Commentary: Jake Dickert challenges Cougar Corollary and it’s just what Washington State needs

Spend enough time around fans of Washington State University athletics and eventually you will run into what I call the “Cougar Corollary.”

This theory, shared by many WSU fans and independent observers alike, is that because WSU’s rural setting and pastoral Pullman vibes are unique among its Pac-12 conference peers, its athletic programs need to be similarly distinctive to compete.

If WSU goes by the same style as everyone else, it will invariably lose, so the thinking goes. The most sought-after recruits are likely to go to the better-resourced, urban schools and if WSU tries to play the same game the same way, talent will inevitably triumph.

Proponents of this school of thought point to the football success of Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, as well as Dick and Tony Bennett’s slow, methodical, defense-first brand of basketball as evidence that WSU’s best seasons came from coaches who saw what everyone else was doing and did the opposite.

With the hire of Jake Dickert as head football coach, WSU athletic director Pat Chun has called the question on the Cougar Corollary. After a decade of Leach and Nick Rolovich running the football program, the most striking thing about Dickert is how, well, normal he is.

Dickert has a fairly typical origin story – no law school degree here, just another football player who played as long as he could, then started coaching. He works long hours, gets to know his players, and handles public and private interactions like a sane person.

There is neither a cowboy hat nor pirate sword for the marketing department to use.

It is too soon to say whether normal will play on the Palouse, although Dickert’s steering of the ship after Rolovich’s midseason dismissal in 2021 was commendable and rightfully led to his losing the “interim” from his title.

But I do believe we can already say the WSU fanbase’s Awkward Family Thanksgiving is finally over.

Dickert’s normalcy allows the fanbase to evaluate him purely on his ability to lead the team to winning seasons. Losses will not come with caveats, and fans will not have to qualify wins with statements about how they may not support him politically, but the bowl games are nice.

This is not an attempt to kick the previous two coaches. Leach’s genuine curiosity and candor made the team more interesting – his Monday news conferences were appointment viewing across college football and brought immediate notoriety to a program that had none.

Rolovich’s stubborn refusal to get a drug store vaccine was ill-advised and cost him millions of dollars. But when judging his character, also remember that when COVID first struck Washington state and shut down local economies, it was Rolovich out there spending thousands of his own dollars at local restaurants so that Pullman residents who fell on hard times could have a nice meal.

Leach emceeing a rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and Rolovich’s anti-vax stance surely won them supporters as well as critics. But there is no doubt both spurred controversy and division among the fans.

No longer was it enough to simply sport crimson and gray clothing – one had to have an opinion about the coach’s opinions.

And that is exhausting.

At a turbulent time in college football when WSU could easily end up losing status as the rich schools consolidate into more lucrative conference alignments, Dickert’s noncontroversial affability is a welcome respite from the turmoil. He is unlikely to garner many headlines for things other than his team’s performance on Saturdays.

Win or lose, the entire WSU fanbase can celebrate or commiserate without internal emotional conflict.

Supporting WSU football is no longer a political act. Let’s see if normal can win in Pullman.