Oregon State mailbag: Dickert comments offensive, coaches over their heads, the Beavers’ NIL needs
Washington State coach Jake Dickert caused a stir this week when he said “I’ve never gotten into, like, they’re our buddy. Oregon State’s not our buddy. They would have left us as fast as we would have left them. This is what it is. It’s one of our biggest rivals now. That’s the way I looked at it. That’s not bulletin board material. I hope they would say it the same way, let’s go compete.”AP

Time for the weekly Oregon State mailbag, where readers comment and ask questions about Beaver athletics, and The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Nick Daschel gives an answer.

As always, if you have questions or comments for future mailbags, email Nick at
Always enjoy your work. Do you have any idea what prompted the WSU coach to make the kind of comment that he did about OSU? Find it a bit offensive for him to throw his lifeboat companion overboard! – Don N

Honesty? We want our coaches and athletes to speak the truth, but when they do, people are offended. I find nothing inaccurate or offensive about Washington State coach Jake Dickert’s comment that “Oregon State is not our buddy.”Does anyone believe Oregon State or Washington State would have left one another in a second if the Big 12 made an offer to join? There is immense respect between OSU and WSU. But when it comes to Saturday’s game and the future, it’s about competition and survival.

This (football) team has gotten worse, and it makes me think this coaching staff is way in over their head. Has there been any thoughts to bring on Mike Riley as a consultant or something? Just to help these young coaches figure out how to run a program. Didn’t he help out Smith initially? – Luke V

Mike Riley was initially on Jonathan Smith’s staff in 2018, but left months later to coach the Alliance of American Football’s San Antonio franchise. There is no paid consultant per se for this staff, but they all have mentors, including Trent Bray.