Washington State introduced Kirby Moore on Tuesday as the 36th head coach in program history, but the relevant number is five. When Moore paces the sideline during WSU’s season opener — his first game will be the Apple Cup! — he will be the Cougars’ fifth coach in seven seasons following Mike Leach, Nick Rolovich, Jake Dickert and Jimmy Rogers, the one-year non-wonder.
That’s immense turnover for any program, much less one challenged by finances, geography and conference realignment. And it explains the administration’s focus on stability during the coaching search. Moore offers that possibility as a Washington native — he grew up in Prosser — who attended WSU games as a kid.
But did the Cougars over-index for loyalty when they shunned head-coaching experience and hired a first-timer?
Moore checks a slew of boxes:
— He’s the son and brother of football coaches and knows the backroads of the Pacific Northwest. Connections forged over the years should help the Cougars uncover hidden talent.
— He’s young (35) and can relate to players in the era of NIL and the transfer portal.
— His expertise is offense, which works well for a program that has produced high-level quarterback play dating back a half-century.
— His list of mentors is impressive. Moore played and coached for Chris Petersen at Boise State and coached under both Jeff Tedford and Kalen DeBoer at Fresno State. He then spent three years at Missouri as the offensive coordinator for Eli Drinkwitz.
Add the support of WSU president Elizabeth Cantwell to Moore’s tool kit — she believes in the power of football to enhance the university’s brand — and there’s good reason to believe he can succeed.
That’s true, as well, of Moore’s counterpart in Corvallis, where newly minted Oregon State coach JaMarcus Shephard checks many of the same boxes as Moore: roots in the Pacific Northwest, a background on offense, the DeBoer coaching tree and his ability to connect with players.
Also, Shephard is a rookie head coach.
In fact, Moore and Shephard will be the only rookie head coaches in the rebuilt Pac-12 when the conference comes online next season.
San Diego State (Sean Lewis), Utah State (Bronco Mendenhall), Colorado State (Jim Mora) and Fresno State (Matt Entz) have hired coaches in the past 18 months, and each school picked a veteran. Boise State (Spencer Danielson) and Texas State (GJ Kinne) also have experience atop their org charts.
WSU and OSU? They will send their rookies into the fray next fall to match wits against six coaches who have dozens of years of experience and hundreds of victories on their resumes.
And that’s not all. Because the highest-ranked champion from outside the Power Four has an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff, the Cougars and Beavers are effectively competing with Memphis, Tulane, South Florida and North Texas from the American — and even with James Madison from the Sun Belt — for a spot on the sport’s grand stage.
All five of those schools have lost their head coaches in recent weeks, as well: Memphis, James Madison and North Texas hired veterans; Tulane promoted from within; and South Florida picked one of the nation’s most successful recruiters (Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline).
Did the Pac-12 holdovers plan to hire first-time coaches all along? Did their searches go awry? Were they constrained by finances? Or did WSU and OSU believe all along that Moore and Shephard, respectively, were the best candidates to lead their programs into this new era?
As Moore said in his news conference Tuesday, there is “an incredible opportunity to be a leader” in the new Pac-12 — an opportunity for the Cougars to grab the banner, win games and challenge for CFP bids on a regular basis.
To a certain extent, Moore and Shephard will depend on others for their success. Without university support for revenue sharing and donor funding for NIL, the rosters in Pullman and Corvallis won’t meet the moment.
It’s not enough to simply identify talent. Acquisition and retention form the twin pillars of roster building. Moore could be the next Petersen and Shephard the next DeBoer. But without the proper personnel, their programs will wallow on the outskirts of relevance.
With the massive opportunity comes equivalent risk. If the Cougars and Beavers scramble for traction next fall under their first-time coaches — if the Pac-12’s incoming schools quickly grab competitive control — the window to recover could close.
The sport has changed immeasurably since Leach left Pullman and Rolovich arrived in the winter of 2020. Heck, it has changed dramatically since Dickert replaced Rolovich in the middle of the 2021 season.
Time will pass quickly in the second half of the decade as college football prepares for its next era. Whether the early 2030s see the long-theorized super league become a reality or expansion by the SEC and Big Ten sparks another round of realignment, nobody knows. But success in the 2026-2029 window will define the caste system to come.
The Cougars and Beavers cannot afford to start slowly in their remodeled home.
They cannot afford third-rate seasons in a second-tier conference.
Every year lost will feel like a decade unfulfilled.
Moore and Shephard, rookie coaches cut from similar cloth by schools that endured a nightmare together, have learning curves to scale and little time to waste.
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