1976 Washington State Cougars football team

The 1976 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. In their only season under head coach Jackie Sherrill, the Cougars compiled a 3–8 record (2–5 in Pac-8, sixth), and were outscored 331 to 240.[2][3]

1976 Washington State Cougars football
ConferencePacific-8 Conference
1976 record3–8 (2–5 Pac-8)
Head coachJackie Sherrill (1st season)
Offensive coordinatorBob Leahy
Defensive coordinatorHoward Tippett [1]
Home stadiumMartin Stadium,
Joe Albi Stadium (Spokane)
1976 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 2 USC $ 7 –0 –0  11 –1 –0
No. 15 UCLA 6 –1 –0  9 –2 –1
Stanford 5 –2 –0  6 –5 –0
California 3 –4 –0  5 –6 –0
Washington 3 –4 –0  5 –6 –0
Washington State 2 –5 –0  3 –8 –0
Oregon 1 –6 –0  4 –7 –0
Oregon State 1 –6 –0  2 –10 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The team's statistical leaders included Jack Thompson with 2,762 passing yards, Dan Doornink with 422 rushing yards, and Mike Levenseller with 1,124 receiving yards.[4]

Senior quarterback John Hopkins injured a knee in the second game making a tackle;[5][6] sophomore Thompson relieved him and again the following week,[7] then became the starter for the rest of the season.[8][9] A home game was played in Seattle at the newly-opened Kingdome, against eleventh-ranked USC.[9][10] Previous home games in Seattle in 1972 and 1974 were at Husky Stadium.[11][12]

Previously the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh, Sherrill was hired in late December 1975,[13][14][15] but coached just one season in Pullman, leaving in early December to return to the Panthers as head coach.[1][16] A week later, he was succeeded at WSU by Warren Powers, the defensive backfield coach at Nebraska.[17][18][19]

Schedule
DateOpponentSiteResultAttendance
September 11at No. 19 Kansas*
L 16–35 39,475
September 18at Minnesota*
L 14–28 31,627
September 25at Wisconsin*
L 26–35 69,658
October 2Idaho*
W 45–6 23,500
October 9vs. No. 11 USC
L 14–23 37,268
October 16at No. 4 UCLA
L 3–62 35,508
October 23Stanford
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, WA
L 16–22 24,300
October 30at Oregon
W 23–22 22,200
November 6Oregon State
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, WA
W 29–24 20,122
November 13at California
L 22–23 30,000
November 20Washington
L 32–51 35,800
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster
1976 Washington State Cougars football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
QB 12 Wally Bennett Sr
SE 13 Bob Bratkowski Jr
TE 88 Ron Bull So
C 60 Jon DesPois Sr
RB 11 Dan Doornink Jr
G 71 Larry Finan Jr
RB 25 Harold Gillum
T 54 Bob Hill Sr
QB 18 John Hopkins Sr
SE 44 Brian Kelly Jr
G 65 Tom Larsen Jr
T 68 Dave Lemke Jr
SE 21 Mike Levenseller Jr
TE 83 Eason Ramson Jr
QB 14 Jack Thompson So
TB 26 Mike Washington Fr
TB 31 Ray Williams Fr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
LB 96 Raleigh Fletcher So
LB 98 Terry Gilmore
CB 37 Ken Greene Jr
DT 76 Spud Harris Fr
LB 57 Don Hover Jr
LB 97 Jeff Jones So
DT 87 Tim Ochs Sr
CB 15 Mark Patterson Jr
DE 38 Mel Sanders Fr
M 48 Don Schwartz Jr
DE 36 Tom Thompson So
SS 16 John Troppman Jr
NG 50 George Yarno So
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 33 Chuck Diedrick
P 46 Gavin Hedrick Jr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt
Source[20][21][22][23]

NFL Draft

For the first time in six years, no Cougars were selected in the 1977 NFL Draft; eight WSU players were selected the next year.

References
  1. Emerson, Paul (December 7, 1976). "Sherrill takes Pitt job for 'a lot of reasons'". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  2. "1976 Washington State Cougars Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  3. "2016 Media Guide" (PDF). WSUCougars.com. Washington State Cougars Athletics. p. 76. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  4. "1976 Washington State Cougars Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  5. Missildine, Harry (September 19, 1976). "Gophers whip Cougs". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  6. Brown, Bruce (September 20, 1976). "Effort is not enough to ease hurt of loss". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 17.
  7. Missildine, Harry (September 26, 1976). "Badgers win air war". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  8. Missildine, Harry (October 3, 1976). "Thompson unloads on Idaho". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  9. Missildine, Harry (October 9, 1976). "Thompson's key in 'Dome Bowl'". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 13.
  10. Missildine, Harry (October 10, 1976). "Cougs tough, short". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  11. Emerson, Paul (November 5, 1972). "Top-ranked Trojans bomb Cougars 44-3". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 19.
  12. Emerson, Paul (October 6, 1974). "Cougars 'discover' No. 1". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 15.
  13. Franke, Russ (December 26, 1975). "Pitt assistant takes head job". Pittsburgh Press. p. 38.
  14. "Sherrill named WSU coach". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). December 26, 1975. p. 15.
  15. "WSU hires Pittsburgh assistant". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). December 27, 1975. p. 1B.
  16. Livingston, Pat (December 7, 1976). "Sherrill's time comes for Pitt job". Pittsburgh Press. p. 49.
  17. Barrows, Bob (December 14, 1976). "WSU fills football job with Nebraska assistant". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  18. Missildine, Harry (December 14, 1976). "Warren Powers new Coug coach". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 19.
  19. Brown, Bruce (December 14, 1976). "New challenge faces Powers". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 19.
  20. "Vandals vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (rosters). October 2, 1976. p. 13.
  21. "Cardinals vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (rosters). October 23, 1976. p. 13.
  22. "The lineups: probable starters". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 30, 1976. p. 1D.
  23. "Huskies vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (rosters). November 20, 1976. p. 17.
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