oh shiiii.... I see what you're doing.
Guys, its ok. CP is following his formula from the Beaver game, which means we should see Urban Meyer up here by January. Or at least CML staying.
Anyone else know about
- Thread starter kougkurt
- Start date
Guys, its ok. CP is following his formula from the Beaver game, which means we should see Urban Meyer up here by January. Or at least CML staying.
I can see Leach leaving for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I don't see him enamoured with the SEC unless they want to throw 6-7 million at him.
As some have said, the list of replacement coaches for Leach is bad and would likely see us return to being a doormat within 5 years. It would be hard to match Leach & co as recruiters and we aren't going to match them at squeezing the most out of the talent they recruit.
As some have said, the list of replacement coaches for Leach is bad and would likely see us return to being a doormat within 5 years. It would be hard to match Leach & co as recruiters and we aren't going to match them at squeezing the most out of the talent they recruit.
If that's your list for coordinators, OK. Not for HC. Harrell doesn't have the experience. Dykes couldn't cut it at Cal. Grinch might be HC someday, but right now I still think he was overrated as DC and changing from Air Raid to a defense-oriented team would be a disaster. Rich Rod has flamed out twice since his last successful season, and he's a dick. Harsin looked better a few years ago, now he just seems like the guy who's trying not to screw up what was handed to him.
I always have liked Harrell but Harsin's the only person on that list that's reasonable. Beau Baldwin would come up but for whatever reason things haven't translated from EWU to Cal.
Whoever the would be coach would be I would want an offense guy again.
The plane that went from Spokane to Ole Miss went this morning at 9:20. It got to Spokane yesterday, on a route from Wichita. The same plane was also in Spokane last week - when it went from Springfield, MO to Spokane to Wichita. And, it was there twice the week before that, coming from San Jose and from College Station. On today's flight, 2 hours after it landed at Ole Miss, the plane headed for Lubbock...which is where it is right now.
Oh, and I'm sure this has nothing to do with that plane being at Ole Miss, but the Rebels' women's hoops team plays at Texas Tech tomorrow night.
My point is that, yes, it's possible Leach got on it to go talk to Ole Miss. But more likely, it's a plane that flies around a lot - including periodic trips to Spokane - and is also used by Ole Miss.
One more thought - the plane used to ferry a basketball team, coaching staff, trainers, etc., is probably not the same plan an AD and a handful of boosters are going to use to try and lure a new coach. The planes this airline has set up for more...comfortable...trips seem to spend a lot of their time traveling between Amarillo-Laughlin-Portland-Spokane, and doing an east coast swing between Baltimore and Florida.
Anyway...I don't think the supposed "Ole Miss charter" is worth worrying about...if for no other reason than even if it is true, there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it.
Frankly, I'm less concerned about Leach leaving for the fishbowl that almost any SEC program is, and there's no way you're going to convince me that Arkansas and Ole Miss won't have a vocal group of entitled donors who think their coach should answer their calls 24/7.
I'm more concerned that Leach will one day decide he doesn't need the big money, but still likes the challenge, and takes the job at South Florida...which isn't far from his summer home, and is also vacant right now. If I'm their AD, I'm making damn sure that Leach knows the door is open.
My list is Mike Leach. When he says he's not interested, then I'll make another one.
my list -
Dennis Simmons -OC
Ray Manning DC
Me - HC
I’ll do it for 500k per year. I’ll sit back and let those guys recruit their asses off. Less stress and more money than my current gig.
Do y
Can I join the staff, I could run the leach beach and put up MAGA yard signs around Pullman.
He would accept the Arkansas or Ole Miss position if offered. He's probably anywhere from choice #3 to choice #5 for both of those schools, but they very well may get down that far.
This is all pure speculation on my part, but I think both schools likely hire somebody else. Kiffin to Arkansas and somebody less "risky" to Ole Miss. Who knows?
Leach will then say that they asked him to meet, and he did (because "why not?"), and nothing transpired because he's happy at Washington State.
If Leach stays we better not let him leverage his annual dance with other teams into us giving him another million or two to keep him.
if he leaves I would like to see Steve Spurrier Jr get the job. He is a quality person that knows football (including the air raid) and he would give us an advantage with recruiting due to the name recognition. His SEC ties could net a good DC.
if he leaves I would like to see Steve Spurrier Jr get the job. He is a quality person that knows football (including the air raid) and he would give us an advantage with recruiting due to the name recognition. His SEC ties could net a good DC.
I think that’s a strong possibility as well. As it stands today, for as much attention as Leach’s name gets on these candidate lists, we’re the only program to hire him since Tech.
He’s a great coach, but there’s clearly a considerable amount of trepidation among ADs and University power brokers where Leach is concerned.
Texas Tech fired him 10 years ago this month. He spent 2 years out of coaching followed by the last 8 seasons at WSU.
Great coach, winning history, well known. But he has 3 things working against him:
1.) Reputation for being a loose cannon (we all know what that means, accusations, risks to employer, “sanctimonious trolls,” etc);
2.) Air Raid offense. I think a lot of people still see this style of play as a gimmick that can’t win championships and can’t win in certain conferences.
3.) Age. If he leaves, he’ll be starting year 2 of a rebuild at age 60, closing in on 61.
Yes. Those are clearly legitimate considerations. Another thing I was thinking about today was his record at WSU.
It’s easy for his critics to come up with things to pick at. He’s had the benefit of competing in a P12 conference that’s been largely down since he arrived. USC has been historically bad. Oregon has been sputtering since Chip left. Stanford was strong when Leach got hired, and has steadily declined. UCLA has been terrible. ASU and Arizona, meh. Colorado and OSU horrible. Cal meh. UW and Utah have been the only strong programs, and we haven’t been able to touch UW.
Over the last 5 years, with a few exceptions, we’ve struggled against just about every good (tough) team we’ve faced. We’ve lost or almost lost our bowl games. We’ve lost apple Cups badly. The best wins we’ve had were against USC with Darnold by 3, Utah last season on a miracle TD pass, and Iowa State last season by 2.
This is not the way I feel, but you can certainly make the case that most of Leach’s wins at WSU have come against middle of the P12 opponents; a conference that’s been the worst P5 conference in the Nation.
Last edited:
IMO.... Chun’s phone may be ringing off the hook. There are a lot of guys out there with agents trying to find them jobs. 5 straight bowl games, offensive talent on the roster, looks a lot better than some other jobs.
If WSU opens there wont be a shortage of interested coaches. There are things that WSU doesn't have. There are a lot of things it does.
Don't discount what $4,000,000 will do. There are a ton of guys that will kill for that check.
If WSU opens there wont be a shortage of interested coaches. There are things that WSU doesn't have. There are a lot of things it does.
Don't discount what $4,000,000 will do. There are a ton of guys that will kill for that check.
Not paying any new guy more than Lake.
Nobody with a platform on WSU football & still around from 2007 learned a damn thing from the Wulff hiring process whatsoever.
Sorensen just last week was saying WSU being cheap kept Wulff from getting a MWC assistant on board. WTF?
Professional search, following the same process Chun followed with mens hoops. I'd love to see Harrell come back but he's probably too inexperienced to handle a top job yet. Otherwise I'm open to a defense guy if it's somebody with a track record of getting good results from what he's got, and whatever money we might save on someone with a shorter resume' needs to be spent on getting assistants that can really recruit.
Harrell might make a good HC one day, but the P5 level isn't where I'd want to be breaking in a new HC. He'd have a lot of new responsibilities and I'd rather he learn from those mistakes somewhere else before we bring him here. Harrell is a good fall back plan but I'd rather find someone more experienced.
Can we do $3,000,000 and throw another $1,000,000 at assistants instead?
Honestly, if this ends up with Leach still at the helm and, rather getting himself more money, he ended up with a shit ton more to keep the good assistants around I'd be very happy.
No one asked but here is my list of candidates I'd be calling if we needed a HC:
Tier A
Bryan Harsin
Rocky Long
Craig Bohl
Josh Heupel
Seth Littrel
Damaged Goods
Todd Graham
Hugh Freeze
Sonny Dykes
Beau Baldwin
First time HC's
Alex Grinch
Graham Harrell
Jim Leavitt
Jim Mastro
Bottom line is I want Leach to stick around because this program is due to nose dive without him.
Tier A
Bryan Harsin
Rocky Long
Craig Bohl
Josh Heupel
Seth Littrel
Damaged Goods
Todd Graham
Hugh Freeze
Sonny Dykes
Beau Baldwin
First time HC's
Alex Grinch
Graham Harrell
Jim Leavitt
Jim Mastro
Bottom line is I want Leach to stick around because this program is due to nose dive without him.
I'm quite happy they are breaking in a new HC in Montlake. It won't be boring.
I worry about that too, but I think it’s the lingering effects of P.T.W.D. Post Traumatic Wulff Disorder. The irrational fear of making another catastrophic hire.
Somehow, since I’ve been following WSU, we’ve made some good hires too. Erickson, Price, Doba (was a great coach despite the unfortunate events as a head coach), and Leach.
We’ve had 5 top-ten finishes since 1997, 1 of them with Leach. The show must go on.
Good list etown. I'd really take a run at Harsin. He seems to keep Boise State in the top 25 by taking players who I don't think are any better or as good as what WSU recruits, and coaching them up. He has some good assistants he could bring with him. I also like Josh Heupel, he has connections to Oklahoma when Leach was there. Bohl has done decent at a tough place to build a program at Wyoming but is starting to get older (61) and has been largely a defense-first type coach. Rocky Long is way too old...he's been on Medicare for 5 years now! Littrell has been roughly .500 at North Texas but does have Pac-12 experience as an assistant and is young.
I don't like the damaged goods guys. One note on the first time HC list....Leavitt was a head coach for 12 years at South Florida, so he's not new to head coaching.
Glad Cougar
It may sound crazy but what about Lane Kiffin as a candidate? I know he has his baggage, but his teams play an exciting brand of offense, he can recruit and has had a couple of really good years at FAU.He’s also desperate for another P5 job so he likely wouldn’t break the bank which would allow us to hire a stud DC. Plus Chun hired him at FAU so there is some familiarity.
I don't think we'll end up with a Wulff level bad coach. Those are hard to come by. What I don't doubt is the difficulty of the job. Price and Leach have been phenomenal long term fits in Pullman. Price brought a ton of talent here but struggled with consistency. This would be harder to replicate as high schools do a much better job of getting kids college eligible today than 20 years ago. Leach competes by recruiting kids who can run his system. His last three QB's got little to no recruiting interest. Our post Leach future will probably look a lot like Texas Tech's. Not horrible, but clearly not to the consistent winner it was under Leach.
How did it work for Oregon when they hired Helfrich? Or uw when they hired Lambright and Gilbertson?
Hiring a coordinator with no head coach experience is higher risk, but potentially higher reward, IMO.
No thanks. For $4,000,000 I think you hire someone with head coaching experience.
Joe can learn on someone else’s dime.
