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Chat live with WSU head football coach Paul Wulff at noon on Wednesday, March 25.

Moderator: Good afternoon Cougar fans and thank you for visiting wsucougars.com and today's chat with WSU Head Football Coach Paul Wulff. Before we begin, you will notice two links at the top of this page. One directs you to information about the sale of single-game road tickets, including the Oct. 31 Notre Dame game at San Antonio, and the Hawaii game. The online sale begins this Saturday (March 28) at 8 a.m. The second link directs you to information about a special Notre Dame travel package offered by WSU Athletics and Dodds Travel. Check it out. Paul, thank you for taking time out of your schedule to join us, a day before spring practice begins.

Paul Wulff: Thanks for having me on today. I look forward to taking questions from our fans.

Moderator: And we have a lot of questions for Coach Wulff so let's get right to it.

Bruce (Virginia Beach): Coach, two questions: 1. Where do you see our progress in the plan to rebuild COUGAR football (specifically re-shaping the culture)? On track, ahead, or behind? 2. I'm a donor who lives on the east coast...what more can I do to help support the program? Damned proud that you're our coach. GO COUGS!

Paul Wulff: Bruce, we are making very good progress with the rebuilding of the Cougar program. I believe it takes time to implement and to completely execute a philosophy change. It can take a few years just to mentally get all the players and coaches on the same page. In regards to support, be patient and enjoy the process of seeing the program developing. Although it can be painful at times, like it was last year, we will show continued improvement and you will see that next season. I appreciate your support.

Jay from Seattle: What do you think of our nonconfrence schedule this season?

Paul Wulff: I like our non-conference schedule. I think Hawaii and SMU are good games for us early in the season. It will allow us to grow and improve as a football team. The Notre Dame game will be an exciting and fun game. To be at a neutral site and to be a nationally televised game on NBC is always good for the Cougar program.

jp (pullman): Can you give us any insight on the running back situation going into spring? With all the returners and Montgomery how do you see playing time shaking out?

Paul Wulff: Between Tardy, Richmond, Montgomery and Mitz, it should be a highly competitive spring football at the running back position. We will see who has the edge heading into fall camp. Chris Ivory and Chantz Staden will not be participating due to injuries.

jpaulw (moscow): Any chance of getting idaho back on the schedule?

Paul Wulff: I believe both schools wanted to take a break from the game, but I envision someday down the road the game could be rescheduled.

Shawn (Portland): Coach, are you planning on going with the no-huddle during the season and if you are-- how confidant are you that the offense can execute to their advantage as opposed to last year?

Paul Wulff: We plan on doing a lot of no-huddle. I believe our execution should be much improved, and we expect to do much better offensively than we did a year ago.

Honolulu: Aloha Coach Wulff Mahalo for wearing the lei on the sidelines during the WSU-University of Hawaii game this past season; it meant a lot to us Island Cougars. I know you recruited a lineman from Maui for the new season. How is your Hawaii recruiting going? There are a lot of good football players in Hawaii itching to play BCS football and could fit into your program in Pullman. Best wishes for a successful season.

Paul Wulff: One, I was blessed to have a lei given to me to wear for the game. That was a lot of fun. In regards to recruiting Hawaii, it is a very important state for us. Over the years we have had some successful WSU student-athletes come to Pullman and have very successful careers. A couple of examples would be Jason Gesser in football and Derrick Low in basketball. We're very excited to have our new addition in Jordan Pu Robinson.

Jeremiah (Ephrata): What's your main focus on in the upcoming season?

Paul Wulff: To play more physical as a team and to execute at a much higher level.

Evan (Pullman): How much emphasis do you put on starting out the 2009 season with some success? Or is it just mostly important at this stage of the rebuilding effort to just play better and improve?

Paul Wulff: We will put a very big emphasis on starting out very strong and with the expectation of getting our first win.

David (Bellevue): You redshirted a lot of Freshman last year. What impact do you expect from those players this year?

Paul Wulff: We need several players who redshirted last year to step up and help this football team. Many of those are not redshirt freshman players, some of them are in their third and fourth year of college.

Frank, North Las Vegas: It appears to me that you are building the program the right way from the bottom-up with HS talent, rather than the quick fix of using JC's who often have no "investment" in the program. Can you address your recruiting philosophy ?

Paul Wulff: The longer you have young men in your program, the more comfortable and the better understanding they are going to have with the expectations and philosophy of a program. That is why we would prefer to have a team full of redshirt fifth-year seniors, fourth year juniors (so on, so forth) every year.

Nate (Pullman): After seeing the success it had against UW last year, do you think you'll utilize a less conservative strategy next season. By that, I mean passing more and going for it on fourth down when necessary.

Paul Wulff: Our philosophy is not to be ultra-conservative in our game-planning. We want to be aggressive and always be on the attack mode. When teams are conservative, a lot of times that has to do with what your limitations are. As we grow and develop as a program, we will be more and more aggressive, as much as we can handle.

Grant Seattle: Which freshman do you see coming in and making an impact right away? How do you know that whichever kid if any has the ability to compete at a Pac-10 level so early? Thanks Coach GO COUGS

Paul Wulff: We don't always know who will play as first-year freshman. That all depends on how things pan out through fall camp as we head into the first game.

David Edquist: Would you please consider getting rid of that Cougar Script on the helmet and just go with the well known and powerfull Cougarhead Logo (either sliver on a crimson helmet or via versa)? A WSU Graphic Design grad and doug fan.

Paul Wulff: With the new uniforms coming this fall, the Cougar logo will probably be the primary one used . We are leaning that way, although the script on both helmets may have their time and place.

Moderator: Just a quick reminder of the two links at the top of this page. One directs you to information about the sale of single-game road tickets, including the Oct. 31 Notre Dame game at San Antonio, and the Hawaii game. The online sale begins this Saturday (March 28) at 8 a.m. The second link directs you to information about a special Notre Dame travel package offered by WSU Athletics and Dodds Travel. Be sure to check it out.

Rick Caldwell, Idaho: It appears we have some options at most positions but I wonder about DT? We were not very strong there last year. What about this year?

Paul Wulff: This has been a major overhaul of a position, but we do believe that we have some young kids who have some talent. As they mature over the next two to three years, we have a chance to be very solid at the defensive line position this year with Toby Turpin, Bernard Wolfgram, Josh Luapo, Anthony Laurenzi and Dan Spitz.

Nate, Pullman: Coach, I know from the beginning of your time here you wanted to re-enforce the players' commitment to weights and proper nutrition. Are you satisfied with some of the gains your players are making this off-season?

Paul Wulff: We just completed an eight-week cycle of training from January through the middle of March. Our players made great strides in that short amount of time. As we move through spring and summer we have to continue that same level of continued improvement and that will make us a much improved team next year. As we compile year after year of that kind of weight room improvement and strength gains, our performance will improve with consistency. As we get stronger as a football team we will endure less injuries, which, obviously will help our team.

Allen (Covington): Coach- in your opinion do Internet recruiting services help or hinder your recruiting process as a coach? There's quite the debate online and offline (see Meat Market by Feldman).

Paul Wulff: They do both.

Greg Shay: Great win against UW last year. And I'm very excited about your recruiting this year. I definately feel like we're moving in the right direction. My question is specific to the defense. We've been spoiled by great linebacker play and great secondary play for a long time, but really seem to have lost that in the last few seasons. Additionally it's been a decade since we had a D Line that could cause havoc in the backfield and get to the passer consistently. What are we doing to shore up that defense this season and most importantly seasons to come?

Paul Wulff: The defensive line is a top priority for our program in order to rebuild and reshape. We definitely want to become more and more athletic and I believe we are headed in that direction. In regards to linebackers and secondary, right now, WSU has several defensive backs and linebackers active in the NFL. We need to develop current players and recruit players to fill the voids of those players who helped the Cougar defense, like what was here earlier this decade.

Ryan (Newport Beach, CA): What positions, heading into spring practice, do you see that need the most improvement from a production standpoint on both sides of the ball? Go Cougs!!!

Paul Wulff: Our receivers and quarterbacks need to produce.

David California: On a recent radio show you stated there would be only one senior starting on offense in 2009. Would it be safe to assume that person is Kenny Alfred?

Paul Wulff: At the time, what I meant was there could be only up to one senior starting, the only proven senior being Kenny Alfred. But obviously, Tony Thompson has a clear shot at starting, as well as Kevin Lopina and Dwight Tardy.

Gary(spokane): Has your team speed improved, like there grades.

Paul Wulff: I hope so and yes, after watching them in conditioning drills, we are running stronger and quicker.

Moderator: OK, time for one more question.

Ben (Pullman): Jeff Tuel is an interesting prospect at Quarterback, do you plan on redshirting him?

Paul Wulff: We are very excited about Jeff's potential. Many, many, times it is very tough for a first year player, let alone, a first year quarterback, to make a dramatic impact on a Pac-10 football team. I believe as long as we are all patient and allow Jeff to mature at the right pace he has all the ability to have an excellent career.

Moderator: That's all the time we have. Paul, thank you for joining us once again.

Paul Wulff: Thanks to all the Cougar fans for joining us. Myself, staff, and players are very anxious to start our first official football practices for the 2009 season. Continue to watch our development and improvement and please appreciate all the hard work that everyone is doing to improve Cougar Football and to bring us back to great excitement in Martin Stadium.

Moderator: Thank you to everyone for your questions. Remember, to get all the information about WSU Athletics, go no further than wsucougars.com, the official website of Cougar Athletics. Please check back to wsucougars.com for future online chats.