Wash St Football - Support, Buy-in, Attendance

[confucius say]

In 2018, wash st went 10-2, 11-2 if you count the bowl game. And the three seasons prior, they went 9-4, 8-5, and 9-4.

So going into 2019, you would think they would get support. I know it's rural, but it is a school bigger than msu in a town bigger than Starkville and Spokane, with 220k people, is an hour away. They open the season with two home games in front of 27k each game. That's horrible. Then they win on the road to go to 3-0 and come home for their pac 12 opener and play in front of 33kvs UCLA.

Point is, it is incredibly hard to win at a place like that with almost zero support and fan buy in. Their average attendance was 26k last year. 26k! While their in state rival was averaging well over two times that. It would be like doing at vandy what he did at wash st.

[Todd4State]

Pullman is a very difficult place to get to even if you live in Spokane. Also college football there isn't like it is here.

[PKADogs55]

I know our Home Schedule isn't the greatest, but Leach should see some packed houses.

[Todd4State]

I know our Home Schedule isn't the greatest, but Leach should see some packed houses.

New Mexico, Arkansas, A&M, and maybe Auburn depending on how we look for sure.

[bobcat91]

That's why I have no doubt that they will be much better recruiting here. More local talent, more money for travel, etc. Leach had to recruit California, Texas, etc and didnt even have a University jet. His staff will surprise here

[confucius say]

Pullman is a very difficult place to get to even if you live in Spokane. Also college football there isn't like it is here.

That's got to be one of the toughest places to recruit to in all of Power 5. Prob the toughest. I mean good gracious.

[PKADogs55]

New Mexico, Arkansas, A&M, and maybe Auburn depending on how we look for sure.

Absolutely, those 2 road games before .. make a tough 3-game stretch.

[Maroonthirteen]

Martin Stadium capacity is 33k.

[gtowndawg]

Martin Stadium capacity is 33k.

Wow. We're almost twice their size.

[dawgs]

Pullman is by far the most geographically isolated P5 program. Seriously, we have more talent to recruits within 150 miles of campus than they have within 1000 miles. And sure, Spokane is a large town/small city, but there's nothing else. I live in the PNW and the amount of empty space in eastern Oregon, Washington, and Idaho is insane. In the south you have a little town of 5-10K people every 10 miles. In that part of the country you have a 5-10K town every 100 miles.

[OLJWales]

I had no idea how insignificant their stadium size and fan support were. I'd be willing to bet the talent gap between them and UW is bigger than the one that exists between us and AL, LSU, AU, etc....

[HailStateSZN19]

I had no idea how insignificant their stadium size and fan support were. I'd be willing to bet the talent gap between them and UW is bigger than the one that exists between us and AL, LSU, AU, etc....

Hadn't really thought about it but that's probably true. We recruit in the 22-28 range while Bama/LSU/AU recruit in the 1-8 range. A difference of about 20-25 spots depending on the specific class you're looking at.

Since 2015, Washington has averaged around the 20th ranked class while WSU has averaged the 52nd ranked class. A difference of about 30-40 spots depending on the specific class you're looking at.

[FISHDAWG]

Beer is sold in Martin Stadium ... so they have that going for them

[Todd4State]

I had no idea how insignificant their stadium size and fan support were. I'd be willing to bet the talent gap between them and UW is bigger than the one that exists between us and AL, LSU, AU, etc....

Washington is a PAC 12 blueblood. I would say USC, UCLA, and Oregon are the others in that league. Stanford and Cal have massive endowments but they're more like a Vanderbilt with better football programs. Washington is the opposite of Wazzu in terms of advantages. They're in downtown Seattle on the western side of the state where the population in Washington state is. They do draw more than Wazzu I'm sure- I've been to their football stadium before and they do have a good history of winning- won a National Title in 1991. But it's still not as big a deal as a SEC football is here in the south. I wouldn't be surprised at all if our facilities are on par or better than Washington's for football.

[dawgs]

Washington is a PAC 12 blueblood. I would say USC, UCLA, and Oregon are the others in that league. Stanford and Cal have massive endowments but they're more like a Vanderbilt with better football programs. Washington is the opposite of Wazzu in terms of advantages. They're in downtown Seattle on the western side of the state where the population in Washington state is. They do draw more than Wazzu I'm sure- I've been to their football stadium before and they do have a good history of winning- won a National Title in 1991. But it's still not as big a deal as a SEC football is here in the south. I wouldn't be surprised at all if our facilities are on par or better than Washington's for football.

Oregon and USC are the only pac 12 programs with SEC caliber facilities.

[deadheaddawg]

Iteresting thing I didn't know. From 1999 - 2001 the Idaho Vandals also played their home games at Martin Stadium. Pullman is 10 miles from Moscow Idaho.

That kind puts in perspective of just how out of the way Pullman is

[confucius say]

Iteresting thing I didn't know. From 1999 - 2001 the Idaho Vandals also played their home games at Martin Stadium. Pullman is 10 miles from Moscow Idaho.

That kind puts in perspective of just how out of the way Pullman is

Pullman is also the same number of miles from Starkville, ms as it is from diomede, Russia.

[Todd4State]

Oregon and USC are the only pac 12 programs with SEC caliber facilities.

Doesn't surprise me. Old Hollywood money and Nike money.

[Todd4State]

Iteresting thing I didn't know. From 1999 - 2001 the Idaho Vandals also played their home games at Martin Stadium. Pullman is 10 miles from Moscow Idaho.

That kind puts in perspective of just how out of the way Pullman is

That's also another disadvantage for them too. Imagine having a Sun Belt school in West Point or Columbus. Not necessarily for players but no doubt they compete for students and that becomes your alumni base and helps build resources for the future.

[CadaverDawg]

In 2018, wash st went 10-2, 11-2 if you count the bowl game. And the three seasons prior, they went 9-4, 8-5, and 9-4.

So going into 2019, you would think they would get support. I know it's rural, but it is a school bigger than msu in a town bigger than Starkville and Spokane, with 220k people, is an hour away. They open the season with two home games in front of 27k each game. That's horrible. Then they win on the road to go to 3-0 and come home for their pac 12 opener and play in front of 33kvs UCLA.

Point is, it is incredibly hard to win at a place like that with almost zero support and fan buy in. Their average attendance was 26k last year. 26k! While their in state rival was averaging well over two times that. It would be like doing at vandy what he did at wash st.

Good stuff. Can you do a similar comparison to Texas Tech when he was there? This is interesting to me

[coachnorm]

Doesn't surprise me. Old Hollywood money and Nike money.

Believe it or not, Stanford probably has twice the money that Oregon and USC has. Stanford is so filthy rich that it makes a decision to demolish its old stadium of 80,000 plus seating. Demolition started end of November and they are playing the following September. That stadium was totally leveled to the ground. Construction was 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Can you imagine the costs to do this in the Bay area? This was not done with athletic funds, the University just felt like doing it? USC got easy money from Stan Kronke in rent for the Rams to support the renovation of the Coliseum?

I have personally seen both USC and Stanford's facilities and I did not see much difference between them. Just some west coast info for fellow elitedoggers.

[OLJWales]

Iteresting thing I didn't know. From 1999 - 2001 the Idaho Vandals also played their home games at Martin Stadium. Pullman is 10 miles from Moscow Idaho.

That kind puts in perspective of just how out of the way Pullman is

We should nuke Moscow , ID just on general purposes.

[confucius say]

Good stuff. Can you do a similar comparison to Texas Tech when he was there? This is interesting to me

Only looked at 2008, his best year there where they went I think 11-1. Averaged right around 53k which was the stadium capacity. Interestingly, Lubbock has over 250k people, ten times Starkville. And ttu has 40k students now. Prob was less in 2008 though, but still roughly double state both then and now.

[CadaverDawg]

Only looked at 2008, his best year there where they went I think 11-1. Averaged right around 53k which was the stadium capacity. Interestingly, Lubbock has over 250k people, ten times Starkville. And ttu has 40k students now. Prob was less in 2008 though, but still roughly double state both then and now.

Interesting stuff man. Thanks for doing the research

[MStateDawg]

it is a school bigger than msu in a town bigger than Starkville

It's only "bigger" if you include the enrollment of all their satellite campuses. The Pullman campus has fewer students than State does at the Starkville campus. As far as population of Pullman, that's the only significant population in the area whereas The Golden Triangle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Triangle_(Mississippi)) has a population of over 128K.

[RocketDawg]

Oregon and USC are the only pac 12 programs with SEC caliber facilities.

UCLA has a decent football stadium (Rose Bowl) and Arizona State's isn't bad.

[RocketDawg]

Pullman is also the same number of miles from Starkville, ms as it is from diomede, Russia.

Not surprising. Remember - Sarah Palin "could see Russia from my house". ** And Washington's not all that far from Alaska.