New WSU coach Kirby Moore to have $4.5M assistant coach salary pool, plus other notes

PULLMAN – As he builds his staff, new Washington State coach Kirby Moore will have the same salary pool as his predecessor.

Moore’s assistant coach salary pool will be $4.5 million, according to interim athletic director Jon Haarlow, who indicated former coach Jimmy Rogers had a pool of the same amount.

Rogers left on Dec. 5 for the same job at Iowa State.

The details of Moore’s contract have yet to become available. Moore and WSU agreed “in principle” to a five-year deal, according to a news release, but Haarlow said Tuesday the sides “are still working through the long form, so I don’t want to say anything yet.”

Whoever Moore decides to add to his staff, which he said will “get closer” to coming together by the end of this week, the salary pool figures to be competitive in the rebuilt Pac-12. This season, Boise State’s was $3.36M, according to a report. Colorado State has committed to giving new coach Jim Mora $5M for assistants.

In 2024, San Diego State had a pool of $2.5M, according to Football Scoop.

Moore didn’t pass on any names he’s looking to add to his staff, but it’s worth noting which coaches attended his introductory news conference on Tuesday. Those included offensive line coaches Taylor Lucas and Mike Iupati, as well as strength and conditioning coach Matt Jacobs. It’s possible they are retained, but it’s no guarantee.

On the financial front, Haarlow had more to share. The Cougars’ football team needs to reach about $7million in name, image and likeness to “be competitive in the top of the new Pac-12,” Haarlow said, referring to revenue-sharing dollars.

“We’re gonna try and exceed that, certainly,” Haarlow said, “and we rely heavily on donors and supporters and ticket sales and those types of things to get to that space. But that’s where we need to be to be competitive.”

It’s unclear what kind of revenue-sharing NIL money WSU was working with this year. Former AD Anne McCoy said the number was $4.5M, but that included scholarships, stipends and the like. The true NIL number was likely much lower, but the exact number hasn’t become available.

That means the Cougs will have to take a major step forward to reach Haarlow’s goal of $7M. Is it possible? Much of that will fall on Haarlow and the rest of WSU’s athletic department. Some will also fall on Moore and his ability to excite the Cougs’ fan base.

“I think he’s relatable,” Haarlow said. “He understands our fan base. He understands the area. He’s been successful at high levels. Knows great veteran coaches. He’s gonna have the vision for the program, but we’ve gotta be out there to help make sure we’re have a conversation with the donors and fan base. So he does his football part. He’ll certainly be part of those conversations. Want to get him in front of as many people as we can. But we also, as a staff, have to do our part in going after these dollars.”

The way Haarlow and the Cougars see things, they have the numbers, just not the participation. WSU has 250,000 living alumni, Haarlow said, including 50,000 “active alumni associates.” But the university’s donor pool, Haarlow said, only includes 4,500.

“I mean, that’s not very good,” Haarlow said. “So if education is the issue, we’ve been trying to put out education. We’ve done a ton of traveling around the state. We’ve got groups of Cougs around the country. We’re trying to get in front of them. We just gotta be more aggressive and more active. So even over the last couple of weeks, we’ve tried to increase the volume and the pace. And I think that we’ve done that. We’ve seen Cougs respond.”