by Jason Krump '93
During the early morning hours of Wednesday, February 6, Rich
Rasmussen enters the Washington State University football office
carrying two boxes, each containing a dozen donuts, and places them
on the front counter.
Rasmussen opens the door to his office, where, taped on its
outer side, is a piece of paper:
Core Values for WSU Football
2008:
Compete – Compete to win
Execution – Attention to detail
Effort – Relentless on every rep
Encouragement – Positive response to all situations
Rasmussen turns on his computer, checks his e-mail, and waits
for the future of WSU football to commence.
Today is National Letter of Intent Signing Day. On the
first Wednesday of February each year, high school players select
the university they will attend, and play for.
It is a day that determines their future and shapes the future
of the university’s football program.
For Rasmussen, the recruiting coordinator for Washington State
football, and the rest of head coach Paul Wulff’s staff, this
Wednesday caps a whirlwind 57 days.
Taking over from Bill Doba, Wulff became the first WSU football
letterwinner and graduate to lead the Cougars since Phil Sarboe
served as head coach from 1945 to 1949.
A 1990 graduate of WSU and a four-year letterwinner as center,
Wulff has spent the past 15 seasons at Eastern Washington
University, the final eight as head coach.
When he officially became head coach, there were precious few
days available to recruit before the NCAA-mandated recruiting “dead
period” started on December 17.
Wulff and members of his coaching staff, whom he hired just a
day after accepting the position, hit the recruiting trail
hard.
“Hectic but productive” is how Rasmussen puts it.
The results begin to reveal themselves when Kevin Frank and Zack
Williams’s national letters of intent come through the fax machine
in the compliance office at 7:09 and 7:10 a.m.
They are the first of a flood of NLIs that come pouring out of
the machine all morning.
As frenzied as things are in the compliance office, which
certifies each student-athlete’s NLI, the mood is calm in the
football office one floor below in the Bohler Athletic Complex
(BAC).
“It’s not as intense as people think,” Wulff says of the
atmosphere surrounding signing day, “unless you are fighting to get
a kid, which usually doesn’t happen too often.”
The tough part for Rasmussen is waiting for the e-mails from
assistant compliance director Catherine Walker officially
confirming the receipt of the NLIs.
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