He didn't inherit a perceived "rebuilding project" at Miss St. Unlike WSU. Miss St. is on a long bowl streak, multiple top #25 recruiting classes, and 8 malcontents gone already, and the season isn't half over. Pundits are saying more are to come, and Alabama -30.5 is on the slate today! Given time, I think we would all agree he would right the ship, but will he get it? But Miss St. just fired an HC for losing two straight bowls, for god sake. Will Miss St. have the patience to wait until the third season? Can Leach keep it together under SEC type pressure? You have to wonder?
I have to wonder, will Leach survive this?
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I guess it all depends on whether the fan base understands the whole "air raid type of players" mantra and will give him a couple years to get that type of player.
At least Leach is a known quantity. He has a very recent track record of doing the impossible with bowling, and it's public record that it takes him some time.
But to your question, will Miss St have the patience? When he was flirting with Tennessee, I was surprised to read that people on their boards felt that a Leach-type was beneath them. Like UW, they've never left the glory days. UT fans apparently believe they're still under the Fulmer/Manning era. Even State fans were saying similar things when the Leach talk first started up. I guess everyone in the SEC - including the basement teams - think they're royalty?
But to your question, will Miss St have the patience? When he was flirting with Tennessee, I was surprised to read that people on their boards felt that a Leach-type was beneath them. Like UW, they've never left the glory days. UT fans apparently believe they're still under the Fulmer/Manning era. Even State fans were saying similar things when the Leach talk first started up. I guess everyone in the SEC - including the basement teams - think they're royalty?
Depends what your definition of survive is. I think 7 wins is his ceiling in that conf and division. He might win 3 this year, tops (with less games granted) but if he wins 6-7 games the next few years he will coach out his contract then stroll down the road to key west for a cushy retirement. Who else is MSU gonna hire that’s going to be worth eating his contract?
IIRC -30 vs Oregon in 2012 was the steepest line leach faced at WSU. We covered!
Leach is the ultimate survivor. In saying that, the SEC is a different beast. They may have looked at Leach in Mississippi as the finish carpenter. One who puts the cheery on top and finishes with a conference title. He left WSU as a top 15 coach in the country. And for him he probably left WSU at the right time.
What I fear is in three years he will be Hal Mumme Jr., just with a ton more cash.
Can't wait to watch this game. Saban and Leach on the same field.
Shock the world today? Can't even fathom it.
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I think he could survive if he was willing to evolve and improve on the Air Raid. If he ran more against the 3-man front, it would do wonders given the personnel he has. However, I doubt he will change. More than any coach, he is the one currently given credit for this offensive scheme, and I think it is almost like a religion to him. He is determined to keep it in its purest form, with him as the high priest.
Meanwhile, everyone else is stealing the best plays from the Air Raid and combining them with the best features of other schemes, and of course adapting to the skill of their players on the roster and the weaknesses of their opponents. I really like what they are doing with it at BYU. The last game I watched, Leach's Air Raid just looked DUMB. All of the zero yard completions when a high school running back could have been in the secondary on every carry against the 3-man front. When it doesn't work, it really doesn't work, and the blueprints to beat it are available to everyone.
Meanwhile, everyone else is stealing the best plays from the Air Raid and combining them with the best features of other schemes, and of course adapting to the skill of their players on the roster and the weaknesses of their opponents. I really like what they are doing with it at BYU. The last game I watched, Leach's Air Raid just looked DUMB. All of the zero yard completions when a high school running back could have been in the secondary on every carry against the 3-man front. When it doesn't work, it really doesn't work, and the blueprints to beat it are available to everyone.
That LSU win is looking about as awesome as our 2008 AC win...don’t get me wrong, that was awesome. LSU F’ing blows
The MSU offensive line is getting blown back 5 yards every snap. Leach may or may not turn the program around, but he’ll address that issue.
I think a lot depends on Leach's contact's fine print, and who had the stronger bargaining position. who came cap in hand? If Leach has a strong money guarantee, i.e. a high buy out, he will survive this, because he will have the time needed to get his "Luke Falk." The D talent is there, and shouldn't decline that much in the next 5 years. But if his contract can best be described as "we pay as you go." with a small buy out clause, stick a fork in the guy. The SEC was the last conference to integrate for a reason -- they are conservative as all hell. The "air raid" is too much too soon, if State must wait till year 3 for it to start to click.
Well, and even when it clicks, it still has a capped upside. The big variable with him is who his DC is. A lot of our 2015-18 run was getting a pretty good DC (2015-17) and then whatever the hell Claeys is / was (good or bad, but smart enough to keep Speed D his first year) and Minshew in 2018, coupled with increased talent level on defense, even if some of it also was Falk being pretty good in his first 20 games or so. In this current gig, he already has a pretty good defense and a pretty good DC out of the gate, and Rogers seems good enough to get the job done. I think he'll turn things around a little quicker at Mississippi State than he did at WSU, but it still won't be that great, and he won't get over the hump in terms of ever contending for the SEC West.
I’ve enjoyed poking fun at Leach this season, but let’s face it, this was always going to be a an extremely difficult year for him. Give him another 2 seasons before passing judgement. MSU isn’t going to bail on him before that.
Leach is going to survive this simply because he had nothing to lose at this stage of his career. 8 years in Pullman, a shot at the SEC, and a resume that will certainly get him another gig at a G5 program if he wants it.
Leach is going to survive this simply because he had nothing to lose at this stage of his career. 8 years in Pullman, a shot at the SEC, and a resume that will certainly get him another gig at a G5 program if he wants it.
And there lies the problem. MSU was, on paper, in great shape prior to Leach. Top 25 recruiting, 10 straight bowls. On paper, they didn't need a "turn around" but a "fine tuning" after two straight bowl losses. What they got with Leach was a program that now needs a " major turn around." When we hired Leach we had no real delusion of instant success. We expected it would take awhile. It in many ways MSU is now experiencing, emotionally, what we got with Wulff. We believed were a mediocre team that we thought with some "fine tuning" would get us over the bowl hump. What we got was a team that instantly needed a "major turn around." We were stunned, like MSU fans are now. Wulff was safe because we couldn't fire him financially, and because of our long no fire/but no renew contract history. Mississippi just fired their last coach after two seasons because 14-12 wasn't good enough, and we don't if Leach got serious "longevity terms" in his contract.
As for a quick turn around, MSU has score only 30 pts in their last 4 games and Rogers PER is less than 100.
I'll say that watching that game yesterday made me glad that we didn't have to take on 'Bama with Leach as our coach. I'll also say that we need to quit thinking that 2018 was an elite team. It was a fun season but we lost to the only team that finished in the Top 25 and a USC team that ended up being mediocre. We had "nice" wins against Oregon, Stanford and Utah but those teams were nothing like Leach will face in the SEC. At this point, Leach's entire mythology as a "great" coach is based on Tech's win over Texas in 2008.
Leach is definitely a very good coach and he'll likely have Mississippi State winning games soon enough, but it's more likely that he'll get fired after two mediocre seasons at MSU than him winning double digit games there. It is mindboggling to consider that the Air Raid has scored one offensive touchdown in the past thirteen quarters of football.
When Leach left, I was pretty ambivalent towards him. Understood the choice but didn't care how he did. With the appearance of fartandfeet, I'm now really enjoying him getting his a$$ kicked in the SEC and I hope that he goes 1-9 this year. That trump-loving dickhead from Lubbock (fartandfeet) has made the drubbings enjoyable for me.
Leach is definitely a very good coach and he'll likely have Mississippi State winning games soon enough, but it's more likely that he'll get fired after two mediocre seasons at MSU than him winning double digit games there. It is mindboggling to consider that the Air Raid has scored one offensive touchdown in the past thirteen quarters of football.
When Leach left, I was pretty ambivalent towards him. Understood the choice but didn't care how he did. With the appearance of fartandfeet, I'm now really enjoying him getting his a$$ kicked in the SEC and I hope that he goes 1-9 this year. That trump-loving dickhead from Lubbock (fartandfeet) has made the drubbings enjoyable for me.
I understand some playful snickering at Leach’s expense, but man, there are a lot of over the top, ungrateful posts being thrown around.
At worst, Leach is the 2nd greatest WSU head football coach in modern history. His cleansing of the Wulff disaster can never be understated.
Yes, he’s inflexible. No, we don’t “owe him” our allegiance; but good grief, pump the brakes on the petty wishing him the absolute worst posts. It’s a terribly insecure look.
At worst, Leach is the 2nd greatest WSU head football coach in modern history. His cleansing of the Wulff disaster can never be understated.
Yes, he’s inflexible. No, we don’t “owe him” our allegiance; but good grief, pump the brakes on the petty wishing him the absolute worst posts. It’s a terribly insecure look.
As I said, I didn't care how he did at Mississippi State and I do figure he'll be ok in the long run, but as long as we have assholes like fartandfeet trolling on the internet, I'm looking forward to weekly asskickings just to keep idiots like him quiet. People like him are the kind of people that make non-fanatics hate college football fans. This message board is a better place without people like him trolling it.
He did troll us with a Trump post because he is that kind of an idiot, but if we have any kind of luck at all, that sh!t will be over on Tuesday too. At that point, he can focus on romancing his cattle in Lubbock.
In the long run, I figure Leach will be fine if he gets the time. I'd bet $1000 in donations to WSU that he doesn't win double digits in the next five years, but he'll be fine and win 7-8 games per year once he gets things together.
He will be judged against Dan Mullen, who took them to an Orange Bowl in 2014. 7-8 wins a season probably won't be good enough, considering they fired Moorhead for doing that. They gave Moorhead a contract extension in 2018 through 2022, a 20% pay increase to 3.25 million, and fired him that year, before their bowl game, despite beating Ole Miss. That doesn't sound like "patience" is Miss. State's middle name. Also, as Moorhead was hired as Oregon's OC right thereafter for 900K, it doesn't suggest that he walked away with 13 million in his pocket.
MSU fired the previous guy more for off the field stuff combined with mediocre results. Leach needs to turn things around in a year or two but I think he'll get the program to a respectable level. Remember, it's not like MSU is a historic powerhouse.
You want Leach fired so bad you can taste it.
Leach never should have spoke at that Trump event, the unhinged left coast socialists have never forgiven him. Land of fruit and nuts.
Prepare for more pain.
I have never cared that Leach spoke on behalf of Trump. That's a fantasy that you carry in your pathetic little head. I actually hope that Leach survives this season and gets a chance to do his thing. I just hope he goes 1-9 this season so you'll go eat a dick in Texas instead of hanging around here.
You realize this is a 40 year old toddler right? If you ignore this douche bag he will get bored and go away.
I know.....I need to be better than that.
Spokane, which is where the rally was held, is anything but west coast and socialist doesn’t come close to the mindset there.
But feel free to pontificate from 2800 miles away.
It clearly does not look good for Leach, however people would have gone broke two different times at both Tech and WSU betting against him after bad early showings. I remember his first couple of years at Tech and we just laughed at how bad his offense looked. Kingsbury was literally murdered his Soph. year. By his Senior year he beat both A&M and UT in the same season, the first time that ever happened at Tech.
I like everyone thought after third year at WSU he was done. The way teams like Stanford, Oregon, Utah and ASU manhandled his offense it looked really unworkable. He went from that to literally owning those teams.
Doubt he ever beats Alabama, but I would not put it past him holding his own against the rest of that league if he gets the right QB and offensive line. No guarantees but like I said he has already proven me and others wrong at least two other times.
I like everyone thought after third year at WSU he was done. The way teams like Stanford, Oregon, Utah and ASU manhandled his offense it looked really unworkable. He went from that to literally owning those teams.
Doubt he ever beats Alabama, but I would not put it past him holding his own against the rest of that league if he gets the right QB and offensive line. No guarantees but like I said he has already proven me and others wrong at least two other times.
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