss. However, there were plenty of reasons to applaud both the performance and the progress the Cougs are making over the past few games. Let's get the bad observation out of the way. WSU turned the ball over a ridiculous 22 times. No one is going to beat many teams with such wreckless play, especially against a team that posted a 9-0 record going into the contest. Some of those errors might be attributed to Coach Kyle Smith going with a different lineup almost every game because of player injuries. Facts are facts and when there isn't a steady lineup, players struggle to play team ball. On the bright side, Wazzu shot a respectable 54.2% from the field, coupled with a very nice 56.5% from behind the arc. On defense, WSU held UNLV to just 30.4% from behind the arc and 50.9% overall. The Cougs outrebounded the Rebels by a margin of 33-20. Despite being down by ...
