In regards to what Leach and staff were doing. Maybe I’m missing something here, and some of these kids are grade risks or something else, but the new staff has extended offers to a bunch of kids in state and regionally who film wise look good. And their coaches and players seem genuinely into the opportunity. I don’t know if recruiting will “get better” over the next couple years, but it seems we lacked a lot of relationships under Leach.
The amount of new offers is alarming
- Thread starter chugspig
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Leach was getting too comfortable....im not even sure he used any of his in home visits this fall/winter
Last year it seems like Leach did most of his in home visits after the players had signed their LOI’s, I believe in February. That’s what I remember from pics on Twitter. With the season and bowl game scheduling in homes with most of the players seems logistically pretty difficult.
Leach did a great job at WSU. However he was ready to leave about 3-4 years ago. For all his theatrics he was ready to take a new job whether at Tennessee,Miss State or whomever professed interest in him, He played a lot of people and is still doing so.
I think Leach pretty much checked out after the Tennessee debacle and the results showed this year and in the bowl game. I do appreciate the fact that he elevated our program and took us to six bowl games, something no other WSU coach has done. However, it was time for a change and I think Rolovich will reinvigorate our program. I think we are starting to see that with his recruiting and putting more emphasis on the Apple Cup.
I'm excited about the Rolo hire, and I want to believe all the stuff I'm reading on here, but I'm old fashioned. I'm gonna wait until the 1st game, no, the 1st season, until I form any semi-solid opinions.
I will say this....I don't think that Leach did any more or less than he's ever done these past couple of years on the recruiting trail, but the massive turnover with our assistant coaches, compounded by Grinch leaving and then the odd situation surrounding Claeys departure, absolutely affected recruiting and was a massive sign that stagnation was brewing.
I will say this....I don't think that Leach did any more or less than he's ever done these past couple of years on the recruiting trail, but the massive turnover with our assistant coaches, compounded by Grinch leaving and then the odd situation surrounding Claeys departure, absolutely affected recruiting and was a massive sign that stagnation was brewing.
I'm in 'wait-and-see' mode too, but I agree that the losses in the defensive staff crushed the program in ways hard for outsiders to see, and I also think that Harrell leaving pretty much stagnated the offense. Leach may be the best coach WSU has had in the modern era (since the '60s), but his departure may have come at a good time. I don't think we'd ever have been terrible, but I also think we'd hit our ceiling and weren't going to get any better.
You have to explain to me how the offense got stagnant. His last year at WSU 2015. Two of the better WSU offenses were the last two years. Plus, make no mistake, WSU's offense was Leach's, not Harrell's.
Leach checked out after the Tennessee debacle? The team went 11-2 the next season and won the Alamo Bowl.
Leach isn't really a grinder. He's been resting on his laurels and hanging out in Key West getting distracted by butterflies. He didn't like the grind, he liked the practice and games, everything else sucked and he'd rather be shooting bears. imo
Everybody was always responsible for failings, but him in his mind.
Everybody was always responsible for failings, but him in his mind.
I am not sure that 9-4, 8-5, 9-4 and then 11-2 is resting on his laurels. Yes, WSU was not great this year, but one mediocre year is does not make him anything other than he has always been. He traveled the previous years and the team was very successful. It is almost as if you are looking for a narrative to fit how you feel about Leach.
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I think the BS that happened at Texas Tech delayed what just took place with Mississippi State. He was starting to pull a lot of the same things as Tech as he did with us regarding the job flirtations, but then the crap with Craig James kid came down. He lost his job, was blacklisted for a while, and finally got a chance at WSU.
I think he gave us a lot of good years, but just burned out of Pullman. We are a million miles away from his home in Key West, traveling in and out of town is a drag, recruiting is harder, and he started feeling a pull to the SEC. Once last shot at the big time.
My thought it that he's been feeling that he got cheated out of the past 10 years of his career at it's peak. He was grateful and loyal to WSU for getting him back into the game, and he completely rebuilt our program. The past couple of seasons marked the end (in his eyes) of his WSU obligation.
I think he gave us a lot of good years, but just burned out of Pullman. We are a million miles away from his home in Key West, traveling in and out of town is a drag, recruiting is harder, and he started feeling a pull to the SEC. Once last shot at the big time.
My thought it that he's been feeling that he got cheated out of the past 10 years of his career at it's peak. He was grateful and loyal to WSU for getting him back into the game, and he completely rebuilt our program. The past couple of seasons marked the end (in his eyes) of his WSU obligation.
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You nailed it in every way with this post, so I'm not sure there is anything that needs to added at this point.
So you think he is a grinder?
He is a good/great coach, but he isn't a beat the streets and head to recruits home. Maybe he was at one time, but it was certainly waning. The talent dropping reflected that. He likes practice and coaching, the rest, not so much and it really showed the last two years.
I don't think this is really refutable.
There is a "Tony Bennett couldn't recruit Seattle and Bennett Ball will fail in Virginia against the big boys" vibe.
People are reading WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much into all this stuff.
1st of all Leach brought in great players every year that contributed to our success.
Rolo is now the HC and naturally he is going to tap relationships and make offers as he sees fit, this is what happens in transitions. The new guy comes in and brings fresh eyes to recruiting.
It doesn't mean what Leach did was bad, and it doesn't mean what Rolo is doing is good (or bad). It's just that we have a new HC who is bringing a new rolodex of connections with new assistants. That's how things go.
There are 17 players who have already signed a letter of intent.
We have slots for about 8 more players.
We had about 14 players graduate + attrition.
Let Rolo come in bring in some of the guys he wants and see where things go from here.
Really the late additions in the transition class are basically whoever you can grab at the end. Rolo's true first class recruiting is the class of 2021.
That really will show what the new staff's recruiting goals, strategy, and acumen will come into view.
1st of all Leach brought in great players every year that contributed to our success.
Rolo is now the HC and naturally he is going to tap relationships and make offers as he sees fit, this is what happens in transitions. The new guy comes in and brings fresh eyes to recruiting.
It doesn't mean what Leach did was bad, and it doesn't mean what Rolo is doing is good (or bad). It's just that we have a new HC who is bringing a new rolodex of connections with new assistants. That's how things go.
There are 17 players who have already signed a letter of intent.
We have slots for about 8 more players.
We had about 14 players graduate + attrition.
Let Rolo come in bring in some of the guys he wants and see where things go from here.
Really the late additions in the transition class are basically whoever you can grab at the end. Rolo's true first class recruiting is the class of 2021.
That really will show what the new staff's recruiting goals, strategy, and acumen will come into view.
So the most important aspect is being a grinder? But, the answer is yes. He is a grinder. It may not be the same way another coach grinds, but turning around a dumpster fire of a program and a culture that was even worse shows he is a grinder.
It is interesting to me how some fans have changed. WSU was in the wilderness for a decade. Leach is hired and now WSU is coming off their most successful run in history. We still have a season with a bowl and people think that he was mailing it in? There was a time that we would have given up our first child for a bowl.
I just don't get it.
I think a lot people forgot when that Tennessee debacle actually was.
Somebody can be a grinder, then lose interest and stop grinding. That is the basic definition for becoming disengaged, which is why most people leave their jobs and/or their performance drops off a cliff. Leach left his job and it’s quite safe to say last year was his worst all around coaching job since he came to WSU.
It’s not anti Leach to say he stopped grinding. It’s accepting human nature. I’m glad we have an infusion of energy with Rolo, I don’t think it would have gotten any better from last year if Leach stuck around.
Well, actually, I'll add 2 things. No disagreement with what was said here...but let's also recognize that CML is 8 years older now than when he came to WSU. He simply had more energy and was drinking less beer when he arrived than when he left. I don't know how that can be argued. I suspect that his opportunity to burnish his legacy in the SEC will rev him back up for a few years, but face it, this guy is a lazy recruiter. He has enough name recognition and street cred in D1 football to get in a lot of living rooms, but it was my understanding that he hasn't fully used that for several years. Guys, recruiting is the really hard work for a coach. It is one of those areas where you get out of it what you put into it. I'll be surprised if half of CML's staff at MSU are not pretty good recruiters, because he recognizes that he isn't great at it and that he doesn't really want to spend a lot of time doing it, and now he has a bigger assistant coach budget. The last few years at WSU, the recruiting abilities of his overall staff had declined, as well as he himself did not appear to be fully engaged in the process. I'll add that his chief of staff didn't win any awards in the recruiting management area. Rolo seems to like recruiting; it fits his skill set; and he is 40 years old. I have to believe there will be a recruiting upgrade.
My other add is that I suspect there is a drop in grade standards with some of these offers. That is what happens when you get into the process late. That does not mean that the same will be true next year, when there is time to prepare.
And I applaud the energy being put into this last minute push by the staff. I haven't seen that since the early Leach years, when Big Joe was going to the islands, Mastro was gone from Pullman for long stretches, Wilson was out almost as much as Mastro...wait, do I see a trend there??
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Wanna land in state kids? Win the AC. Stop pissing down your leg in the AC and get to the league title game.
Dont let the other schools youre recruiting against label you as a gimmick offense that cant win big games. You beat them and brand them.
Dont let the other schools youre recruiting against label you as a gimmick offense that cant win big games. You beat them and brand them.
I expect an uptick in effort, especially by the head coach on recruiting, but results are obviously TBD.
WSU was winning A LOT of football games and Mike Leach was a household name. I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of Rolovich until they started discussing his name for the job and his assistants aren’t house hold names from big name programs either. If WSU has a 3-5 win season next year recruiting could be tough. I’m pretty confident Wulff’s guys worked hard on the recruiting trail as well, they just had no name recognition and nothing to sell.
Speaking of pissing down your leg...it reminds me of the bonus Leach got for winning the AC. Maybe they should join any incentive such as winning the conference title with the AC. Here's ML's contract. Maybe win the conference and beat uw ...$300,000. Conference title and lose AC....$200,000. there has to be an unlimited number of ways to structure a contract.
https://projects.newsday.com/college-football-coaches-salaries-contracts/mike-leach/
If $4,000,000 wasnt enough to motivate him, what is the number?
It was a great run. I feel like he was ready for a new school. Totally fine.
My concern was will Chun be able to go out and find the next Mike Leach. Will he find the next guy moving up the ladder that runs a big time passing offense.
I know Rolo’s hire wasnt the big splash that Leach was, but he fits the bill. He checks a lot of WSU’s must have boxes.
He is just lining up in the blocks to run his race.... I got the feeling Leach was crossing the finish line...
Hard for me to call a record setting offensive season the worst all around. It was disappointing, mainly because there were some expectations and a preseason top 25 ranking. The defense was terrible. Almost record setting too.
20,000 people showing up for a home game when you’re fighting for a bowl, the constant losses of assistant coaches, small recruiting budget, the IPF getting pushed back again and again, any uw was peaking at the same time Leach’s tenure probably had an impact too. And those are things that don’t really change no matter how hard you work.
I don't consider myself any different of a fan now than I was when WSU suffered dismal seasons (even way before Wulff), but it's not hard to understand that some fans have elevated expectations after Leach raised the bar of the program. Right or wrong, people have formed opinions about Leach based on a season of underachievement. Personally, I'm really happy he was our coach and he should be remembered as building a real good program out of ashes. At the same time, it's my opinion that he wasn't as engaged this season as in the past and probably wanted to move on. No harm in that and nothing wrong in believing that was the case.
Glad Cougar
My only disagreement would be that if Leach did in fact put less effort into the job towards the end of his time here then there is harm in the fact he was making damn good money and wasn’t putting forth effort commensurate with his pay.
The only thing I can think of is that Biggs bet everything he had on WSU winning the natty in 2019 and for some reason he’s blaming that decision on Leach.
If Mike Leach had put as much effort into recruiting as some posters on this site put into trying to convince others that they’re experts on all things football, WSU would have had a bunch of 4 and 5 star recruits.
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