THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The dilemma Dickert will face soon enough

Let’s pretend.

You’re Jake Dickert.

As Washington State’s emergency coach in the midst of a chaotic 2021 season (remember Nick Rolovich and the vaccine squabble?), you not only stabilized a rocky program, you got the Cougs to a bowl game after that same messy season.

Then another one in ’22, even as you were piecing together a coaching staff of your own and basically recruiting on the fly.

By then, you managed to land quarterback Cameron Ward, who threw for a zillion yards at FCS Incarnate Word, and decided to trust you with his development — not to mention a potential shot at the NFL.

With Ward running an offense designed by coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who looks like another of your inspired moves, your Cougs sit at No. 19 in this week’s AP rankings.

You’re already loved at Wazzu.

The school realized your worth almost immediately after Rolovich’s ugly departure, and last winter you received a contract extension through 2027.

At the moment, you’re earning $2.7 million — making you the third-highest paid employee in the state of Washington.

It’s a pretty darn good life in Pullman, which is really your sort of town as a son of rural Wisconsin.

WAZZU has embraced you, emotionally and financially.

With good reason, although you’re not the sort of guy who ever would say such a thing.

Or take it for granted.

“We have watched Jake Dickert reset the foundation of WSU football that prioritizes family, selflessness, toughness, leadership and the total development of young men on our football team,” WSU athletic director Pat Chun said when your contract extension was announced.

“Coach Dickert and the football staff strive to positively impact all those who come in contact with WSU football. We are fortunate to have coach Dickert leading Cougar football for many years to come.”

Chun was not merely paying lip service.

Your work on several fronts since cleaning up the Rolovich mess has energized the Coug Nation and made Washington State a major player on the national football landscape.

But.

Ah, but.

Since Chun’s statement in January of this year, we’ve seen realignment go insane, and almost in the blink of an eye, the Pac-12 dissolved.

Well, not dissolved entirely.

Ten schools have fled to other Power Five conferences, leaving you and Oregon State alone in something of a sports wilderness.

Unless another major conference has a change of heart and offers membership to the Pac-2 (both of whom are ranked), Washington State at some point will slip to another tier in the game.

The most likely level, and perhaps an actual merger, would involve the Mountain West Conference — a group of fine regional schools with decent athletic programs.

It is not, however, a conference that brings in the same kind of media rights money, or will share equally in the massive windfall from the expanded College Football Playoffs beginning a year from now.

No matter how you look at it, Wazzu almost certainly will be out a lot of money, even if a joint venture with Oregon State yields leftover cash and assets that would allow them to maintain the Pac-12 brand.

IT’S SAD that your job coaching a historic, nationally ranked program depends so much on money, Jake.

It’s the truth, though.

Getting $30-40 million annually in media rights revenue is wildly different than, say, something like $10 million (the Mountain West currently gets less than that, but has a new negotiating period coming up in two years).

With those lower income numbers for an athletic department, people lose jobs.

Coaching staffs are cut, players and admin people leave for bigger programs, and recruiting definitely takes a hit.

Schools like Boise State and Fresno State do a terrific job fielding good teams year after year on budgets that are dwarfed by what Wazzu earned in the Pac-12.

The Cougs and Beavs could be pushed down toward those same financial limits unless there is another shakeup.

Washington State lost its first game of 2023 last weekend, a 25-17 defeat to UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

In a way, it provided what could be a scary vision of the talent gap to come.

The Cougs had trouble protecting Ward, and with less time to throw, he needed help from a corps of experienced receivers — guys who can get open quickly and make big plays.

Unfortunately, senior Lincoln Victor (14 catches, 3 TDs, 14.3 average per catch through four games) and tight end Cooper Mathers, who caught a touchdown pass against Wisconsin, were out injured.

Starting receiver De’Zhaun Stribling left the program for Oklahoma State prior to the season.

THERE really wasn’t much you or Arbuckle could do, Coach, not without any running game, with Ward under constant duress and your trusted receivers absent.

The backup pass targets did their best against UCLA, but they couldn’t account for much — and also had two costly fumbles.

That lack of depth was, in a way, just a glimpse into life in the Mountain West.

There’s no question you’re loyal to Washington State, Jake.

We all know that.

After that emotional victory over Oregon State at Martin Stadium, you loudly referenced being abandoned by your Pac-12 “brothers.”

“We’re all we’ve got, we’re all we need,” you shouted into network microphones on the field after the game.

No one doubts you believe that.

You FEEL that way.

Yet.

Here come the rumors.

Michigan State has a vacancy after sacking the disgraced Mel Tucker.

It’s another reclamation job, only with a giant salary and endless resources.

You and Kansas coach Lance Leopold, who has done a great job getting a woebegone program on its feet, were the first names mentioned for the Spartans job.

No matter how much you love Wazzu, and the faith the school placed in you, thoughts surely must cross your mind.

No one would blame you for that.

Still.

A man can surely support a family on $2.7 million, and there’s something pretty cool about being adored by every Coug alive.

Maybe that’s the real you.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”