It’s been a roller-coaster past few weeks for WSU Cougars football.
Insider’s view on new WSU Cougars coach Jimmy Rogers
Former head coach Jake Dickert departed to take the head coaching job at Wake Forest. A slew of players entered the transfer portal, including Oklahoma-bound star quarterback John Mateer. Amid all the chaos, the severely depleted Cougars played in a bowl game.
And on Dec. 28, Washington State hired South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers to take over the football program.
Through it all, first-year WSU athletic director Anne McCoy has been busy trying to navigate the Cougars’ athletic program through these new and challenging times in college sports. On Friday, McCoy joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy to discuss Rogers, the transfer portal, the revamped Pac-12 and more. Here are a few highlights of what she said.
WSU’s new head football coach
The 37-year-old Rogers comes to WSU after a long run of success at South Dakota State as a player, assistant coach, defensive coordinator and head coach.
Rogers compiled a 27-3 record as South Dakota State’s head coach over the past two seasons, leading the Jackrabbits to the FCS national title in 2023 and an FCS national semifinal appearance in 2024. SDSU went 15-0 during its 2023 national championship season and was 12-3 this past fall. Rogers also was the defensive coordinator for the Jackrabbits’ 2022 FCS national championship team.
Rogers spent the past 12 seasons on South Dakota State’s coaching staff and was a star linebacker for the Jackrabbits in the late 2000s, ending his career as the school’s career tackles leader.
What ultimately stood out about Rogers during WSU’s hiring process?
“It was a lot of different things,” McCoy said. “Just his background and all that he’s accomplished from all different facets and levels, but also just his human qualities. He has genuine care. He’s a winner, he’s a grinder, very authentic and a learner with everything that’s going on in college athletics.
“He’s excited about all the opportunities and the possibilities here at Washington State University,” she added. “… He checks every box and then some.”
Challenges of the transfer portal
Washington State has been hit hard by losses to the transfer portal, especially in the wake of the Pac-12’s collapse.
After the 2023 season, the Cougars lost star quarterback Cam Ward to Miami. Mateer, following a standout campaign on the Palouse this fall, is headed to Oklahoma. And a slew of other top players from WSU’s 2024 team have already transferred to Power Four programs – including top running back Wayshawn Parker, second-leading receiver Kris Hutson and top defensive linemen Ansel Din-Mbuh and Khalil Laufau.
According to 247Sports, more than 35 WSU players entered the transfer portal during the winter window between Dec. 9 and Dec. 28. That left the Cougars severely undermanned for their Holiday Bowl game against No. 21 Syracuse on Dec. 27. They put up a valiant fight, but lost 52-35.
Like many others, McCoy would like to see an adjustment to the transfer portal window so that it doesn’t interfere with bowl games.
“Ironically, a lot of these things are supposed to help empower the student-athletes,” McCoy said. “I think it’s also put a tremendous amount of strain and stress on them. And so for one thing, the portal date has got to change. I think that anybody who sat through the end of the regular season and bowl season and just seeing everything that happened for many schools – certainly not just Washington State – I think that’s really unfortunate for the student-athletes, for the teammates, the schools, the bowls, everybody involved relative to this level of football.
“But I don’t have the answer. I wish I did – to know what is the happy medium of really allowing student-athletes to capitalize on all of the rights and things that student-athletes should be able to capitalize on without it being kind of an unregulated free-for-all. But the portal, for one thing, has got to change.”
McCoy said one of the biggest challenges surrounding the transfer portal is encouraging student-athletes to pause, take a step back and reflect on what brought them to WSU in the first place.
“I think the most interesting challenge right now is letting a lot of the student-athletes know that just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean it’s right for them,” McCoy said. “I think the transfer portal has become kind of a thing that people feel like, ‘Well, everybody else is doing it. We need to do it too.’
“But it’s hard,” she added. “It’s human nature. You get sucked into what’s going on around you. So I think for me, the biggest challenge is making people realize that it’s OK to just maybe be tempted or stop and think for a minute, but also it’s OK to remember all the reasons that draw you to some place or to someone, and really realize that maybe those things are still intact and still the same.
“And I know that’s partially what coach Rogers is talking about with our current team: At the end of the day, you chose Washington State for a reason and you’ve loved it here for a reason. What’s changed and what hasn’t? And just kind of giving them a chance to be introspective about it. So I think really helping make people realize that relationships and places and people and all of those things still matter.”
The new-look Pac-12
Beginning in the summer of 2026, Washington State will be part of a revamped Pac-12 that also includes Oregon State, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State. Gonzaga also is set to join the conference for non-football sports. The league still needs to add one more football school to meet the eight-school minimum to be an official FBS conference.
McCoy and others remain busy laying the foundation for the new conference.
“I am really excited,” McCoy said. “It’s been interesting as we’ve continued to interact with some of the new members that will be coming in 2026 and just really having that feeling of building something and working toward something together as a cohesive unit in this time of college athletics. So I am extremely excited.
“I think you also have like-minded institutions that really want to prioritize the student-athlete and the student-athlete experience, and not just get sucked into all things money or anything else, and really lean into the things that make each university special and different. And so I’m really excited about it, honestly. I think it’ll be a great future for our university, our student-athletes, our fans – really college athletics overall.”
Listen to the full conversation with WSU athletic director Anne McCoy at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
More on WSU Cougars football
• WSU Cougars hire Jimmy Rogers as next head football coach
• Bump: How WSU Cougars should sell football program to recruits
• Instant Reaction: Dickert leaves WSU — Brock and Bump weigh in
• Klatt: WSU QB Mateer’s transfer highlights ‘totally broken’ system