Let's just cut right to the chase here - it's been a tough three years in Pullman for the Paul Wulff regime, hasn't it?  I know this doesn't fall into the "breaking news" category or anything like that.  If you are hanging around here or pretty much anywhere else on the Coug websites, blogs and what-not, you know of what I speak.  And you are likely more than aware of the facts:  5-32 record overall, just three FBS wins in three years, and one of those was vs. a winless UW team in '08. 

I know we are all pretty close to what's going on, and we want to believe that things are turning around.  And the improved play last year gave us all something to feel good about, you know, as the losses went from horror shows to just "not that bad."  These not-that-bad losses actually led to Wulff getting a fourth year from Bill Moos, so you know that there are some key decision makers who believe in the general direction.  And when you consider the bottom line in terms of points scored vs. points allowed, even that trend is getting better.  But take a look at the big numbers in the Paul Wulff era over the last three seasons:

2008:  2-11 record, 1-8 in Pac-10 play.  12.7 ppg scored, 43.8 ppg allowed.  Outgained 443 to 241 in total yards per game.  MINUS-25 in turnover ratio (Is this the worst ever in school history?  I have no idea but it has to be near the top).

'08 was just a disaster in that first year.  New coaches, new schemes, major injuries at every turn, a team completely overmatched in size, speed and skill.

2009:  1-11 record, 0-9 in Pac-10 play.  12.0 ppg scored, 38.5 ppg allowed.  Outgained 512 to 249 in total yards per game.  MINUS-7 in turnover ratio. 

'09 saw them still 1) struggle to score, and 2) struggle to stop anyone.  But hey, at least they cleaned up the turnovers, big-time. 

Finally, last year, the year where everything was starting to look better.....

2010:  2-10 record, 1-8 in Pac-10 play.  19.6 ppg scored, 35.8 ppg allowed.  Outgained 467 to 330 in total yards per game.  MINUS-1 in turnover ratio. 

'10 saw a promising offense that started to figure some things out with a QB who "looks the part", and a playmaking wide receiver with ball skills we haven't seen since Jason Hill?  But a defense that still struggled mightily to slow down the top offenses in the conference and more often than not, pushed around the field for most of the season.   

But as they say, it's a bottom line business, and so far, it's been an uncomfortable annual report.  Now the improved play is nice, and it's especially good when you look at how the team performed at the end of 2010, when they beat Oregon State and were tied with UW in the Apple Cup with less than a minute to go.  Combine the late-season improvement with some decent looking young players who are starting to shine (Jeff Tuel, Marquess Wilson, Deone Bucannon, etc), and you can see that there is some legit hope of a continued climb up the ladder.

But again, oh, those last three years!  We know it's been bad, but did you know Athlon's weighed in as well?  They went so far as to rank the "Worst Coaching Tenures in College Football since 1960", and here's what they said about Paul Wulff and WSU:

9. Paul Wulff, Washington State (5–32, 2008-)
The Cougars have only three FBS wins in Wulff’s three seasons at his alma mater, and one came against a Washington team that failed to win a game that season. Progress was made last fall, but Wazzu still went 2–10.

Lowlight: The Cougs lost to USC and Stanford in consecutive games in 2008 by a combined score of 127–0.

That's right, my friends.  The Wulff era rates as the 9th worst regime since 1960.  And there are some BAD coaches on this list too, including a guy named Stan Parrish, who was on the list TWICE for trying to wreck not one, but TWO programs in his career (Kansas State and Ball State).  And of all the coaches on the Athlon's list, only two - Paul Wulff and Mike Locksley - are still head coaches in their current gig.

I guess the point to all this is to 1) once again appreciate how bad it really has been in this era, and 2) try and enjoy another year of hopeful improvement that could see the best WSU team since 2007, when they went 5-7 in Alex Brink's last year!?  Wouldn't you LOVE a competitive 5-7 season right about now!?   

As the truly smart people will tell you, learn from the past, don't live in it.  If you live in the past, you will stay in the past.  So let's just make this the end of the line for wallowing over what has transpired under Wulff.  It's a new year, and so it's onward and upward for 2011....right!? 

All for now.  GO COUGS!

Good Morning Cougar Fans!

If you follow our Twitter, I am sure you know how much I absolutely despise the NBA.  From it's scum bag Commissioner with a broken business model, to the "we don't play defense" attitude of the players, and the two months that is the NBA Playoffs, I am absolutely thrilled the NBA will be locked out next year.  I could care that much about the league.

However, one of our own is sure to make a name for himself at Thursday's draft in New York City.  Is it time for me to change me colors on this league? no comments

Happy Saturday, Coug fans and an early Happy Fathers Day to all you Coug Dads out there! We're winding down on graduation season and it's a time for celebrating seniors everywhere. In the world of college football, outgoing Seniors leave a whole bunch of Nikes that need to be filled bythe underclassmen of last year. At Washington State the collection of outgoing seniors is relatively small, but there will be a need for some players to step up to fill the void left by the class of 2011. Today, I want to take a look at who Paul Wulff and his staff will be looking at to step up and into big time roles for the Cougs next season...

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Happy Saturday to you Cougs, hope your Father's Day weekend is off to a great start.

Just a quick post for you this morning, but, I found this NCAA Football 12 footage of the Cougs and Dawgs from Husky Stadium.  The game shows off some new gameplay elements, but best of all you get to see the new Coug road uni's in action.  And they show the no-huddle offense from WSU, which is nice, as well as a broadcast camera angle.  If you can suffer through the dorky videogame talk, it's kind of cool to sneak a peek at the Cougs in this year's game (even if UW is pretty much dominating).  Check it out:

Happy Friday Cougs, and finally, we come to the end of the road for these horrible spring fish wraps.  Yes, UW is the 12th and final opponent on the upcoming schedule for WSU, and we are finally at the finish line (you can see the prior 2011 fish wraps here, now with 11 of these things in the can).

As mentioned before in this space, UW is always a difficult one for me personally.  Family and friends up and down the map are part of Husky Nation, including my lovely wife, and that's just the way it is.  This is always a tough day at this here blog, just because of the, uh, "polarizing" nature that is UW football in Coug country.  I get it, I understand the angst.  But we've come this far together, so we might as well trudge through opponent #12, finish the job and cross the line with no regrets! 

So. Here. We. Go.....