Since it's the last big elephant in the room for Leach's hiring, I thought it would be interesting to hear some potential candidates for our Defensive Coordinator role. A lot of these guys run 3-4s, which I know we have talked about way too much over the last couple years, but with Leach checking out the NY Jets practices and such, I wouldn't be surprised to see him transition the Cougar D into a 3-4 base or some type of hybrid/multiple formations scheme.

I'll start with a few wishlist names:

Tim DeRuyter - DC at Texas A&M and Interim Head Coach. Runs a 3-4, consistently has his defense near the top nationally. I don't see this ever happening, but a man can dream, right?!

Joe Barry - LB Coach at USC. He falls in the Tony Dungy/Monte Kiffin coaching trees. Very familiar with a 3-4 defense. EDIT: 4-3 / Tampa Cover 2.

Ruffin McNeill - Head Coach ECU. He transitioned ECU into a 3-4 defense, worked under Leach. With what he's making at ECU and being the head man, he probably would view this as a step backwards, but you never know what he's thinking and the pull Leach might have with him.

David Bailiff - HC Rice. He's on the hot seat over there, only making 500k or so. He's the former TCU DC who had quite a few successful defenses. I think he's under the Mack Brown coaching tree.

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First off, from how it sounds, the majority of people are assuming we can land Mike Leach or the equivalent.  I personally see that as a VERY long shot, with how many coaching vacancies have opened up in the last couple days.  Trying not to be a Debbie-Downer, but I don't see Leach, Bellotti, or Sumlin coming to Pullman.  Often, available coaches are targeted based on their familiarity with certain conferences or geographical areas.  We are currently the 3rd most attractive job in the Pac-12 (fourth if Arizona hadn't hired yet). 

But regardless, I'm looking at it from a slightly different perspective.  Paul Wulff is making 600,000 per year.

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Rather than commenting on various threads and asking the same question...  I'll create a separate discussion piece.

Without turning this into a complete "our defense and defensive coaches suck" type of post - I'm wondering if there are working examples of in-game defensive adjustments which have worked out this year?

In the Stanford and Oregon game we saw them play lights out on defense for a half, but it didn't appear we were able to make any adjustments to their half-time adjustments and sustain that momentum.  Maybe there were adjustments made but we just didn't have enough gas in the tank to execute against high caliber teams like UO and Stanford?

I guess what I'm ultimately trying to get at, is whether our coaches have been trying to switch things up, but to no avail; or do they feel that for whatever reason they can't vary their game plan for other reasons (lack of talent, depth, etc.)?  It doesn't appear we are as vanilla as we once were, but I feel we should have been able to adjust in both the UCLA game and the OSU game - but never did.

Thoughts?

I'm curious to get input on how Aaron Dunn is coming along?  This is more directed towards those who have seen a bit of practice to give a fair assessment (Brian?).  I'm holding out hope that he'll be a vital component in the upcoming years, or at least move to a position where he can be used a bit more. I know he's been banged up so I'm guessing that has played a large part in the slow start.  Thoughts on his long term outlook?

The recent story-line out of St. Bonaventure reminded me that a former Coug was finishing up his senior year there.  Just thought I would let you know how his year/career went.  Figuring he probably would not have sat out if he were still with the Cougs, last year would have been his senior year.  I remember seeing him shoot the ball his freshman year and was pretty excited to see how he would develop. 

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2006 Nebraska Huskers Tunnel Walk (via HuskerFaithful)

NEBRASKA TUNNEL WALK vs. USC (via Kortum)

Seeing something like this, makes me wish for an opportunity to work for WSU Athletics.  Can you imagine opening up the new stadium/renovation and starting to add a little more tradition to our pre-game?!!   I love the live camera feed - following the team through out the tunnel walk!   They switch it up every week, keeping it fresh.

Nebraska now has a 300 sellout streak (this weekend) - dating back to 1962?! I know they have plenty years of success to keep that sellout going, but they also have a strong in-game experience.  Who would want to stay home and watch the game on TV, when you miss out on crazy crap like that!  They've been doing the Tunnel Walk since 1994.

For as much crap Jerry Jones gets for being "over involved" in his team and blowing his money, I love that he recognizes that he needs to sell an experience beyond the game itself.  With TV broadcasts becoming more and more advanced - giving you easy access to player interviews, side-line reports, better viewing angle, high-def cameras, instant replay, and stay at-home comfort - its necessary to have experiences like the Nebraska Tunnel Walk or Dallas' GIANT videoboard (and now their team walk through of the club) to add that extra value to attending games in person.

I know WSU doesn't have a Nebraska or Dallas Cowboys budget, but if we could do a few little things great to give us that experience, maybe the 60,000 West-side Coug Alums will make the 5 hour trek more frequently to "experience" Cougar football.  Maybe Spokane, Lewiston, Tri-Cities make it a ritual.   I know the place is packed-out during winning seasons (well, typically the year after a winning season) and gets rocking, but if we could beef up the game-day experience I think we sustain our fan-base a little better through the tough times.

Understandably, we do need to wait for that perfect storm to really see something like this take-off and stick, but in 2 years when the premium features have been added to Martin and hopefully the team is positioned for their first return to a bowl game - talk about an ideal time to roll it out! 

So far we have all noticed our young team comes out flat, I wonder if something like this would help pump up the crowd and players, keeping all of us "up" for the game a little longer than we currently are...?

Editor's Note: Nuss here. Since we've spent a lot of time talking about the positives of the probable move of the Apple Cup to Qwest Field in Seattle, I wanted to give some space to those who are absolutely against this. So I hit up my buddy Mike, who composed some of the more eloquent comments against the proposal in the other posts. He's a true-blooded crimson of a Coug as a I know, was a sports management major, has worked in the professional sports industry, and eventually wants to get into college athletics administration. He's got a unique perspective. Enjoy.

When I first caught wind of the Apple Cup's potential long-term move to Qwest Field I went through an array of emotions and I'll be honest, none of them were positive.  I guess with being a former employee of the Evil Emperor himself, Clay Bennett, I have seen too much selling out the last couple years and none of it was butts in seats!  Anytime I hear discussion of bright shiny new ideas or enticing sports revenue schemes, my gut reminds me of the old phrase, "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is."  

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