WSU Cougars coach Jake Dickert removes his defensive coordinator

The WSU Cougars have made a change to their football coaching staff after losing three straight close games to teams with losing records.

WSU head coach Jake Dickert has relieved defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jeff Schmedding from his duties, the program announced Monday morning.

“I appreciate all the hard work that Jeff has had for our program during his two years here in Pullman,” Dickert said in a statement. “After evaluating our program, we have not met the standard defensively, and I felt a change was needed for the best interest of the program. I informed Jeff this morning that he will no longer be the defensive coordinator and wish him well in his future.”

Schmedding’s removal wasn’t the last change of the day for WSU’s coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle is reportedly leaving for the same position with Oklahoma, per ESPN.

The Cougars (8-4 record) lost to Wyoming 15-14 on their home field Saturday night in agonizing fashion. The Cowboys (3-9) put together a 90-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Evan Svoboda to John Michael Gyllenborg, which came on fourth-and-14 with just 24 seconds remaining. That put Wyoming ahead by a point, and WSU’s ensuing final drive ended after three plays with an interception.

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The loss to Wyoming came a week after the Cougars gave up 484 total yards (314 passing, 170 rushing) in a 41-38 loss on the road to “Pac-2” rival Oregon State (5-7), and two weeks after New Mexico (5-7) gashed the Cougars for 360 rushing yards to hand WSU a 38-35 loss.

Before the late-season collapse, the Cougars had a 8-1 record and ranked as high as No. 19 in the Associated Press poll, with their only loss coming on the road to Boise State. That kept open the possibility of Wazzu crashing this year’s College Football Playoff, but the loss to New Mexico ended those hopes, and things only got worse for the Cougs over the next two games.

Per ESPN, WSU’s schedule ranked just No. 111 among FBS programs this season, but the team is 90th in scoring defense (28.08 points allowed per game), 116th in yards allowed per game (429.0), and 120th in yards allowed per rush (5.2).

A product of Eastern Washington University as well as Spokane’s University High School, Schmedding was in his second season on the WSU staff. He was as an assistant coach at EWU from 2004-18, including four as defensive coordinator. He spent 2019 and 2020 on Bryan Harsin’s staff at Boise State, and went with Harsin to Auburn for the next two years, including one season as Tigers defensive coordinator.

WSU’s regular season was capped with the loss to Wyoming, and the Cougars now await their bowl bid.

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