It had already been a rough week or so for the Washington State Cougars football team in the transfer portal and now, the man in charge of the program is doing it himself. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons confirmed this morning they’d hired Jake Dickert to be their new football coach, just a few days after Dave Clawson resigned there.

WSU Athletic Director Anne McCoy announced shortly after that Assistant Head Coach Pete Kaligis would step in and coach the Cougs in the Holiday Bowl against the Syracuse Orange.

Dickert departs Washington State having coached three full seasons and part of another following the firing of Nick Rolovich. He went 23-20 in that time with an 0-2 record in bowl games.

While Dickert’s ability to keep things relatively stable through a mess of conference realignment is admirable, his in-game coaching certainly left something to be desired. While it’s clear he could motivate his team, how well that carried over onto the football field delivered mixed results, including an inexcusable three game skid to end the season in which the Cougs were heavy favorites in each contest. Dickert was clearly outcoached on a few occasions against bad Mountain West teams, including an open admission to it after a double overtime win over San Jose State in September.

Where WSU goes from here, it should be obvious, is of the utmost importance. There’s one more year of purgatory in 2025 before the Pac-12 is reformed again but this is likely the most important coaching hire since Mike Leach in 2011. You’ll need someone who can steady the ship through what will be a rough next season before getting things back on track in time for the “new” conference to make it’s debut.

Anne McCoy will likely need to move quickly here. The new coach doesn’t necessarily need to coach the bowl game, but the players that are still around need to know who is in charge next year, and need to know pronto.