West Coast recruiting: How Jake Dickert’s departure impacts WSU

Bay Area News Group

Jon Wilner’s Hotline provides fans with a regular dive into the recruiting process through the eyes and ears of Brandon Huffman, the Seattle-based national recruiting editor for 247Sports. He submitted the following report on Thursday:

Dickert’s departure: The impact on WSU

It wasn’t the best of weeks for Washington State.

First, quarterback John Mateer entered the transfer portal last Monday. Second, and more notably, Jake Dickert left to take the head coaching job at Wake Forest two days later.

Through all the chaos on the Palouse, what struck me the most was a comment Dickert made at his introductory news conference in Winston Salem.

“When I was at Washington State, we’re surrounded by Canada, Oregon and Idaho,” Dickert said. “Not exactly the recruiting mecca.

“Here I’m surrounded by Virginia, Tennessee and South Carolina. I can’t wait to meet the high school coaches in our state.”

Sure, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Virginia have their share of talent. But I’m pretty sure Washington doesn’t border Utah and, even if it did, there is plenty of talent in the Pacific Northwest.

What’s more, Dickert had access to California, home to a number of players in every WSU recruiting class.

Excuses be damned.

But let’s forget about Dickert’s departure and avoid bemoaning the transfer portal. The bigger issue, which comes a year after Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith left his alma mater – and with neither the Cougars or Beavers finding a seat at the Power Four table – is whether the new WSU coach can recruit.

We’ve said it in this space before:

With Boise State, San Diego State and Colorado State joining the Pac-12 in the summer of 2026, and with their desirable locations to live and attend school, the trump card that Washington State and Oregon State always held over that trio was membership in a power conference.

But now Boise, San Diego and Fort Collins may become more desirable than Pullman with recruits given a competitive playing field that is suddenly even and with the newcomers possessing access to bigger media markets.

Dickert’s successor will need to recruit Washington – there’s still plenty of talent in the state and across the region. (The Cougars have also recruited hard in Oregon the last couple of classes.)

NIL (name, image and likeness) is an obstacle for WSU. But there’s nothing preventing the Cougars from recruiting as well as any school in the rebuilt Pac-12.