WSU football needs leaders off field, coach says

The admission of defeat didn't come easy for Paul Wulff. He wasn't talking about Saturday's demoralizing 69-0 loss to No. 6-ranked USC or Washington State's humbling 1-7 record in his first season coaching the Cougars.

He briefly spoke about a culture of defeat that's seeped into the psyche of his players.

Wulff mentioned a players-only meeting and you could almost hear him choking on the admission that if the Cougars are to reverse this troubling trend of blowout defeats — they've surrendered at least 60 points four times — the players and not the coaching staff will have to be responsible.

"I say the word culture," Wulff said during a teleconference Sunday night. "It's changing the culture and developing a winning culture and a winning attitude. It's a process."

Before the Cougars can even think about winning, they've first got to get back to competing in games. And to listen to several players after Saturday's loss, the Washington State locker room is divided between players who've given up on the season and those who haven't.

"We're just going to have to find out who's here to compete and play," quarterback Kevin Lopina said. "If you don't want to play, then turn in your gear."

Said defensive end Andy Mattingly, "A lot of guys are just used to losing."

Wulff didn't disagree.

"I didn't hear that comment, but our kids can see that," he said. "I know a lot of kids are frustrated with other kids on the team. It's tough on these kids. They're trying hard and we've had some very unfortunate things happen to us injury-wise, and when you lose games it's easy to get frustrated.

"It happens in sports everywhere. And everyone is trying to find reasons why you're losing. There's no need to point any fingers and I don't think those guys were by any means, but everybody gets frustrated and they can see maybe somebody else not pulling their weight. I understand where some of that comes from."

With five games remaining, Wulff is relinquishing control of the team. Sort of.

More accurately he's searching for leaders to police the locker room and take control of the team.

"For a while as coaches we tried to do that, and it's time now as a coach to find players to do that," Wulff said. "All great teams have great, strong leadership. Successful teams do. Unsuccessful teams don't have that or have enough of it, and we need more of that."

Notes

• The Cougars will conduct closed-to-the-media practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. Players will lift weights and run Thursday and are off Friday and Saturday before returning Sunday and preparing for a Nov. 1 game at Stanford.

• Running backs Chris Ivory (hamstring) and Dwight Tardy (knee) are expected to return next week.

• Senior LB Greg Trent moved into 10th place on the WSU career tackles list (286) with five against USC.

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com