PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University officially introduced Jake Dickert as it's interim head coach on Tuesday.
The 38-year-old now in charge at a power five program in large part thanks to being vaccinated.
"It was a rallying cry to try to get all of our fans," said Dickert of his choice to be vaccinated in the spring. "We didn't know if there was going to be fans in the stadium. I was trying to do something for the players. They deserve to have people and the cheers and these roars that we've heard the last couple of Saturdays have been unbelievable."
Dickert got vaccinated in May and tweeted about it.
Dickert made it clear when addressing the media that his main priority is to ensure the athletes feel supported through the changes within the coaching staff.
"I think this is a great day for perspective. I hope everyone can take a step back and look at the big picture and focus on the people that are greatly changed by yesterday and that's our student athletes," said Dickert. "I'm a firm believer that adversity is life's greatest teacher and that's what I praise to our guys and I preach to our guys. I think this is going to be another challenge for our guys to change and grow."
His first practice acting as head coach was Tuesday morning.
"That I'm here for them," said Dickert of his message to team. "That I understand them. You know, there's a lot of pain and hurt that has been caused for these guys and I want them to know that we're here all the time. We're in it with them."
He also provided an example of how he did that at practice on Tuesday.
"The excitement that you've had in these pictures, that can continue," he told his team as he had a picture of them celebrating up on the scoreboard. "I think they started to look at it and started believing, but this is a players game and those guys are going to continue to grow as players and as people, and I'm just excited to have an opportunity to touch each one of our guys on the team."
Without a doubt, this is quite the opportunity for Dickert to showcase his abilities as the man in charge.
In Monday's press conference Athletic Director Pat Chun said he hopes to hire a coach that will want to retire from WSU.
If Dickert winds up being the next official head coach, he certainly is comfortable in Pullman.
"I'm just excited to be here in Pullman, this is how I grew up. Small towns is what I know. Great people is what I know. I know when the RV's come to town it takes me ten minutes to get to work there's a lot of traffic for me," Dickert said with a laugh. "You know that's a lot of time to get to work. Just, I love Pullman it fits me, it fits our family, and we're blessed to be here."