$1.3 million college football coach reportedly accepts head coaching job

Washington State capped its 2025 season at 6-6, securing bowl eligibility with a 32-8 win over Oregon State to close the regular season and earn a spot in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl against Utah State on December 22.

After going 2-2 to start the year, the Cougars tightened defensively late, allowing just 12.6 points per game over the final eight games and finishing the regular season inside the top 20 nationally in total defense/passing yards allowed.

Unfortunately, Jimmy Rogers, a former defensive coordinator hired as WSU's head coach for the 2025 season, left on December 5 to become Iowa State’s head coach, creating an immediate vacancy in Pullman.

Washington State promoted current defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit to interim head coach for the bowl game while the AD conducted a search.

On Friday, however, that search ended when the program hired Missouri's offensive coordinator Kirby Moore.

BREAKING: Washington State is set to hire Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore as its next head coach, @PeteNakos reports. https://t.co/kOjnbAo0bn pic.twitter.com/M8jViwvItP
— On3 (@On3sports) December 12, 2025

Moore, 35, a former Boise State receiver, rose through stops at Washington (GA), Fresno State (where he became OC in 2022), and Missouri (OC since 2023).

In three seasons in Columbia, Missouri’s offense averaged 418 yards and 31.2 points per game, with a particularly explosive 2023 campaign that established Moore as a sought-after coordinator nationally.

He also helped develop former Tigers quarterback Brady Cook, who posted career highs in 2023 under Moore, throwing for 3,317 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions while completing 66.1% of his passes.

After engineering Missouri’s 2023 offensive surge, Kirby Moore received a contract extension effective Jan. 1, 2024, boosting his salary to $1.2 million with a $30,000 signing bonus.

His pay rises to $1.3 million in 2025, with additional performance incentives included in the deal.

Missouri Tigers football team new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kirby Moore. — Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers football team new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kirby Moore answers questions from reporters before the basketball game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Mizzou Arena. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Moore, a Washington native from Prosser, gives WSU a practical recruiting foothold in a region the program must protect to stay competitive after the Pac-12 realignment.

More importantly, he’s operated multiple spread-to-pro concepts and built a consistent reputation for elevating quarterbacks across both Group-of-5 and Power-5 programs, a skill set every program covets.

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