By
Greg Woods, Spokane S-R, Tue 26 Sept 2023
PULLMAN
— On Saturday, moments after his Washington State team knocked off Oregon
State, Jake Dickert took reporters back to his morning. He was watching College
Gameday, he said, when host Lee Corso called the Cougars/Beavers game “The No
One Watches Bowl.”
“I
would love to have a conversation with Coach Corso about the value that he sees
in breaking up the premier west coast conference,” Dickert said. “And I’d also
love to have a conversation with Coach Corso about how he thinks
student-athletes and mental health and flying them all over the country is a
positive thing. I’m open to those conversations, because I’m fact-based on
everything that we do.”
Over
the weekend, Dickert got a chance to do just that. During his availability on
Tuesday, he said he called Corso on Sunday and chatted about his comments,
saying he “meant no disrespect” to Corso or the TV show.
“They’re
tremendous for our brand and what they do for us nationally every week,”
Dickert said, referring to the WSU flag Ol’ Crimson, which has now flown at
College Gameday for 291 straight shows. “It was never a comment about
disrespect towards any of those people. My frustrations really still stem from,
there’s a conglomerate of people that have made a lot of decisions that have
been outside mostly our control. And the lack of clarity, based on the metrics
and the real facts is where my frustration really comes from.
Dickert
went on to discuss the impact he sees conference realignment making on the
Cougars, one of two Pac-12 teams still standing, and teams across the country.
“I
think it is my job to stand up for the people of Washington State, because I
think these decisions greatly impact all of us,” Dickert said. “It impacts our
academic institution, our faculty, student body, alumni, the community, Pullman
at large. I mean, the grocery store owner down the street. Fighting for my
staff and their families, all the men and women in our athletics programs. It’s
really important.
“But
most importantly, I’m standing up for our student-athletes. They’re the ones
that are impacted the most. I think a lot of decisions that are made impact
players. ‘We’re gonna move this team to this conference, and these games are
gonna be awesome.’ But as coaches, we deal with people — 18-to-23-year-old
people that it matters greatly to. I think there’s more pressure on young
people today than ever before. My number-one job is to equip them with a
toolbox to handle these things. And in our four years together here, there’s
been plenty of those situations.
“I
just want to make no mistake about it: These guys matter to me. And it isn’t
about Cam (Ward) throwing touchdowns. It’s about 15 years from now, Cam sends
me a Christmas card and I see him with his kids and his wife and his family.
And I know I’ve done everything to just make sure he’s a good husband and
father. It’s not about RJ (Ron Stone Jr.) or BJ (Brennan Jackson) getting
sacks. It’s about me instilling character values and discipline, hard work, and
those guys go impact this world the way they wanna do it.
“So
I have a lot of vested interest in our people here. The players will always be
number one, and I’ve been really appreciative of their focus, their discipline.
Obviously we’re off to an amazing start and want to keep building on that. But
these decisions do impact us all, and going forward, our whole focus is on
helping Kirk (Schulz, president) and Pat (Chun, athletic director) find the
next wave for Washington State. We want to compete at the highest level, and we
believe and know we can do that. That’s going to be our focus going forward,
and I’m excited to be a big part of that.”
Washington
State and Oregon State, the only two teams set to remain in the Pac-12 after
this season, are still looking for conference homes. On Sept. 11, a Washington
judge ruled in favor of the two schools, which were granted a temporary
restraining order against conference commissioner George Kliavkoff, canceling a
board meeting that would have gathered the other 10 departing schools.
That
prevented the exiting schools from trying to dissolve the conference, which
could force an equal split of the conference’s remaining assets. The Cougars
and Beavers’ next step is to wait for a preliminary injunction hearing, which
will give them a better understanding of those assets, and that will inform
their next moves.
Last
week, during a joint news conference with OSU’s president and athletic
director, Schulz said he expects some level of clarity within 30 days.
