Washington State Cougars

The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program comprises ten women's sports and seven men's intercollegiate sports, and also offers various intramural sports. Varsity athletics WSU formerly had varsity programs in rowing, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, and rifle. In 1937, boxers Roy Petragallo and Ed McKinnon won individual titles and the Cougar team, under coach Ike Deeter (1902-2003), won the NCAA boxing championship, WSU's first national championship. (The Inland Northwest was a hotbed of the sport as Idaho and Gonzaga also had top programs and won national titles.) Collegiate boxing fell from favor in the 1950s and the Cougar program was dropped in May 1960; the NCAA stopped its sponsorship less than a year later. The WSU wrestling program was discontinued , after the 1986 season, and women's gymnastics the following year. The current WSU wrestling program competes in the NCWA division 1 and is a varsity sport. Men's gymnastics was cut earlier, after the 1980 season, rifle in 1987, and men's tennis in 1994. Other former programs include men's swimming and skiing. WSU does not have a women's softball program, one of three Pac-12 members (USC, Colorado) without.