A Grip on Sports: The constant change hitting college athletics these days makes us long for a romanticized past, though it wasn’t better for everyone

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Times change. No matter how badly we might want them to stay the same. The way the world was in our youth, as seen by those optimistic-colored glasses, is the way it should be forever. It never is. Heck, it rarely is even close. Ask any college football coach. They’ll tell you.

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• And what a story they have to tell. Think about December 1993. Thirty years ago. Travel to Pullman, where head coach Mike Price had just finished his fifth season. A season that ended with four consecutive losses and a 5-6 record.

Change was coming but it wasn’t the change that happens these days. The players? They would stay the same. But Price needed to shake things up a bit. Both coordinators, Ted Williams with the offense and Mike Zimmer on defense, moved on – Williams to Arizona and Zimmer to the NFL.

All Price and new defensive coordinator Bill Doba did that December was scheme a new look for the guys on that side of the ball. An aggressive look. That is when the Palouse Posse was born.

The defense, populated with most of the same folks from the year before, would take the Pac-12 by storm, leading to an 8-4 record and huge payoffs for defensive linemen Chad Eaton and Don Sasa, linebacker Mark Fields and cornerback Torey Hunter – all NFL draftees.

Which brings us back to today. And our point. Change.

How many of those senior stars, all of whom toiled in relative national anonymity in 1993, would have been back in Pullman in ’94, if the changes wrought these days had already taken place?

Our guess? Maybe one or two. At most.

That’s what Jake Dickert is dealing with this December. His Cougars finished 5-7. The roster he puts on the field next season, the first in a new, non-Pac-12 era (as it was constituted for more than a decade), will be different. Quite a bit different. The demands on Dickert and his staff are so intense as to be draining.

And, from the eyes of a 10-year-old in 1993, not nearly as fulfilling as back then. The now 40-year-old Cougar fan wants Cam Ward back at quarterback. Wants the Pac-12 as it was. Wants WSU to be 8-4 next season.

The past always looks better in the rearview mirror.

But was it?

Not from the perspective of the players. You don’t think Fields wouldn’t have appreciated making a million dollars or so in NIL money if he had been able to transfer back home to USC? Or Sasa big bucks to anchor UCLA’s d-line?

How about if they all stayed and the Cougar Collective had been able to attract a transfer quarterback to the school that produced Drew Bledsoe? Think Price’s offense wouldn’t have been more productive with Stoney Case having transferred in from New Mexico instead of Chad Davis?

The new-found dollars, along with the fresh freedom, puts power in the hands of players. Yes, it is not regulated enough these days, but was long overdue.

The changes have resulted in a more financially fulfilling college experience for the players, more money for coaching staffs and a lot more stress for everyone. Have they made the game better? The answer to that probably changes from where the respondent sits.

The one thing that is true, however, is the evolution of the sport, and of college athletics in general, is not stopping. More is coming, either via the courts or state legislators or the schools and the NCAA themselves.

College football, college basketball, college athletics in 2063 will have transformed once again. Not to the degree as the past 30 years, certainly, because so many decades of pent-up energy had accumulated, it exploded when finally released.

But differences will stand out. When the 10-year-old you know cries about how all his favorite Cougars (or Huskies or Eagles or Vandals) are leaving, let them know what’s happening today won’t be the same down the road.

They won’t care. But it’s still worth a shot. That will never change.

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WSU: According to John Canzano, the Pac-2 schools, Washington State and Oregon State, are still trying to answer a whole bunch of questions about 2024 as 2023 nears an end. … Cam Ward is taking visits. Will he transfer to one of the Power Four schools in need of a quarterback or will he head to the NFL? … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Wilner examines Arizona’s success and future Heisman chances in his latest stock report. … Washington is headed to a Final Four tournament that features matchup issues for each school. … An Oregon starter is headed to UCLA. … The transfer portal era, as short as its been, has had an impact on Oregon State. … It’s still having a huge impact on Colorado and Deion Sanders. … Arizona is using the portal to help for next year. … In basketball news, Wilner tells us the Pac-12’s best nonconference weekend in decades just happened. … If you want to watch No. 1 Arizona play No. 3 Purdue this Saturday, you better have access to Peacock. Welcome to the future. … After its upset of then-No. 7 Gonzaga, are the Washington men for real? … Despite being shorthanded, Oregon had little trouble with Cal Baptist. … Colorado is among the nation’s leaders in offense. … The Colorado women are striving for consistency. … With Texas coming to Tucson, the Wildcats can recall the last time they played the Longhorns and won.

Gonzaga: After the Washington loss we wrote the Zags needed to build some depth outside of their front line. In his rewind of the win over Mississippi Valley State, Theo Lawson shares how Jun Seok Yeo is building confidence. Could the wing be the answer to the depth issue? … The Bulldogs have a depth of talent in the NBA these days, that’s for sure.

EWU: Former Eagle star receiver Cooper Kupp is starting to round back into form after a series of injuries. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, there are family connections between Montana and North Dakota State. … A Montana State player is headed home to finish his career. … In basketball news, Northern Colorado’s men lost 101-99 in double overtime last night. … Road tests await Weber State. … The Montana women are headed on a trip without some key players. … Weber State has won three consecutive games.

Preps: Dave Nichols has a roundup of Tuesday’s action around the GSL.

Mariners: We have little to change here from yesterday. Transparency is not a word we would assign to the M’s ownership. But Ryan Divish feels it is about time it was. Will the group change? Our guess is no. His story ran today in the S-R.

Kraken: After eight consecutive losses, somehow Seattle, who entered the game with the NHL’s worst shooting percentage, rolled to a 4-0 win at home over the Carolina Panthers. An anomaly or a sign of things to come?

Seahawks: Maybe it is time to reevaluate DK Metcalf. … What must Seattle do to win on Monday and get back into the playoff mix? … Ten years ago this week, the Hawks faced the 49ers. It was better then.

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• We’re heading out soon. On the road for family business. No, not like Tony Soprano – despite our last name. Like most everyone else. We may have a day or two over the next few weeks when putting together this column won’t be an option. We’ll let you know in advance, as always. Until later …