Wulff returned to his alma mater after the 2007 season when he was named the 31st head football coach at Washington State on December 10. He was the second alumnus to head the Cougar football program, after Phil Sarboe in the late 1940s. After compiling a 9–40 record during four losing seasons at WSU, Wulff was fired on November 29, 2011, and left with the lowest winning percentage () in school history. His teams only won four games in Pacific-10 Conference play, including a winless 0–9 conference mark in 2009—part of an overall record of 1–11, the worst in the school's modern football history.
