WSU Vs. Oregon State: Cougs Turn In A Completely Unacceptable Effort

The dagger was hovering over Wulff last night. At 10:15 PST last night, it was driven straight in. I’ve had his back for damn near 4 years, told people he will turn it around. And I’m sick of being made to look like a moron. Don’t fire him in the middle of the season, that will only make things worse. But, pending some miraculous comeback, Wulff needs to go. And that’s the first time in 4 years I’ve said that.

Moos should be putting together a list right now and start making phone calls to gauge which coaches/coordinators would be interested. If he isnt then we need a new AD.

Short list should be.
Mike Leach
Mike Belotti
Kevin Sumlin

Or who think he should be retained are just Husky trolls messing up the poll results.

How anyone can seriously think Wulff should be retained or deserves to be is beyond me.

And think he has improved the program, but he’s taken it as far as he can. I don’t even buy the excuse of “we’d be better if Tuel wasn’t hurt” from the games we lost to SDSU and UCLA. WSU had leads late in those games and could not finish. That comes back to the coaching staff, getting the team prepared to play a full 60 minutes. Its no longer good enough to compete with the Stanfords of this conference for a half and then wilt away. No more moral victories of “they played hard and hey, the final score wasn’t THAT bad”, and no more games where the team just falls apart just when the fanbase thinks they’ve turned a corner (this game, and ASU last year).

I’m sure no one is more frustrated with this than Wulff and his staff, but its become apparent over the past three games that they aren’t the ones to lead WSU back to a bowl game. Everyone on this board knows what the program is capable of, its time for the university to remember it too and find the staff that will make it happen.

I think a good analogy here is Willie Bloomquist: Hustles, works hard off the field, does everything right in terms or trying to be a successful baseball player. But the fact is he’s just not talented enough to be a great baseball player. He’s a baseball player, yes – maybe even a good one – but even this year on a good team he still wasn’t as good as he was in his last year as a Mariner. And he wasn’t that good then.

My point is, just like players have a raw level of talent, so do coaches. By all indications Wulff’s process is good on and off the field. We know that because we’ve followed it closely for four years. What he may not have is the raw talent to be a great head coach at this level. Nothing’s ever a sure thing with coaching.

I thought about it a lot last night and there’s no real point to getting worked up about his job status now. We’ll see how this plays out and go from there, because no decision will be (or even should be) made until the end of the season.

Wulff dug the hole too deep and cannot get himself out.

I thought Wulff was a bad hire from the start, having been a fan of Montana I had seen and followed EWU and the rest of the Big Sky pretty closely over Wulff’s tenure. I understood why we hired him (lack of money since we still had Doba’s buyout, he’s an alumn, etc) but still was disappointed in the decision. I certainly wouldn’t have been even remotely upset if we would have fired Wulff after last season, though I understood why (and agreed with) our decision to retain him for this year.

Like many, I bought into the hype this off season. We finished last year well, had quite a few players coming back and honestly there was a lot of excitement about our skill position guys. Last night’s loss wasn’t a deal breaker for me like it was for many. It was just another miserable loss in a long string of miserable losses. I keep trying to get excited or optimistic about the Cougs, but it’s becoming like last year all over again, where every time I build up my expectations, they just get shattered. I am in total agreement with Moos that a coaching change shouldn’t happen mid-season and Wulff should get the remainder of the year to try to turn things around. At this point though, I am convinced that anyone expecting something amazing from this team over the final five games is going to be sorely disappointed.

As is often said by commenators, football is a game of emotion. One of the main reasons I frequent this site is that emotion generally takes a back seat to logic and process analysis. This may have been due to the state of the football program over the past four years as we try and find something to give us hope. That being said, even those who value a reserved response to the emotions of football, including myself, seem to have come to the conclusion that the experiment has not been a success. Like most, I hope there is a reason at the end of the year for me to want Wulff back (him being a frugal expense and an alum). However, I don’t plan on expecting us to win a game again this year.

“Of the 49,219 who were in attendance at CenturyLink Field, perhaps 10,000 were Oregon State fans. A conference game taking place smack dab in the middle of 80,000 WSU alumni couldn’t draw more than 40,000 or so fans. Apathetic doesn’t even begin to describe the state of our fanbase right now.”

Undefeated fans, right?

I was pretty excited seeing the Cougs for the first time in a big stadium. When Oregon St. scored, and so quickly, I felt a bitter chill in the stadium. For some reason, I knew things were going to go south in the game. I kind of sat through the rest of the game in a gaze, reminiscing in the night U2 was in town. Qwest felt small and crowded when they were there, but the game last night just felt big and empty after things spoiled for the worse.

I honestly have no idea what to think right now. In the first three games, I was very positive the team would find a bowl game. Now, I think they have put the final nail in the coffin. The Apple Cup lies with the Huskies this year, as much as I hate saying that. The only winnable game, as some have said here, is against Utah—but they aren’t that much different from the Beavers in regards to health, are they? Personally, the Utah game worries me, but only slightly.

Anyway, simply put, it’s time to move on, I think.

But now I feel it’s time for a change. Once you get your players in your system you should be able to be successful. As for the next head coach I honestly have no idea of who to hire. I kind of like the idea of Nick Holt as the next coach, not for his coaching abilities but his intensity and his ability to sell the program to recruits and the media.

Wow. But I totally agree with your POV

Anybody think that June Jones would be a realistic option if things don’t turn around in the last five games?

That game was unbelievable, unbearable, and unacceptable. It was embarrassing sitting in the stands watching that. As far as CPW, I’ve upped my expectations for him to keep his job (I know it seems backwards). Really the only way I want him around next year is if we get a bowl game. The reason I’m saying this is because I don’t want us to keep him with an iffy record, and then just run into the exact same thing next year. The guy has done some good stuff, there’s no doubt. He laid a good foundation, but the problem is that I think we are going to need another person to come put up the walls and the roof. I’ve been openly critical of him in the past, and I’ve been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since then. I just can’t do it anymore. I’ve said this before about Wulff (and Bone as well): show me that you are a good coach. That’s all fine and dandy if you were successful at your previous school, but show me that you can be successful here.

As far as that quote goes, I’m quite frankly insulted by it. I don’t claim to be a big x and o person, but I can pick out our problems pretty easily and I’ve never played a down of organized football in my life.

Again, I want Wulff to succeed. The guys had a rough go of it in life and it’d be nice to see him have some success. Unfortunately I just don’t see it happening. But who knows, maybe a horrible loss if just what they needed to pull it together and get the season back on track. Win 3 of 5 and we’re going bowling. I guess at this point I just don’t see it happening.

At least I saw them in gray when they beat Air Force last week at home. Their font also has that same serif tick thing that’s supposed to make ours ‘unique’.

it was just one game. I am not voting in this poll because there’s still 5 games to be played. If he loses all 5, of course I think he should go. He goes 3-2, or 4-1, however unlikely, last night will just be a bump in the road.

I actually flew in from Las Vegas to Seattle to watch the Cougs play this past weekend. All I can say is how disappointed I am in this team and coaches. I can’t remember how many missed tackles I saw, or how many times I pointed out a WIDE open receiver before Mannion threw the ball. What happened to that effort like in the UCLA or Stanford games on defense? I wasn’t even angry at the game (besides at some calls the refs made); I was just disappointed and apathetic. I was actually LAUGHING with my friends when the bands started dueling. I don’t get how I could go from being outright depressed after the UCLA to being so apathetic after the OSU game. I don’t know; it’s like when you’re in a relationship with someone that went on for far too long that when the relationship was finally over, there no hurt feelings at all.

But I cannot endorse any opinion which thinks that firing Wulff at the end of the season is the quickest way for this program to become relevant again. The loss was terribly disappointing and seriously makes me doubt the high hopes I once had for this season. However I don’t believe that is any reason to go jumping ship on this coach.

You may disagree, but I still believe in the program Wulff has had to build from the ground up. Most arguments are centered around the notion that a coach is allowed his 3-4 years to recruit his players and install his system before the seat can really begin to get hot. But given the state of the program when he inherited it years ago I don’t think there is a single coach out there that could have turned this thing around any more quickly. Hell, Guerra was quoted as saying players didn’t practice on purpose in order to show up the coach.

Following this thread, I preach patience. Wins or losses be damned, all firing Wulff would accomplish is sedating the fanbase for another 2 years while we haplessly wait for a program to be built. No continuity, 2014 sees some losses, rinse-&-repeat. I want Wulff for another season at minimum. I want him to be able to work will Tuel unperturbed for another season. Only then will we be able to fairly look at Wulff’s process and analyze whether or not he is a D-I caliber coach. Seeing him out the door will only short change us on the year that could have been.

Christ this is a quandary. Just win baby..

And I am man enough to admit I might be wrong in my assessment of his coaching abilities. This team was not ready to play, that was clear early. And it was absolutely frustrating. Any news on Tuel?
That being said we can’t rule out three HORRIBLE calls by the refs on third down that tacked 18 points onto the score board.

…but this was one helluva post. I could really sense the emotion and I feel for you. No matter what side of the debate you fall on, great post.