Washington State still bowling despite mass coach and player departures in recent days

Pete Kaligis got choked up when recounting his first message to the team as Washington State’s acting head football coach the day after former coach Jake Dickert left Pullman for Wake Forest just over a week prior to the Cougars’ bowl game.

“My message to them was, I know who we are. We’re going to play this game, and I’m going to give you everything that I have in the next nine days, that when you look back in 10 years, you’ll go, ‘Wow, that was a very special time and I didn’t even realize it,’” Kaligis said Thursday. “I just love them so much. I want them to have everything. I want them to have everything in the next eight days.”

The Cougars (8-4) play No. 21 Syracuse at 5 p.m. Dec. 27 in the DirecTV Holiday Bowl (FOX) at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.

In addition to losing a head coach, offensive and defensive coordinators and three position coaches, WSU has 25 student-athletes in the transfer portal, including 12 starters as of Thursday evening.

WSU athletic director Anne McCoy said in a Wednesday news conference via Zoom that the school will not pull out of the Holiday Bowl.

“We are not pulling out. We are very committed to playing in the DirecTV Holiday Bowl,” McCoy said. “We stood before a room full of motivated football student-athletes who can’t wait to get on the field against Syracuse and represent Washington State University and to finish what they started, and to send those seniors off with the bowl game that they deserve.”

Dickert left WSU to take the helm of the Wake Forest football program on Wednesday, a position vacated by 11-year coach Dave Clawson two days prior. However, Wake Forest’s search began about a week in advance of Clawson’s formal resignation.

The Cougs started the season 8-1 with a chance at the College Football Playoff before losing three straight games by a combined seven points, including a 15-14 senior night loss to Wyoming.

McCoy said that Dickert informed her that he was leaving WSU at 7:45 Wednesday morning, 15 minutes prior to informing his team.

McCoy said Dickert had attempted to call her about an hour beforehand and that she had heard “inklings” of the move the evening prior.

Sophomore running back Djouvensky Schlenbaker said that a teammate mentioned the news on their drive to practice on Wednesday morning.

“He said something about it and I was like “Okay, like, dang, that sucks,’” Schlenbaker said. “But it’s the people in the facility that you got to care for more. Like, we love coaches and everything. They’re great people. But gotta love the brothers.”

National media outlets reported Dickert’s WSU departure early Wednesday morning and the former Cougar coach informed his team of his decision about two hours after news had leaked.

“I was initially a little surprised,” WSU senior edge Andrew Edson said. “This program keeps moving forward. We’ve seen worse in our time here, throughout these four years. So at the end of the day, it’s part of college football now.”

McCoy selected Kaligis, WSU’s defensive line coach and a former national champion Washington Husky, toserve as acting head coach.

It was a position Kaligis said he was honored to accept.

“To get the phone call from miss (Anne) McCoy, and to ask me, it meant a lot, because obviously it’s her choice,” Kaligis said. “She saw something in me which says ‘trust.’ And you know, I really appreciate that. And so there’s no way I could have turned it down.”

Schlenbaker and Edson said they trust Kaligis and will arrive in San Diego wanting to send the seniors out with a win.

While about half of WSU’s starters have hit the transfer portal, some of them — like punter Nick Haberer who committed to Vanderbilt for the 2025 season — want to still play in the bowl game.

McCoy said in a radio interview with John Canzano on Thursday that WSU players voted to allow teammates who are in the transfer portal to play in the bowl game.

Kaligis said that cornerback Steve Hall, who announced several offers from other schools through posts to his X account hours after Dickert’s departure, is still practicing with the team, despite entering the portal, or at least having transfer “paperwork ready to go.”

If several of the 24 Cougs in the transfer portal choose to play in the bowl game, WSU will at least be slightly better equipped to face a ranked Syracuse team which includes quarterback Kyle McCord, the nation’s leading passer.

Syracuse has only lost nine players to the transfer portal, per 247sports.com.

WSU will practice on Saturday, hold a walk-through on Sunday and fly to San Diego on Monday.

“We get to actually go out there on the field, finish this out with the seniors,” Schlenbaker said. “Really wanted to win that senior night against Wyoming. That hurt a lot for me, because I never want the seniors to end their day like that and like end their careers. So we get one more opportunity to do it again for them.”

Extra points

WSU quarterback John Mateer announced his commitment to Oklahoma. Mateer reunites with former WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski, who accepted the same positions at OU earlier this month. Dickert said the Cougar Collective — an association of WSU supporters who collaborate with the coaches to give student-athletes name, image and likeness opportunities — offered Mateer a seven-figure deal. The Little Elm, Texas, native’s OU NIL deal is reportedly worth more than $3 million.

Former Cougar wide receiver Kris Hutson announced his commitment to Arizona.

Defensive tackle David Gusta hit the portal Thursday morning, 24 hours following Dickert’s exit.

McCoy said that WSU has received “an outpouring of interest” in the WSU head football coach job, but that she believes “it’s better to get the hire done right than to get it done quickly.”

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.