“The body language was awesome. It was like watching a Muttley cartoon,” Leach said, referring to the villainous 1960s dog who was the sidekick to Dick Dastardly. “They decided to give it the Muttley snicker and then went up the tunnel.”
Yar!
I don’t know if you caught this among the rest of last weekend’s craziness, but Washington State managed to beat Utah with this unusual stat line: 13 rushing attempts, zero rushing yards.
I’ll let Dean Wormer do the math for you.
As you might expect, Leach was unconcerned about that, to the point of dismissal, using it to make a point he’s offered before.
“There’s nothing balanced about 50% run-50% pass, ’cause that’s 50% stupid. What is balance is when you have five skill positions and all five of them are contributing to the effort in somewhat equal fashion — that’s balance. This notion that if you hand one guy 50% of the time and then you throw it to a combination of two guys the other 50% that you’re really balanced. You probably pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that. People have been doing that for decades. Well, then you’re delusional.”
That sound you hear is the 2010 Mike Bobo throwing his crayon box.
Filed under Mike Leach. Yar!, Strategery And Mechanics
Really, I hardly know where to go with this.
I certainly don’t have a dog in this hunt, but it seems like somebody needs to consider following the First Rule of Holes.
Filed under Media Punditry/Foibles, Mike Leach. Yar!
When it comes to preparing players for the next level, Mike Leach couldn’t be more different than Nick Saban (or Kirby Smart, for that matter) in his sales pitch to recruits.
JM: As a collegiate coaching staff, how do you balance winning games with developing players for the next level?
ML: I pay no attention whatsoever to developing them for the next level. That’s somebody else’s job. Why would I care? We coach them the best that we can. We worry about putting them in the best positions they can be put in here at our school to accomplish the things that we need to accomplish. I do think it goes hand in hand though. I think if they’re in a good place and they get the proper coaching, then the better their chances are at the next level. We’re not gonna sit here and monkey around and worry about the next level. There’s no point in me sitting around trying to guess what they want at the next level. That would be a bunch of foolishness.
A lot of that can be chalked up to perspective, of course. Unlike Leach, Saban has coached in the NFL, and thus likely has a better feel for what the pros look for. That gives him a different message to sell recruits.
And that’s a second difference. Leach, up in Wazzou, doesn’t have the rich vein of talent that Saban has to tap into in assembling a recruiting class. Rather than accumulating gobs of talent with which to bludgeon opponents, Leach has to go out and find kids who best fit his system, however many stars they may have.
Ironically, there is one sales pitch Leach does have at his disposal, and it may indeed be another reason why he can be so dismissive of being a production factory for the NFL.
JM: I’m curious to get your overall thoughts on the NFL’s shift towards incorporating more spread principles on offense.
ML: It seems like they’re more conscious of how it could benefit their offense nowadays. I’ve been doing it since the beginning. Everywhere I’ve been, we’ve always spread it out. I guess we’re credited by a lot of people for kind of starting that. It’s reached the NFL level now. It’s just a more efficient way of playing football. It’s about attacking all the space available to you. I think it’s a very efficient approach.
No, he doesn’t have any rings to show for it, but there’s little doubt that the Air Raid has been one of the most influential offensive schemes to come down the turnpike in the last two decades. Maybe that’s what gives Leach the confidence to say, “I think if they’re in a good place and they get the proper coaching, then the better their chances are at the next level.”
Filed under Mike Leach. Yar!, Strategery And Mechanics
The most impressive thing about this…
… is that nobody in the audience starts giggling.
Filed under Mike Leach. Yar!
We are approaching a point where Tennessee’s search is threatening to become more entertaining than the 2017 season.
Mike Leach? Seriously, how do you get from Greg Schiano to Mike Leach in a matter of days? I mean, what’s the common thread between Schiano, Doeren and Leach besides “thanks for taking my call”?
While UT hiring the Pirate would be pure manna from heaven from a blogger’s perspective, we all know this ain’t gonna happen, right? Does this sound like a description of the kind of person school administrators want to hire?
The potential hiring of Leach, a notable eccentric and defiant non-conformist…
Leach also led Texas Tech to 10 consecutive bowl seasons as the head coach there from 2000-2009, but left under controversial circumstances that still linger. Leach was fired from Texas Tech while the university investigated Leach’s handling of a player with a concussion.
The player’s accusations ended up being refuted by witnesses, but there’s still lingering bitterness and questions over money Leach said he’s owed.
Leach told USA TODAY Sports in June: “It’ll never go away until this thing is settled. And it should be settled, because why should the future generation bear the black eye and the cloud that their university cheated their most successful coach in history?”
Besides, here’s the real tell.
The Vols and Leach have not negotiated, and a deal between the two is not imminent, a source told ESPN.
When Leach surfaced as a potential candidate elsewhere last week, WSU president Kirk Schulz met with athletic department officials and decided that if Leach were to leave, they would make defensive coordinator Alex Grinch the primary target to replace him, sources told ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura.
At that time, WSU was already engaged in talks with Leach’s representative on a raise and contract extension. An offer was presented to Leach’s representative this week, and he was underwhelmed by the offer, sources told Bonagura.
Leach had a good relationship with former WSU athletic director Bill Moos, and after Moos left to take the same job at Nebraska on Oct. 15, Leach made a recommendation to Schulz on a possible successor. The job has yet to be filled, and Leach has grown frustrated by the lack of communication about the search process, a source told Bonagura.
If you’re an unhappy coach, you’d be an idiot not to use the Tennessee opening as leverage. Whatever else you might say about Leach, he’s not an idiot.
Here’s hoping Currie’s got at least another dozen names on his list. I’ll need something to get through the dead time in January after the national title game.
Mike Leach on college mascots is every bit the chuckle you’d expect it to be.
Filed under Mike Leach. Yar!
