If we keep this staff in tact I really think we could grow into a perennial top 15 program. We are completely relevant and have been for the last 4 years. Going big bowling again. I don't want to go through the Bigger schools come sniffing Leach year after year. What a great day for WSU and the football program. Best day ever!!
Chun needs to give Leach a raise before season is over and lock him up
- Thread starter ShockandAweWSU
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Agree because you know some big money schools will come after Leach in the off-season. I would definitely try to lock Leach up ASAP with a long-term extension and huge buyout.
Mike is scheduled to get raises each of the next several years. He got a nice bump in pay after the Tennessee flirtation.
If he ain't happy with the $4 million average that WSU will be paying him over the life of his current contract.....he's destined for a different school. At some point, the whole greedy coach thing gets kind of old. I hope Mike is happy being richer than most people can dream of. If not.......jesus christ....why do we have to f#ckin' stress about him leaving every time we win a game against a Top 25 opponent?
Go have a drink and enjoy the night.
If he ain't happy with the $4 million average that WSU will be paying him over the life of his current contract.....he's destined for a different school. At some point, the whole greedy coach thing gets kind of old. I hope Mike is happy being richer than most people can dream of. If not.......jesus christ....why do we have to f#ckin' stress about him leaving every time we win a game against a Top 25 opponent?
Go have a drink and enjoy the night.
if it comes down to overpaying to keep a great head coach who has made us relevant......then yeah do it. I don't want to ever become Oregon State again.
Pay him what he is worth. When was the last time WSU as a university received so much love and tv time? When was the last time anyone ever SAW on tv what we all know makes WSU great? It is the people that make WSU the best school on the West Coast.
Pay the man whatever number it takes to keep him. He has earned and is worth the money.
Leach is a $6,000,000 coach.
Pay the man whatever number it takes to keep him. He has earned and is worth the money.
Leach is a $6,000,000 coach.
Agreed. Leach would have leverage in virtually every vacant job out there. Don’t lose him because of money. If he wants to chase something else in a different part of the Country, fine, but don’t lose him because of money. Every lower tier P5 school will flirt with him this offseason. Shut the door now.
Y’all bitch about loser attitudes but every time we have a good day, people start worrying about Leach leaving. It’s a total bunch of crap. Man is going to average $4 million on his current contract and WSU can’t afford to pay the bills but you’re so panicked about him leaving that you want to throw money we don’t have at him just in case. The truth is, and has always been, that the day that a Tennessee/OSU/Auburn/Oklahoma or an other blue blood comes calling.......we don’t have the money to stop it.
Ruining a good weekend worrying about Leach’s cheatin’ heart is stupid. We should pay him well....and we are. Try to enjoy life as it is instead of pissing down your legs in fear that someone is coming after Leach because we beat Oregon.
Ruining a good weekend worrying about Leach’s cheatin’ heart is stupid. We should pay him well....and we are. Try to enjoy life as it is instead of pissing down your legs in fear that someone is coming after Leach because we beat Oregon.
No one with a great program in place already winning is gonna come after him. Itll be somewhere struggling. Depending on how fast you can turn it around, does he really wanna sign up for another rebuild? The PAC 12 North offers a fair road to the playoff if youre winning. What is the scenario elsewhere???
Last season, things were right for Leach to look around. New president trying to clean up the budget. Moos, the AD who brought him to Pullman, gone.
Now, things have settled down. The excitement around the program is high. While it is always a possibility, it is less likely he leaves for just any power 5 program.
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I think the only scenarios are a shot at the SEC (he’s always wanted to dispel the myth that the air raid can’t win there) or an opportunity to coach in a more desirable geographic location.
Obviously, I don't know CML personally. But he strikes me as someone that likes to build something. Who doesn't like to glow in the light of what he built? If we can keep him adequately paid... not according to us but to the market, nationally, I think he'll stay. Assuming the school politics stay status quo. He'll want to see us in the CFP. He'll want to build little 'ol WSU into a national powerhouse that can put Oklahoma away, kind of thing. Can you imagine that! CFP, Oklahoma against WSU. The storylines are infinite.
Exactly. Making sure he’s taken care of is all we’ll and good. But Chin and Schulz have a great chance right now to show Leach they’ve got his back with regards to the recent dust up with the league. I think it’s that sort of support that matters most to Leach.
Could be wrong but I think that Leach is "locked up" for at least the next few years. If we have sufficient funds to upgrade salaries then I would much prefer that the monies are directed toward the others on the staff, especially Claeys and Spurrier. They are doing a great job, especially Claeys. I can see the big guy getting a considerable amount of attention from teams needing a new DC. He and to a lesser degree, Spurrier, are the ones needing to be locked up.
I wonder about this too - at 57 does he want to "start over" again for a few more bucks? "I believe that we can win here, and win big". That's what he said when he was hired. Well, we are on the brink of that - in a rebuilding year, no less. CML is the 4th highest paid coach in the Pac-12. Not really all that far behind Petersen, who is #1 at 4.3 million.
The other possibility is an SEC program (Auburn) coming calling with $7 million. But that comes with a lot of scrutiny and the potential to be fired after a bad year. Ask Les Miles. Or Sumlin.
And what about his kids? How old are they now?
As far as Claeys goes, I don't see him wanting to try being a head Coach again. CML gave him a job when he had none, so I hope there is a bit of loyalty there. Agree on doing the best you can for all the assistants, including him.
Leach has to like the line-up that’s in place for next year.
Lose 1 OL (Dillard), 1 WR (Sweet), RB’s return, with a giant question @ QB. However between Tinsley, Gordon, and Cooper I have to believe one will emerge.
DL will restock with McDougle (sp) and Crowder, in addition to the others physically maturing.
My biggest concern is CB with Molten and Harper graduating, but trust Strong, Hicks, possible JC’s, and other RS freshmen will emerge. Safety should be solid w/Thompson, Thomas, and a whole wagon-full of other promising candidates.
Always looking beyond the current rainbow and I like what’s developing.
Assuming that one of the QB's can step in.....I really like next season.
I appreciate Darrien Molton's effort but I will appreciate it more after his graduation. For the past three years, if someone was getting burned.....it was Molton. To be fair, he often gets the other team's best guy.....but he's never met a guy that he can't hit early. Some folks were worried when Pippins graduated, but we are #27 this year in team pass efficiency defense at 113.03 so far this year and we finished at 109.10 last year. That small drop is great when you consider that our defensive line was gutted.
Defensive line is a concern just because of our lack of quality big bodies for nose tackle but I agree that we have to have faith that the younger guys will grow into the role and at least we have some there. Agree on everything else.
QB is a bit scary, but Leach has shown that he will get someone to sling that bad boy around.
Talent and coaching staff are important, but two things that Leach desires the most. 1. Respect-he wants to be left alone and do things his way and get paid very well for it. 2. Location- According to Feldman one of the biggest draws that the Tennesee Gig last year was the proximity to the Florida Keys. Leach and his wife really love all that the Keys has to offer (especially during the Winter months)
So to persuade him that 1 is much more important than 2.....we need to pay him more than other schools. If that means he is paid top 2 pac-12 coaches to stay in Pullman........then by all means do it. Lock him up!! Huge buyout, lots of year, bonuses, more $$ for the coaching pool to keep guys like Spurrier, Phelps and Claeys. Get it done.
So to persuade him that 1 is much more important than 2.....we need to pay him more than other schools. If that means he is paid top 2 pac-12 coaches to stay in Pullman........then by all means do it. Lock him up!! Huge buyout, lots of year, bonuses, more $$ for the coaching pool to keep guys like Spurrier, Phelps and Claeys. Get it done.
Example, not paying the previous coach that took WSU to 2 Rose Bowls in 6 years.
If you were a legit big time DL recruit there is opportunity to play right away at WSU. Same for CB. You're gonna show up and be on the field right away and leave WSU with 4 years of game film for NFL scouts.
Or two. Straight outta JC.
I think Strong and Hicks will be OK. But Claeys seems to like nickel and dime.
They are def in the hunter for jc corners and one or two jc DT.
I know they have offered daniel isom and damarion williams (both jc corners). They have also offered atlias bell who is a DT from iowa western as is Isom
(Bell has 8 sacks already from his dt position)
I know they have offered daniel isom and damarion williams (both jc corners). They have also offered atlias bell who is a DT from iowa western as is Isom
(Bell has 8 sacks already from his dt position)
I'd rather pay Leach $5m or 6m a year than just about any other coach we reasonably could get for $3.5 or 4m a year. Barring a complete disaster the rest of this year, he has shown definitively that he can win a lot of games in Pullman, which very few coaches could do. Overpaying by a couple million bucks to have a very high likelihood of success is a no-brainer compared to rolling the dice with just about anyone else. Guys like Todd Graham, RichRod, Mora, and various others couldn't even win in much better situations. There's something special here.
Some felt that the past few years were primarily a result of Falk (I disagree) and Grinch. This year has made apparent that Leach can reload from available outlets, and it's only going to get easier for him to do so as he continues to succeed.
This is just a feeling, but I think this year may show a lot of other programs that Leach really has what it takes. When it looked like he was going to get hired at Tennessee, a lot of people attacked that putative move by Tennessee on the grounds that, e.g., he hasn't won a conference championship. I think big programs are going to realize that his quirks are overblown and that winning 8 or 9 games (or more, if he can do it this year) with a bunch of 3-star players in poorly situated programs, as he has done at Texas Tech and here, is worth a lot, and that he would have more upside in a better situation. I also believe Leach, at some level, has to wonder what he could do in a better situation for recruiting and retaining his staff. I don't know if he cares about criticism, but it has to be weird to read critiques for, e.g., not winning a conference title when the degree of success he's had with lesser talent has been flat-out amazing. He has to think he could win conference titles, maybe even a natty, with 4- and 5-star players.
That said, I don't think giving him any more money beyond last year's raise and extension is critical right now. Schulz, widely (and perhaps even appropriately) criticized for negotiating against himself to give Leach big money after it became apparent other programs weren't coming last fall, wound up making a very good move.
I think it could make sense to give more money to the assistant coaching pool to try to keep guys like Spurrier and Claeys around. In any case, we still have half the season to go here, guys. Odds are that it's going to be a merely good or very good season instead of a ridiculously good one, which, despite being amazing in view of the circumstances and predictions for this year's squad, will probably quell some of the concern about him getting poached.
Stop making sense. You remind me of 2005 or 2006 when we were 6-3 and making bowl plans. That didn't work out too well...…..
Unfortunately it has nothing to do with what he’s cashing now it’s what the market will pay tomorrow. Anyone who pays attention to NFL contracts understands how this works.
Now whether Leach wants to go someplace where admistration might not let him be Leach is a different story.
You know, it is kind of a sad commentary on our society right now. You have people in some professions who do it because they enjoy it - I don't know, librarians?, you have some who do it out of sense of duty (military). I would throw K-12 teachers in there, but at least in Washington they have decided to become a little mercenary-like.
Then you get to sports. Loyalty, community, friends, family commitment all mean nothing. It is all about who can pay a few more sheckels.
While I generally agree with your sentiment its ultimately about supply and demand. If there was only a handful of great librarians in the world and books were as widely entertaining as football, a top notch librarian would be making $7 mill a year.
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