Washington State last season won 11 games for the first time in the school's historyGETTY IMAGES
Washington State AD Pat Chun in his first year has "turned over" 25% of the athletic department's staff, overseen a "record year in fundraising and been the grateful witness to a charmed football season," according to John Blanchette of the Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW. WSU football under Chun's predecessor Bill Moos was on "sound footing, but basketball was foundering." The facilities Moos had built "left an Everest of debt," and personnel and culture issues "were festering under the surface." Chun had to "formulate a plan to draw down his department’s monstrous cumulative debt" --projected to reach $85M by '22. In September, former WSU QB, radio analyst and fundraiser Jason Gesser "resigned after charges of sexual misconduct." Men’s basketball fortunes -- and attendance --"sank to further lows." But WSU's remarkable 11-2 football season "generated an era of good feelings and national buzz the school couldn’t buy." Blanchette: "And now the Cougars have to capitalize on it." There is "debt to pay, yes -- but the reason there’s that debt is because the Cougs didn’t build on their success of 20 years ago." Chun: "Building again is a lot harder than sustaining" (Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, 2/10).
