Washington State Football: "Cougs Lack Depth"

Year in and year out, it seems that a consistent mantra applied ad nauseum by college football "experts" is, "The Cougs lack depth."

Come on!

Saying the Cougars lack depth is like saying Coach Carroll had a good year recruiting for USC—neither insightful nor original.

Let me get to the heart of the issue. College football is what it is. At the very best, a player will be a starter for four seasons. That's as much experience and tenure allowed by the NCAA, as it should be.

The nature of college football, as well as a significant element of its charm, is that there will be new players earning starting roles because of graduation.

OK. I'm being generous. Many players earn starting nods because a student/athlete exhausted their eligibility. In a perfect world, it would always be graduation that would lead to a change in the starting lineup.

What the "experts" might really be trying to impress everyone with is their knowledge of coaching. Seriously. They might not even be aware of their intentions in this regard. 

Depth can be overcome with athletic prowess, but that is somewhat uncommon. From a player's perspective (sorry experts!), depth is a factor of coaching.

Coaches develop a player's ability to perform at his assigned position. This is especially true when making team comparisons in a BCS conference. The athletic talent is relatively equal given the NCAA scholarship guidelines. Good athletes are easily recruited to play in a major conference, regardless of the potential ranking of a particular university.

Coaches have tremendous impact on team depth. Their effectiveness in teaching student/athletes what is necessary to excel at a position determines how well they will perform during a game. A player's performance in a game is what "depth" is all about. 

When a player replaces a starter and performs well, that earns the label "position depth." Conversely, if a replacement player doesn't perform well, that translates into the label "thin at that position."

Sure I'm sniping at "experts." In the case of the Cougars this coming season, the "experts" are rightly labeling WSU as "thin." Granted, they may have accidentally swerved into an accurate prognostication, but they may have it right. Washington State changed over just about every coach from last season. There are a couple of exceptions, but new head Coach Paul Wulff has a staff that's pretty "thin" when it comes to Pac-10 experience.

But wait! Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that the "experts" were droning on about the lack of depth on the Cougar basketball squad?

You remember, don't you? That was a team picked to finish last under first-year head coach Tony Bennett. Remember what that team accomplished over the course of the 2006-2007 season? Oh. Remember who was the national Coach of the Year that season?

Sometimes facts get in the way.

Facts are, WSU is "thin" in Pac-10 coaching experience.

Here's another fact to consider.

Coach Wulff and his staff are passionate about putting successful student/athletes on the football field this coming season.

By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, the facts will reveal just how "thin" the Cougs really are.