Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers leaving for Iowa State after one season
PULLMAN – Jimmy Rogers’ time at Washington State has come to an end.
Rogers has accepted the head coaching job at Iowa State, the Cyclones’ program announced on Friday evening, ending his one-year stay with the Cougars. In his one and only season, Rogers led WSU to a 6-6 campaign.
The Cougars’ interim head coach will be defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit, according to a source familiar with the situation. The Cougars’ defense ended the regular season ranked No. 18 nationally in total defense, allowing an average of 303 total yards per game.
Former Iowa State coach Matt Campbell is leaving for the opening at Penn State, creating the vacancy in Ames.
“My family and I are excited to be joining the Iowa State University community and the Cyclone football program,” Rogers said via ISU’s release, which indicated he’s signing a six-year deal. “Iowa State has been one of the nation’s top programs for the last decade and we look forward to building upon its upward trajectory. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity that Jamie Pollard has given me to lead the Cyclones.”
Rogers’ buyout at WSU was not immediately clear at press time.
WSU will learn its bowl destination on Sunday. The Cougars are set to play a second-straight bowl game without a full-time head coach in place, after former coach Jake Dickert left around the same time last year, decamping for Wake Forest. It’s also unclear how many current WSU assistants will stick around to take part in the bowl game.
Rogers was hired at WSU in December 2024, coming over from FCS South Dakota State, where he led the Jackrabbits to a 27-3 overall record in two years as head coach, including a national championship. With the exception of one season, Rogers spent the first 15 years of his coaching career at SDSU, becoming defensive coordinator in 2022 before ascending to the head coaching job for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
At WSU, Rogers was hired by former athletic director Anne McCoy, who was fired in mid-November. The Cougars do not have a full-time athletic director to find Rogers’ replacement. WSU’s interim AD is Jon Haarlow, who previously served as senior deputy AD.
That means WSU president Elizabeth Cantwell and Haarlow will likely lead the charge on finding a new coach.
On Wednesday, Rogers and the Cougars signed 28 players on the first day of the early signing period, including 25 from the high school ranks. It’s unclear how many Rogers plans to take with him to Iowa State.
In his one season at WSU, Rogers and the Cougars earned bowl eligibility with a blowout win over Oregon State in both teams’ regular-season finales last weekend. In back-to-back games in October, WSU came close to pulling monumental upsets, falling 24-21 to SEC power Ole Miss and 22-20 to ACC foe Virginia. The Cougars went 1-5 on the road, including a defeat to James Madison in late November.
Out of fall camp, Rogers and coaches named redshirt sophomore Jaxon Potter the team’s starting QB, only to bench him after Week 3 for veteran Zevi Eckhaus, who took over the QB reins for the rest of the season. On Thursday, Potter decided to enter the transfer portal, becoming the first of what is now three Cougars to make that decision.
Who could the Cougars hire now? Candidates could include Jonathan Smith, who spent five years at Oregon State, then two years at Michigan State, where he was recently fired. WSU could look at New Mexico coach Jason Eck, but he recently signed an extension with the Lobos, and his career trajectory is likely taking him to a Power 4 job next .