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Ever wonder what happened to for Wazzu head football coach, Paul Wulff? Wulff has made several coaching stops over the years since leaving Pullman in 2011. He took over the Cougars program after it fell into complete and total disrepair. During his tenure as head coach, Wulff brought in a number of players who went on to play in the NFL. However, during the span of his leadership, WSU posted a dismal 9-40 record. After being fired as Wazzu head man, Jim Harbaugh reached out to him and added Wulff to his 49er's staff. From there, his family have packed and packed their bags numerous times. His coaching stops included:
San Francisco 49er's - 2 seasons
South Florida - 1 season
Iowa State - 1 season
Sacramento State - 3 seasons
Cal Poly - 3 seasons
After reviewing his past, why is he the focus of the present? Wulff has been elevated to the head coach at Cal Poly.
Prior to taking the top job at WSU, Wulff was the head coach at Eastern Washington where his teams enjoyed tremendous success, including a national championship. So the Cal Poly job becomes the third time he has been tapped as a head football coach at the collegiate level.
On a personal note, I'm rooting for Wulff to enjoy success at Cal Poly. He is taking over a program that has gone 4-21 over the past three seasons. That's very similar to the state of Wazzu football when he accepted that head coaching job. It was my challenge to cover the Cougs during his reign there and despite the lack of success, Wulff never placed any blame on either his players or coaching staff. He was always engaging with the media making it possible to offer fans good coverage of the team they love and support.
Wulff is a man of character and cares deeply about his players and their families. He proved himself to be a capable head coach while at Eastern Washington and clearly has the potential to replicate that success again.
https://gopoly.com/news/2022/12/6/paul-wulff-named-cal-polys-18th-head-football-coach.aspx -
In his first and only season with Washington State, linebacker Daiyan Henley earned All-Pac-12 honors. The 6'2", 232-pounder from Los Angeles is the first WSU linebacker to be named to the All-Pac-12 first team since Will Derting in 2003. Edge rushers Brennan Jackson and Ron Stone Jr. earned second-team accolades and seven Cougars drew honorable mention nods. Earning honorable mention recognition for WSU were quarterback Cameron Ward, running back Nakia Watson, return man Robert Ferrel, left tackle Jarrett Kingston, cornerback Chau Smith-Wade, nickel Armani Marsh and punter Nick Haberer.
*Much of the research for this story was provided online by the Spokesman-Review -
Washington State’s football program secured a commitment Tuesday from junior college transfer cornerback Jamorri Colson, who pledged to the Cougars over a couple of other high-major suitors.
Colson, a standout at Iowa Western Community College, picked WSU over offers from Iowa and West Virginia.
The 6-foot, 170-pounder from Ocilla, Georgia, has toted 22 tackles and broken up eight passes this year for the No. 3 Reivers (9-2), who will take on Hutchinson Community College on Dec. 14 in the NJCAA national title game. -
So here's the latest update on football players entering the transfer portal:
Two of the Cougars’ top three leading wide receivers, De’Zhaun Stribling and Donovan Ollie, joined linebacker Travion Brown, who announced he was leaving before the transfer window opened last Friday. Reserve cornerback Chris Jackson, who transferred to WSU from Michigan State this past season, announced he will enter the NCAA transfer portal. Jackson had seven tackles and one pass deflection this season. Multiple backups announced they were entering the portal at the opening of the winter window. Quarterback Xavier Ward, safety Adrian Shepherd, defensive end Gabriel Lopez, linebacker Gavin Barthiel, and offensive lineman Eric Wilder are testing the waters. They join scout team running back Jouvensly Bazil.
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
