Strategy over transparency, says AD Anne McCoy

WHEN IT COMES to revenue sharing and NIL dollars, Washington State isn’t playing the disclosure game. Athletic director Anne McCoy tells Cougfan.com in a wide-ranging interview the Cougars are purposefully keeping their numbers under wraps — a strategic decision designed to protect competitive advantage while zeroing in on what’s best for WSU in the evolving college football landscape.

If you missed the first article from CF.C’s talk with McCoy, CLICK HERE. Here’s her insight on NIL, revenue sharing and more …

COUGFANcom: How much NIL money do your coaches say that they need to be able to compete consistently each year?

McCoy: I think that’s still something we’re wrapping our arms around. And honestly, from a competitive perspective, not something we’re really talking very publicly about. We’ve leaned in on scholarships, we’ve leaned in on the cost of attendance — whatever the coaches think is important, whether it’s retention or recruitment from the NIL perspective. So we have purposefully worked with our coaches closely behind the scenes.

But from a competitive advantage or disadvantage, that really isn’t something we’re talking about very publicly.

COUGFANcom: In terms of revenue sharing, how much revenue will Washington State be sharing with its athletes this school year?

McCoy: I think that falls into that same boat. Again, from a competitive advantage or disadvantage, it’s not a number that we’re putting out there publicly.

COUGFANcom: Can you talk about how Washington State’s revenue sharing compares with our brethren in the new Pac-12?

McCoy: I think they’re in the same boat we’re in in a lot of cases, that people aren’t really talking about this very transparently. So we’re more focused on what we need to do at Washington State to continue to be competitive and to really be leaders in the new Pac-12 with what’s right for us.

COUGFANcom: What’s the status of the Washington State’s athletic department fundraising compared to this point last year?

McCoy: We’re trending in a really good direction. If memory serves me right, I think of our quarters this past year were higher than they’ve ever been in history. It’s always an interesting moving target because whether you have, capital project fundraising or bigger ticket things that are maybe a single focus vs. just general fundraising. But we feel really good about it.

Our donor engagement has been higher than ever. I think we are something like six tickets shy of 1,000 new season ticket holders, so that’s trending in a good direction, and many of those are in donor seating areas. We’re really focusing right now on not only our athletic scholarships, which obviously are always a priority, but really looking at fundraising specifically for additional fan enhancements that we hope to put in place next fall if we’re looking at the scoreboard, new turf, ribbon board, sound — a lot of other things we know need to happen, but we need a longer runway for not only from a competitive bid process but also, quite frankly, a funding aspect.

We feel really good about it. I think it’s been hard after people were a little uncertain of some of the directions things had been going. The fact that we’re entering this year with a full Pac-12 going forward, with the expanded media and just the excitement, enthusiasm on campus., think that it really is translating to folks not only continuing to invest, but maybe increasing that investment, and new people also coming to the table.

The increased membership to the Cougar Athletic Fund from the recent push, all of those things are really trending in a positive direction and are really exciting, honestly.

COUGFANcom: How is the fundraising for the Next Chapter program come together so far?

McCoy: It’s been really good. One piece of that, and it’s meant to be, is if you love NIL or scholarships, there’s an option. If you really are passionate about facilities, that’s an option. But one of the things we’ve put into place new as part of the Next Chapter is also these opportunities to invest more directly in the program that makes your heart sing, whether it be women’s basketball or football or swimming or whatever program.

It’s a new opportunity for people that want to invest in a specific program to really have increased access and exposure to our head coaches and our teams. We have some people that have wanted to join every single one because they want to be invested or involved and some that are picking, the sports that are nearest and dearest to their hearts.

COUGFANcom: We’ve heard that some of the savings from track will be used for scholarships and volleyball and other sports. Is that accurate?

McCoy: Yes, absolutely. I think as we talked about at the time, the track decision was not about an overall budget reduction for the department. It was about finding a way that we could not be spread as thin as we were becoming. And so absolutely the scholarships, particularly on the women’s side from track, will be reinvested in other women’s sports programs and we’re also really looking at ways that we can bolster the services that we’re providing all of our student athletes going forward. So yes, that is absolutely accurate.

COUGFANcom: What are some of the details? How many scholarships are we talking about and how does it break down across sports?

McCoy: I would not say it’s been a specific ‘this dollar to this place, this dollar to that place.’ I mean, we’re looking at our budget overall as a whole. And so we certainly have some staff savings that we’re able to reinvest from the track changes. We have money that we’re reinvesting in the track and cross country programs. And so I don’t know that I could give you a very succinct answer on tracking every dollar and where it’s going.

And so whether that’s a decreased load on our athletic medicine staff or nutrition or academic support services or whatever it might be, I think it’s a much larger picture. But I do know we’ve been extremely careful relative to any of the changes in our women’s scholarships to track to make sure those were reinvesting now we do have some track athletes still here that are finishing up their degrees or perhaps waiting to transfer at the semester or after the year.

COUGFANcom: Your reaction to the just-announced deal with The CW, the second TV deal announced so far with CBS the first?

The CW has been a great partner last year and coming up for this year and I think as all of the interest with the Pac-12 media rights going forward it’s really gained a lot of momentum. We’re excited for the opportunity to not only continue, but expand the partnership with The CW. They have such a broad reach, literally 100 percent of the households throughout the U.S.

It’s not only a chance for football in the Pac-12 to continue to be seen, but really the expansion into men’s and women’s basketball for that same level of exposure. They’ve been tremendous partners and I think really are excited about the vision of the Pac-12 and want to be a big part of that moving forward.

COUGFANcom: There obviously there’s still a lot of game inventory out there available for broadcast. When do you anticipate additional media rights partnerships being announced? Is that something fans should expect, say, in the next couple weeks, or is it something that’s still going to take a while?

McCoy:  I don’t know that I have a good answer for that right now. The Pac-12 has been very deliberate with not only the membership but also Octagon, their media consultants, and I think just determining when each piece is ready to be not only signed off on, but then announced. We are really encouraged by all the interest, but I just think the Pac-12 has purposefully avoided a timeline only because then it becomes; ‘Why wasn’t it announced yet?’ And then people wonder if there’s more to the story.

And so they’ve been really thorough and, I think, deliberate about it. So I don’t know, I honestly don’t. I mean, it could be next week. It could be in three weeks. When the Pac-12 is ready, it’ll come out.

COUGFANcom: Turner Sports, TNT and TBS, ESPN — anybody else that we should be keeping an eye out for on potential TV partners?

McCoy: I think what I would say is that Octagon and the Pac-12 are leaving no stone left unturned of folks that might be interested in being partners, and whether it be streaming, whether it be traditional over the air broadcasts or whatever. So I would say if there’s any partner you could potentially envision, I think that they’re being vetted and looked at. But obviously it’s a competitive bid process. So beyond that, I probably wouldn’t say much more about it.

COUGFANcom: The press release last week said the large pregame tailgate area was moving to the CUB Senior Ballroom and the Fieldhouse was going to be used for corporate events. On first glance it seems like it should be exactly the opposite given the atmosphere in the Fieldhouse, no? Walk us through the thinking on that.

McCoy: I think it’s like a tale of two fieldhouses is how I would best describe it. If you came to events a decade or more ago, what the Fieldhouse was then vs. what it really has evolved into the last several years, I think are two very different things. And I think that the affinity people have for the Fieldhouse, which I completely understand and agree with, the facility unfortunately is in need of some maintenance. It needs some upgrades.

We’ve gotten a lot of complaints, quite frankly, from people who are choosing not to go to the Fieldhouse anymore: the audio/visual quality is tough, the lighting is tough. We aren’t able to do some of the things that we used to be able to do relative to food vendors and a variety of different things. And it just has withered a bit, quite frankly.

We took a lot of time in the off season to really think about it and thought, OK, well, we’re not doing a multi-million dollar upgrade to the facility right now. And we have a women’s tennis team that needs to be able to practice and compete in that facility and really looking at how even just the footprint has changed. You need a ticket to go into Cougville on Rogers Field, but we still want a place that people can go ideally where they don’t need a ticket. And we used to do things pregame, either through campus or athletics up in the CUB but that had kind of ceased over the last few years. And so as we looked at how can we provide a better environment that’s still resistant to the weather relative to an indoor space, a place where we can have large screen TVs for people to watch games and they can actually hear that and see it, and we can have yard games for the kids.

We can have beer, wine, cocktails and food options and really bringing some energy to that central part of campus. From a decade ago, that is not the same Fieldhouse, it’s not the same environment. And so we think the CUB has a chance to be potentially an even better space. And then the Fieldhouse right now would be available for private corporate events, (or) an opposing team alumni association or something that’s smaller and more contained. But really, honestly, we’re trying to bring in more energy, and listening to the fans about needing something that really was an improvement over where the Fieldhouse had evolved to.

COUGFANcom: In terms of  potential expansion and new Pac-12 member schools, anything on the horizon soon for either a school coming in for all sports, and/or football, basketball and or baseball only?

McCoy: Much like the media, the Pac-12 continues to explore all options and evaluate what’s best for the conference going forward. I think that they’re also looking at continuing some expansion and maybe some affiliate members or other things that really can make the conference the strongest going forward. I don’t sit here knowing that there’s going to be an imminent announcement. But having said that, in college athletics these days, you know, things are the way they are until they’re not. But there’s no immediate, you know, either full -fledged or other announcements on the horizon that I’m aware of.

COUGFANcom: How engaged has President Elizabeth Cantwell been in athletics in her short time here?

McCoy: It’s been great. Having come from Utah State, a school that just made the decision to move to the Pac-12, I think she’s very aware of how an athletic department can help in spreading the vision and the mission for a university. So we had a chance to have her at a couple of our all-student athlete meetings recently to start the semester. She’s been involved coming to some practices, certainly competitions, but I think also just learning as much as she can, not only about our program and our budget, but much like she is doing for the entire system.

I feel like she’s done a great job of really understanding us as a department, but as part of the bigger mission of the university and so it’s been it’s been really good.

COUGFANcom: Any final thoughts? The floor is yours.

McCoy: It’s been hard with all the changes in college athletics and we understand that and the one thing I would say is is that there are a lot of really exciting things happening, and our student athletes and our coaches are working really hard. We all understand and feel the frustration with some of the changes in a variety of different areas, but we need to go forward and we need to look towards the future and do what we can to best position Washington State University. And I think just having that level of, you know, support for everything the other sports are doing or the coaches or the student athletes, and just realizing that, you know, it’s okay to be frustrated about some of the changes, but it’s also okay to be excited and ready to kind of move into the future.

And you know, any yoga fans out there, you have a chance for a couple home football games to do yoga on the field. I mean, just looking at how we can make the game day experience a more expanded, inclusive experience for all Coug fans, I think some things will be a hit and some will maybe take some time. But at the end of the day, understand that there are a lot of great things going on and we want to continue to partner with people and be good stewards of the department.

Related: McCoy says ‘We’re crossing every T, dotting every I’ on expanded beer and wine sales