If you don't know who Mike Marlow is, you should -- there's a very good chance he's going to be WSU's next athletics director when Bill Moos decides he's had enough and is ready to head back to the ranch.
For now, though, Marlow is one of the senior associate athletics directors at WSU which, roughly translated, means "big dang deal over there at Bohler Gym." He's a 1990 graduate of WSU who, before being hired by Moos, had spent the previous 13 years building Oregon's empire. I don't think it's unfair to characterize him as Moos' right-hand man in the athletic department.
That's why I was incredibly excited to be able to spend about 20 minutes chatting on the phone with Marlow last week in the midst of snowicepocalypse (before my Internet died -- yes!). We covered a wide range of topics, from the new philosophy of the athletics department to the facilities priorities in Pullman to what every fan can do to help WSU athletics compete at a championship level ... and more.
I apologize in advance for the recording quality -- there was a bit of an issue on Marlow's end that I wasn't able to get sorted out and wasn't able to edit out with my limited skills. Technology is great ... most of the time.
The thing I love the most about the interview is Marlow's passion. Even I started to get fired up when he began talking about "win the Pac-12." (That's near the end. Trust me, it's cool.) I hope every Cougar fan takes to heart what he's saying; we all need to belong to the Cougar Athletic Fund if we care about WSU athletics. A $50 annual donation is all that's required, and I would hope that we're sending graduates into the world who can afford invest into WSU athletics for less than $5 a month. If we're not, our university is in bigger trouble than we think.
If you're not yet a member of the CAF, you can sign up here. I donate $10 a month. It's not much, but it's something. And as Marlow says in the interview, that's all they're asking for.
Audio player after the jump.
Mike Marlow Interview (click me)
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