The Cougars “Coug’d” it at the end of the year, losing to Wyoming and Oregon State, blowing a shot at the College Football Playoff and embarrassing themselves as frauds in the Mountain West. Right? Or did they?

Yes, the Cougars lost three close games to losing teams to close the season. No, it is not the end of the world. In fact, it might have been a good thing.

Jake Dickert is going to return in 2025 as the head coach of WSU. Had the Cougs managed to go 11-1 and made the CFP, would that be a sure thing? Likely not, as the era of poaching and NIL could easily lure Dickert away to a better program. I’m not suggesting Dickert doesn’t like Wazzu or that he would ‘betray’ the Cougs. I’m only speculating that usually when a coach takes a historically bad team to an 11-win season, he’s able to upgrade jobs. Truthfully, I would not have blamed Dickert if he did leave for a better job; he gave us two Apple Cups in four years, that’s good enough for me!

However, with the three-game losing streak to close the season, it appears that Dickert will not be getting a new job, and that’s fantastic long-term for the Cougs. Dickert is still relatively new and is still building a culture of success on the Palouse. He is building a program that will be sustainable, a program that has been competitive. Dickert staying in Pullman long term would be massive for the Cougars’ future chances of winning the Pac-12 and making the expanded CFP.

In addition to keeping Dickert, the Cougs might also have a chance to keep QB John Mateer, something that would have been written off as impossible a month ago. Mateer appears to love playing for Dickert, the coach who believed in him and recruited him. Running it back with Dickert and Mateer is not only the best scenario for 2025, but it is also the best scenario for the long-term building of the program. Dickert staying means the 19 three-star recruits will also be staying in Pullman. It gives the team continuity and culture.

So while the on-field product may have looked like “coug-ing” it, they may have inadvertently saved themselves from an offseason purge. Now the team will have a unique opportunity to play a weak schedule with a head coach who is proven and a roster coming off an 8-4 season that still felt like an underachievement. 2025 will be another strong year for the Cougars.