WSU Has New Coach: Huskies Introduced Themselves Last Season

Former Hawaii leader joked about Rose Bowl before facing and losing to UW

Nick Rolovich, Washington State's new football coach, brings a sense of humor to the job, which is a good thing.

This past season, after his Hawaii team opened with uplifting victories over Arizona (45-38) and Oregon State (31-28), Rolovich jokingly tweeted out a Rose Bowl logo.

However, his next stop was Seattle, not Pasadena. His Mountain West entry faced a third consecutive Pac-12 opponent in Washington. It did not go well.

Retweets weren't forthcoming. The Huskies showed Rolovich you just don't kid around about the Granddaddy of them all.  

The UW scored three times inside the first nine minutes, rolled out to a 38-0 lead and won 52-20. 

"We knew it was going to be a challenge," Rolovich said after the match-up. "I would have liked to have seen us get to the fourth quarter and make it a game, but it got out of hand early. I don't think we're ready for the Rose Bowl."

Rolovich wasn't everybody's first choice for the WSU job. A bunch of people stumped for Jim Mora, a former UW linebacker and the one-time head coach for the Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks and UCLA Bruins. Among them were his former Huskies teammates.

Mora also received a plug from ex-Huskies quarterback Billy Joe Hobert. Billy Joe's son Joey, a wide receiver, is a Cougars recruit.  

"Jim Mora Jr. is a fracking AMAZING human being with exceptional teaching skills," Hobert tweeted earlier, with the full tweet available here.

It's not known if Mora even has an interest in returning to coaching. For now, he remains a college football TV analyst for ESPN.

Rolovich has his work cut out for him. Eleven weeks after losing by 32 to the UW, the Cougars and the Leach regime dropped a 28-pointer at Husky Stadium, with the end captured in the above video. He'll be expected to close that gap.