Figured you would be interested

[HHusky]

Mike Leach Brought a Decade's Worth of Embarrassment to Mississippi State in Less Than a Year

Mike Leach is not having fun anymore. As the Mississippi State Bulldogs prepare to finish their season against the Missouri Tigers, the curmudgeonly coach went

www.thebiglead.com

 

[kougkurt]

Shocked I say, absolutely shocked

 

[Coug1990]

Only a decade?

 

[CougEd]

Mike Leach Brought a Decade's Worth of Embarrassment to Mississippi State in Less Than a Year

Mike Leach is not having fun anymore. As the Mississippi State Bulldogs prepare to finish their season against the Missouri Tigers, the curmudgeonly coach went

www.thebiglead.com

You would hope getting 5 mil will help you like it better.

 

[chipdouglas]

I was first in line to predict that CML would struggle mightily in the SECW...

...but this article is pure flaming garbage. It makes John Blanchette look like Edward R. Murrow. Not surprising it's coming from a Husky. While I still doubt CML will find sustained success in the SEC the way he has elsewhere, I mostly give him a pass this year: COVID + Year 1 + running AR with legacy recruits + completely new style of competition.

Unlike the writer, who clearly has a different political perspective RE COVID lockdowns, I can separate Leach's frustration with bureaucratic interruptions in a crucial first year for development, with his frustration at his and his team's inability to find success on the field.

 

[HHusky]

I was first in line to predict that CML would struggle mightily in the SECW...

...but this article is pure flaming garbage. It makes John Blanchette look like Edward R. Murrow. Not surprising it's coming from a Husky. While I still doubt CML will find sustained success in the SEC the way he has elsewhere, I mostly give him a pass this year: COVID + Year 1 + running AR with legacy recruits + completely new style of competition.

Unlike the writer, who clearly has a different political perspective RE COVID lockdowns, I can separate Leach's frustration with bureaucratic interruptions in a crucial first year for development, with his frustration at his and his team's inability to find success on the field.

I see no connection between the writer and UW. And I think it’s very legitimate to criticize (1) attempting to have a season in the midst of a pandemic and (2) the self-absorption of an overrated college football coach during that season.

 

[Brent H.]

I see no connection between the writer and UW. And I think it’s very legitimate to criticize (1) attempting to have a season in the midst of a pandemic and (2) the self-absorption of an overrated college football coach during that season.

Overrated? What makes him overrated? He’s only had 5 losing season as a head coach. He won 11 games here and at Tech. You can dislike Leach, while at the same time acknowledging he can coach. I think Miss State is going to be a challenge for him but 4 straight season at WSU of 8 wins or more isn’t something to sneeze at.

 

[HHusky]

Overrated? What makes him overrated? He’s only had 5 losing season as a head coach. He won 11 games here and at Tech. You can dislike Leach, while at the same time acknowledging he can coach. I think Miss State is going to be a challenge for him but 4 straight season at WSU of 8 wins or more isn’t something to sneeze at.

Doubling down with more of the same when your opponent has your number is textbook insanity. Great coaches adjust when adjustment is necessary. He’ll always be able to do more of the same fairly competently and he’ll coach more of the same well. Not terrible. Not a genius.

 

[Brent H.]

Doubling down with more of the same when your opponent has your number is textbook insanity. Great coaches adjust when adjustment is necessary. He’ll always be able to do more of the same fairly competently and he’ll coach more of the same well. Not terrible. Not a genius.

He offense changed the game, but you’re right he never adjusted. You see the air raid has be transformed by the likes of Riley and Holgo. He does have the smartest in the room personality. Teams that we were better at restricting space owned us. I think his personality is what makes people attack him more, not his coaching ability.

 

[chipdouglas]

I see no connection between the writer and UW. And I think it’s very legitimate to criticize (1) attempting to have a season in the midst of a pandemic and (2) the self-absorption of an overrated college football coach during that season.

Stupid or liar, and I think you're a smart guy, so I say liar. As you know, the connection is a UW fan (you) throwing this monkey turd hit piece at the WSU boards.

Also, the article - and I'd be interested to know if you read it since YOU posted it - scarcely gets into Leach's personality. It's penned by a COVID scold and the entire article is about COVID, and how we need to take CML down a peg for failing to share the writer's right-thinking NPC views on COVID. It's not even really a football article.

Whatever you think of CML as a HC, understand that there will always be an divide between him and the ideologically homogeneous (and opposite) journalism profession which is tasked with covering him.

 

[HHusky]

Stupid or liar, and I think you're a smart guy, so I say liar. As you know, the connection is a UW fan (you) throwing this monkey turd hit piece at the WSU boards.

Also, the article - and I'd be interested to know if you read it since YOU posted it - scarcely gets into Leach's personality. It's penned by a COVID scold and the entire article is about COVID, and how we need to take CML down a peg for failing to share the writer's right-thinking NPC views on COVID. It's not even really a football article.

Whatever you think of CML as a HC, understand that there will always be an divide between him and the ideologically homogeneous (and opposite) journalism profession which is tasked with covering him.

I’m sorry you’re frustrated politically.

The article was sent to me by a friend deep in SEC country.

I hope you find someone with whom to have whatever fight you’re seeking.

 

[Cougsocal]

So what's new exactly. Mike Leach is Sergio Leone's "the good, the bad and the ugly." At WSU we got mostly the good, for which I'm very grateful, the turnaround. I won't miss the self-absorption and worse Apple Cup coach in series history, the bad, and he left us a an empty cupboard on defense to remember him by, the ugly.

 

[Coug90]

So what's new exactly. Mike Leach is Sergio Leone's "the good, the bad and the ugly." At WSU we got mostly the good, for which I'm very grateful, the turnaround. I won't miss the self-absorption and worse Apple Cup coach in series history, the bad, and he left us a an empty cupboard on defense to remember him by, the ugly.

Yeah while there’s varying degrees of sentiment towards Leach, I think most would acknowledge he was great for the program and made the Cougs contenders. Some disagreement in his approach to the AC as a game that ultimately held him back. Plenty here including me think he beat his head against the wall when it came to the defensive strategy UW, then Cal deployed.
To my knowledge nobody ever compares Leach to Saban, so not sure where “overrated” fits his description. He’s taken two so-so programs and made them conference contenders and won a lot of games. I have my issues with him, don’t agree with his politics and some of his antics, but he’s certainly had a helluva career and was great for WSU. I never thought it would go well for him at MSU, more because defense is emphasized in the SEC.

 

[CougEd]

Doubling down with more of the same when your opponent has your number is textbook insanity. Great coaches adjust when adjustment is necessary. He’ll always be able to do more of the same fairly competently and he’ll coach more of the same well. Not terrible. Not a genius.

It is surprising to me because he is a thinker, an innovator. But when you get "out thunk" by Jimmy Lake, who openly laughed at him, at some point being smart was overshadowed by ego.

 

[HHusky]

It is surprising to me because he is a thinker, an innovator. But when you get "out thunk" by Jimmy Lake, who openly laughed at him, at some point being smart was overshadowed by ego.

Sometimes business clients who caught lightning in a bottle early on are the ones who struggle most in the battle between their self-image and what's actually happening to them.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

John Blanchette apparently also writes under other names. Sheesh.

I don't follow MSU closely, so I don't know if they might realistically have been expected to do better than they did this season, with a new coach, new systems and no spring ball. I will say that CML had a better defense to support him than he usually inherits when he moves. I expected 5 wins back when he moved to Starkville, based on a full season and the usual noncon cream puffs, but I didn't have enough real info to feel confident in that prediction.

I have no doubt that all the covid-related stuff hurt every new staff at schools that changed coaches after last season...and Leach may have been hurt most of all, given the Stark ( ) difference between the prior offense and the air raid. We all know that Leach will blame everyone else first, so his comments are not a big surprise.

I am guessing that my original 5 win prediction for this season will probably play out pretty closely next fall. They only have 2 cream puffs on the schedule (the other two, Memphis and NC State, may well be favored when they play them), and only Vandy looks certain among the league games. They may possibly squeak into a 6 win season and a toilet bowl appearance by their fingernails, but the odds are against them.

If Leach misses a bowl in 2021, then he has to win in 2022 or he will be gone. I think he can do it, but it will be an uphill climb. He needs to have an answer for the rush 3, drop 8 D. He could not be troubled to come up with anything to this point, and maybe he is simply not capable of coming up with something. We will see next fall, one way or the other.

 

[roses04]

He is to0 stubborn to change his offense against the rush 3 drop eight, it's the only conclusion you can come to, since he hasn't changed it in the 8 years he was in Pullman. It got him 11 wins a couple of teams, but he will never beat a solid defense that will throw 3 good defensive linemen at you each snap. The answer is out there for him, look at his past QB's are that are HC or OC, they seem to have figured it out. So he's more than capable of coming up with something, he just refuses to, and insists he can keep winning his way, which he can 80-90% of the time.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

He is to0 stubborn to change his offense against the rush 3 drop eight, it's the only conclusion you can come to, since he hasn't changed it in the 8 years he was in Pullman. It got him 11 wins a couple of teams, but he will never beat a solid defense that will throw 3 good defensive linemen at you each snap. The answer is out there for him, look at his past QB's are that are HC or OC, they seem to have figured it out. So he's more than capable of coming up with something, he just refuses to, and insists he can keep winning his way, which he can 80-90% of the time.

Roses, I agree with most of what you said...only thing I'll quibble about is that he was able to make it work 80-90% of the time in the PAC, where the defensive coordinators were either too dumb or lacked the personnel (or both) to follow the Jimmy Lake example. The SEC has already shown that after the LSU loss, the rest of them figured out how to rush 3 and drop 8. On that basis, I'm going to reduce the 80-90% figure down to more like 60-70%.

 

[chipdouglas]

I’m sorry you’re frustrated politically.

The article was sent to me by a friend deep in SEC country.

I hope you find someone with whom to have whatever fight you’re seeking.

I'm an SEC grad - so cheers for paying attention.

The fact that "a friend...in SEC country" sent you a COVID diatribe that is not even really about football is quite literally irrelevant to anything in this discussion.

 

[roses04]

Thanks for the article HH, while I was disappointed to see Leach go, it's reading articles like this that remind me: "thank God we don't have to listen to that any longer" Leach is going to have a tough go in the SEC, and there is not doubt in my mind he can be successful, however he is going to have to modify his offensive philosophy slightly. As the saying goes: it's not the strong that survive, it's those that adapt. If he doesn't adapt he won't survive.

 

[FnuLnu]

I'm an SEC grad - so cheers for paying attention.

The fact that "a friend...in SEC country" sent you a COVID diatribe that is not even really about football is quite literally irrelevant to anything in this discussion.

If you are also an SEC fan, are there any statues outside of their stadiums of coaches who were staunch white supremacists during the 1960s?

Just wondering because the UW put up such a statue in 2004. This coach required loyalty oaths of black players or they were dismissed. He retired in Montana (but isnt from Montana)

He was the UW coach when the last two Washington governors went to the UW (one of them was the leader of a sorority that banned blacks)

 

[COCoug]

I'm certainly not a Leach supporter at this point, but the article is pretty weak. There is probably no coach in college football more predictable than Leach, both on and off the field. MSU had to know that he would stubbornly run the Air Raid, even though most teams have figured out how to beat it and it has many, many weaknesses. Also, MSU had to know his personality and his willingness to blame everyone and everything (but himself) for losses. Honestly, what happened to MSU this season was the only thing that could have happened, and if anyone there is surprised or disappointed, then they didn't do their homework.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Yo HHusky...yeah, I don't really need this poochie s**t on a Coug board. Thanks though, bro.

 

[sellas]

Deplorable