‘A winner my whole life:’ Rogers aims high in WSU introduction

PULLMAN — Jimmy Rogers knew he was inheriting an isolated former Power Five program with a laundry list of challenges when he accepted the Washington State head football coach job about two weeks ago.

He just didn’t know how familiar Pullman would feel.

“I didn’t know how ‘midwest’ this was, because this is midwest,” said Rogers, who spent 19 of his 20 years of college football at South Dakota State. “This place is beautiful. The Palouse is beautiful and we’re excited to raise our family here and do it with a coaching staff and a bunch of players who are inspired for greatness.”

Rogers’ vision

In his introductory news conference on Thursday, Rogers laid out a vision for a program that recruits the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest, an offense that attacks the width of the field and runs the ball, a defense that rotates its linemen and a team that will build on the spirit of the players already in the building.

He also was not afraid to utter the words “national contender.”

“I didn’t come here to lose and nor did this coaching staff. I believe in this. I believe in this,” Rogers said. “We’re going to do everything that we can to get on the top of college football. Just happened last year with a conference opponent (Boise State) making the college playoff.

“I told the team last night, ‘Don’t think it can’t be you. If you can’t envision yourself winning the national championship, it will never happen.’ ... I’ll catch grief, but I don’t care. I’ve been a winner. I’ve been a part of a winner my whole life, and I don’t plan to stop.”

Rogers succeeds former coach Jake Dickert, who left WSU for Wake Forest in December after leading the Cougars to a 23-20 combined record through three-and-a-half seasons as the team's coach.

In two years as South Dakota State’s coach, Rogers was 27-3 and won the 2023 Football Championship Subdivision national championship.

Rogers led the Jackrabbits to a second consecutive national championship in his first year on the job after serving as defensive coordinator on SDSU’s 2022 national championship team.

After spending 19 of his last 20 years in Brookings, S.D., as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach and for the last two years as a national championship-winning head coach, Rogers recognized the move to Pullman as a chance to change lives. Not only his and his family’s lives but also the families of many of his South Dakota State colleagues whom he hired as assistant coaches at WSU.

While the school is yet to announce assistant coach hires, Rogers reportedly hired six of his former South Dakota State assistants at WSU and added others to his staff, such as former Idaho Vandal and NFL player Mike Iupati as his offensive line coach.

Rogers said there are more hires to come.

“I’m about people, and I’m about as loyal as it gets,” Rogers said. “I know that word has been thrown around here and people don’t want to hear it, but I don’t know if you could show that (any better) after 19 years in one place, build a national championship program day after day. So I do plan to do that here.”

Rogers’ Palouse connections

The 2016 South Dakota State Jackrabbits’ coaching staff included Rogers as linebackers coach, Dickert as safeties coach and former University of Idaho coaches Jason Eck (offensive line) Luke Schleusner (tight ends) and Dan Jackson (cornerbacks).

Rogers said he remains close with his former colleagues and spoke to them about this opportunity.

What he learned about the Palouse only made him want the job more.

“They loved it,” Rogers said. “And the more I heard about it, the more I started to be inspired about the opportunity.

“Everybody talked about the people, which is the number one thing I wanted to hear. ... This place is unique in itself. I’m really excited about what the future is, just because of the people, more than anything else.”

Cougar football’s foundation

In the weeks following WSU’s regular season and in the immediate fallout of Dickert’s departure, more than 30 Cougs hit the transfer portal.

Some, like quarterback John Mateer, signed life-changing name, image and likeness offers to play at another school. Others, like center Devin Kylany, whose Cougar career began in former coach Mike Leach’s final week in Pullman in January 2020, followed Dickert and offensive line coach Jared Kaster to Wake Forest.

Whatever a player’s reason for entering the portal, Rogers’ challenge was to convince them to come back.

Ten Cougs have withdrawn from the portal and returned to WSU for the spring semester, which began on Monday, according to 247sports.com.

Most notable among this group of returners is quarterback Zevi Eckhaus.

Eckhaus passed for 363 yards and three touchdowns in WSU’s 52-35 Holiday Bowl loss to Syracuse on Dec. 27 in San Diego but entered the portal shortly after Rogers’ hiring.

Eckhaus lost the starting QB battle to Mateer in fall camp, but only appeared in one regular season game in 2024, thus preserving his redshirt.

Rogers said his conversation with Eckhaus centered on assuring him that Mark Gronowski, the Jackrabbits’ two-time national championship-winning QB, would not be going to WSU. Gronowski transferred to Iowa.

Rogers said he was impressed with the Cougs’ effort in the Holiday Bowl, in which they, with a depleted roster, were in a one-score game late against a top-25 opponent.

“I — watching Zevi in the bowl game — believe that he has all the intangibles to lead this football team, and so that inspired me,” Rogers said. “To watch him come back and kind of recruit the team — I’m excited for the future, because of him.”

However, Rogers stressed the fact that he wants to create competition at every position.

“That’s how you build a championship culture is that your best players get pushed by the guy beside them or behind them,” Rogers said.

WSU’s investment

It’s no secret that WSU is not as financially successful as it once was, even three years ago.

The collapse of the Pac-12 Conference eliminated the media rights revenue that the Cougars relied on and WSU has not bounced back from declining enrollment that was only accelerated by the pandemic.

WSU is also searching for a new university president. Kirk Schulz, absent from Rogers’ news conference, will retire in June.

Rogers will make about $1.57 million annually in the five-year deal that he signed with WSU, according to ESPN. That is about $1.1 million less than what Dickert earned.

That $1.1 million is staying within the football program.

Athletic director Anne McCoy confirmed in multiple statements last week that the assistant coach salary pool will be $4.5 million when it was going to be downsized to $3.5 million before Dickert’s departure.

Dickert had an assistant coach salary pool of $4.9 million in 2024.

Rogers said WSU’s facilities, such as the Cougar Football Complex and the newly completed Taylor Sports Complex indoor practice facility, are nothing to scoff at.

“I’ve never had that support in my life,” Rogers said of WSU. “(At South Dakota State) I could compete against most teams in the country without these resources, without that support, because I had a bunch of guys that believed in the vision, and these people not only just believe in a vision, but they do have the infrastructure to have success.”

Rogers has added 16 players and counting through the transfer portal; all but one played for him at South Dakota State.

He has also flipped four of his SDSU high school recruits to WSU.

After an independent schedule in 2025, WSU will welcome recent College Football Playoff team Boise State, Utah State and other schools to the new Pac-12 in 2026.

Rogers said the opportunity to win a wide-open conference and earn a berth in the College Football Playoff was important to him.

“You can go to the national playoff if you play well enough,” Rogers said. “But you got to recruit well enough, and you got to get people to believe.”

The onfield premiere of the Rogers era will coincide with the debut of the Thomas Ford Jr. era at Idaho as the Cougs host the Vandals in the Battle of the Palouse on Aug. 30 at Gesa Field.

Rogers enters his new job aptly aware of the challenges, but confident in his approach.

“Is the (NIL) collective important? Absolutely. Is the ability to try to go out and get some of the top players in the country important? Absolutely. But it’s not everything,” Rogers said. “You got to make people feel a certain way to go out and accomplish their goals day in and day out and that’s more than just a dollar. It’s the love that you put inside of them.”

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.