Wulff in first steps of grand plan for Cougars

PULLMAN – When Paul Wulff was introduced as Washington State’s 31st football coach last December, he assured those in attendance he had a plan for success.

“I have a vision of what I believe it takes to run a program, and a style that fits me and my coaching staff, and it’s important that we relay that vision and what we want to do,” he said at his press conference.

What he didn’t have, at that point, was an unvarnished vision of the WSU program. Interviewed on a Friday and offered the job a couple of days later, Wulff had little time to investigate in depth the challenge awaiting him.

Even if he did, though, he said he would have accepted it.

Nothing, not the hardship of a program seemingly bereft of talent nor the knowledge of an impending historically bad start (see sidebar), would have changed his decision.

“I still see it as a great opportunity to bring Washington State back to a high level (team), competing for bowl games and a conference championship,” said Wulff this week during an in-depth interview on his long-term plans. “I have all the belief and faith in the world that we can get back there and we will get back there.

“I’ve never been afraid of a challenge in my life. This isn’t one I’m afraid of, believe me.”

Nothing has changed Wulff’s belief in his vision, his plan for WSU’s football program.

Throughout the trying times of a 1-7 season, Wulff has repeated he and his staff have put a strategy in place that will ensure the program’s success.

So just what is that strategy?

“We want to cover all the aspects a student-athlete is going to go through in his life from the ages of 18 to 23,” said Wulff, sitting in an office chair in front of a desk littered with the debris common to all college coaches. “All the important factors they have to have to grow in those five years.

“There’s the social piece, there’s the academic piece and the physical, the athletic piece.”

Like the WSU basketball program, which underwent an about-face under coaches Dick Bennett and his son Tony, Wulff’s football team is guided by a list of core values: compete, execution, effort and encouragement.

But those principles are ancillary to Wulff’s turnaround strategy, a strategy built on five pillars: structure and discipline, player development, character, recruiting and on-field tactics.

It’s a plan Wulff has developed with experience and one he has faith in, despite whatever potholes might get in the way.

“My own beliefs, in doing it over time, what I felt, in my heart, that needs to be done,” Wulff said in explaining where the plan originated, “and how a program needs to be run from A to Z.”

So let’s examine what Wulff believes.