Excuse me while I crumple up the nearly-done post about Wulff and the merits of keeping or firing him. According to Vince Grippi, Paul Wulff has been told he will remain as the head coach of Washington State in 2011. With speculation surrounding the head coach, the decision was made fast, as many of us expected.
"That being said, it is my feeling at this particular time that the best course of action to move in that direction is to continue with the current leadership."
So, there you have it. Just one day after the Apple Cup, the speculation ends and we move forward with the offseason. The coaches will continue recruiting hard, as they have all season, ahead of the February signing day. The endorsement, and apparent guarantee of another year, should put an end to the talk, at least in the short-term.
I've tussled with this issue constantly over the course of the season. To be honest, I still hadn't made up my mind by the time the announcement was made. What I have seen, however, is a sense of family in the program. The players trust the coaching staff and have bought into the system. Instead of packing up and mailing the season in, the players fought and continued to improve in the face of adversity. I think, as the season wound down, we saw a team on the brink of breaking through.
Wulff gets a chance to finish what he started and he deserves that. I don't know about his game-day coaching yet, but he's led this team in the right direction in every other aspect that goes into the program. In 2011, we'll get to see if he can get the football team over the hump, hopefully in the form of a breakthrough season.
So welcome back, Paul Wulff. On a personal note, I've been quietly rooting for him to succeed. He bleeds crimson and gray, embodying everything we should want from a representative of our program. Give him a chance and maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised. I'm happy, and pleased, that he'll get one more year to show us what he's got.