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Washington State Football Coach Gives Honest Take on NIL, Transfer Portal

Washington State football head coach Jake Dickert opens up on NIL landscape.

Matt Wadleigh

Washington State Football Coach Gives Honest Take on NIL, Transfer Portal
Washington State Football Coach Gives Honest Take on NIL, Transfer Portal /
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The future of the Pac-12 Conference is up in the air to this very day with only Oregon State and Washington State undecided on where to go in 2024. 

On Monday, Cougars head coach Jake Dickert spoke about why his program isn't as active in the transfer portal, and he admits it is because of NIL, (h/t Greg Woods of The Spokesman Review). 

"We've realized over the last couple of years that the portal will never be where we can build this program, because you need NIL money to get portal guys. Period. That's what we've found out in the last two years...Obviously, college football has changed drastically in the last five years in that realm." 

It has been a tough time for Washington State to compete for transfer players, especially against Pac-12 programs such as USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington who all have far more NIL resources provided to them.

Dickert also stated, "The facts are Washington State is way behind — not even competitive in some aspects of the NIL." 

He also mentions it's about building them from high school and getting them to commit to the program more than spending the dollars to land top players.

However, Dickert isn't using the lack of NIL resources as an excuse for the Cougars' sudden losing streak and falling out of the Top 25. He's rather just pointing out the strategy he has to use for the time being while he adapts to the new reality of the sport. 

Washington State's NIL collective, The Cougar Collective, launched a $100,000 match campaign earlier this year, and as of Monday night, they were close to hitting their goal. 

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Matt Wadleigh
MATT WADLEIGH

Matt Wadleigh covers the NIL on FanNation, writing about all of the topsy-turvy deals in the whacky world of college sports. Matt also works as a staff writer for Trojans Wire and Buffaloes Wire at USA Today and covers sports as a whole at ClutchPoints. In the past, Matt has written for various sites, including FanSided, Sportscasting, and many others. Matt attended Fresno State and is a Bulldogs fan through and through, but grew up in Southern California and still holds loyalties to the Padres, Chargers, Lakers, and Aztecs basketball. It's not always easy being a San Diego sports fan, but the future looks bright. Hopefully. 

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