Mike Leach’s first season at Washington State wasn’t easy, especially during the team’s eight-game losing streak and amidst Marquess Wilson’s accusations of abuse (which he later recanted).
The fan response was overwhelmingly negative in Leach’s first year (which resulted in a 3-9 record), and WSU athletic director Bill Moos received countless emails. He read each one, and now with the Cougars bowl eligible, according to The Olympian, Moos is banning some of the senders of the nastiest emails the chance to buy bowl tickets.
Seriously.
“After one fan predicted in an email that “this will go down as one of the biggest disasters in coaching history and Leach will NEVER be a head coach again,” Moos forwarded the message to a colleague, along with his own acronym: NBT, short for 'no bowl tickets.'”
Moos has what he calls a “no-bowl ticket file.” He answered each email with a positive and supportive tone toward Leach and his staff, then forwarded the email to the Cougar Athletic Fund to see if the senders of the email had a history of gifts to the program or of buying tickets.
“About 85-90 percent of them are not members of the CAF. I've got a no-bowl ticket file, and I want people on board and believing in what we’re doing, and trusting how we’re going about it. If they don’t want to be on the train, the train’s already pulled out of the station,” Moos said.
The 6-5 Cougars will square off with in-state rival Washington on Friday and a win would help the Cougars possibly receive a bid to a conference-affiliated bowl, but if WSU is not invited to a bowl with a Pac-12 tie-in, they will have chances to play elsewhere.
Moos said the school has received more than 1,000 ticket requests so far, and that he might re-consider his stance for those in the “no-bowl ticket file.”
“We’ve got to sell bowl tickets, so I may give it a second consideration,” he said. “But there’s a couple that aren’t going to get them. I can guarantee you that.”
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H/T The Olympian
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