Washington State Cougars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Washington State University Cougars | |
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| University | Washington State University |
|---|---|
| Conference | Pac-10 |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletics director | Jim Sterk |
| Location | Pullman, WA |
| Varsity Teams | 15 |
| Stadium | Martin Stadium |
| Arena | Beasley Coliseum |
| Mascot | Butch |
| Nickname | Cougars |
| Fight Song | |
| Colors | Crimson and Gray
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| Homepage | WSU Athletics |
The Washington State Cougars are the athletic teams at Washington State University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Washington State University is a member of the Pacific Ten Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I. The athletic program comprises 9 women's sports: basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball; and 6 men's sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, track and field. The school also offers various intramural sports.
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[edit] Athletics
[edit] Varsity athletics
Washington State University is a member of the Pac-10 athletic conference. The school's mascot is "Butch T. Cougar" and the school's colors are crimson and gray. Varsity athletics include men's baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, and track and field, as well as women's basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, soccer, swimming, softball, volleyball, tennis, and track and field. In the past WSU had varsity programs of boxing, wrestling, and gymnastics. In 1937, Roy Petragallo and Ed McKinnon won the NCAA boxing championship, WSU's first national championship.
[edit] Intramural athletics
University Recreation also supports 26 club sports, including bowling, men's crew, cricket, cycling, equestrian show team, men's and women's flag football, fencing, polo, men's and women's ice hockey, judo, men's lacrosse, logger sports, rodeo, men's rugby, sailing, ski team, men's soccer, women's fast-pitch softball, tae kwon do, triathlon, Ultimate, men's and women's volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
[edit] Most popular sports
The most popular sporting events at Washington State are football games. Over the past five years, the Cougar football teams have been distinguished by three ten win seasons, three top ten poll rankings, and bowl game appearances (a Sun Bowl win in 2001 over Purdue University, a Rose Bowl loss the following season to the University of Oklahoma, and a Holiday Bowl win in 2003 over the University of Texas at Austin and future NFL QB Vince Young). The Cougars shared the Pac-10 title in 2002. Much to the dismay of Washington State fans, those three seasons were marred by losses to their archrival, the University of Washington Huskies. Over the next two seasons, the Cougars have stumbled to a disappointing record of 9-13, but managed to defeat the Huskies both years. The Cougars are coached by Bill Doba.
Men's basketball is the second-most popular sport. The Cougar basketball team holds the dubious record of participating in the lowest scoring championship basketball game in Division I history, losing to Wisconsin 39-34 in the 1941 national championship game. The team played to large crowds in the late-1970s when George Raveling was head coach. At that time, the Cougars were among the Pac-10 conference's top teams. The 1990s saw a major decline in support as the team floundered. However, there was the beginning of a resurgence under coach Dick Bennett. The 2004-2005 season saw a large increase in student support as the team finished within a few wins of a .500 record (along with a stunning upset win at eventual Elite Eight team Arizona). Bennett retired at the end of the 2005-2006 season and was replaced by his son, Tony. Before becoming coach, Tony Bennett spent three seasons as an assistant to his father, the last two as associate head coach. In 2007, following a win against then-No. 7 Arizona, the Cougars appeared in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 1983. Picked to finish last in the Pac-10 in a pre-season media poll, the Cougars surprised by finishing second in the conference and peaking with a No. 9 ranking.
The Cougar Women's volleyball team has a cult following. Residents of the all-male dormitory Stimson Hall known as the "Super Fans" attend every game in crimson shirts that spell "Superfans" on the front and "In Your Head" on the back. The Super Fans occupy the front rows of the stands and are notoriously rowdy, jeering heavily towards every opponent. It is rumored the WSU head coach sends advanced notice to the Super Fans as to who the key players are in the upcoming matches.
Baseball was also popular during the Buck Bailey and Bobo Brayton eras when WSU was a powerhouse of the Pac-10. The 2006 season has been the most successful campaign since the eighties, as the Cougars were ranked as high as 28th in the nation after winning the series against Stanford the weekend of March 26th, 2006. Another popular program is track and field, which has given WSU one of its two national championships.
[edit] Rivalries
Washington State's biggest rival is the University of Washington Huskies. Arguably, the most important athletic contest for both schools is the Apple Cup: the annual game that pits the Cougars and Huskies against each other, and is traditionally held on the third Saturday of November. WSU owns an all-time record of 28-63-6 against UW, but has was won the previous two Apple Cups (2004 & 2005.) However, the 2006 Apple Cup resulted in a victory for the UW.
As the two main public universities in the state, WSU and UW have a natural geographic rivalry — complete with a fierce bitterness that dates back over 100 years. As legend has it, UW stole WSU's stuffed cougar several times between 1917 and 1927. One year, UW paraded with the prized possession around Husky Stadium in front of the Cougar Section at the Apple Cup. The WSU students could not tolerate this mockery and a brawl ensued, destroying the cat in the process. As a result, the WSU Intercollegiate Knights were formed to care over the mascot more dutifully.
Strong rivalries also exist between WSU and the other Pac-10 teams of the Pacific Northwest: the University of Oregon Ducks and Oregon State University Beavers. Competition between the schools in football has been very competitive over the years, as the Cougars hold a 46-41-3 advantage in the series against OSU and trail UO by a tally of 37-39-7.
WSU’s closest geographic rival is the University of Idaho, another land-grant school only eight miles away in Moscow, Idaho. The “Battle of the Palouse,” which is the annual football game between the two universities held at Martin Stadium in Pullman, has encouraged some creative activities between the schools. Starting in the 1910s, the student body of the losing school would walk the eight miles between the towns. This now is done in a shared spirit between the WSU Student Alumni Connection & UI Student Alumni Relations Board, as they relay the game football from Moscow to Pullman before the start of the game. The student body presidents have recently stoked the rivalry by making bets, such as the president at the losing school having to shave his/her head. The editors of the student newspapers have also gotten in on the action, making unique bets, which have even involved marriage (WSU can afford to make more outlandish bets as it holds a 67-17-3 lead in the all-time series).
[edit] 1915 Football National Championship
Recently there has been a case made about Washington State's claim to the 1915 National Championship. The legendary Washington State Warriors that won the 1915 Rose Bowl finishing 10-0 and outscored its opponents 204-10 was in fact one of three teams that went undefeated that year, the other two being Cornell University (currently recognized as the 1915 champions) and the University of Pittsburgh. In 1915 Washington State College was awarded the opportunity to play in Rose Bowl and was set to play Brown University, which had lost only one game, to Harvard University (who in turn lost to Cornell 10-0) by a score of 16-7. Cornell and Pitt at that time were busy bickering over where the site of their football game would take place and eventually the season had come to an end before a desicion could be made. Washington State wound up beating Brown in the Rose Bowl 14-0 which garnered huge headlines around the country at that time. However a 1915 national championship was never awarded until 1935 when a Princeton University graduate submitted the first national polling of that season, quite disputed because in previous seasons he claimed that Princeton had won 22 National championships before 1933. However, the poll was acknowledged and Cornell was given the championship twenty years after the 1915 season. Recently, experts have come up with evidence that could include Washington State in that circle of National Champions. One example is that a comparison of points scored between teams Washington State played and teams Cornell played (some of which played each other in the postseason) actually favors Washington State. Another was that while Cornell and Pittsburgh never actually played a postseason game, Washington State did in fact play a powerhouse East Coast team and defeated them soundly. If the claim is acknowledged by the University and/or the media, Washington State will not only have received its first National championship, but will have become the first team to have won the National Championship and the Rose Bowl in the same year.[1]
[edit] Spirit and traditions
[edit] Colors
The first school colors were pink and blue, said to be chosen by the first WSU President when he was so in awe of the blue and pink sunsets of the Palouse. Research has not uncovered the exact date when the official colors changed, although Crimson and Gray are thought to have been the colors by 1916, when the then-WSC "Warriors" won the first annual Rose Bowl.
[edit] Cougar mascot
The first mascot was a terrier named "Squirt". Campus folklore has it that the terrier was selected because someone brought a pet dog to campus.
The mascot became the Indians during the "Carlisle Connection", the decade spanning 1910-1919. Three football coaches came from the famous Carlisle Indian College in Pennsylvania: Frank Shivley, William "Lone Star" Dietz and Gus Welch.
Following the first football game between WSC and California in 1919 (WSU beat the Cal Bears 14-0), an Oakland cartoonist portrayed the Washington State team as fierce Northwest cougars chasing the defeated Golden Bears. A few days later, on October 28, WSC students officially designated "Cougars" as their team mascot.
In 1927 during the Homecoming football game against the University of Idaho, Washington State Governor Roland H. Hartley presented a cougar cub to the WSC students. The cub was originally to be called "Governor Hartley," in honor of its donor. The governor gracefully declined and suggested the name "Butch," in honor of Herbert "Butch" Meeker of Spokane, who was WSC's gridiron football star at the time.
Governor Clarence D. Martin presented Butch II to the student body in 1938. Butch III and IV were twin cubs presented by Governor Arthur B. Langlie in January 1942. Governor Langlie also presented Butch V in 1955. Butch VI, the last live mascot on campus, died in the summer of 1978. Governor Albert Rosellini had presented him to WSU in 1964 from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.
Today, the mascot is a student wearing a cougar costume. The student playing the mascot is anonymous; the student's identity is only revealed after the last big sporting event of the school year, usually the last home basketball game of the season.
Butch T. Cougar represented WSU proudly as the mascot won the highly coveted Capital One Mascot Challenge for the 2006 college football season.
[edit] Herbert "Butch" Meeker
As not too many mascots are named after students, this is of special note. Butch, was a stand-out football player in high school in Spokane, but he wasn't getting much attention from college football recruiters. So his high school coach gave a call into the University of Washington. UW declined to offer Butch a spot on the team, citing his small size. However, WSC did.
Butch became the star of the team and an All-American. In his senior year of 1927, the 5-foot-5, 145-pound halfback led the football team to a successful 6-1 season. Most importantly, he scored the winning touchdown against UW. Butch was also Student Body Vice President and a member of Crimson Circle, the prestigious senior men's honorary.
[edit] Football touchdown traditions
After every Cougars touchdown, a cannon operated by the ROTC fires a blank off the Compton Union Building and the cheerleaders do a pushup for each point in the cumulative score. Before each kick off all the students hold out their keys and make a klanking noise. Also, on 3rd down all the students hold up three fingers to represent third down and to try and intimidate the other team.
[edit] Victory Bell
In the late 1800's the bell was mounted on the ground in the center of campus to start and dismiss class. Later, it was placed on top of Old College Hall when automatic bells were used, and then on Bryan Hall. The bell was first rung in victory after WSC beat the Washington Huskies by the women's basketball team in 1902. Later, the members of the Intercollegiate Knights rang the bell following a football win. It was subsequently moved to the present College Hall, and now rests on the west side of the Alumni Centre where it is rung by the Student Alumni Connection after each football win.
[edit] Presence on ESPN College GameDay
The popular ESPN College GameDay program has, as of 2006, never been broadcast from WSU. An unofficial, but well organized effort to place the WSU flag in view of the GameDay cameras for every broadcast has been acknowledged by the GameDay crew, but the show still has no plans to broadcast from Pullman. [2]
[edit] "Coug It"
"Coug It" is a derisive term used by WSU fans to describe the perception that its sports teams tend to lose games they should win, typically by blowing a lead late in the game. It is generally used as a verb ("They Couged it!") and is best described with a play on a famous sports cliche': to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
- Football
- In the 2002 Apple Cup, WSU was leading 20-10 with under 4 minutes left in the game, however the Washington Huskies rallied to force overtime and eventually win 29-26 in 3 OTs.
- In 2003, WSU vs Notre Dame, which was trailing 19-6 entering the fourth quarter, rallied to defeat WSU 29-26 in OT by outscoring WSU 23-7 over the final periods.
- Men's Basketball
- In 2004, WSU was leading Stanford 61-56 with 25 seconds to play. However, a series of plays, including a four-point play by Stanford, a WSU turnover and a 3 point basket at the buzzer led Stanford to 63-61 victory.
- In the 2007 NCAA Tournament, WSU once again Couged it. Allowing the Vanderbilt Commodores a comeback victory after leading by as many as 8 points in the second half before defensive breakdowns by the Cougars let Vanderbilt back in the game. Guard Kyle Weaver made numerous ball handling mistakes and had several costly turnovers in overtime along with a season low 5 points. These miscues led to a crushing double overtime upset by the 6th seed Vanderbilt over the 3rd seeded WSU. Adding another chapter to "Coug'ing it" lore.
