Former WSU Cougars football coach Bill Doba reportedly dies at 85

Bill Doba, who served as WSU Cougars head football coach following a tenure as the defensive coordinator during one of the best periods in program history, died Friday at the age of 85, according to CougFan.com.

Doba suffered a stroke last Saturday, per CougFan.

Doba was WSU head coach from 2003-07. In his first season at the helm, he led the Cougars to a 10-3 overall record and 6-2 record in Pac-10 play. They finished No. 9 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls, and Doba won Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors.

The Cougars went 30-29 during Doba’s time as head coach.

A native of Indiana, Doba played halfback and defensive back in college at Ball State in 1959 and 1960. He started his coaching career as a high school assistant in 1962 and spent nine years as a high school head coach before joining the University of Indiana staff as an assistant in 1977.

Doba came to the Palouse in 1989, joining the staff as linebackers coach in 1989, the first year of Mike Price’s successful tenure as WSU head coach. Doba added assistant head coach duties in 1991, then became defensive coordinator in addition to those roles in 1994. He retained those positions until he was promoted to head coach when Price left for Alabama after the 2002 season.

The Cougars went 4-2 in bowl games during Doba’s time with the program, including a Holiday Bowl win over Texas in 2003, which was WSU’s lone bowl appearance during his head coaching tenure. The Cougs also appeared in the Rose Bowl in 1997 and 2002, and had Copper Bowl (1992 vs. Utah), Alamo Bowl (1994 vs. Baylor) and Sun Bowl (2001 vs. Purdue) wins when Doba was either a defensive assistant or the defensive coordinator.

Doba was the first-year DC behind the “Palouse Posse,” the defense of the 1994 Cougars that knocked off the No. 18 UW Huskies 23-6 in the Apple Bowl and allowed just 11.3 points per game.

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