Leach gets Costello
- Thread starter cougarmike
- Start date
Costello, like Gubrud, will sit on the bench.
GM was lightning in a bottle - a true NFL talent that Leach got lucky with.
AG is the perfect example of a Leach qb - huge numbers because of the system, but just doesn't have that extra something that the good ones have that allows them to read and manipulate defenses. AG et al take what the defense gives them - a qb like GM dictates what happens on the field.
Anyway, whatever. Feel bad for the kid b/c if he wanted to start he should have stayed in Seattle.
GM was lightning in a bottle - a true NFL talent that Leach got lucky with.
AG is the perfect example of a Leach qb - huge numbers because of the system, but just doesn't have that extra something that the good ones have that allows them to read and manipulate defenses. AG et al take what the defense gives them - a qb like GM dictates what happens on the field.
Anyway, whatever. Feel bad for the kid b/c if he wanted to start he should have stayed in Seattle.
I'm a little closer to the MSU program through friends, relatives and location and trust me barring injury Costello will start at MSU and should do well. The Bulldogs will have 2 Senior pro potential bookend Offensive Tackles and bevy of untapped potential at receiver and the returning RB is a good receiver.. He would have none of that at UW.
Who even know what offense that this new coordinator at UW will have even run. His history was a ton of designed QB running plays , which who the hell wants to sign up for that as a grad transfer.
Costello did his homework and made the right choice.
This is certainly true. Costello will be the most physically gifted qb leach has ever had and the highest nfl qb draft pick most likely
Miss State is loaded for bear on offense. Reciever is the only position they are needing to recruit a little more.
so far Leach and staff are recruiting really well and are expected to add LBers out of Ga and Fla tonight.
It's important to keep in mind that Mississippi State currently ranks 5th in recruiting in their own division (SEC West), and 9th overall in the SEC. Leach will attract better players at Mississippi State, but he'll be going up against significantly better rosters as well.
As it stands today, Mississippi State has (5) 4-star, and (16) 3-star recruits. WSU has (20) 3-star recruits. WSU faces UW, Oregon, Cal, Stanford, and Oregon State in the P12N. Mississippi State faces Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Arkansas in the SECW.
Good luck KJ.
As it stands today, Mississippi State has (5) 4-star, and (16) 3-star recruits. WSU has (20) 3-star recruits. WSU faces UW, Oregon, Cal, Stanford, and Oregon State in the P12N. Mississippi State faces Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Arkansas in the SECW.
Good luck KJ.
Bingo. Everything is relative. I’ve got no ill will towards Leach but he’s going up against UWs best defense 1/3 of his games...with marginally if at all better offensive talent. Just don’t see it.
MSU recruiting class is #27 in the country. Im really impressed with the athletes they have. I think with top 25 talent year after year, Leach will do very well there. His recruiting so far is very good. Costello if he stays healthy will put up big numbers this year.
It'll be interesting to see how things go for Mississippi State. They gave up 31 sacks and they only attempted 315 passes (1 in 10). By contrast, WSU gave up 20 sacks on 710 pass attempts (1 in 35). MSU had a decent rushing attack in 2019 but was mediocre at passing the ball. Will Costello (and Leach) be able to flip the switch on their offense? The good news for Mississippi State is that they have a great schedule to grow with:
2-10 New Mexico
@ 4-8 NC State
2-10 Arkansas
7-6 Tulane
8-5 Texas A&M
@ 11-2 Alabama
@ 15-0 LSU
9-4 Auburn
6-6 Missouri
@ 8-5 Kentucky
FCS Alabama A&M
@ 4-8 Ole MIss
A 4-0 start is not out of the question for Mississippi State. It will not be a surprise to see them lose their next four games but finish 3-1 for a final record of 7-5. The trouble for Leach (and Costello) is that middle stretch could destroy their season if Leach turns into 2012 (and 2019) Leach where the team struggles, he calls the players out in press conferences as zombies and uninspired and it doesn't work and they find ways to lose to Missouri, Kentucky and Ole Miss. A 5-7 record with a 1-7 finish isn't going to sit well with anyone.
We were one play away from finishing out our regular season 2-7 last year and we had zero wins against teams with winning records. Thank god for Stanford and OSU. Only time will tell if KJ made the right choice
2-10 New Mexico
@ 4-8 NC State
2-10 Arkansas
7-6 Tulane
8-5 Texas A&M
@ 11-2 Alabama
@ 15-0 LSU
9-4 Auburn
6-6 Missouri
@ 8-5 Kentucky
FCS Alabama A&M
@ 4-8 Ole MIss
A 4-0 start is not out of the question for Mississippi State. It will not be a surprise to see them lose their next four games but finish 3-1 for a final record of 7-5. The trouble for Leach (and Costello) is that middle stretch could destroy their season if Leach turns into 2012 (and 2019) Leach where the team struggles, he calls the players out in press conferences as zombies and uninspired and it doesn't work and they find ways to lose to Missouri, Kentucky and Ole Miss. A 5-7 record with a 1-7 finish isn't going to sit well with anyone.
We were one play away from finishing out our regular season 2-7 last year and we had zero wins against teams with winning records. Thank god for Stanford and OSU. Only time will tell if KJ made the right choice
I can MAYBE see them winning 7 games, but I certainly don't see more than that. Their games @ NCST, vs. Tulane, Mizzou, @ Kentucky, and @ Ole Mill are anything but gimmes.
they will be favored in all of those games with ole miss being a toss up. If they beat tamu, they will have a big year. Miss has a ton of sec talent in state-they are in on a lot of good players, with Washington recruiting Texas they are in on a lot of Texas talent too. I think Leach is really energized right now.
I think losing assistant coaches (especially to Oregon) really was grinding on CML. And got tired of pulling rabbits out of his hat for replacements. MSU will have more funds for retention and can stabilize his program. Should help but agree with others - much steeper competition now.
Again, not sure about that. A road game at NCST. That'll be a tossup. Tight betting line. Mizzou and @ Kentucky will also be tossups. I would imagine, at least to start the season, that Kentucky and Ole Miss will be favored as the home team.
Like I said above, they have the schedule set up to build confidence early. You are absolutely correct that if they can beat TAMU, they will have the potential for a 10 win season. However, if you look at Leach's tenures at both Texas Tech and WSU, he didn't exactly set the world on fire at either place right out the gate. At Tech, he matched their 7 win total from the year before, but he found a way to lose to 3-8 Kansas. At WSU, we got smoked out the gate by BYU, won a couple close games before the bottom fell out for the season and we actually regressed to a point below where we were with Wulff in 2011.
Leach is a great coach and he will be successful at Mississippi State, but his personality is abrasive and there will be kids that will not be there after this season. At both Tech and WSU, it took four years to have his first season with fewer than 5 losses. Although WSU was a mess when he took over, he's going to find the ceiling is lower at Mississippi State just because the competition at the top is so much more fierce. Mississippi State hasn't won a conference championship since WWII and has only been close a handful of times in 70+ years. From 1941 to 2019....they've had a grand total of two 10 win seasons and one championship game appearance. Lil' ol' Wazzu has had two conference championships and five 10 win seasons in the same time frame......but Leach does get to claim one of those double digit win seasons.
There are some people that say, "What about Tony Bennett?" and it's true that Tony has had success at Virginia but it's also a school that made it to the NCAA tournament 13 out of 18 seasons from 1980 to 1997 and made it to the Final Four (twice) and Elite Eight (twice) in that period. They also won two NIT championships in that same time frame. It was a surprise to see Tony do so well, but their history suggested that success was very possible.
Leach has a tall task ahead at Mississippi State.....but I'm sure it will be entertaining for those that pay attention.
The difference is Leach inherited quite a bit of talent at Miss State that he didn't at WSU or Texas Tech. He has hit the ground running at Miss State already adding important pieces. Miss State is not a train wreck. Hes got quite a bit to work with.
I looked at the kids he is on in and how many prospects he has in close proximity. Its pretty amazing.
Year 2 and 3 they should be very good. One thing I go on is his track record, its very good, you guys should know that.
I looked at the kids he is on in and how many prospects he has in close proximity. Its pretty amazing.
Year 2 and 3 they should be very good. One thing I go on is his track record, its very good, you guys should know that.
I don't see any reason that a road game against NC State is a tossup. The Wolfpack was terrible last year.
Missouri really fell apart as the season went on. Unless Mississippi State is struggling, I don't picture that game as a tossup. I'd guess that the Bulldogs will be a touchdown favorite at home to the Tigers.
At Kentucky? As long as the Wildcats don't regress too badly, I agree with you about that one. I could see Kentucky being a favorite at home.
Ole Miss is trickier. They lost a lot of games but rarely got blown out. Five of their losses were by one score or less including a scrappy 20-14 loss to Allbarn. New coach but they have a brutal schedule. I expect them to be 5-6 heading into the Egg Bowl. If Mississippi State is struggling at that point in the season, I'd give the edge to Ole Miss. Otherwise, I'd go with MSU.
It's important to remember that Leach has a history of his teams losing games that they shouldn't. It's happened so often that it's kind of a thing. It's one of the reasons that I think 7 wins is the most likely win total for 2020. If I were a betting man, it's going to be against Ole Miss this year.
He is 4-4 in league play at best. 8-4 overall at best. Maybe he wins a bowl game, maybe he doesn't.
He has zero aspirations of competing for a league title.
He has zero aspirations of competing for a league title.
Looking forward to being in Carter Finely on 9/12 donning my coug attire.
I think almost no gives thought to the fact that when Leach was hired at Wazzu he had not coached in two years. As a result he had NO assistant coaches to bring with him and had to assemble staff literally overnight who were willing to come to the black hole that was coug football for below average wages. Most of them had not worked with Leach or each other. Over the next couple of seasons he upgraded almost all the staff.
At “State” he brings his choice of WSU staff with him and will hit the ground running with the same offensive staff he had here. I think that will make a big difference.
Most of you who predict doom and gloom for him in the SEC “forget” he already coached in the SEC with his air raid offense and did just fine.
All you guys who get such a hard on ragging on him (Biggs and Elsie in particular) and conveniently forget that he was 9-8-9-11 wins going into his bad season last year. Are you really so dumb that you think Leach changed so much in one year? Did you really not notice how many teams were trying to rush 3 and drop back 8 during the Cougs 11 win season?
I swear some of you act worse the a jilted high school girl...”he’s a jerk and I never liked him anyway.”
Your excluded from my criticism Cougpatrol, cause your always a “the glass is half empty” kind of guy no matter what. Nothing different with your views on Leach, and I’m sure it will be the same for you with Rolo.
Continue on with your circle jerk. That is all.
At “State” he brings his choice of WSU staff with him and will hit the ground running with the same offensive staff he had here. I think that will make a big difference.
Most of you who predict doom and gloom for him in the SEC “forget” he already coached in the SEC with his air raid offense and did just fine.
All you guys who get such a hard on ragging on him (Biggs and Elsie in particular) and conveniently forget that he was 9-8-9-11 wins going into his bad season last year. Are you really so dumb that you think Leach changed so much in one year? Did you really not notice how many teams were trying to rush 3 and drop back 8 during the Cougs 11 win season?
I swear some of you act worse the a jilted high school girl...”he’s a jerk and I never liked him anyway.”
Your excluded from my criticism Cougpatrol, cause your always a “the glass is half empty” kind of guy no matter what. Nothing different with your views on Leach, and I’m sure it will be the same for you with Rolo.
Continue on with your circle jerk. That is all.
Last edited:
Texas Tech:
Leach’s 10 year record: 84-43
10 year record since he left: 60-65
Washington State:
Leach’s record last 5 years: 43-22
5 record prior to his arrival: 14-47
Leach’s 10 year record: 84-43
10 year record since he left: 60-65
Washington State:
Leach’s record last 5 years: 43-22
5 record prior to his arrival: 14-47
I dont give Leach low marks for his time at WSU. Last year was poorly coached, poorly led, poorly prepared, left an enormous amount of meat on the bone and his offense wildly underachieved in losses.
If he is going to be accountable for everything he did well, I believe he should be accountable for everything he didnt do well.
Mainly, failing to capitalize on the 11 win season by following it up with a turd.
This is big boy football that paid him $4,000,000 to win. Not just to show up.
Coaching football is like a lot of jobs. People can get better or worse. Put more or less effort into one year over another. They also get burned out.
Having a DB coach jawing at your DC in practice is juco BS.
Having your DC roll midway in the season is juco BS.
Scoring 9 TDs and giving up 50 to lose is juco BS.
Bouncing DBs during the season is juco BS.
Terrible special teams play the costs you games is juco BS.
Refusing to run the ball into a light box is juco BS.
Scoring 1 touchdown against Utah?
Scoring 13 in your rivalry game as an off guru?
Getting blasted by team in a bowl game that didn't have 1 kid with an offer to a Pac 12 school is juco BS.
The rumors about 5 months of vacation is juco BS.
The rumors about leaving after spring ball and not showing up until the week before fall camp is juco BS.
Blaming kids for losses when you were on vacation is juco BS.
Having the best WR in the state on your campus and the HC and WR coach are gone is juco BS.
Should I keep going???
WSU is a 24/7/365 job. There are no days off. That’s just what it is.
Am I thankful we had some great years and a good run? YES!
Am I going to pretend like his last season didnt wildly underachieve with 3 f’ucking league wins with a 5,000 yard passer?? NO!!!
Leach mailed it in last year. He didnt forget how to coach. He chose not to.
You wanna give him a pass, fine. Im not going to.
Watch what happens at MSU when he drops 2 games to FCS teams. Here’s a hint, he will be FIRED! And be the next head coach at Florida International.
I think he'll do well, but I don't think he's suddenly going to be a coach who's winning conference championships. If you look at what he did at WSU, he established a strong base compared to what we've ever seen in the past, but his best season wasn't as good as Price's best season. 11 wins was nice, but that 1997 team would have kicked the living snot out of that Alamo Bowl team when you consider how good that they were at the time. Our 2002 season was better. I'm pretty sure that we wouldn't have gotten that 11th win in 2018 if we were playing Oklahoma and Minshew was playing on a broken leg. So, for all the talk about how great Leach is, his best year at WSU was the 3rd best season that I've watched as a Coug fan.....and that's maybe 3rd. The 2001 and 2003 teams were in the same ballpark in terms of accomplishments. The 2018 Cougs didn't have to face ND on the road or AP national champion USC or 10-2 Texas and the 2001 team got shorted a game.
At Tech, his 2008 team was very, very good.....but in general, Spike Dykes did a better job of keeping Tech relevant in the conference. Tech finished 2nd in the Big 12 south in 3 of 4 seasons that Dykes coached. Leach only finished 2nd or better twice in his 9 seasons at Tech.
Long story short.....Leach is a great coach if you want a team that performs well and is enjoyable to watch. Your team will be relevant and you will have a puncher's chance against anyone. However, he will not be the guy who coaches your team to it's truly greatest season ever. He might get MSU to 11 wins at some point.....but it won't be good enough to win his division....let alone the conference.
As for the comment about being successful at Kentucky and doing just fine.......you mean the 7-5 finish in 1998? Yeah, that's not blowing anyone's skirt up.
We all like Leach and we would have been happy for him to stay, but until proven otherwise, he's a guy who was much better than we were used to but wasn't quite as great as we would have liked him to be.
"At Tech, his 2008 team was very, very good.....but in general, Spike Dykes did a better job of keeping Tech relevant in the conference. Tech finished 2nd in the Big 12 south in 3 of 4 seasons that Dykes coached. Leach only finished 2nd or better twice in his 9 seasons at Tech."
You must not be familiar with the big 12 south.
Spike coached most of his career in the SWC and never won a division title the four years he coached in the big 12.
You must not be familiar with the big 12 south.
Spike coached most of his career in the SWC and never won a division title the four years he coached in the big 12.
Excellent post. Leach wasn't mailing it in, as some have suggested. Hell, if he had been, he never would have had a dust up with the Sanctimonious Troll over at the Spokesman. He would not have cared.
Fact is, Gordon set Pac 12 passing records. If Leach were mailing it in, that never would have happened. Fact is that the team scored more points last year that they did in 2018. The 2018 also had the advantage of better field position because the 2018 was at the top of the conference in getting turnovers, while the 2019 team was at the bottom. The side of the team that Leach was directly in control over was fine.
Yes, WSU was 6-7 last season after they went 11-2. In 1997, WSU went 10-2. In 1998, WSU went 3-8, followed by 3-9 and 4-7. No, Coach Price did not mail it in, and neither did Leach. Other than Alabama, Ohio State, etc., all schools win total goes up and down.
He will never sniff a conference championship and he will face a nationally elite defense 1/3 of his games. How’d those games work out at WSU...even with stacked offenses? They won’t be terrible, but the results will be underwhelming.
BTW, for those of you trying to go back to when he was OC at Kentucky to prove he’s going to have the same success in the same conference are you F’ing serious? I mean really are you that dumb? You do realize the entire world of CFB has changed since then, there’s a gazillion teams running variations of his offense and have been for years, which means defenses have been game planning against it for years. When he was at Kentucky that shit was new, players hadn’t seen it, didn’t see it in HS, coaches hadn’t coached against it...it’s not new anymore, the advantage he had is no longer! Does that make sense?
I’ll stop short of saying that Leach mailed it in last year, but it was clear that he was burned out of Pullman. Biggs is right regarding WSU being a full time, all-in gig. Having a head coach who doesn’t like to recruit is a problem. Couple that with the massive turnover we experienced in our coaching tree, and some of our roster issues were starting to make sense.
Leach is a figurehead recruiter. He’s best suited for programs that are a few hundred miles from their recruiting base, not a few thousand.
Leach is a figurehead recruiter. He’s best suited for programs that are a few hundred miles from their recruiting base, not a few thousand.
Last edited:
He would just be a bandaid if he plays this year. And Leach knows that. Going to take him a couple years to get his talent there, as he will be able to recruit top 20 classes for the first time in his career. Leach will have a top ten team in the next 4 years, and most likely a playoff team by year five.
LSU, Alabama, Auburn and A&M all will beat him every year.
Teams with 4 league losses are getting into the playoffs now???
You missed my point. I'm well aware that Texas Tech was in the SWC before the Big 12 and I didn't include that in the discussion because it wasn't relevant. Nobody cares that Tech finished 2nd in the SWC the last five years the conference existed.
More importantly, when did Tech appear in a Big 12 title game with Leach? (HINT: they didn't). Tech had a winning Big 12 record 3 out of 4 seasons with Dykes. With Leach, it was 5 out of 9. Leach was good at getting Tech to 8 or 9 wins and he had one great season with 11 wins. He was basically doing the same at WSU. Leach is going to do the same at Mississippi State. He's gonna be good there. He'll be the most consistent winner that they've seen.......and they'll get their asses handed to them by Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia and Florida most of the time. Mississippi State will finish 5-3 most years once Leach gets things going there. He'll do better than that once in a while.
Leach is who he is and that's never gonna change. If anything, the fears mentioned by others that the Air Raid doesn't hold up well against teams with a strong defensive line might mean that the 7-5 finish in 1998 by Kentucky is an accurate measure of the ceiling for the Air Raid in the SEC. I don't believe that's the case, but I don't think anyone in their right mind thinks that Mississippi State is suddenly going to start whipping LSU, Alabama and Auburn in the SEC West. Our performances against UW make that assumption seem laughable.
You really are out of your element claiming Spike was a more successful coach than Leach. I posted on Raider Power since about 2000, and trust me if you posted that on the texas tech board you would be laughed off the board and thought a troll or an idiot.
But regardless, some have a vested interest in Leach not succeeding at Miss State that I don't quite understand.
But regardless, some have a vested interest in Leach not succeeding at Miss State that I don't quite understand.
Ok, im seeing a pretty high bar for Leach. 11-2 and finishing ranked 10th was apparently not a big deal for some. I hope Rolo never has a 6-7 or 7-6 year. He would be leaving too much meat on the bone and mailing it in from what im reading.
You are right of all of the drivel that I have read on this board that is the one where I knew that some people were just talking out of their a** and making stuff up as they typed. You could poll Tech fans and Leach would win that poll 99 to 1. Hell you could just poll people in Texas and Leach would win that poll 99 to 1. You went into it but just to be clear Spike was .500 coach when every other program in the newly formed B12 other than Nebraska and Kansas State at the time was in a deep ditch. Tech people at the time knew they had to make a move when UT hired Mack and OU hired Stoops, and that is why they fired Spike.
yes Spike was a beloved figure but it was recognized he couldn’t compete with OU and UT when both were top 5-10 teams much like LSU and bama today. Where Leach really earned fans respect and respect all around the big 12 was going toe to toe with ou and ut and always being competitive despite being at Texas Tech.
That big 12 south was brutal and tech was an under dog just like WSU is an underdog.
That big 12 south was brutal and tech was an under dog just like WSU is an underdog.
Last edited:
What exactly did he do or not do that leads you to believe that he was burned out with Pullman?
