It's been said in a number of places that when a man has to make a hard choice that "sometimes you just gotta roll the hard six." Often times it is something that indicates that you have two options and neither is appealing or going to be easy. Today we saw Bill Moos have to do it, bringing to an end the Paul Wulff era of Cougar Football. What we should all appreciate is that four years ago Paul Wulff made the same decision for the benefit of our football program.

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Today I opened my hotmail account and found the latest Cougar Sports Weekly awaiting me.  I have to give it up to Nuss as I have found his latest project to be a pretty good read so far.  If you haven't subscribed to it yet I would seriously encourage you to do so.  This week he addressed a simple question "Is it time to revise our expectations for this football team?"  Any of you who follow me on twitter or that have read my stuff here or on the cougfan boards know that my expectations have been considerably higher this year than most.  After the jump I'll get into why that is and what it means moving forward.

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Good morning everyone, I hope your victory Sunday is treating you as well as mine is.  There are a few things worth talking about today so I'll get right to it.

It has been 10 years now since we were all witness to the most vicious attack ever perpetrated against the American people on their native soil.  It is also the day after a Cougar victory that was carried out in a manner beyond all reasonable expectation.  I have written before about why football, especially in a down time like this, matters.  As we remember 9/11 today it is clear that while football matters, then and now, there are other things more important which also bear recognition.

Before getting into my quick thoughts on the game yesterday and the season so far I would like to recognize the WSU Coaching Staff for carrying out one of the classiest moves I have ever seen.  If you haven't heard yet, when the team came out yesterday Chas Sampson, the Cougar lineman that served 4 1/2 years in the Army, was the Cougar to lead the team onto the field carrying the American Flag yesterday.  It was simple, there wasn't a lot of fanfare about it, and it exemplified the best of the low key, but respectful, recognition of our service men and women and their sacrifice that allows us to enjoy freedom, family, football, and life in a nation that is safe.

After leading our team onto the field we actually got to see Sampson in action a bit as the Cougs absolutely dominated two of the three phases of the game.  By now I'm sure you've seen the highlights and read every article so I'm not going to recap it all here.  What I will say is that as an unabashed optimist this game absolutely surprised me in every way possible.  After witnessing what the Cougars brought to bear against UNLV with the first "real" game-week to prepare I'm beginning to think that my initial predictions regarding this team might be more possible than I'd ever dared imagine.  Mr. Rancourt and I have gone a few rounds on how far this team can go this season on Twitter.  While I'm still waiting to see what happens when the competition level really improves I'm also more confident in this team and coaching staff than I was.  We might just have something special on our hands here folks, a legit team that can compete with anyone in the Pac-12.

After the jump I have shared my reflections on September 11, 2001 and where I was and what it meant to me, as well as my appreciation for everyone that has sacrificed for our nation since.

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Hey everyone, long time no see or write or comment.  Unfortunately this summer I was going to try and put together a Cougar Legends series and just as quickly as I got excited about doing it my life took a few unexpected turns that left it to sit on the back burner.  As we prepare to celebrate the arrival of another season of Cougar Football Saturdays I have been able to steal some time and sit down to write.  As such I wanted to sit here in my apartment and crank something out that will hopefully inspire some confidence, hope, or even a spark of optimism beyond what you may already have in you for this season.  If you find yourself on the short end of the hope stick, or just feeling a little apprehensive about getting your hopes up about this team click on the jump and lets do this.

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For awhile now I've been trying to think of a series of posts that I could write for Cougcenter.  While I do not bear the title of author here on the site I like being an active member, and if you've noticed over the last year or so I enjoy writing quite a bit.  Earlier this week you may or may not have listened to Cougar Calls with Bill Moos or the podcast of the show that's posted here.  If you did you heard Moos say this...

I asked who knows who Mel Hein is and no one raised their hand.  I asked who knows Hugh Campbell and got maybe one or two hands.  Then I asked about George Raveling and got blank stares.

When I graduated from WSU in 2009 it was with a degree in History.  It absolutely confounds and frustrates me that not only do a good many fans not know who these people are, but neither does our Athletic Department's staff.  Had I been in the room I'd have been going nuts, there's a reason I didn't become a teacher with my degree, I'm an impatient and irritable person when people are ignorant to things I think they should know.  It's with that in mind that I find it somewhat ironic that my series, beginning here today, is going to be dedicated to teaching people about as many Cougar legends as I can because it is one of my great passions.  There will be a lot of ground to cover and if I see a good response I'll be happy to keep it up from here on out so we all have something to read in the coming wasteland of Cougar Sports news that we call summer.  So without further ado lets get to know a Cougar legend after the jump.

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For those of you that have kept up with Jon Wilner's monitoring the state of the Pac 12's Media Rights deal this will not be new.  There again, since I haven't seen anyone else post about this yet, I'm going to assume most of you haven't caught up with Mr. Wilner's blog just yet.  If you don't keep up with his blog, I suggest that you start because more so than anyone else out there he has been on top of the story since day 1.  Once you're done giving his post a quick read feel free to click through the jump and we'll get into just what this new media market and subsequent price adjustment might mean for us here at WSU.

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So a couple of weeks back after the ASU debacle I wrote a quick piece about disappointment and the good that could result from the night we all thought our tournament hopes died.  If you'd like a quick jaunt back into memory lane you can find it here.  Overall I think I got some things right, but this isn't about me, this is about our boys as they move toward what will be a clash of NIT Titans in Madison Square Garden.  If you want my thoughts on this whole thing feel free to keep going after the jump.

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Greetings fellow Cougs!  Recently we've had good, followed by bad, followed by "holy crap how is this happening," followed by "DAMN, We were this close!"  To call the last week a bit of an up and down experience would be an understatement.  Just before the weekend of craziness got started I got some good news regarding the future of WSU Athletics.  While I am barred from laying out specifics, it's all good news moving forward, so if you want to know about the good that is coming I suggest you click on past the jump.

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So, we're all disappointed in the wake of 71-69.  We've all had time to get angry, then accept, and then cope with the loss.  I had a rather interesting conversation with my friend Billy in the wake of this game and it has inspired me to try and find the silver lining in what is quickly becoming a disappointing season.  I'll get into what Billy had to say, why I think he and some others I've spoken to are overreacting and just where this can all lead after the jump.

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If you haven't heard yet today a very big decision has come down from the Pac 10/12 League office and Commissioner Larry Scott.  As Coug fans we are well versed in terrible officiating and how it can adversely effect the outcome of games.  Larry Scott has announced that Mike Pereira will be moving into a leadership position as the interim Head of Pac 10 Football Officiating.  After the break I'll get into why this is such a crucial move and why we should all be very happy with our Commissioner and his latest decree.

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This Super Sunday many of us at home had little to no stake in the game.  I don't know about you, but I'm neither a Green Bay Packers or Pittsburgh Steelers fan, though I will admit that seeing the Steelers fail where they've succeeded previously was nice because I like parity. 

Just because you may or may not have cared about the teams playing it doesn't mean you couldn't at least enjoy the partying, the food, and the beer or maybe, just maybe... the commercials.  While I neither hosted Super Bowl or Super Bowl Commercial party I did keep one eye glued to the screen at all times waiting for the Coug's Super Bowl Ad that Bill Moos alluded to earlier in the week.  I'm sure by now you've seen Nuss' post about it on the front page, but being the junky that I am for these things I wanted to talk a little bit more about the importance of what this can really mean moving forward.  Big ups to Nuss for getting it up there, now lets talk about it a bit more... after the jump.

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It's me again, looking for more comments, more debate, and generally more thoughts on where Cougar Football is headed.  Last night I was able to attend the annual Night with Cougar Football party up in Spokane.  I'm going to hit the high points and the things I thought were important; this is not a comprehensive recap of the class, or even necessarily what Paul Wulff thinks of it.  If anything I want to get into more of where this program now stands, what our leadership is lobbying for moving forward, and what they are doing to rally the troops.  Last night was a great time with a lot of great Cougs so lets get into what made it so great after the jump.

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Alright, here we go again, another year, another, HUGE depending on who you listen to, loss in recruiting.  Admittedly I'm a little late to the Sankey pity party, in fact while cougfan's forums have been imploding I've been sitting at home calmly enjoying a trip through another National Title run in my NCAA online Dynasty.  Here's the thing, the loss of one recruit in the grand cycle of recruiting is as meaningless as having to settle for the Rose Bowl in my fake dynasty every once in awhile.  I will also acknowledge that yes indeed we lost Nembot too, but I think there's some pretty solid reasoning for why we should still the pitchforks in the mob looking for justice (or someone to blame) that's on the way to Coach Wulff's or maybe even Bill Moos' house.  As usual I'll keep it short before the jump, but if you want to have a compelling argument to use when talking your fellow Cougs down from the ledge feel free to keep reading.

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Hey everybody it's me again, writing about my favorite thing in the world, Our Cougs and Our Leader Bill Moos.  I read what our great and fearless leader Nuss had to say earlier today about Tormey coming into the program and about our one-shot appearance at Auburn in a couple of seasons.  The reason I have sat down and started typing is because I respectfully disagree with Nuss and his assessment of what that game can mean for this program moving forward.  In my mind this is more than a "body-bag" type of game and I'll explain my reasoning in as much detail as I can muster after the jump...

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I posted this late yesterday on the cougfan forums, I felt I needed to post it here as well.  I have been very fortunate this last year to meet a number of you and to meet a number of other Cougs in person right here in Pullman that have helped me out quite a bit.  This post is for those of you that helped me out, and in a broader sense to let everyone else who frequents these sites just how special a community it is that we Cougs belong to.  I wasn't able to make the tailgate last weekend so I know I missed some of you, but I will try to catch up with as many of you as I can in person because there's nothing better than sharing a beer with a fellow Coug and swapping stories.  Anyway, this is my thanks for a season that likely meant a little more for me than it did for some, and for your help in making it happen.  Give it a read after the jump and if you have something similar to share put it in the comments.

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Today Bill Moos made it official that in 2011 Paul Wulff will the the head coach of the WSU Cougar Football team.  There has been quite a bit of conjecture as to how it was phrased, and what his words mean, and if Moos really had any other choice.  I'm hear to clarify what it means based on my personal experiences in speaking with Moos and how he has handled his position since his arrival...

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Having just been cut off from the last part of the game, I feel the need to get on here and get going with something that I am entirely ripping off from Milehighreport.com, another superb sbnation blog for Denver Broncos fans.  While I do not have a replay to watch or a dvr recording to go over I want to go over the game while it is still fresh in my mind.

First off, if anyone here is at all familiar with ST and NO you know that I'm going to try to do this as a weekly feature purely as a fan to spur discussion amongst the Cougar faithful.  This game being the debacle that it was, I figure now is as good a time as any to get the conversation started, so we can get ready to move on towards Montana State next week in the friendly confines of Martin Stadium.  So here goes folks, more after the jump...

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http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/8195/pac-1 0-ranks-fourth-in-the-nation-in-attendance

If you check out the link above you'll find an interesting blurb on the state of the Pac-10's attendance on a national scale.  Ted Miller highlights where a number of schools are nationally ranked, with 4 in the top 30 in attendance.  This may seem great, but of most import in the article is the following quote:

"Washington State ranked last in the nation in attendance among BCS conference teams (25,909)."

Let me reiterate that for you.  Out of 73 schools playing BCS Division 1 football the Washington State University Cougar football team averaged the lowest attendance of them all.  The same school that has proudly made it a tradition to appear on Gameday, waving our colors, showing our spirit, being a proud and defiant underdog for all the nation to see can not average more attendance per game than even one of more than 100 other schools.  This is unacceptable and it needs to change, our fans need to realize that more than anything they have a responsibility to support their team or our message rings hollow.

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EDIT NUSS: Bumped because it's thoughtful and well written. Dang, we've been getting some good reader content lately!

Unfortunately for the majority of the CougCenter community getting to the public forum with Moos was not a possibility, because of work, school, or a wonky feed many were unable to see it or hear it.  I was lucky enough to have the afternoon off from work and was in attendance and even got to ask a question or two. 

First I want to thank President Floyd for giving the fans and donors and those of us who care the opportunity to see this either on campus or via the internet.  As most of you well know when most universities are in the midst of a hiring, especially for a job like Athletic Director, there is typically a door or two that is closed off to the general public disallowing any information to leak, much less an open forum provided where questions big and small can be lobbed at a potential candidate.  That said, this is no ordinary candidate and this is by no means an ordinary courtship.

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