PULLMAN, Wash. – The 2018 Nights with Cougar Football raised a record-breaking total of nearly $610,000 to support the Cougar Athletic Fund and student-athletes scholarships, Washington State University Director of Athletics Pat Chun announced Wednesday.
 
"What an unbelievable series of events celebrating Cougar football and WSU student-athletes," said Chun. "The tremendous support and energy I witnessed for Cougar Athletics the past few weeks was astounding. I continue to marvel at the pride and love our alumni, friends and fans show for our program and it was on full display at each event."
 
The annual events, which coincided with February's National Signing Day, were held in Spokane (Feb. 7), Vancouver (Feb. 10), Tri-Cities (Feb. 16) and Seattle (Mar. 3) and celebrated Cougar Football's signing day class, as well as previewed the 2018 season.
 
The four-city tour featured Head Coach Mike Leach and members of the Cougar Football coaching staff, as well as legendary Cougars including Jack Thompson, Bill Doba and Jason Gesser, to name just a few. The final three nights included silent and live auction packages, and saw each event shatter the previous year's mark for funds raised.  Vancouver brought in $133,000, Tri-Cities $140,000 and Seattle topped the 2017 total by more than $116,000, raising $335,820 last Saturday evening.
 
The 2018 Nights with Cougar Football tour experienced almost $200,000 in growth from last year.  The purpose of these events are two-fold; to celebrate our football recruiting class, but more importantly, to continue creating opportunities and providing scholarships to WSU's student athletes in all sports.   
 
"It has been inspiring to see the investment of WSU fans and Cougar Athletic Fund members grow over the past few years," said Bridget Adams, Director of Events for the CAF. "Each year we have the chance to share a story of one individual, but the reality is the growing generosity of our Cougs is transforming the lives of hundreds of student-athlete stories."