Today is the opening day for college football. Steve Boese’s South Carolina Gamecocks are the early game on ESPN and my Washington State Cougars are the late game. When I was in school, the WSU Cougars tallied an impressive run: three consecutive 10 win seasons, including a Rose Bowl berth. WSU isn’t a traditional power but was good enough to be very good every couple of years.
Unfortunately, since that time, WSU has had a string of bad to worse seasons. While our last coach started moving the needle on the field, it was obvious the school needed a change.
Insert the legendary, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. WSU fans are delirious. I have to admit I’m a bit excited to see a new look Cougar squad as well.
While the results have yet to show up on the field (and probably won’t for a few more years), the level of excitement, donations and season ticket sales have shot up to levels not seen since before the last winning season. There are a lot of people excited about a 5–7 win football season but it won’t be that way in a couple of years.
So much in sports has to do with the talent you have on the field and that’s why the Cougars won’t win 10 games this year. But the man or woman on top still matters.
Lance Haun - Writer and Consultant on Work Tech 