WSU

WSU Cougars’ scrappy bowl game left impression on new coach

Jan 29, 2025, 9:44 AM | Updated: 9:48 am

A day before Jimmy Rogers was named the WSU Cougars’ new head football coach, he was able to watch his future team compete in the Holiday Bowl – with a roster that had been ravaged by the transfer portal following previous head coach Jake Dickert’s decision to leave for Wake Forest.

Insider’s view on who new WSU coach Jimmy Rogers is

The Cougs didn’t win that night, falling 52-35 to Syracuse, but they did lead 21-14 after the first quarter and put on a scrappy performance that left an impression on Rogers.

“In watching that game, I felt really good about just the overall culture,” Rogers told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Monday, “because it’s easy to maybe back down to a challenge like that or not play with the right type of energy and aspirations. And I felt like the team was really locked into giving each other their best and finishing the season out right.”

In addition to Washington State being a “national brand,” Rogers indicated that seeing how the Cougars fought against the Orange factored into his decision to sign with WSU.

“Seeing our players playing the bowl game with what was a little bit of – I don’t want to say a depleted roster, but a roster that had a lot of guys that had taken a ton of snaps not playing in that game because they’re already in the transfer portal, and then a a staff that had already taken jobs at Wake Forest – I felt like it was a unique situation that the players were put in,” he said. “And then for them to come out and play the way they did, that was inspiring to me to watch the heart on the field that was on display.”

Rogers, who comes to Wazzu after being at South Dakota State as either a coach or player for all but one year since 2005, said he’s been happy to invest in what is already in place in Pullman while hitting the ground running with his own system at the same time.

“I spent this whole month really trying to invest in their current team that’s there rather than going out and rushing to get recruiting,” he said. “This is the first week that our staff has hit the road, so kind of getting our feet wet here in Washington and very excited to meet a lot of the players here in the state.”

In particular, Rogers pointed at the offensive line and quarterback Zevi Eckhaus, who took over at QB in the Holiday Bowl after John Mateer transferred to Oklahoma, as players the Cougs can build around.

“I felt good about the O-line taking this job. They return many players, and speaking to some of the current staff that was already in place, they felt like the O-line was strong and the youth was strong,” he said. “Obviously Zevi having the experience in which he has had, he just may not have always gotten the opportunity. Felt good with the future quarterback returning and what that could look like, but there’s a lot of talent on this team. There’s a lot of youth on this team, and so I look forward to building this roster and what it could become.”

Hear the full Bump and Stacy conversation with new WSU Cougars head football coach Jimmy Rogers in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

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