Mike Leach Gone

[trents]

Just learned this yesterday. It really caught me by surprise! MSU must have offered him bigger bucks. I'll miss him for his sheer entertainment value. But he'll find out pretty quick that winning with the Air Raid offense ain't going to happen as often in the SEC.

Washington's two biggest programs lost their coaches this year.

[obiken]

Just learned this yesterday. It really caught me by surprise! MSU must have offered him bigger bucks. I'll miss him for his sheer entertainment value. But he'll find out pretty quick that winning with the Air Raid offense ain't going to happen as often in the SEC.

Washington's two biggest programs lost their coaches this year.

Trents this is old news. IMHO he will do better in the SEC than people think because he will be getting some 4 star athletes, look what he did with 2s and 3s.

[RiverDog]

Just learned this yesterday. It really caught me by surprise! MSU must have offered him bigger bucks. I'll miss him for his sheer entertainment value. But he'll find out pretty quick that winning with the Air Raid offense ain't going to happen as often in the SEC.

Washington's two biggest programs lost their coaches this year.

Trents this is old news. IMHO he will do better in the SEC than people think because he will be getting some 4 star athletes, look what he did with 2s and 3s.

Yea, trents, Leach took the MSU job a month ago. When I saw your thread title, I thought that MSU had fired him like Alabama had fired Mike Price. Although he won at WSU more than most HC's, I didn't like his behavior and was glad to see him go. The guy was a first class jerk.

I seriously doubt that he wins more than 50% of his conference games. Leach is a one dimensional coach that will be going up against what is unquestionably the best conference in the state with 4-5 programs that are better than the best Pac 12 schools.

[trents]

Yes, I realize it's old news but it was new news for me. That one slipped past me somehow.

[RiverDog]

Yes, I realize it's old news but it was new news for me. That one slipped past me somehow.

No sweat, man. It's a good topic.

I got into a serious debate with two of my brothers-in-law, both a little more of a Coug fan than I am, over Mike Leach. IMO he's a great coach and a very poor counselor/educator similar to Bobby Knight, who just happened to be the men's BB coach at Texas Tech when Leach was HC of the football team.

[trents]

I guess it would be fair to say Leach is, well, eccentric. Don't think I have ever seen him smile but some of the lines he comes up with make everybody else laugh.

His niche has always been elevating a state's more obscure football programs to competitive respectability, due mostly to the implementation of an ingenious offensive strategy that doesn't depend on having a team full of 4 and 5 star athletes. We'll see if he can repeat that at Starkville in the SEC context.

[RiverDog]

I guess it would be fair to say Leach is, well, eccentric. Don't think I have ever seen him smile but some of the lines he comes up with make everybody else laugh.

His niche has always been elevating a state's more obscure football programs to competitive respectability, due mostly to the implementation of an ingenious offensive strategy that doesn't depend on having a team full of 4 and 5 star athletes. We'll see if he can repeat that at Starkville in the SEC context.

The problem I had with Leach was his practice of publicly humiliating his players. In his first season at WSU, he made his entire offensive line get up in the post game presser and apologize for their performance. This season, after a shellacking by Pac 12 South division champ Utah, he called his team "fat, dumb, lazy, and entitled". Although I still wouldn't approve of a coach directing that kind of marine corps drill sergeant rant behind closed doors, it's even worse that he does it in public. It makes you wonder how he treats them in private.

If you ever get a chance, watch the ESPN documentary "The Last Days of Knight."

[jshawaii22]

Trents this is old news. IMHO he will do better in the SEC than people think because he will be getting some 4 star athletes, look what he did with 2s and 3s.

Obi,
Yes, maybe he will sign '4 star' players or even walk in with a few already on the team, but the quality of the players overall in the SEC is so much better, and the competition in the SEC is so far ahead of the Pac12 at this point, that 4's are barely 'average' in the SEC. As their coach, I give him 4 years before he gives up the ghost of beating 'Bama, LSU, Georgia and probably 1/2 the other teams and moves on or gets fired. IMHO he'll have about the same record as he did at WSU.

[trents]

Yes, you're right, RD. Leach did publicly embarrass his players on occasion and I don't think that was appropriate. Then there was that incident with Craig James' kid years ago. Hopefully, Leach is learning and growing from these mistakes. We all make mistakes. The important part is learning from them.

[RiverDog]

Yes, you're right, RD. Leach did publicly embarrass his players on occasion and I don't think that was appropriate. Then there was that incident with Craig James' kid years ago. Hopefully, Leach is learning and growing from these mistakes. We all make mistakes. The important part is learning from them.

Leach is 58 years old. I doubt that he's going to do any growing from those mistakes.

I've heard varying opinions of the Craig James' kid incident while he was at Texas Tech. A friend of mine that played D1 football says that the equipment rooms that Leach supposedly confined James to are huge, not your typical storage shed. But now that I've had the benefit of seeing his behavior at WSU, I tend to come down in James' side.

[trents]

I don't believe age is the determining factor in learning from mistakes. Admitting to yourself you made them is.

[RiverDog]

I don't believe age is the determining factor in learning from mistakes. Admitting to yourself you made them is.

I beg to differ. I think there is a direct relationship between a person's age and their ability to learn from mistakes. There certainly was with me.

In Leach's case, he's obviously behaved like this for most of his coaching career, so the likelihood that he'll suddenly change his ways is pretty remote. It will be interesting to see how long it takes him at MSU before he loses it.

[obiken]

I beg to differ. I think there is a direct relationship between a person's age and their ability to learn from mistakes. There certainly was with me.

In Leach's case, he's obviously behaved like this for most of his coaching career, so the likelihood that he'll suddenly change his ways is pretty remote. It will be interesting to see how long it takes him at MSU before he loses it.

You could be right on this one River, the scrutiny in the SEC is way worse. You have the Paul Finebaum show every day. Moreover, the Cougs are kinda the Hicks on the Hill, and his whole motif fit there. I just think the expectations there are less. You HAVE to beat Ole Miss, then you have to have a wining season every 3 years. I just think if he can maintain an even strain, and they get used to his personality, the recruiting there is better than at WSU even when its bad, it will be a race against time.