Even though former Washington State defensive line coach Joe Salave’a is now on the Oregon staff, the Cougars will not stop recruiting the islands. Salave’a, a native Samoan, is credited with opening a pipeline for WSU between American Samoa and Pullman, and he would make about three recruiting trips a year to Samoa.
“We’re gonna continue to recruit Hawaii and American Samoa,” WSU Football Chief of Staff Dave Emerick said this week. “It’s about relationships and people being comfortable with you and your school. Obviously Joe was a big name and he had contacts there, but at the same time, we still have a bunch of kids on our team that those kids (in Samoa) know.