PULLMAN – Washington State defensive coordinator Chris Ball, his world turned upside down only minutes before, managed to plant a smile on his face as he headed to the final coaches meeting Paul Wulff will ever hold at his alma mater.
“Great job, tough profession,” Ball said Tuesday morning.
Athletic director Bill Moos had just announced through a news release that Wulff, WSU’s head coach the past four years, had been fired. An assistant coach, who did not want his name used, said all assistant’s contracts expire at the end of March.
“Paul and I met at length Sunday, and then spoke again this morning, after which I determined the best path for Cougar football moving forward is to have a change of leadership,” Moos said in the news release.
“I appreciate all that Paul has done for Washington State football. He was hired with the objective of rebuilding this program and establishing a solid foundation. For that I thank him.”
Wulff has one year left on his original five-year contract, which pays $600,000 annually. Wulff and Moos were scheduled to appear at separate press conferences later this afternoon.
Moos’ ability to keep everyone in the dark about his decision on Wulff makes speculation about Wulff’s replacement nothing more than guesswork.
“I will not be discussing details of the hiring process, only that I expect to name a successful candidate as soon as possible,” Moos said.
Wulff’s 9-40 record gives him a winning percentage of .184, which is by far the worst in the 117-year history of WSU football. Wulff’s teams went 4-32 (.111) in the Pacific-10/12 Conference.
The 40 overall losses and 32 conference losses are the most for one coach in a four-year span in the 96-year history of the conference. The Pac-12 recognizes conference statistics dating back to the founding of the Pacific Coast Conference in 1916.
The Oregon State Beavers also lost 40 games in four years (3-40-1 from 1979-82), but the Beavers had two coaches.
The Cougars posted 4-8 overall and 2-7 conference records this year. Both win totals doubled Wulff’s previous bests. WSU has finished last three straight years since beating Washington in double overtime in 2008.
Wulff was an honorable mention All-American center at WSU in 1989. The Davis, Calif., native began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Eastern Washington in 1993. He became a full-time assistant in 1994, then served as head coach from 2000-07.
After compiling a 53-40 record at Eastern, including 9-4 in his final season, Wulff was hired to replace Bill Doba in December 2007. Doba followed a 10-3 season in his first year (2003) with four straight non-winning seasons, including 6-6 in 2006.
Wulff, introduced at his first press conference at WSU, said coaching the Cougars was his “dream” job. The dream soon grew into a nightmare.
Wulff made it abundantly clear that he believed academics, character, discipline and training had slipped significantly under Doba. Only three recruits had made verbal commitments to WSU for 2008 when Wulff arrived – the Cougars presently have 19, according to Cougfan.com – and the NCAA took away eight scholarships due to shoddy academics under Doba’s reign.
Many players who had played for the easy-going Doba rebelled against Wulff and his no-nonsense manner. The 2008 Cougars finished 2-11 and suffered some of the most lopsided losses in school history, including 66-3 to California, 69-0 to USC and 58-0 to Stanford.
“I saw the team getting off the bus, and I thought they were a high school team,” a former WSU player said after watching the smallish Cougars play at Stanford.
The Cougars have made substantial progress since 2008. Washington State opened this season with a 64-21 win over Idaho State and a 59-7 romp against UNLV. However, the Cougars won just two more games during a season in which star quarterback Jeff Tuel was limited to three games by collar bone injuries.
Wulff said Monday that he believes Tuel’s injury cost the Cougars their first trip to a bowl game since 2003.
“I’m confident,” Wulff said, “Cougar football has a very bright future.”
Unfortunately for Wulff, that future will not include him.
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