WSU athletics enjoyed a strong 2018-2019

Good morning Coug fans. I know the 2019 sports season at WSU is upon us with the Pac-12 hosting football media day next week, but let’s take some time to look back to 2018-2019.

Last year’s sports calendar at WSU was an amazing success. The football team won a school-record 11 games and finished ranked no. 10 in the nation. Volleyball, soccer and tennis all qualified for their respective NCAA tournaments, with the volleyball team advancing to the Sweet 16 and soccer advancing to the second round. The track and field squads had some individuals qualify for nationals as well.

And despite struggling in other higher profile sports like men’s and women’s basketball and baseball, WSU still held its own against the rest of the nation.

CBS Sports doles out the Best in College Sports award each year, which is similar to the Director’s Cup. While the Director’s Cup treats all sports equally, CBS gives more credit to the more popular sports (sorry, beach volleyball). Here’s how CBS describes its methodology:

We rate every FBS school in three sports -- football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball -- along with two “wild cards” among the school’s most successful spectator sports: baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey and wrestling.

The weighted formula puts 2.5 times as much emphasis on football and 2.0 times the emphasis on men’s basketball compared to women’s basketball and the “wild cards.” Teams that did not finish in the final AP Top 25 in football but played in a bowl were awarded 62.5 points (25 x 2.5). Teams that made the men’s NIT were given 20 points (10 x 2), while WNIT teams received 10 points. For all titles settled via bracket, point totals were based upon how many teams participated. All champions in the other sports received 100 points for a national title.

Despite a poor showing from the two basketball teams, WSU’s wild card teams (presumably volleyball and soccer) helped propel it to 37th in the nation.

Here’s how the Pac-12 did:

No. 10: Washington
No. 21: Oregon
No. 22: Stanford
No. 33: Arizona State
No. 37: Washington State
No. 45: UCLA
No. 53: Cal
No. 57: Oregon State
No. 61: Utah
No. 71: Arizona
No. 75: USC
No. 82: Colorado

USC at no. 75. Yikes!

Georgia (no. 32) and Penn State (no. 25) are the only schools ahead of WSU that also scored double zeroes in men’s and women’s basketball. You have to go down to Oklahoma State at no. 51 to find the next school with double zeroes on the hardwood.

This, coupled with a record-setting year for the Cougar Athletic Fund is great news. There’s still more to accomplish (IPF, Martin Stadium naming rights, beer sales inside the stadium, etc.), and hopefully we’ll be talking about larger accomplishments this time next year.

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Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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Links

Washington State Cougars Strategic Planning Process (Part I)
AthleticDirectorU is proud partner with Washington State University to present an in-depth look into how the Cougars are implementing just such a strategic plan to ensure the success of their program for many years to come. Part I of the series explores the why and how components of the strategic planning process, and will help equip other departments around the country with a compass they can use to chart their own paths through the ever changing world of college athletics.

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