The Official Newsletter for Washington State Athletics, presented by BECU

Good Morning, Wazzu Fam. With the calendar rolling into January, that only means one thing.

The NFL Playoffs have arrived.

Once again, the Cougs will be involved in the hunt for the Lombardi Trophy.

What all do we have in today’s Brew? Check it out below.

🏈 Playoff Bound
🙌 The Family Grows
🏀 Battlin’ The Beavs
🙌 And much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Playoff Bound. The hunt for the Lombardi Trophy begins this weekend and four former Cougs will be on the quest to hoist the coveted piece of NFL history.

OL Abraham Lucas and the Seattle Seahawks secured the top seed in the NFC and will have a bye week to await their divisional round opponent next week.

LB Daiyan Henley and the Chargers travel to New England to battle another former Coug, Kyle Williams and the Patriots on Sunday night at 5 pm PT.

Saturday afternoon at 1:30 pm PT, Chau Smith-Wade and the Carolina Panthers will host the Los Angeles Rams in the organization’s first playoff appearance since 2017.  

🔼 The Fam Keeps Growing. This week, WSU Head Football Coach Kirby Moore announced that Brad Larrondo has been named the program's Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director / General Manager, while also naming seven more assistants to his first coaching staff in Pullman.
 
Larrondo is a veteran of college athletics for more than two decades. Larrondo brings a wealth of experience to Pullman having spent the previous three seasons working closely with Moore at Missouri.
 
Of the seven new assistant coaches, three will be on the offensive side of the ball and four on defense. The 2026 Cougar coaching staff will include Jack Abercrombie (offensive line), Andrew Browning (rush/defensive run game coordinator), Greg Burns (secondary/safeties), Derham Cato (run game coordinator/tight ends), Eti Ena (defensive tackles), Derek Sage (wide receivers/special teams coordinator) and Brandyn Thompson (cornerbacks).

🏈 Meet The Newest Members Of The Staff

🔼 Battlin’ The Beavs. Having won two games over break, the WSU women’s hoops team returns home looking to carry momentum into a Thursday night showdown with longtime rival, Oregon State.

Starting center Alex Covill returned from injury in a major way this past weekend with a career-game in a road win at Seattle.

Tip time tomorrow night at Beasley is set for 6 pm PT.

🏀 Previewing The Matchup

From gameday to payday, rep Crimson and Gray.

🤔 COUGAR TRIVIA

Who was the first former Coug to win a Super Bowl Championship?

Got a guess?

Scroll down to see if you know your stuff!

*all times PT

Thursday, January 8th
🏀 Women’s Basketball vs. Oregon State @ 6pm l Tickets l Live Stats l Watch

Saturday, January 10th
🏀 Women’s Basketball vs. Santa Clara @ 12pm l Tickets l Live Stats l Watch
🏀 Men’s Basketball at Saint Mary’s @ 2pm l CBS Sports Network

Thursday, January 15th
🏀 Women’s Basketball at Saint Mary’s @ 6:30pm l Live Stats l Watch
🏀 Men’s Basketball vs. Gonzaga @ 7pm l Tickets l Live Stats l CBS Sports Network

Friday, January 16th
👟 Track & Field at UW Preview

🐶 Click here to see the full Washington State Athletics Calendar

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Mark Rypien (Super Bowl XXII - 1988)

👏 Have a great one!