At Pac-12 media day, WSU’s Dickert voices confidence, Ward dishes on development

LAS VEGAS – Jake Dickert has experienced enough Year Ones to write an encyclopedia on them.

On this journey to become Washington State’s head coach, he’s made coaching stops in almost every corner of the country, from North Dakota State to Southeast Missouri State, and in his first season at each one, he’s started with gaudy plans.

I’m going to do this, that. This is how I’m gonna build the program.

“I think at some point it’s gotta go to application,” Dickert said, leaning forward on a black couch in the Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World, the site of Friday’s Pac-12 media day. “I love the Xs and Os. I love sitting in the meeting rooms. I miss that with a great passion. I think I’ve been called to something greater than just the fundamentals of the game. That’s being a true culture-builder, trying to find a way to get 18- to 23-year-old young men to see the game outside of their own little atmosphere.”

That’s where Dickert finds himself. Last fall, he coached his latest Year One, guiding the Cougars to a 7-6 season complete with euphoric highs and disconcerting lows. Now, seven months after completing that season, he’s ready to begin another. What he’s learned in between is extensive.

Dickert, who shared that Washington State will honor the late Mike Leach before the Cougars’ Sept. 9 home opener against Wisconsin, explained things this way: He’s learned how to strike balance in his personal life, at least more of it.

“It’s managing the imbalance,” he said.

For instance, he said, Pullman’s small-town environment allows him to drive four minutes to see his daughter Rylee perform in a school play. Then he might drive 40 minutes for his sons’ 10U baseball tournament in Lewiston.

He’s also learned the importance of clarity with his players. He doesn’t want to just tell his Cougars, picked seventh in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, to do something. He wants them to understand why they’re doing it. Except he likes to be even more specific than that.

“For us,” Dickert said, “it’s why with an exclamation point.”

English teachers might cringe at that comment, but when Dickert explains to assistant coaches and players why they’re doing something a certain way, he hopes they’re enthusiastic about it, enthusiastic enough to find ways to use it to find ways to better the program.

“I think that’s well-rounded,” Dickert said, “but empowering our coaching staff, empowering the leadership council on our team to take ownership. Those are things I learned you can’t do all by yourself.”

In his 30 minutes with the media Friday morning, Dickert tackled several other topics. He reaffirmed his stance that federal legislation is in order to govern the name, image and likeness ecosystem in college football. He encouraged players looking to transfer to try sticking it out instead.

“I think we now make it cool to transfer,” he said.

Dickert praised his new offensive coordinator, 27-year-old Ben Arbuckle, and spoke glowingly of his quarterback, dual-threat Cameron Ward.

The logistics of that pairing, the meshing of an Air Raid coach with a quarterback who came to Pullman to play that exact style, have shone through . Part of the reason he hired Arbuckle, Dickert said, is because he figured he could help Ward. Arbuckle has delivered already. He’s helped Ward stabilize his drop back and establish better fundamentals .

In his previous role, as Western Kentucky’s quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator, Arbuckle ran the Air Raid offense, directing a Hilltoppers offense that averaged 497.3 yards per game (which ranked sixth nationally) and 36.4 points per game ( 15th nationally).

All that seems to gloss over the big question: Why hire Arbuckle and make him one of the nation’s youngest Power Five coordinators?

“I think it came from the vision of what we needed to do on offense and not restart,” Dickert said, referring to the departure of WSU’s previous offensive coordinator, Eric Morris, who took North Texas’ head coaching job. “When we’re trying to build a program, yes, continuity is everything and stability means a lot. There’s a certain amount of guys that have a style of offense that I think allowed us to take the step forward.”

“He’s gonna make me a better quarterback than what I was last year,” Ward said of Arbuckle. “He’s gonna take my game to a whole other level. I’m just excited to see what he dials up this year.”

Elsewhere in the Cougars’ orbit, fifth-year senior edge Ron Stone Jr. said his group’s departures don’t bother him – he doesn’t feel any extra pressure to produce, and besides, he likes his team’s additions to the linebacker room. Ward mentioned he’s working on his leadership, his willingness to speak up more often. Dickert hopes to see it all coalesce in his second year.

“I think we know who we are,” Dickert said. “Our slogan this year is, ‘All we got, all we need.’ It’s a no-excuses approach to knowing what we need to do. We control our effort, our execution, our character, our connection, our finish. Just excited about making the journey with this team this year.”