Jan. 3—PULLMAN — As Washington State enters a new era, its sports programs playing as affiliate members of other conferences until the new Pac-12 launches next year, the school’s athletics programs are feeling the changes financially.
That’s the word from WSU athletic director Anne McCoy, who said Friday the athletic department is aiming for a total budget of $74 million in 2025, down about $11 million from its 2024 budget of $85 million. To remain competitive in the new Pac-12, McCoy said, the Cougars will need to bump that number back into the $80 million range.
“To feel really good about our competitive future and really being able to compete in the new Pac-12,” McCoy said, “because the schools coming in are only going to continue to invest in their programs more. So I think it’s really important that we evaluate all of our revenue sources to try to get back to that 85 million.”
How can the program do that? The money WSU and Oregon State won in a November 2023 lawsuit with the departing programs, some $255 million, might not be the answer. That money, McCoy said, is going toward Pac-12 Enterprises, the California-based production studio that housed the Pac-12 Network, as well as fees to grab new member schools from the Mountain West: Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Utah State and Fresno State.
WSU is also facing a debt service of about $10 million annually to pay off its debt on the Martin Stadium renovations. The payments are expected to continue through 2039.
The Pac-12 is also on the hook for more than $50 million in fees regarding the scheduling agreement that WSU, OSU and the MWC came to last year to provide football games for the Cougars and Beavers. With Gonzaga in the fold, the conference needs one more football member to hit the required eight and qualify for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
For that reason, McCoy and WSU are looking for other ways to get back to what they see as a competitive budget in the $80 million range: Maximizing season ticket sales, sports passes and single-game tickets. Squeezing as much as they can out of their conference media rights agreement, which has yet to materialize as the outfit looks for at least one more member, which will determine the dollar amounts.
Estimates peg that yearly payout around $12-15 million, down significantly from the roughly average annual value of $21M each school was receiving in the old Pac-12. To make up deficits like those, McCoy said, WSU is also exploring selling beer at Martin Stadium’s Gesa Field, which has not been a policy, plus various contracts that may be nearing their end.
But in the end, the final say on WSU’s budget comes from the Board of Regents, who must approve any changes. At the top of that group’s to-do list this year is to find a president to replace Kirk Schulz, who is set to retire this summer.
“There is kind of a finalist stage,” McCoy said, “as maybe a few more leaders on campus get to have involvement with and input, or at least interaction with, as much for data for the candidates to understand the different pieces of Washington State University and the position they might be taking on.”
Other financial aspects McCoy is more sure about. New head football coach Jimmy Rogers, who was hired last weekend from FCS South Dakota State, will have a $4.5 million assistant coach salary pool, McCoy said. He will also have another $4.5 million to spend on what McCoy called “student benefits,” including scholarships, institutional NIL, revenue sharing and more.
So far, Rogers has hired three assistants: Offensive coordinator Danny Freund, defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit and defensive line coach Everette Thompson. Freund and Bobbit came from SDSU, while Thompson last worked at FCS Cal Poly.
Beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, NCAA football scholarship limits are expanding from 85 to 105, although schools aren’t required to fund all 105. McCoy and the Cougars are electing to give Rogers a dollar amount, $4.5 million, to use as he sees fit. That number is down from the $3.5 million planned next season for former coach Jake Dickert, who has taken the job at Wake Forest, and it’s down even more from the $5.2 million that Dickert enjoyed for the 2024 season.
That number was closer to $5.9 million in years past, McCoy said, as the Cougars enjoyed larger annual payouts from the traditional Pac-12.
In the same vein, WSU did fund the full 85 scholarships this season, McCoy said. She refuted a report that surfaced in late December that the Cougars were not, which was used as a possible explanation for Dickert’s surprise departure. Instead, McCoy said, all 85 scholarships were used.
Dickert’s exit, McCoy said, didn’t take her entirely by surprise. She didn’t hear from Dickert directly until he called her early in the morning on Dec. 18, when he took the job, and then they met in his office in the Cougar Football Complex. She had been contacted in previous days by his agency, which told her that “that there may be something in the works, to kinda be prepared for,” McCoy said, which is why she wasn’t surprised when things became official.
Before that, though, McCoy figured she was in clear on a potential coaching change. Into mid-December, there weren’t many open head coaching jobs in college football, at least not any she figured Dickert would be a candidate for. Not until former WF coach Dave Claussen stepped down did she start to connect the dots, especially when Dickert’s agents contacted her.
On the morning of Dec. 18, McCoy said, she understood Dickert to be thankful for his time at WSU.
“I would say overall, just more thankful and appreciative,” McCoy said of what Dickert told her, “and felt like it was a decision he needed to make going forward. An opportunity he was excited about, but that it was more about being excited for that opportunity versus any glaring omissions here. And so I think it was important to him to express that to me, because I feel like we have a good working relationship.”
After that, McCoy followed Dickert to another room in the football complex where he addressed the team. That meeting lasted about five minutes, McCoy said, with Dickert telling the players much the same thing he told her. Dickert wanted the players to finish strong in the Holiday Bowl, he told them, and he hoped they understood his decision.
“Brief,” McCoy said, “would be the best way I could describe it.”
“I think we all could look at things that we’re like, ‘ooh, I (could) have handled that a little differently, myself included,” McCoy added. “So I just think at the end of the day, if he was happy about the opportunity, then I was happy for him. Everybody has to look at both their current situation and potential future situations and decide what best fits their priorities going forward. Again, Jake Dickert did a nice job for us when he was our head football coach.”
Not long after that, McCoy and the Cougars turned their attention to finding the next coach, using a search firm called Collegiate Sports Associates and president Drew Turner. What helped the team identify Rogers so quickly, McCoy said, was the fact he was already on her radar before Dickert left.
“Just looking at what he had done in his career thus far, and really had a lot of involvement with the program there even before he was officially the head coach,” McCoy said of Rogers, a South Dakota State alum who worked as the team’s defensive coordinator prior to becoming head coach. “Just his background as a student-athlete and growing with the program. Just the way he’s wired.”
As for why McCoy and Co. selected Rogers, who compiled a 27-3 record at SDSU with a 2023 FCS national championship, she said this: “I think the fact that he’s well-respected and connected to his team and his staff, his community. He’s been very involved in the community there, and I think that was very important to him here, relative to a place that you can kinda have genuine care for and that has genuine care for you, I think was a priority for him.
“So I feel like we were a good fit for each other, Washington State University, and Jimmy Rogers. He’s a proven winner, a proven competitor. That’s important to him, but not at the expense of all of the other qualities that are important.”
In other non-football news, McCoy has not yet discussed a potential contract extension with basketball coach David Riley, she said. Riley’s Cougs are off to a 12-3 start to the season, including a 2-0 record in WCC play, complete with wins over Nevada, Boise State ahead of a key matchup with San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.
He’s done it without the services of four key pieces: Star wing Cedric Coward (out for the season with shoulder injury), guard Isaiah Watts (out multiple weeks with a hand injury), wing Rihards Vavers (likely out for the season with broken hand bones) and guard Marcus Wilson (out for the season with shoulder injury).
“It certainly is something on my radar,” McCoy said. “I’m sensitive to coaches focusing on the season and the task at hand. And I know he’s balancing a lot relative to his roster and available players and just really focusing on the team right now, but he’s done a phenomenal job for sure, so certainly something that we would want to talk about when the time was right.”
