PULLMAN, WA – Cougar Athletics is charging into the new season with a fresh rallying cry designed to bring the Washington State University community together.

The “Made of Crimson” campaign celebrates the resilient nature of WSU, whether it’s student athletes competing on the field, sports fans cheering them on, or the drive for excellence that shapes research and academic innovation throughout the university.

“What we’re trying to emphasize is, it’s okay to define what that means to you,” said WSU Athletic Director Anne McCoy. “Whether you’re faculty, staff, students, community, alums. ‘Made of Crimson’ is something for everybody.”

With the university’s intercollegiate athletics undergoing many changes, from a new football coach to a rebuilding of the Pac-12 Conference, the campaign is seen as a way of engaging broad audiences to show that Cougars never back down from a challenge. The timing of the rollout is designed to boost ticket sales, community support, and momentum.

Whether you’re faculty, staff, students, community, alums. ‘Made of Crimson’ is something for everybody.

Anne McCoy, athletic director
Washington State University

“While the landscape of college athletics is changing, us as a university, us as an athletic department, us as a football program, has not,” says Miranda Fernandez, associate athletic director of marketing and fan experience.

The campaign features a photo of College GameDay in 2018. At that time, the football team was nationally ranked and about to go head-to-head with (and defeat) the University of Oregon. The photo is there to remind people “that high that everyone was feeling — that passion, that pride, that adrenaline — can still be had this year, next year, and years going forward,” says Fernandez.

Fernandez has been inspired by how many fans have participated in the campaign. And she says that will carry over to the field: “The coaches feed off that energy. The players feed off that energy.”