Despite the irony provided by the cold and rain, radio host Bud Nameck talked with WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos about how the upcoming sunny weather in Pullman would help usher in the next phase of Cougar athletics. Bill Stevens, associate director of athletics, was also on hand to give his thoughts on the state of WSU’s football and baseball teams. Here are some highlights from Monday’s Cougar Calls.

Spring Football

Spring Football practices start this Thursday.

Most coaches will start their spring practices on a Tuesday. However, Head Coach Mike Leach prefers to start on a Thursday. This gives him one extra practice after the Spring Game to review the game film.

“You always like to break down film and have a practice to discuss what went wrong, what went right, what could be improved during the season, and this is just the same approach,” Moos explained.

Leach will use this extra film session to help evaluate the talent the Cougars will show off this spring. This is the time of year players who have yet to prove themselves will be competing for starting jobs as well. This year features an intriguing three-way battle at the most important position: quarterback.

Freshmen Luke Falk, Peyton Bender and Tyler Hilinski are all underclassmen on scholarship. Bender was thrust into the role of backup to Falk last year after senior Connor Halliday went down with an injury. Hilinski came to WSU at the beginning of the spring semester in January.

Whoever the quarterback may be, the Cougars should be able to protect him. The entire offensive line will be returning, which means experience and continuity, according to Stevens. Moos agreed, stating that the O-line is the most important position for the offense in order to give the quarterback time to go through his progressions.

Although Moos loves talking about the offense, it was the defense that he expressed his excitement about on Monday. WSU will have two new defensive coaches, Alex Grinch (defensive coordinator) and Roy Manning (outside linebackers coach).

Moos also said he thinks this year will be different for the Cougars’ secondary, a position group that was exposed last season.

“To have veterans back and have that depth with players that have Pac-12 experience now, it’s going to be a heck of a new look there,” he said. “The Cougar defense should be something I think that’s going to be very entertaining just like the offense as we go into the 2015 season.”

For Stevens, spring ball is all about one thing: “Everyone competing at every position every day.” With practices starting this week, the time to compete has come.

Pac-12 Women’s Challenge

Women’s Rowing Head Coach Jane LaRiviere joined the program to discuss the Pac-12 Women’s Challenge, which will be held in Redwood City, California on Saturday.

“The weather has removed any excuses for us not to be ready,” LaRiviere said. “We were prepared two weeks ago for the first race, and then the last two or three weeks have been bonus. It really is the best weather and the best preparation that we’ve had since I’ve been here, which is 14 years.”

The Cougars will open against Stanford, which came in fourth at the NCAA Championships last year. In the afternoon, they will race against the California Golden Bears, who came in second at the NCAA Championships a year ago. WSU will also race Oklahoma Sunday morning.

LaRiviere said this weekend will give the team a chance to see how it lines up. The team will also be motivated to perform well against the upper-tier competition in order to showcase its improvement since last year. “I’m not really very satisfied with how we’ve done the last couple of years. Some of the team was disappointed last year with our 14th place team,” she said.

Nameck mentioned that the rowing team doesn’t benefit from recruiting as much as other sports, like football. LaRiviere said she saw it both ways. “To be competing at the level that we’re competing now, we definitely do have to have significant contributions from the recruits,” she said. “But once you get 16-19 deep on our team, we definitely have to rely on great athletes that we find on campus, and a lot of them have been throwing bales of hay around their whole life.”

She then joked, “It’s like the farm team of our sport!”

WSU hosts Washington, Saturday, April 11, and LaRiviere hopes to have a big crowd on hand.

Single Game Attendance Record at Bailey-Brayton Field

WSU baseball will host the No. 7 UCLA Bruins for three games this weekend. Moos encouraged everyone to come out to the park for the 2 p.m. first pitch Saturday, as WSU looks to break the single game attendance record. Despite starting nonconference games with an 11-6 record, the Cougars are currently in 10^th place in the 11-team Pac-12 with a 1-5 conference record.