Are you starting to understand why TT got tired of Leach?
- Thread starter Cougsocal
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Nope, they were stupid. We could easily another Wulff, and are unlikely to sign a guy at Leach's level. Sometime it is actually good to read before you post ... doh!!!
Perspective.
WSU has had 2 winning seasons in the last 10 plus years. Both in the last two years with a chance to get a second 9 win year.
Still a good season despite the disappointing loss.
WSU has had 2 winning seasons in the last 10 plus years. Both in the last two years with a chance to get a second 9 win year.
Still a good season despite the disappointing loss.
People got tired of Price. It lead to Sterk believing that he could play hard ball with him and his outrageous request that his assistants get two year contracts. It started the demise of the program. We are frustrated with Leach, and will be in the future, because his weakness, recruiting, will be a continuing problem. But winning in Pullman ain't easy, and hiring a guy who can coach like Leach and recruit like Price, is a pipe dream.
Any body critising Leach is foolish. Second o
In the north.
In the north.
Leach's weaknesses are more than just recruiting. I really watched this game, to see if I was right about suggesting that he had a definite ceiling. I was. Twice, while the game was still in reach, he called ALL running plays, in effect taking the ball completely out of Falk's and Mark's hands and placing it in the weakest weapon set. Two first and goals. Zero points. About as dumb as it gets. Now a caveat: I suppose it is "possible" that Falk audibled out of any pass plays that Leach called, and if that happened, then it is on Falk. But I just don't see a QB going COMPLETELY away from throwing the ball! So, outside that remote possibility, those two series told me all I need to know about Leach. He is a good coach. He is not a great coach. I agree that the cougar players (outside of the Gabe Marks WR clinic that he put on) were hopelessly outmatched. WHat does it say when a mediocre player like Pelleur (and I am being kind) has the most tackles?? He spent the day watching husky runners' backsides, picking up his jock, and generally giving a Herman Munster impression. And the rest of the defense was the Little Sisters of the Poor's Finishing School for girls. They looked gawdawful. So I grant that he really needs to get better athletes in there. But that doesn't account for his brain dead play calls when they got close.
Oh, yeah, yeah, I get the obvious "but the field shrinks" in the red zone whine. But that doesn't mean you just suddenly pretend that you're the 1967 Buckeyes. They went completely away from their strength, and I guess they thought their press clippings were real about their "running game" (Yes, we ARE a running team! malarkey).
Finally, I counted THREE separate instances in which WRs and RBs actually SHRUNK from contact as they saw a tackler coming. They deserve nothing but ridicule for that. It costs the cougs THREE separate first downs. That was like watching your high school boy get beaten up by a junior high girl. Just embarrassing.
Recruiting a weakness? I guess we don't look at the same sites. Leach may not get 5 chippers, but he is very consistent across the board. How did FUCLA do with all those 5 stars this year?
Recruiting is a weakness? Outland Trophy finalist, best OL in last 10 years, maybe 15 years, have you seen the offensive skill positions???
You don't know what you're talking about.
I think Leach is the strength of the program. He understands the challenge of recruiting. Our results will improve when we recruit better defensively. I do think Leach is a stand-up guy, and will prioritize recruiting D players. Another way said Leach is never happy where we are. He knows what he has to do: 1. Keep Falk. 2. Recruit fast D players. 3. Improve our mentality across the board. Do your job.
We got whipped by a team that will very possibly be in the College Football Playoff. Yeah, there were a couple sketchy calls, but honestly, if Falk doesn't play arguably the worst game of his career, it might have been 35-31 early in the fourth quarter. Leach is going to be fine. And yes, he's much better than Wulff.
Big time players play like it in big time games. Falk showed he isn't ready to be that player. Not a knock on him...just reality.
Which Pac-12 teams, when healthy, do we have better talent than?? I'll start Biggs -- OSU ... please continue Mr. "knows what he is talking about." .... Sadly, our "Outland" hyped O-line couldn't get us a yard how many times against the UW? Who proved to be faster -- the 6" #235 Ryan Nall or our speedy secondary in a sprint? We gave up 600 yards to EWU with our "highend talent," Colorado too. If we are "gifted" - how does that happen? Who are our big, fast, and physical receivers? Who are our USC type DBs, LBs and DLs. Our best receiver admits to tipping the scale at 160 pounds for christ sake (smaller than Mighty Mouse Jason David). Come on Mr. Bagpipes, quit calling people names and step to the plate . Where is all our elite recruiting talent? Luani, Mataafa, Falk, Marks ... please continue, because I'm starting to draw a blank. ..
Finally, just because Paul Wulff's lines were dreadful and this is the best OL Leach has produced doesn't mean they are good, just the best of bad decade. They had the chance to prove the were legit today. What happened? They were manhandled in the trenches. A good OL blocked for Jerome Harrison, sadly, I haven't seen a good one since.
The word is "proofread," You should try it too -- man mountain of bluster, but mole hill of substance.
Flat, I would submit that he got RFed by all of the drops. I'd like to think that the fuskies were as good as billed. That being said, it was like we didn't show up, especially on defense.
The drops were definitely an issue. Falk definitely showed that he could use another season of experience against top flight opponents. I hope he's back, regardless of the rough game.
My understanding is Falk checks into run plays based on box counts, left and right. But I'm only going by what they say on TV. Considering the color guy last week seem to be able to predict our run plays consistently, I tend to believe it.
Yes there were bone head calls, but 8 wins with this team??? To me it is an example that Mike Leach is a very good coach. No way in hell Mike Price wins 4 game with this group. Price only won when he had upper division talent on his sideline. Let's not forget that Melvin "Champ" Simmons, became a start OLB on USC's last national Championship team, and wasn't even our best LB, Derting and Darling were clearly better.
Are talent level on defense is so below that now, it is scary.
We run the air raid spread, we are a finesse team. Cracraft was our biggest and most physical receiver. Our receivers would get killed if they took hits head on. We don't have Devard Darling, Chris Jackson, McElrath et al on our sidelines or any receiver who can deliver as much or more than they take.
why don't you just say it, you hate leach, your are spongebob"s alter ego
SC is 7-2 in conference. Same as WSU. Maybe you should pick another school to reference the great talent discrepancy? Pick one that has a better record then WSU in conference play.
If you were bright, which you're not but we'll push ahead anyways, you would know that just piling up a bunch of talent doesn't win you games. You still have to coach them. So your question about which PAC 12 schools does WSU have more talent then?? Who cares? WSU has 7 league wins. More talent, less talent, irrelevant. WSU won.
If you're blasting Leach because he doesn't stockpile 4 and 5 star kids, I suggest you just find another school to cheer for. WSU has never and likely will never win the recruiting battles you want. WSU is where 3 star kids go to be coached up into All League receivers. Like Gabe Marks. Who isn't big, fast or physical but somehow has the words "All Pac 12 1st Team" after his name.
That's it, blast the Outland Trophy finalist. Show us all how smart you are!!
There is no elite recruiting at WSU. It's where tough guys go to play football. It's for 2 and 3 star kids. Always has been, most likely always will be.
Again, you should go cheer for another team. You've clearly not learned anything about WSU's past, present or future and lack any kind of perspective about who goes to WSU to play football.
This SoCal is a HUGE loser.
He hates Leach. Every post of his backes this up. My goodness Leave.
You Are What's Wrong & Has been With WSU Football for 100 Years.
What A JOKE of a "Coug"
He hates Leach. Every post of his backes this up. My goodness Leave.
You Are What's Wrong & Has been With WSU Football for 100 Years.
What A JOKE of a "Coug"
Eh, I didn't mind this at all. At some point you've got to exert your will, and the boys just didn't get it done. We were about a foot away from that being a game in the 4th quarter (stopped about 6 inches short twice!). Falk did throw inside the five and he threw a damn pick.
I think Falk is shitty at managing the game and getting The offense into the right plays. Either that or he is ridiculously easy for a defense to figure out what he's calling at the line. Maybe that's a leach problem not sure. Either way, this offense is at its best when we are running it 30+ times a game....we ran it a bit today, it just seemed it was either at the wrong times or UW just knew it was coming.
It is your call but maybe just maybe people should tap the brakes a little about WSU's offensive "problems ". UW only allows on average about 17 pts a game. From the replay that I watched WSU was only inches away from scoring into the 30's on them.
It would have taken a abnormally lucky game to beat UW this year.
It is funny what a blow hard this guy is especially with his thread title.
Personally know some real Tech fans and they would walk bare foot through shattered glass to get Leach back after the last 7 years they have just endured without him.
How does he think the Oregons, UCLA's , ASU's and Arizona's feel about dissing a 8 win Holiday bowl team, when they have more talent and pay their coaches more money and can not even get bowl eligible ?
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This year's Apple Cup was once again a program embarrassment. But for a program that knows only embarrassment, I'm mainly interested in Leach's ability to win 8+ games a year at this point. We all would have liked to win but you have to be really out of touch with Cougar football history not to be happy to be going into December with a chance at a respectable bowl game. So to answer the thread title of "are we starting to understand why TT got tired of Leach", I would say NO. CML now officially gets us into bowl games more often than not, which is strange new territory for the program.
If there was anybody to blame right now it would be SC for hiring Sark when they did. Leach would have owned Sark like he has every coach in the Conference not named Peterson. Washington would have eventually fired Sark , but delaying that decision even a season the program would not be where it is right now with Peterson.
Funny, I thought the problem today was allowing UW to do whatever they wanted in the first 20 minutes of the game. Bubble screens were going for 8 yards a pop. We couldn't set the edge on their running plays. Their WRs were wide open downfield. Our 3 man rush made me laugh out loud a couple of times.
The game was lost because UW mugged our defense in the 1st quarter. We had chances to scratch back into it at the end of the 1st half and in the 3rd quarter, but by then, we needed everything to break our way.
Blame Leach if you want, but this game, last week, and Eastern WA were lost because we can't play defense. We were very fortunate face a lot of teams with offensive problems this season.
The game was lost because UW mugged our defense in the 1st quarter. We had chances to scratch back into it at the end of the 1st half and in the 3rd quarter, but by then, we needed everything to break our way.
Blame Leach if you want, but this game, last week, and Eastern WA were lost because we can't play defense. We were very fortunate face a lot of teams with offensive problems this season.
Frankly, I am pleased with leach's recruiting. Is it USC, UCLA, Stanfordesque? No but considering Pullman's isolation and attending problems, it's not bad at all. He is pulling in three star prospects consistently with an occasional four star. I look at the random two star kid as someone overlooked by others or having a specific set of talents which fit well with his offensive or defensive design, quite unlike the "diamonds in the rough" we were promised previously. No one expects us to pull in top 25 classes. Perhaps a Harbaugh or a Saban or a Meyer could pull in classes like that but there are very few who could. I cannot think of a single coach who would be willing to come to WSU who would do better on the recruiting trail than Leach has.
Leach's postgame comments were that he wished we had thrown the ball instead of just trying to jam it in on a running play. This suggests to me that Falk saw the defensive formation and audiblized to a running play, counting on the O-line to get more of a push than they did. May not have been bad calls, just didn't work.
TT was foolish for firing Leach and I am glad he is our coach. TT has trended down since they got rid of Leach and the Cougs have trended up since the hiring of him. We are going to a bowl game for the 3rd time in 5 years, when was last time that happened ? Also look at the gpa and academic results under Leach. Cougs are doing well in the classroom and that is fantastic. Agree with extending his contract asap !!
In the 7 seasons since Leach and Texas Tech parted ways.
Texas Tech has dropped to 4 out of 7 seasons with a bowl (57% bowl appearance) from 10 out of 10 or 100% bowl appearance.
Texas Tech in those 7 years has reached a peak of 8 wins in a season.
To add additional perspective.
In the 5 years Leach has been here at WSU.
We have reached a bowl game 3 out of 5 seasons (60% bowl appearance) from 1 out of 10 or 10% bowl appearance.
We have in those 5 years reached a peak of 9 wins in a season.
So to sum it all up.
Since Texas Tech fired Leach and we picked him up...WSU has performed better in bowl frequency and peak win.
Post Leach at Texas Tech/Leach Era WSU - WSU is the better program coming from much much lower depths. WSU increased dramatically, and Texas Tech declined dramatically.
I am definitely not tired of Leach. I would love a decade of straight bowl games. We have 2 so far, and for the first time in my life I saw WSU be 8-0 in Pac-12 play. we didn't get the last 2, but this is a much better feeling than I've felt about the program since Price.
Texas Tech has dropped to 4 out of 7 seasons with a bowl (57% bowl appearance) from 10 out of 10 or 100% bowl appearance.
Texas Tech in those 7 years has reached a peak of 8 wins in a season.
To add additional perspective.
In the 5 years Leach has been here at WSU.
We have reached a bowl game 3 out of 5 seasons (60% bowl appearance) from 1 out of 10 or 10% bowl appearance.
We have in those 5 years reached a peak of 9 wins in a season.
So to sum it all up.
Since Texas Tech fired Leach and we picked him up...WSU has performed better in bowl frequency and peak win.
Post Leach at Texas Tech/Leach Era WSU - WSU is the better program coming from much much lower depths. WSU increased dramatically, and Texas Tech declined dramatically.
I am definitely not tired of Leach. I would love a decade of straight bowl games. We have 2 so far, and for the first time in my life I saw WSU be 8-0 in Pac-12 play. we didn't get the last 2, but this is a much better feeling than I've felt about the program since Price.
The same clowns who wet themselves over the idea that 4-8 was oh-so-close to 6-6 are pissing and moaning over the prospects of consecutive 9-4 seasons.
If that's the case that's the definition of delusional.
Don't get me wrong I hate losing to huskies as all cougs do, but they have always had an embarrassment of riches and always brought mediocrity out with it. Finally they have a good coach, and well they are a good team as much as I hate to say it/see it.
We on the other hand are a program that is building towards a great program.
According to the filings by the athletic department
We spend about 16.6 million dollars on football / year.
or about 2.075 million per win (8 wins) during season play.
UW spends about 29.1 million dollars on football / year
or about 2.91 million per win (10 wins) during season play.
So we actually are definitely doing more with less and as long as we keep building we'll be just fine in the future.
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