PULLMAN, Wash. -
by Chelsea Kopta, KHQ/SWX Reporter
Ask and you shall receive. Shortly after Washington State University Athletic Director Bill Moos announced he was hiring former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach to take the reigns as WSU Cougar Football Head Coach - in part, to help engage fans - ticket sales and donations started pouring in to WSU.
Within the last 24 hours, the WSU Ticket Office sold 350 new season tickets and counting, according to WSU Director of Ticket Operations Paul Finn, who said they are all new ticket sales and don't include the 10,000 renewals from last year.
The Cougar Athletics Department has also received more than $150,000 in donations since Wednesday.
"This is huge for us," Finn said.
Moos hired Leach one day after firing Coach Paul Wulff, who recorded a 9-40 record during his tenure in Pullman.
Finn says the WSU ticket office has been "on fire" since Moos announced Leach had been hired. He said they brought in extra students to field dozens of phone calls from people who were not only Cougar football fans but also Coach Leach fans.
"We've been getting a lot of calls from Texas, a lot of calls from Kansas, people wanting either to donate to us or congratulate us," Finn said during a phone interview. "We've had a couple from Seattle, that recently moved to Seattle from Texas, and when they found out Coach Leach is our new coach, they wanted to become season ticket holders. So that's always good news when we're getting people that probably aren't the traditional cougar fans but are excited to see coach Leach back coaching and we're excited to have them."
On Tuesday, before a crowded press conference to announce he was firing Wulff, Moos explained that the change in football leadership wasn't just about winning and losing but said it was also about dollars and cents.
"No butts in the seats," Moos said. "I look around the conference at a time the Pac-12 is expanding. We've got to get the program in a position where we can compete, and we got to do it pretty quick, or in my opinion we're going to get left in the dust."
More people are buying seats even as prices rose $35 this year to $225 for season tickets. That's in part, Finn said, because of a better Cougar home schedule this year, The Cougar Football Project to renovate Martin Stadium, and the hiring of Coach Leach.
This Tuesday, WSU will hold a news conference to officially introduce Leach. Also, on that day, December 6th, the WSU ticket office will be open late - until 10pm - to take orders and answer questions. Ticket office officials also said those who are already season ticket holder will still get a renewal.
TO BUY TICKETS:
If you're interested in becoming a season ticket holder, go to www.wsucougars.com/tickets and you can place a deposit.
The pending renovation of Martin Stadium, combined with the announcement of Mike Leach as the new head coach has meant an increase in ticket sales for WSU (Photo: John Fritz / SWX)
