I don't even really care about how much we are paying Leach as long as he wins. There is obviously no direct correlation between pay and success. The problem that I have with the logic being applied on this board is what I've said repeatedly. I'm being told that we finished 3-9 last year and shouldn't "expect" a bowl game this year because of our recruiting from the Wulff era and the normal difficulty of a coach getting started at a new school. I should "expect" us to be at the bottom of the league because of that. As I previously stated, and someone can feel free to prove me wrong, it is going to be difficult to imagine WSU getting into the top of the Pac-12 recruiting rankings on a regular basis because of the built in advantages at places like USC, UCLA, ASU, UW, Stanford and Cal. Frankly, Colorado was a recruiting juggernaut back in the day when they had coaches that could coach.
If we are destined to be at the bottom of the league right now, how will we suddenly be able to overcome that talent disparity and compete for conference titles? And that's where my smart aleck pay comment comes into play. If we are going to concede that we are never going to win the conference, why try to compete with the upper tier of the conference in pay? Or should we expect a guy who is supposed to be a great coach to elevate his players?
There is a difference between what the expectations should be for programs at different stages.
For example, an Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Texas, Florida, Alabama is to win all the games, and win now, and compete for a title.
These are big teams with big budgets, the talent, the resources etc. They have EVERYTHING. So the expectation should be to win.
For teams like UCLA, UW, Arizona, Arizona State etc. their expectation is to make the step up to the elite classification. They don't have as much as the elites, but if they can recruit better, playe better they can make that step up.
For teams like Colorado, WSU, Illinois, Minnesota etc. our expectation is build a foundation that we can compete with the other teams 1st. We have to get to the UCLA, Arizona, ASU stage first. Since we don't have the resources we need scheme and the ability to get players that are decent and put them in and help them develop into good players. So recruiting wise he need to win a few battles here, and find ways to get niche kids that we can develop. Leach does that offensively with his scheme. He's able to get smart capable receivers and qbs, Mastro (I still think) has some future plans for the RBs and getting a Pac-12 sized o-line with depth was the goal there. We are pretty much there. On defense our niche to recruit is Salavae grabbing poly kids, and now adding Manning/Grinch who are young and energetic guys also helps us get better competitive players.
We're adding pieces to our engine/race car as we go and getting better and better in the parts (players) department. That's our expectation. The roster right now is tremendously better than what it was 4 years ago. Getting those parts is just 1 step and now they need experience to excel. The more experience and training they get. The more polished and competitive we get as a team. We're at the cusp of taking that step up to where Arizona/ASU/UW etc. were, and from that point it's the same thing. Only it's easier to recruit. It's easier to get better players.
When WRs/ Dbs/ OL/ Qbs/ DLs / Lbs can see they can win at WSU and get into the pros the bigger recruits start coming in. They see it not as a place where you are just happy to play in the Pac-12 like we were, but a place you can accomplish big things. Most recruits today don't know about our rose bowl teams and stuff.
Our expectation as a fan base should be clear building steps on the roster and competitive side where we are beating teams we know have more resources and talent. We've done that occasionally already and our next steps are to do that more frequently. Half the time is a good next step, then 3/4th the time. all the time.
