The Washington State Cougars traditionally don’t win a lot of conference championships, but athletic director Bill Moos contends that WSU athletes would be more likely to win championships if WSU boosters led the Pacific-12 Conference in support.
The Cougars contacted 147,000 alumni by mail this week in an attempt to add members and cash to the Cougar Athletic Foundation. The CAF helps pay for the $7 million-plus in annual athletic scholarships.
CAF numbers dropped to 4,084 members and $2.8 million in donations this past year. Moos wants to eventually top the 8,800 boosters of Pac-12 leader Oregon and cover the entire cost of scholarships with CAF memberships, which start out at $50 a year.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we make a giant gain,” Moos said Thursday.
PRAISE, CRITICISM
Moos’ hiring of football coach Mike Leach has been widely praised, but a former Washington Huskies player is strongly opposed to it.
Ed Cunningham, a college football analyst for ESPN, said Leach’s hiring was “the worst” among recent head coaching changes in college football.
“I happen to know he completely lost control” of the Texas Tech program before he was fired in 2009, Cunningham said.
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt said Leach was “as good a hire as anyone has made.” Stewart Mandel of SI.com wrote that Leach’s hiring was WSU’s “biggest win in years.” Bill Connelly of SBNation.com ranked Leach’s hiring the best in college football this year, ahead of Ohio State’s hiring of Urban Meyer.
NATIONAL PUB
Leach, continuing to draw virtually unprecedented national media attention to WSU, was a guest Thursday on the national radio shows of Van Pelt and Jim Rome.
Moos said more than 1,200 football season tickets have been sold and in excess of $500,000 in donations and pledges have been received since Leach was hired.
Only two of the 21 suites being built at Martin Stadium have not been claimed. They range in price from $30,000 to $50,000 a year. Eighty percent is tax deductible.
ASSISTANTS HIRED
A WSU spokesperson said the names and duties of assistant football coaches won’t be confirmed until the staff is complete, but most of the nine full-time assistants’ jobs may already be filled.
It is not known if a defensive coordinator has been hired. Rumored candidate Tommy Spangler, the defensive coordinator at bowl-bound Louisiana Tech, has not responded to messages seeking comment.
None of the 2011 WSU assistants are expected to be retained.
Former NFL defensive lineman Joe Salave’a, Arizona’s defensive line coach this year, visited Leach in Pullman this week.
Ex-NFL linebacker Mike Smith, who played for Leach at Texas Tech, appears to be the new linebackers coach. Smith has been working as a coaching intern with the New York Jets.
Paul Volero, a high school defensive coordinator in Key West, Fla. (where Leach has been living), has accepted an unknown coaching position with the Cougars, according to FootballScoop.com. Volero has assisted at Central Michigan and West Virginia.
Offensive assistants named last week appear set. Eric Russell is expected to coach special teams after leaving Tennessee. Russell played baseball at Pacific Lutheran.
PLAYERS ABROAD
DeAngelo Casto, who passed up his senior season of WSU basketball to turn pro, is coming off the bench in Turkey’s top pro league. Casto is averaging 6.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 15.7 minutes per game for 1-8 Antalya.
Ex-WSU point guard, Taylor Rochestie, ranks third in scoring (20.0) and second in assists (6.9) in France’s No. 1 pro league. He plays for 7-3 Le Mans.
RED INK
A WSU spokesperson said final figures are still being tallied, but the athletic department lost approximately $850,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30.
That’s the third straight year of losses after eight consecutive years in the black. Moos says WSU has the smallest budget in the Pac-12 ($38 million).
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