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PULLMAN, Wash. — Forgive Dave Heeke if he doesn’t know what state he’s in or what sport he’s watching.

Heeke arrived at Martin Stadium a couple of hours before Saturday’s kickoff. He woke up Saturday morning in Chicago, where he had flown the previous night from Knoxville, Tennessee … via Charlotte, North Carolina. On Sunday morning, he’ll be headed from ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to Maui.

Such is the life of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s athletic director. An NCAA Tournament women’s soccer game one night, a football game the next, a basketball tournament after that.

“It’s been a cool journey,� a weary but enthused Heeke said.

He didn’t enjoy what unfolded Saturday night. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ got blown out by Washington State.

Before the game, Heeke spoke to the Star about a variety of topics. Here’s a portion of that conversation, which has been lightly edited for context and clarity:

This is ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s ninth game this season starting at 7 p.m. or later, the most in the conference. Is that fair? Does that put the Wildcats at a competitive disadvantage?

A: “I don’t know if I’d term anything as fair or unfair. Unfortunately, it’s the luck of the draw. We value the relationships (with the Pac-12’s TV partners). We’ve come up on the wrong end of it, playing the later games. It makes for challenging recovery time, there’s no question about that. There are probably weeks where you look at it and wish we could have played an earlier game to get back and recover if we were on the road. Or even at home sometimes. Those are late nights. The recovery time the next day is kinda tough.

“But it’s not an excuse. The positive side is, we’ve been on ESPN a number of times. That’s tremendous national exposure. So there’s a lot of people that have been watching our games and hearing about the new ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ program.â€�

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ was eliminated from the Pac-12 South race earlier in the day. The Wildcats are still in the hunt for a bowl game. How do you assess Year 1 of the Kevin Sumlin regime?

A: “Since we’re still in the midst of the season … I haven’t really decided to step back and look at everything and analyze it. But I’ve been very happy with the way the program’s transitioned. In transitions, you always have challenges with new coaches, new styles, players getting used to it, expectations. All of those things are challenges. I think our team has handled it very well.�

Before the season, there was a lot of discussion about Khalil Tate being a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. Here we are at the end of the season, and it’s Washington State’s Gardner Minshew who’s the talk of the league. What do you make of Khalil’s season?

A: “It’s been a challenge with the (ankle) injury, with the high expectations. Our team wanted it to go real well for Khalil also. Those are big, difficult pieces that get in your way. It also shows that preseason hype, preseason prognostication is fun, but here we are tonight with someone who wasn’t even on the list and has played his way into it. That’s what I’ve always said: These things take care of themselves. You play your way in. If you’re playing well and things are going well, you’ll shine at the end.

“It’s unfortunate, because Khalil’s an unbelievable talent. It just didn’t click because of the injury, the rhythm, getting everything in the right direction. No one’s fault. Just bad luck.�

You have one more game in the refurbished ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Stadium. The feedback has been positive on the upgrades. What’s the latest on the west side of the stadium?

A: “That’s our next step. We’re in the midst of analyzing (it). We’ve done a number of studies that have produced a number of different options. We need to sit down and really decide what it is that we want to do, what we can manage from a financial standpoint. But we will do something.

“That’s where we are now: Getting down to a plan. Then we can embark on that project. That’s not going to happen this summer. We’re going to have to see how that rolls out. Then we’ll continue to raise money.

“We’ll look at some cosmetic enhancements for stadium this summer, but we don’t anticipate any substantial construction happening. That would be at least another year off before we break ground on something like that, at best.�

Anyone who visits the stadium or drives by can see the progress of the Indoor Sports Center. When’s the grand opening?

A: “We don’t have the date selected. We’re into mid-to-late January. Somewhere in that zone, it’ll be done. We look forward to that. It starts to move really quickly now that the steel structure’s up. I’d say by the end of January we’ll be pretty functional.�

You got an $8 million contribution from the Davis family. That left some people confused; they thought the building was already paid for. Can you explain how that donation helps with financing?

A: “Although we had a financing plan for all the projects that we’ve put together, we (also) had a plan to go out and raise money through private giving and opportunities for people to invest in our program. We have to continue that. That was a tremendous gift by the Davises – a very substantial naming opportunity on what will be one of our most dynamic buildings in our footprint. Those dollars are reinvested in the facilities that we’re currently constructing, and going forward we’ll use those dollars to help our financing plan for all the facilities.�

How are ticket sales going for the ASU game? Do you expect a sellout?

A: “It’s been very brisk the last couple weeks. Our hope is that we can fill the stadium up. That’s what our goal is. I think there will be a lot on the line regardless of the outcomes of today.�