Originally posted by YakiCoug:
Goe seems to want to create the perception Leach began tearing into his players the second he got on campus. This just isn't true. Leach has never been about having his players embrace him personally. It's a work ethic and an attitude about the opportunity they have that he wants them to embrace. Clearly he noticed from watching off-season training sessions that some players were not embracing the things he sees as important. That carried into spring ball and fall camp, and then into games. When you combine a lack of effort, bad attitudes, and a lack of talent, the result is rarely a good one. Nonetheless, he had to instill the basic structure and philosophy, despite much resistance.
Everything about Cougar football was broken, much more so than many realized. It's still a work in progress, but it always will be. And Leach will always be Leach, which rubs many the wrong way. He's fine with others as long as they work hard, ask intelligent, thoughtful questions, and have some purpose to what they're doing. But he does not suffer fools, and Cougar football has had more than its share.
Will he put together three consecutive 10-win seasons and win the conference title twice in about half a decade? Well, just how many times has that happened in Pullman? The conference is much tougher than it was in 1997 and 2002. The offenses are more diverse. Oregon is a monster. UCLA actually owns Southern California (both the area and its crosstown rival). The UW and USC likely are on the rise.
Leach has the benefit of unprecedented facilities at WSU, but we're still very isolated and have a schizophrenic fan base, many members of which are perfectly fine with losing football so long as the coach rubs elbows with them. Leach isn't that kind of guy, much to their dismay.
