Paul Wulff fired

It wasn't a surprise when news broke today that Paul Wulff had been fired.

A report on KXLY shows that some WSU fans (Yes, apparently there are a few of those. Three actually) had mixed reactions when they learned of the firing.

No decision has been made on who will be the next coach of the Cougars. But one thing is for sure, now he won't be able to buy a new hat that's one size bigger.

Seriously, it's way too small!

Paul Wulff not on hot seat?

According to SWX, Paul Wulff isn't worried about his job:

Washington State coach Paul Wulff doesn't think the Cougars have to win at least one of their final three games in order for him to retain his job.

Wulff believes his rebuilding program is progressing and that the team has played to its potential for much of the season.

The Cougars, who are 1-8 and 0-6 in the PAC-10, took a 42-0 beating last week at Arizona State. Their lone win came on a 23-22 victory over FCS Montana State. On top of that WSU has lost 15 straight PAC-10 games.

I personally don't think that Wulff is as cool as he makes it seem. I mean who wouldn't be worried with a 4-30 record since taking over at WSU. The truth is that rebuilding takes time and he took over a terrible team. I'd say give him another season and if at this time next year WSU still doesn't have a PAC-10 win and doesn't have a win over an FBS team, then it might be time for Wulff to start printing off some resumes.

Yet the seat is still hot. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks.

College football in Washington

College football season kicks off in just a few weeks. And that means that the state of Washington will once again become divided. Huskies vs. Cougars. Cougars vs. Huskies. Either way, you have to pick just one.

In case you're not partial to either team, I figured it was a good time to get some facts about each school out there that have been bouncing around in the media as of late.

Washington has been singing the praises of Steve Sarkisian since, in his first year at UW, he lead the Dawgs from a dismal (to say the least) 0-12 season to a 5-7 record with a landmark win over powerhouse USC.

The future isn't looking as bright for Sarkisian's WSU counterpart Paul Wulff. In Wulff's two seasons at WSU he has a gruesome 3-22 record. The fact is that Wulff is on the hot seat. By hot seat I mean that the seat has been lite on fire and if he can't do things fast this year I don't see him coming back for a fourth year. (And could someone find him a larger hat!!!) The problem for Wulff is that the Cougars are predicted to be terrible. Their defense is awful. Just awful. Last season they gave up 6,144 yards in 12 games, which converts to 3½ miles. And along with all those yards, the Cougars also gave up a ton of points. They allowed 30 points or more in nine games. Perhaps these are a few of the reasons that Maxim dubbed the WSU Cougars THE WORST team in college football for the 2010 season. Sorry Coug fans.

On a brighter note for the state of Washington, UW has a Heisman candidate on their roster. And it's no surprise that candidate is none other than THE Jake Locker. ESPN has him slated at number two starting the season:

2. Jake Locker, Washington: The NFL loves the quarterback's skills. The Dawg fans just love him. The Heisman voters won't love this senior unless the Huskies return to the winning ways of yore.

Speaking of the Huskies winning this season they have a HUGE game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on September 18. Lincoln, Nebraska is already talking about the National Championship parade and even Brian Griese says that the nation will be all about the "Big Red". And won't have any problems in Seattle. Eventually going 11-1. A win over these "touted Huskers" would do wonders for Sarkisian and the Dawgs season. Not to mention cause the midwest to implode.

Let's not forget how the 1991 Washington Huskies went into Lincoln and blew-up the Huskers hopes for a National Championship. UW beat NU 36-21Husker Nation still hates UW because of that. Oh, and the fact that instead UW raised the National Champion banner.



With one team on the rebuild and one sinking further into the cellar, it's sure to be an interesting season. I'm just glad football is back!

You call that improvement?

Not to be a negative Nancy here, but I am not drinking the Cougar Coo-lade like everyone else after they lost to Stanford 39-13. Sure the Cougs actually made it semi-competitive which is a big jump from last year but... seriously? You're happy with a 39-13 loss to a middle-of-the pack Pac-10 team.

If the Cougs played in the WAC, there might be some things that you could take away from this and have some confidence going into conference play. But since they play in the Pac-10, all I really can take away from this is "well, there goes their best chance at getting a win in conference this year."

The defense hit harder and the offense showed some signs of life, but it's not like this a completely turned around team. I understand that this is a rebuilding project for Coach Wulff but the last thing WSU needs is the fan base to get complacent after another loss. WSU doesn't need the team to do that either. I certainly hope Wulff still runs his guys into the ground on Tuesday to show them that they can't be happy with a loss not matter their situation.

And that's my thing, don't congratulate a team for losing by 26 points.

Epic Photo: He's Back!

WSU head coach Paul Wulff is back on the sidelines for practice after not being allowed near the team for three days due to NCAA violations back when he coached at EWU. Surely a blow that will bring down Cougar football as we know it.

In other news, EWU is still hamstrung with it's no-postseason sanction by the NCAA. Even though Wulff is no longer there and the only actual people that get hurt by this are the student-athletes.

Hooray NCAA! Way to continue to be the worst sports organization since the XFL went out of business!

Candidates for the WSU head coaching job

Brandon Hansen - Led his NBA Jam team to a 50-0 record and unlocked the Rookies team. Also have watched "Hoosiers" completely drunk more than any man on earth (except for Bill Simmons) and could grab onto the leg of a player better than Jeff Van Gundy.

Gargamel - I'm sure he would have no problem bending the rules a little to get the top recruits and if they lose, he could always blame it on "those pesky smurfs!" in post-game interviews.

Isiah Thomas - Well, WSU wont have to worry about any NBA team snatching him away.

Gene Hackman - Did you see the work he did in "The Replacements" and "Hoosiers?" When he's not busy kissing Barbara Hershey he can sure get the most out of his players. And there's got to be a Jimmy Chitwood-esque player floating around somewhere in the Palouse. The only thing is, WSU boosters would have to hold a home-town meeting at a barber shop and tell Hackman things like "This is the way we do things in Pullman" and "Are you a god-fearing, upstanding, Christian man" just to get the full effect.

Paul Wulff - As long as he wears those sweatpants during games, he can win as many basketball games as football games and we'd be fine with it. And Casey also wants him to find a hat that fits.

Bobby Knight - It's obvious he wants to get back into coaching judging from the way he brings a yellow notepad on screen during his ESPN gig. Why not have him bring his sweater and throwing ways to Pullman where he's sure to pack all the seats at Beasley and make every media person tippy toe around the Arena. Not to mention that he also plays Guitar Hero.

We interrupt March Madness to remind you that Cougar Football still stinks

If you're Paul Wulff right now you've got to be enjoying life, not only did your former school get hit with NCAA sanctions after violations by you and your coaching staff, but you also have to figure out this whole 2-11 record thingy last year.

And if you want to hear how the Cougs are doing in Spring Football, read Vince Grippi of the Spokesman-Review, he's got a great sense of humor and probably needs it.

...Marshall Lobbestael, coming off an off-season lowlighted by knee surgery and an alcohol violation, lofted a perfect pass to tight end Tony Thompson during a 7-on-7 passing drill. The connection was good for what passes for a touchdown in the drill and ignited a celebration.

As in Lobbestael awkwardly sprinting/jogging the length of Washington State’s Rogers practice field in an attempt to chest-bump an excited Thompson. The ensuing contact was more like a clumsy man-hug than demonstrative chest bump.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2009 Washington State Cougars!

My life is ruined

Disappointment would be an understatement. Ever hear of the "Kiss of Death"? Yeah, the NCAA just kissed Eastern Washington University.

The Eastern Washington University football program has been put on three years probation and is banned from postseason due to what the NCAA calls “major violations.”

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions released the report on Wednesday.

The violations include impermissible participation by ineligible student-athletes in practice activities, the use of too many countable coaches, failure to monitor by former head coach Paul Wulff, now the head coach at Washington State, and a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor by the university.

Additional penalties include financial aid reductions, coaching limitations and recruiting restrictions.

According the NCAA, during the 2003-04 through the 2006-07 academic years, 13 football student-athletes were allowed to participate in practice activities even though they were non-qualifiers, they did not have their eligibility certified by the university or the NCAA, or did not meet transfer requirements.

.....

I'm gonna go crawl under a rock now. See you when baseball starts up again.

Recruiting Class hype is lame

Other than providing this rather embarrassing photo of Paul Wulff yesterday, National Signing Day doesn't do a whole lot.

Whereas the NFL draft gives you a list of players you know will make an impact for your team, you really can't put a finger on who will be good and who wont.

Look at the top recruiting classes, thanks to Bloomberg.

ESPN SCOUTS INC.     RIVALS.COM            SCOUT.COM
1. LSU               1. Alabama            1. Ohio State
2. Alabama           2. LSU                2. Alabama
3. Texas             3. USC                3. LSU
4. USC               4. Ohio State         4. USC
5. Florida           5. Texas              5. North Carolina
6. Georgia           6. Florida State      6. Texas
7. Miami             7. Michigan           7. UCLA
8. Florida State     8. North Carolina     8. Georgia
9. Ohio State        9. Georgia            9. Oklahoma
10. Michigan         10. Florida           10. Penn State
11. Oklahoma         11. Miami             11. Michigan
12. South Carolina   12. South Carolina    12. Texas A&M
13. North Carolina   13. Oklahoma          13. South Carolina
14. Notre Dame       14. Arkansas          14. Stanford
15. Tennessee        15. Michigan State    15. Auburn
16. Penn State       16. UCLA              16. Mississippi
17. Clemson          17. Mississippi       17. Florida State
18. Virginia Tech    18. Auburn            18. Mississippi State
19. UCLA             19. Stanford          19. Miami
20. Arkansas         20. Notre Dame        20. Arkansas
21. Rutgers          21. Texas A&M         21. Florida
22. Mississippi      22. Miss. State.      22. Tennessee
23. Miss. State      23. Tennessee         23. West Virginia
24. South Florida    24. Virginia Tech     24. Notre Dame
25. Auburn           25. Penn State        25. South Florida

Great, you know what - those all are pretty big-time college programs on that list, so of course they're going to do well because they have the facilities, the money and the coaching. I remember ESPN's Colin Cowherd complaining about how it seems that a kids stock goes up when they're recruited by Notre Dame (and boy have they had sucess in the past two years :D).

What you get is over hyped kids, who don't perform later down the road. Hence, the Irish sucking. Throw out all the recruiting rankings because they've been wrong when it's come to Notre Dame, every single year. Watch their games, they have mid-major talent maaaybe. Seriously, watch them get outrun by any top program in the country. Yet they keep getting these "Top ranked recruiting classes."

And another thing to chew on is how much a recruiting class will affect a program. These are all top tier programs, they all get top tier kids. It's not going to make to significantly better because they're already on the mountain top.

But what about the programs nipping at the heels of these top programs, why can't we get coverage on how well they did - because the media sells more when they cover the top programs, cough, cough - and how much ground they made up. That's more important than learning that Texas brought in another kid that can run a 4.2 fourty. WOWEE! Tell me something I don't know.

So lets look at what we know: Eastern signed 33 kids-and that's it, you really don't know how those kids pan out until a few years down the road. Although I'm a little concerned with how many "all-state honorable mentions" are on their list. Honorable mentions? Isn't that given out to the kids that just hussle a lot? Now WSU is drooling over how much they kicked UW's butt with in-state recruiting. That's true, six of ten top state prospects went to the Cougs which could be a huuuge advantage for them over the next couple of years and could shift the balance of power from UW to WSU in terms of who wins between those two teams, but the Cougs are still in a conference with schools like USC - which could probably convince guys from the NFL to come back and play for them.

And that it. That's all we know from this recruiting class. You can't read anymore into it because of injuries, how many actually see playing time, and how well these top high school athletes do against other teams with top high school athletes. It's a wash.

But hey, at least Paul Wulff out recruited the Huskies, that's all I got to say.

Our thoughts on college football in Week One...

-East Carolina University is the Pirates. And they did a mighty job of raiding and pillaging the win from Virgina Tech. Yarg!

- The game was played in Charlotte, N.C. at the Carolina Panthers' Bank of America Stadium. Despite the fact that it was supposed to be something of a "home game" for the Pirates (Carolina is in their school name for heaven's sake), the place was packed with Virginia Tech fans. Then after some research, Charlotte is actually closer to Blacksburg where VT is located (160 miles) compared to ECU's Greenville home address (which was 250 miles away). Go figure.

- With every 10 hard hits that Jake Locker takes, he loses a year of his life. In the loss to Oregon he lost 12 years.

- There's only one thing more inaccurate than Miss Cleo's tarot card readings... Jake Locker's passes.

- Paul Wulff has left Cheney, and in doing so seemed to have added a few pounds. But maybe it was just that the cameras add 57 pounds.

- or maybe it's the fact that several players for the Cougars have either been arrested or suffered season-ending injuries. That or he can actually eat now on the salary that WSU gives him.

- Also, if you watched the game, how many times did they cut to Wulff pacing back and forth on the sidelines at Quest with a perturbed look on his face?

- Michigan is terrible, no matter who is the coach.

- And what's really sad is that Utah beating the Wolverines is not an upset.

- Penn State however crushed their opponent, with the same coach they've had for the past 100 years.

- And speaking of old coaches, did anyone catch Dr. Lou during ESPN gameday? We'll be tuning into that on a weekly basis.

- Eastern Washington University put up 24 points on Texas Tech, which was more points than Washington State University and the University of Washington put up together.

- And yet WSU and UW refuse to play the Eagles in a playdown game.

- LSU is better than Michigan. But it took blowing App. State out of the water to prove that. Wait, no didn't. Michigan is terrible.

- There is talk of making the Big Ten a FCS conference.

- Chattanooga put up 2 whole points on Oklahoma, and allowed 52 points. Washington plays Oklahoma in two weeks. This is not going to be pretty. Final score: Oklahoma 112, Washington -4.

- That's going to be off of one field goal and an extra point.

- Cal Poly has a football team. Yeah, I was surprised too. And somehow that football team beat San Diego State 29-27.

- And Brandon's new-found FBS team, the Idaho Vandals, had a less than stellar start against the Arizona Wildcats. Okay, that was an understatement -- the Vandals lost 70-0. Wow.