Jimmy Rogers was officially named the next Head Coach of the Washington State Cougars following an announcement this past Saturday. The news comes soon after the departure of Jake Dickert, Washington State’s former Head Coach, as he left to fill Wake Forest’s coaching vacancy.
Rogers leaves behind his head coaching role at South Dakota State after just two seasons leading the team. The Jackrabbits finished their season with an overall record of 12-3 following their 2023 FCS Championship season during Rogers’ first year as Head Coach.
The Cougars are coming off a bowl game loss to Syracuse, falling 52-36 in the DirecTV Holiday Bowl. Washington State football finished this season with an overall record of 8-5 and an 0-1 conference record of what’s left of the Pac 12.

The Cougars leave 2024 with levels of uncertainty and disappointment
The Cougars navigated this season in unfamiliar territory following the break-up of the Pac-12 conference. Most of their typical conference opponents found new homes in the remaining Power Four conferences, which resulted in Oregon State being left with Washington State as the two sole members of Pac-12 football in 2024.
Rogers will find himself in uncharted territory heading into the 2025 season due to the unorthodox scheduling of the 2024 and 2025 seasons for the Cougars. As a result of conference re-alignment, Washington State’s 2024 schedule was more of a de facto “independent” like schedule. The first few games of the Cougar’s season featured some respectable victories, such as Texas Tech and Washington.
The low points of the Cougar’s season were definitely there, however. It started with a loss to Boise State (ranked 25 at the time by AP) and then a streak of three losses to New Mexico, Oregon State, and Wyoming.

A mediocre season and a less-than-exciting schedule next season certainly does leave the current iteration of Washington State football with a degree of disappointment. The Cougars will essentially still be conference-less until the Pac-12 receives Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State in 2026.
Rogers’ defensive mind is needed by the Cougars
Moving forward, Washington State will look to translate Rogers’ success at South Dakota State as the Cougars transition to no longer being active in a power conference. Rogers made an impressive start to his head coaching career in 2023 going undefeated and winning an FCS Division 1 National Championship.

Granted, Rogers did inherit an established program from John Stiegelmeier as he wrapped up a 26-year-long stint as the Head Coach of South Dakota State and concluded his career with a national championship in 2022.
In 2022, Rogers served as the Defensive Coordinator for South Dakota State and was named Coordinator of the Year. The Cougars will look to improve their defensive strategy as they finished the 2024 season at 10.10 YDS/PLAY (a first down per play).
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