PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University Athletic Department will add men's and women's pickleball as a Division-I intercollegiate sport beginning in 2025-26, Washington State Director of Athletic Pat Chun announced, Saturday, April 1.
The Cougars are believed to be the first university in the nation to announce a pickleball program, which is slated for its first season beginning in fall 2025.
Chun also announced the pickleball program's first head coach, introducing Bill Stevens to spearhead Cougar pickleball. Stevens, a former WSU men's tennis player and longtime senior associate director of athletics in Pullman, expressed his excitement to launch the new program.