[4] (The Inland Northwest was a hotbed of the sport as Idaho and Gonzaga also had top programs and won national titles.

[20] Alumnus Paul Wulff, WSU's 31st head coach, was fired in late November 2011, after compiling a 9–40 (.184) record in four seasons.

The 1916–17 team had a 25–1 record,[21] and was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.

Head coach Todd Shulenberger's 82 wins through the 2021 season is second-most among coaches of all sports in Cougars history, and the school's players or recruiting commitments produced eight National Women's Soccer League draft picks since 2015, including three consecutive first-round picks in Morgan Weaver (2020), Trinity Rodman (2021), and Elyse Bennett (2022).

One of the most important athletic contests for both schools is the Apple Cup:[26][27] the annual game between the Cougars and the University of Washington Huskies and is traditionally held on the third Saturday of November.

WSU's closest geographic rival is the University of Idaho, another land-grant school only eight miles (13 km) east in Moscow.

The Battle of the Palouse, the annual football game, was revived in 1998 for a 10-year run, and is usually held at Martin Stadium in Pullman.

[30] Individuals who have served as athletic director for the Cougars, according to WSU Sports Information, include: The first mascot was a terrier named "Squirt" as someone brought a pet dog to campus.

[66] Three football coaches came from the famous Carlisle Indian College in Pennsylvania: Frank Shivley, William "Lone Star" Dietz and Gus Welch.

Following the first football game between WSC and California in 1919,[67][68] an Oakland cartoonist portrayed the Washington State team as fierce Northwest cougars chasing the defeated Golden Bears.

A few days later, on October 28, WSC students officially designated "Cougars" as their team mascot, and then shut out Palouse neighbor Idaho 37–0.

[69][70][71] During halftime of the 1927 Homecoming tie against Idaho, Governor Roland Hartley presented a cougar cub to the WSC students.

[77] Butch VI, the last live mascot on campus, was presented by Governor Albert Rosellini in 1964 from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.

The Cougar logo was developed in July 1936 by art student Randall Johnson (1915–2007), a graduate of Pullman High, while working as a summer sign painter on campus.

[84][85] After a few nights, Johnson came up with a design using the letters WSC to form a cougar head, and Rounds promptly took it to the administration for official approval.

Her vision was to bring the deep Cougar Pride of the student body together to create a homecourt advantage in Beasley Coliseum.

The idea began on a WSU athletics message board in 2003 and since then the flag, nicknamed "Ol' Crimson", has been shipped weekly to Cougar alumni and supporters who live near upcoming GameDay broadcast locations.

The cannon was first brought to WSU in 1993 and was fired from a balcony atop the Compton Union Building (CUB) overlooking Martin Stadium until 2006.

The Pack-75 Howitzer is of WWII vintage where it saw combat service with units of the Washington Army National Guard in both the Philippines and Guadalcanal.