Jake Dickert, Washington State Football

Washington State Head Coach Jake Dickert talks about the 4-0 start, the upcoming game against UCLA and his own future with the Cougs.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, welcome back in sportsfor doing at three point three KJFM,

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me in for nest with you.Adjustment's back in the studio. I'm in
Newark and in Pullman. We're areNewark to Seattle to Pullman, Washington.
One of the three would be God'scountry. And I'll tell you right now
it Surezell is in Newark, NewJersey. That as we wait here for
an airplane, Jake Dicker joins uson the vecon plumbing a high line.
Jake, how are you today?It's great to be back on and just

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really excited about to start we've hadso far. I'm excited about the future
where we're going. So you hada huge win over a ranked Oregon State
team and you didn't have your normalsideline reporter. There is this something that's
going to cause a problem down theroad? Is there any superstitions? There
is? Is just gonna get whilewe pipped? What's gonna happen here?
Huh No? As long as wewon, I wasn't going to give her

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a hard time. You know,I am a little superstitious, and you
know she's comforting at halftime. Youknow, let's be calm down a little
bit. But we made it throughand we got the w she does.
She has a good ability to dothat. She's doing the same thing with
me. We're this is the secondday in the row. We're doing radio
on the East coast in Seattle withall kinds of crazy technology. So yeah,
she does have an ability to kindof settle things down, and I'm

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hoping that that's not the case thisweek. I'm hoping things are nice and
comfortable at the Rose Bowl. ButI don't know. It's it's this is
a big game, isn't it.You're right, she carries us both,
but it is. It is abig game. It is a big game
to get back to football, youknow. And I think when you get
a team that you get into agroove and you start feeling good about playing,

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and then you get a bye week, you just want to make sure
you don't relax. So the urgencyof the team I think has been really
good. But make no mistake,this is a really talented UCLA team and
I believe in one of the toptwenty five teams in the country. They're
big and physical and coach Kelly's aninnovator on offense, so it'll be a
real challenge to go on the roadand get this win. I've got my

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guys Alex Brink and mk I theCrystal Bruce, coming up top of the
hour. We do a weekly withthem at two o'clock on Tuesdays. And
one of things I'm gonna ask Alexabout the quarterbacks specifically is momentum and that
you know, everyone argues about whethermomentum exists in sports or not, but
when your team is humming along likeyou guys are right now, it's always
an interesting thing when you get abuy. The team I covered last night
here in New Jersey, the Seahawks, they are desperate for a buy because

(02:10):
they're so beat up. Jake theyhave I mean, they had an all
backup offensive line, they got abunch of guys that secondary hurt. That
by came in a perfect time forthem after four games. It came after
four games for you guys as well. Was it a good time for a
buy? And what'd you guys getdone last week? Well? I think
it is good. I'm a bigbeliever that I think as players and as
coaches that you do need a littlebit of mental recovery. I think when

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you stay in like peak performance modeand you're on the go, on the
go, on the go, youdo need an opportunity to reset that.
You know, this is the earliestbye week since I've been here, so
we stayed on course last week.He gave them the weekend off, you
know, got back out in thepractice field today, did a little bit
of recruiting. But we're full systemsgo on UCLA. So I think it

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is good as coaches even to geta little bit of a reset, to
calm down, to not think aboutfootball for a minute. But we definitely
want to make sure that we're startingfast in this game. That'll be a
big part of it, and makesure we're getting back through where we've been,
especially on offense, where we've beenclicking on all cylinders. I gotta
tell you this, I'm excited tosee what a week of just watching film

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and you know, being a madscientist is going to do for your offensive
coordinator. Man, I think wetalked about this before. Is there I'm
not sure if there's a better highercoordinator wise in the country than you had
last year. This guy, coachArbuckle was dialing stuff up. What was
he doing? Was there like,was there steam and smoke coming out of
his office the last week. Heis a little bit of a mad scientist,
There's no doubt about it. Ijust think he just sees the game

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from sets a difference perspective, andhe's kind of pushing in the envelope and
everything that we do, and he'sso multiple. Yet our guys are allowed
to play fast because it's simple tothem, and I think that's the magic
of it. And I think hecalls it with great conviction and just really
trusted our guys are going to goout there and make place. I think
we've gotten to the point where obviouslyour receivers are doing great things after the

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catch, they're being very consistent,and Cam is playing at a really,
really high level that we're excited about. So put all those things together along
with an offensive line that is milesahead of where they were last year,
I think you see that type ofimprovement. Yeah. Shout out to Claim
McGuire, your offensive line coach too. I mean, we are buckles getting
a lot of credit and he should. But Claiym McGuire's in a nice job.
He's a good offensive line coach,and we're seeing that come to fruition.

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When did you see the connection betweenWard and coach Arbuckle. When did
you see those guys kind of click? Was it early in spring? Was
it in summer, in fall camp? When did you see Because there's no
doubt that there is a connection there, and that doesn't always happen. You
could bring in the best excess andthose guys in the world and he may
not click with the quarterback. Whendid you see that connection? I think
it was about practice ten of SpringBowl. You know, I think there

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was a huge learning curve for Cam, and there was some uncomfortable times early,
especially with his technique and fundamentals andwhat we were asking him to do.
Then all of a sudden, rightabout that second scrimmage, which is
about practice twelve of Spring you juststow it all starting to come together and
the games slowing down for and nowCam is really getting through his progressions.
He's staying on target, he's playingquarterback more, you know, sitting in

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the pocket delivering balls, and Ithink he really trusts the offensive line.
So I think that's when it reallystarted to come together. But there's synergy
Ian is real, and I thinkit's much needed in anything you do.
I want whatever left the quarterback offensivecoordinator because Cam gets us in a lot
of really positive plays. He's checkinga third of those plays out there on
things that he likes, and wetrust them and give him the freedom to

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do that. I joke with Jessall the time, but I think what
you said there is important. Ithink it's something Evere can relate to in
everyday life. Synergy, chemistry,trust, all those things are important whatever
you do in life with people youwork with or you live with or whatever.
And you see that there. Iremember you told me, I guess
it would have been spring of twentytwenty two, and you were I remember
specifically this, and it's like andyou said, he and this guy's going

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to be an NFL player. Heis this, this, and this about
Cam Ord And I'm watching it lastyear and I'm like, I like Jake
Dikett. I think he's a smartguy. I think he might have missed
on this one man, and butnow we're seeing all that talent and I
think it just he needed to geta guy that he was comfortable with.
And by the way, Kelly andWilliams, Wow, I mean, I
don't think those two guys get enoughcredit. They are really special. There's

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no question. I think the biggestthing is that one person can't be the
offense, and I think that's whathe was trying to do last year,
and I think that's what got himoff a rhythm. And I think we've
surrounded him with, you know,players that can go out there and make
plays. Last year, we're justgrinding out every yard and we don't have
to do that anymore. We haveguys that can catch a five yard ball
and make something happen with it.So there's a whole lot of things of

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why Cam is better, but reallycredit to the kid wanting to be coached.
Not everybody wants to be coached intoday's world. He wants to get
better, he wants to know wherehe can improve, and he's taking ownership
every step of the way, includingthe downfalls of last season. So we've
been on a high. There willbe some storms coming that we got to
battle through and he's got to leadthis team through it. But excited really

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where he's at. And everyone getsto see that NFL talent every Saturday,
Jake Dicker joining us, and Iknow when NFL scouts talk to you and
call you, that's the thing they'regonna want as a guy coachable, you
know, and there is no doubthe is. He's just been one of
the great stories that you're in collegefootball. Like your team. Let me
just quickly talk about the defense withJake Dicker joining us, really strong secondary,
solid, but boy, you know, what could you do against the

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run? You just saw as muchof a downhill team as you'll ever see
an Oregon State. Now, thisthis is a different beast, isn't it.
With with what UCLI and Chip Kellydo far getting attack right that we're
going to see this week as opposedto what you saw with the Oregon State
game. Yeah, we're gonna Statealmost now is a little bit of an
anomaly. I mean, under center, downhills, zone schemes, big backs,

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a lot of respect for what they'redoing over there. Now we get
to go against more traditional spread stuffthat we see every day. But I
just think coach Kelly is a littlebit of an innovator. He's got kind
of different schemes, tempos, shotplays. I mean, he add gaps
all over the place. So it'sa unique challenge. We had a couple
of weeks prepare for it, soonce again we got to just make sure

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our communication is on high alert becauseI'm sure they'll have some some things this
week that we've never never practiced.What's the challenge do you think of?
And I know you haven't coached therewith Wazoo, but it's been a while
since I'd been there. But whatdo you think the challenge is playing down
in the Rose Bowl. I mean, there's so much history and even for
young guys that don't even really comprehendwhat the history of the West Coast and
Big Ten Pact twelve football was withthat particular building, there's a lot of

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history in that building. But youknow, all due respect to UCLA,
even if they have a crowd ofseventy five thousand, it's still twenty five
percent empty, so the atmosphere maynot be great. What's the challenge playing
down there? I think it startswith we got a lot of kids from
California, and when you go backand play in front of a home crowd
or home family, you still gotto be focused on what really matters.

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And sometimes those kids go down thereand they, you know, want to
play outside of what they're capable ofdoing instead of just focusing on their jobs.
So I think it comes with alittle bit of outside noise. Obviously,
the venue, the history, thepageantry. Even as a small town
kid growing up in Wisconsin, youknow what the Rose Bowl means, you
know, So walking in there,you know we're gonna go see the stadium
Friday night, just to get itout of the way. So Saturday when

(09:09):
we show up, it's all business. I know, when the ball is
kicked off, it's only about thatgrass and what we need to do effort,
energy and execution wise to go outthere and get to win. Jake,
you've kept your team so focused,yous here with all the outside stuff
going on and the uncertainty of youknow, the future and all those things,
and which has been fun to see. At the same time, you
have a team that's ranked thirteenth inthe country. The balancing act, I

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think must be interesting because at thirteenthere's a validation. What does that thirteenth
ranking mean to these guys. Iknow that a lot of coaches across the
country and say, ah, whatever, you know, it's what happens in
the year. But for you guys, your program and more importantly, your
staff, your assistant coaches, andyour players, what does that four and
all record, but that thirteen rankingand that recognition nationally. Mean, well,

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I don't want to be just likeevery other coach. Come on,
don't you year go down that roadabout it. You're not a cliche guy.
Come on, No, I knowI think it does matter. You
know it doesn't matter. I thinkit just proves the validation of your program
and what we've been working so hardto do, right, And I think
once you nothing about the ranking,but you get to four and oh you
get a couple of big wins underyour belt, everything that we've been talking

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about. I think it turns beliefinto action and words into this is working,
so let's double down on it.And I think there's a lot of
power and young people to know that, hey, if we keep doing it
this way, we can sustain success. Because creating success and sustaining success is
two different things. So I thinkit does matter. But we do want
to be ranked at the end ofthe season, not now, and we

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got a tough road ahead. Ithink every you know, challenge in the
PAC twelve is going to be realno matter who you're playing, So that's
that's got to be the focus.You know, Well, it's great,
and I think it's obviously great forfans and recruiting. You know, we
gotta stay focused on what it reallytakes and what we can control. Jake
Jeker joining us. We mentioned thatyou were talking about the fit Arbuckle and

(11:01):
Ward and that how that works mostWazoo fans. And you know, I'm
a little bit older and the guysI talked to some of the old Kajars,
some of the wheat farmers out there. They they'll rent and Raven say,
listen, there has never been acoach that has fought for Washington State
and been a better fit than JakeDickert. You can't and things happen for
a reason, Jake, And I'lllet me just I'll pontificate for just a
second. You know, somebody askedme the other day on our station about

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like, well, why why doyou call Gardner Vinschu a legend? He
was only there for one year.I said, because with what happened with
Tyler Helinski, he came along atthe right time and he lifted up not
just a football program, but anentire campus. You have been fighting for
an entire athletic department. You're agreat fit. Your name's getting tossed around
all those things. How committed areyou to being at Washington State, not

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just this year, but continuing tobuild what you've been doing well, I
think your point Ian. You know, I do fit here and I love
it here, and there's really somethingpowerful in my life when you know President
Shilton patri And gave me this opportunity, It's one I never took lightly.
It's one that means a lot tome in our family, and fit is

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really important. I learned that alot of you went drought your journey and
who you're around and the people yourepresent means something. This isn't just a
job to me, right So whenI stand up for our university and our
program and our people, that meanssomething to me. You know. At
the same time, you know,we're excited about what we're doing right now.
I'm not worried about the future.I'm worried about right here, right

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now we're gonna do with this team, because I think as soon as you
start thinking about what's next, that'swhen things go bad. And we're just
we're here, We're in this momenttogether and we're all we got, we
all we need. And I'm justreally excited about this program and what all
Kobs really mean to me because it'ssomething that's real. Does missus Dickert like
up Holman and the kids, howthat's that's the more important thing. Sometimes

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we love it. It's home tous. There's no question. You asked
my daughter, who's twelve years youknow where we're from, and she's gonna
say Washington. You know, mybishar old boy, he's gonna say,
we're from Washington. And if youfollowed my journey, there's not a lot
of times when anyone could say that. Because we moved eight times in nine
years. This has been our longestday and that means something to us and

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we love it here. I justwant to weigh on on that because I
don't think people understand the sacrifice thatit comes with being a football family.
And as someone whose dad gave upa lot of potential movement opportunities so that
we didn't have to do that kindof movement that you're talking about. I
appreciate it coming from a coach andthe fact that you know that that how

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important that can be for the futureof your children. It's it's very special
to here, so thank you.No, I do appreciate it. There
was one time, yes that mydaughter just finished kindergarten and we moved five
straight years and she was like,Dad, where are we going this year?
And I was like, whoa,oh man, And that was a
reality check and it's important. Mykids are older now too, and we're

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so brought into the Cobs and itmeans something to it. This isn't just
a job. This is an amazingopportunity we don't take lightly. Well.
I've merged with so many coaches overthere, and so many different throughout the
year in my various roles this youhave something really special going on there,
and I think you can, regardlessof whatever's happening with the league, that
you have something really special that youcan continue to build. And it has

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been an absolute honor and privilege towork with you. I just wanted to
say that thanks, Yet the samesame feelings me your too. I would
just say, I mean, we'vehad this conversation before, and I think
I've told you, Jake, myson plays small college football at Witworth,
and I know where you came from. You came from that world, a
small college where you weren't making alot of money, and when you coach
at that level, you coach becauseyou love it you coach because you want

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to help the kid. There's adifferent it's a different mindset. There's guys
that are chasing the big jobs andthe big money, and that's why I
guess that's why I bring it up. I mean, I tell people I
don't know Jake Dickert well, butmy conversations with him and knowing what his
resume is, I think you're cutfrom a little different cloth than a lot
of guys that are in your professionthat are kind of vagabonds that are chasing
stuff all over the place. Ihope that case. I'll ask you,
I'll final thing with that. Doyou expect to be at Washington State next

(15:03):
year? You know, there's nodoubt. You know. I appreciate that
question. And we got this,you know, yesterday as well. I
mean absolutely, I mean, thisis where I'm at, this is where
I'm doing. My feet are hereand we're rolling through it, and I'm
just excited about the opportunity that I'vebeen afforded here at Washington State. All
Right, before I let you go, I'll tell you this. You've you

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probably will never have to buy abeer again by anywhere in this state.
If you see someone wearing crimson andgray because no one and I mean no
one, and that includes the lategreat Mike Leech. Mayhe rest in peace.
No one has ever fought for WashingtonState and taken on the behemus of
the world, whether it be heahand or anybody on a panel or what
have you. I think I commendyou for that. I'll just ask you

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this, with all the stuff goingon. You know, I'm assuming you're
going to keep fighting, but whatwould you tell people that across the country
right now about Washington State and thisschool and this university and this will all
program and where they should be withoutyou know, we're not taking we don't
take a shot and anything like that. Although I love it and everyone did,
but what would you tell people aboutthis university just the selling point for

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who the Cougars are. Well,I just think, you know, maybe
I said it is less time onyour program, but we're the fabric of
what college athletics is. You know, a small town of big college,
huge fan base and passion, andit matters here and you don't get that
everywhere. I've been a ton ofdifferent places, but this is the fabric
of college football and everything that ischanging we got to change with it,

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but don't let's not forget what makesour game in these places so special.
And I think there's a lot ofpullman Washington's all across this country. And
if it, you know, thechange can happen to us, why can
it happens at Ames Iowa, andmatt Hattan, Kansas and all the different
places that I think really make ourgame and our place and our passion so
special. So I think you feelthat. I think uncertainty is hard,

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and I think change is very difficultfor everybody. So we're gonna try to
continue to navigate it. But atthe end of the day, I get
an opportunity to represent a passion ofa fan base and the people that are
really important to all of us.So I said, wherever this thing goes,
we just got to shift our mindsetand we got to attack the new
challenges ahead. And that's what that'swhat's on board for up here at Washington

(17:18):
State. Final thing for you aswe wrap things up with Jake Dickard here,
I think it's the athletic department asa whole. How much fun is
it there right now? Your soccerteam is doing great, your volleyball teams
had its highest ranking ever. Ithink that that proves all you need to
know about that athletic department. Yeah, I think it's a little poetic justice,
I think a little bit. AndI think you know, the phrase

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that we do more with less ismore evident now than ever before. And
you know, why can't we keepdoing it at this level? I think
that's spend the methods, and we'regonna spend everything that we possibly can to
continue to do it and compete atthis level. So really proud of our
volleyball programs that out to Jen Greeneyand obviously the program to be three teams
at the top twenty five in thefall. There's something that not a lot

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of people keep it home at Humming. No one's ever fought for our school,
my school, Uh like like youhave, and uh, we're glad
you're our coach man, we reallyare. And have a great weekend down
and in Pasadena with all the guysgetting a chance to go home and see
family. Go get a win andwe'll talk to you down the road.
Jake, Thanks a lot. Iappreciate your time today, especially dealing with
an airport behind me and everything else. So go Coog's absolutely Ian. Thanks

(18:27):
yeah go coug go Coogs, thanksa lot. That's Jake Didiccott, will
take a break, comeback with moreat night three point three kJ FM.