Babe Hollingbery was the Cougars' head football coach for 17 seasons, posting a record. His 93 wins are the most by any head football coach in Washington State football history. Hollingbery's 1930 team played in the Rose Bowl, a game they lost to Alabama. The Cougars didn't lose a single home game from 1926 to 1935. Among the Cougar greats Hollingbery coached were Mel Hein, Turk Edwards, and Mel Dressel. The Hollingbery Fieldhouse that serves many of Washington State's athletics teams, was named in his honor in 1963. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1979. Like many other college football programs, the Cougars did not field a team in 1943 or 1944, due to World War II. After the war ended, Phil Sarboe was hired away from Lincoln High School in Tacoma to return to his alma mater as the head coach. Sarboe's Cougars posted a record in his five seasons.