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Editorial: WSU scores points for keeping coach Wulff

Wed., Dec. 8, 2010

Word on the street had it that coach Paul Wulff’s job was on the line at Washington State University as the Cougars headed into the Apple Cup.

With a 4-31 record after three years at WSU – now 4-32 including two straight last-place finishes in the Pac-10 – Wulff was clearly on the endangered list.

So when the Apple Cup ended in a loss to the University of Washington Huskies, Bill Moos, WSU’s previously closed-mouthed athletic director, would have surprised no one by firing Wulff. Instead, he announced that sticking with Wulff would be the “best course of action” toward restoring a competitive program.

If such a gesture of faith and patience isn’t unmatched in the demanding world of big-time sports, it’s certainly rare. Many a Cougar fan would have thrown Wulff to, well, the wolves, and no doubt some Cougar faithful are fuming over Moos’ decision. But in fact it was refreshingly nonmercenary.

Let’s not be naive. The cost and work it would have taken to lure an acceptable replacement, not to mention the $600,000 that would have been due on the remaining two years of Wulff’s contract, may have influenced Moos.

But we like to think that nobler reasons and even some old-fashioned values had a role, too.

First, there’s that five-year contract, a legal commitment. Such legalities don’t always pose much more than a speed bump in the competitive environment of Division I NCAA coaching jobs. It’s comforting to think it was honored in this case.

Then there’s the success Wulff, a Cougar starter in the 1980s, had in his previous head coaching position at Eastern Washington University – 53-40 and three trips to the Division 1-AA playoffs in his final four years.

Best of all, maybe there was a hint of admiration for Wulff’s widely heralded character, which former WSU athletic director Jim Sterk once described as “refined by fire.” Wulff’s mother vanished when he was 12, and his father was thought to be responsible. His first wife died of brain cancer. He once worked a year without pay as an assistant at EWU.

By giving Wulff more time to demonstrate that his coaching ability and personal determination are a match for the challenges of big-time coaching, Washington State University departs from the normal behavior in a sports world where the only thing more extravagant than the money is the egotistic self-indulgence.

An occasional dose of traditional values is a needed antidote for the cynicism suffered by many loyal fans. Nice to see it happen at Wazzu.