Feldman talks about how happy Leach is in Pullman, etc.
https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1784735
https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1784735
Part 2 of Bruce Feldman Interview on Leach, Cougs
- Thread starter ScottHood
- Start date
Glad to see that Leach is happy in Pullman because it really is such a natural fit. A quirky, outdoors guy living in a community that is very unique in the BCS universe and close to a lot of outdoor activities. Plus the cash to do whatever he wants.
That is true. But, we were arguing about those same things during those years.
"I remember Leach telling me his best leader was the kicker."
I wonder often what football coaches mean when they say "leader." I believe they mean someone that will consistently make a key play at a key time.
I too don't expect Leach to retire here, but I would like for us to be thinking about having the next head coach on staff. We really blew it with Doba. I would like to see "Oregon style" succession planning. Yost seems like a logical guy to promote to HC, but who knows.
I really like Dave Yost. I think he is a highly interesting guy and a bright football mind, but I don't see him as the head coach at WSU. He backed off of duties at Missouri because of burnout. He's in a good spot for himself right now, coaching inside receivers, doing some recruiting, and giving some input into the offensive schemes.
A head coach has to do a LOT MORE.
Is Yost "recovered" from his burnout? Would he be able to do all the things a head coach must do, with the gusto and energy it takes to run a P12 team? Does he even want to go in that direction?
If I were an AD looking for my head coach, before I thought about hiring Yost I'd have to be pretty darn certain of the answers to those questions, and more.
I thought about this. I already think Leach will only be here until we are rolling and then he'll look for another project. I think he likes that. He did it at Tech and he's doing it here. Kind of like how Parcels went to the Jets made them kind of good then went to the cowboys and made them kind of good. He may be one of those guys who just likes the thrill of taking a team that is struggling to beat the big teams and then once that happens he moves on. He didn't leave Texas Tech but he was eyeing Miami, and the Huskies before Texas Tech railroaded him.
If he leaves in the next 3 years because he has us competing at a high level I'm okay with it as long as we get someone to take over the keys that knows what to do. Art Briles son is on his staff at Baylor, and also the OC Cal has Tony Franklin. Those guys know how to keep the Air Raid going and would be the best candidates in my opinion since we would have a fully functional Air Raid roster.
Based on what has Leach so far, I'd be surprised that we've accomplished enough for him to feel satisfied that it's "mission accomplished" anytime soon. I could see him moving on if we won a national championship or maybe a conference championship. Anything less and I don't believe he'd be satisfied. I'd be surprised if we are competing for a conference championship before the previously discussed 8 year buildup has happened, which means 2019 at the earliest.
Yeah not something that will happen soon, but it wouldn't surprise me if he looks for the next project. I doubt he will leave us for some big school because I don't think he's a big school guy. He'd go to like North Carolina or I think it was Maryland that was after him before us. He'll go to some non traditional place and do the whole thing over, but I agree he won't leave until he has us confidently kicking people's ass.
I'm glad that Bruce read my comments yesterday and did a better job of cleaning up his quotes!
I'll disagree on one point. I don't think he looked at TT as a project, then when successful he would move on. I don't know that he wouldn't still be there, in the TOP 5, going for the BCS championship, if he had his way. No proof, no quotes, I base that completely on how ticked he was when he was dismissed. He had a contract, he was there. I think he's a guy that got his career to the point of being a HC and his personality seems to be one of "roots". His stories are about when he was a kid, he loves history… I think if we would have him and he's successful (define that as you wish), we have CML for the rest of his career. JMHO.
That seems perfectly logical. He never did leave Texas Tech, and I'm sure he could have if he wanted to, but you bring up some really good points. He may not be jump around build kind of guy but a person looking to make something longstanding and win at the highest level by building it himself.
Yes, but it is a similar assessment of the state of the program that has drawn the monster threads on here time and time again.
Great point. Leach is a history guy and likely wants to do something that will be remembered. Winning a national championship at Tech would have put him in the history books in a unique fashion. Coaching at a bunch of different jobs without a notable achievement beyond "they got better" is not his style.
This is what I don't get about some of the people on here. You can show them stats, graphs, 3rd part commentary, independent evaluations, historical evidence....
and they still refuse to accept realities. Basically it just shows that once people get an entrenched idea in their mind they basically adopt psychological denialism.
It's definitely bizarre.
What I don't get is why stats, graphs, 3rd party commentary, etc. is needed to point out that Paul Wulff was an absolute disastrous coach. Doesn't his W/L record and the number of monumental blowout losses we suffered under him confirm that.
I also don't understand why, 1) there's any debate that Mike Leach is a superior head coach than Paul freaking Wulff, and 2) why we shouldn't expect (demand) significantly more out of Mike Leach given his track record and what we're paying him in comparison to Wulff.
What I really don't get is that every time someone tries to talk about a subject on this message board, certain posters feel the need to veer off subject and start attacking other posters. This was a decent thread about Leach and his future and Coug95man2, wulffui, MRIcoug, and Cougatron just can't help but take shots at people. Why would you want to talk about the actual subject of the thread when it's easier to flick boogers?
Do you recall the comments from Wulff and some of his staff members regarding recruiting early on? When he and others stepped onto high school campus for recruiting purposes, Wulff crowed that it was the first time they had seen WSU coaches in years. Feldman explains qui
Well, since you missed the 900 hundred or so times people previously were forced to explain it to you and others in a Wulffian daze, most rational and reasonable fans recognized the holes Leach inherited. And, while he did get us to our first bowl game in 10 years (an achievement that was unexpected and one over which Paulie Annas would have drowned in wetness), if Leach doesn't start winning this and next year, those same rational and reasonable fans will be critical. I doubt they'll go OED over it, but there will be some heat. Some already have been critical. I personally have stated the failure to infuse some JC talent on defense contributed to the problem there and on special teams. Perhaps the staff made a choice to bring in Tapa, Mata'afa, Singleton and some others instead to prepare for the long haul - you know, sort of like Price did in '98 and '99. Of course, I'm not going to get all stupid and predict a run of 10-win seasons, but I will celebrate if that happens. Some here will vanish.
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As to your first comment. Talk to Ed and Flat. They believe he "wasn't that bad"
As to your second point.
1) There is no debate on this everybody with an IQ above 70 knows Mike Leach is a superior head coach. Once again ask Ed and Flat who tell stories of the great Paul Wulff and only see faults in Leach.
2) You can demand whatever you want from Leach, but if your demands are outside of what is reality or unfounded expect to be brought back to reality.
There is no coach since the BCS began who has turned around a program that finished 9-40 (or worse) the previous 4 years and had recruiting in the bottom 25% of the FBS in 3 years or less. Never. It has NEVER happened.
So with that in mind. Frame your expectations and your goals for the program to get back to a stable competitive program.
What we pay him has ZERO to do with anything. He is paid market wage for his job. The money has absolutely nothing to do with anything.
Flat loves to play the victim, just as our dear and departed friend nookie used to do before he'd launch into another missive maligning other posters. Flat seems to be pretty active these days. Wonder why that is.
My point here is that, just because Leach is an upgrade from Wulff (who isn't?), it doesn't make him exempt from criticism. I like Leach. He was the #1 guy I wanted us to hire, and I still feel that way.
With all of that said, he's still managed to piss me off occasionally. The bowl game meltdown against Colorado State still digs into me; particularly how cavalier Leach was in the postgame interview. That was awful. At least acknowledge it.
Our special teams play should not have been the unmitigated disaster that it was last year. It was beyond bad. The worst I've ever seen. No elite coach has ever paraded a unit as inept as that onto the field, not even Paul Wulff. At least he fired Russell, but the problem should have been identified in Spring Ball last year.
While I personally get a kick out of Leach's personality and dry sense of humor, his shtick rubs a lot of people the wrong way; especially since we're still losing a lot.
You take the good and the bad with any coach, and I expect that our team will take a step forward this season.
All your criticism about the bowl game is warranted. It was a terrible collapse, but really it was a bizarre situation where halliday, laufasa, and caldwell fumbled??!? That was just a horrid perfect storm of bad luck. Just awful, but I don't blame Leach for all of that. some of it yes, but he isn't carrying the football.
The special teams criticism is absolutely warranted. It was terrible, and Leach fired Russell in the season after Cal. Russell failed to secure a kicker when ours flipped...but still the coverage was absolutely awful as well.
The defense also was bad. Particularly the pass defense and while they were starting a lot of freshmen it was way too inconsistent. Sometimes they would come out and play amazing. Other times it was absolutely horrible. Moving on from Breske was the right thing.
I have no problem with people talking about criticism that is perfectly honest, but then I look to what Leach does to address the issue. And for a headman his finger is on the pulse. He sees the same problems, and he takes steps to fix them. That's what we need. It was never going to be a perfect smooth rebuild.
If we keep finding issues and not addressing them...well that would annoy me, but for the most part Leach is on top of addressing problems and he doesn't mess around, and I like that a lot.
