Why others rebuild, Leach continues to win (Arizona article)....
- Thread starter M-I-Coug
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It amazes me how everyone thinks CML is short term. Even in this article, which has NOTHING to do with CML but actually about how AZ looks too short term... they backhandedly, somehow, put in there that CML is leaving... While at the same time saying CML likes to stick around and "build", not "rebuild".
I swear, everyone just can't fathom that Pullman is a destination. So I shall refer to CML's introduction to WSU back in 2011.
"People ask me Why Washington State? Once I get past thinking in the back of my mind, 'Well that's a stupid question...'"
"I've never been a big opening statement guy. I always find the media asks what they want anyway."
Like I've consistently said, he's going to leave if he wants to. But just because WSU has had some success, that's his cue to bolt?! He didn't "bolt" from TT. I swear, all of this is a thought process that is a bit too cookie cutter. "Well, if I was a coach, I'd leave!" Have you met Leach?! The dude that relishes his memories in Wyoming? The guy that has ONLY coached at small outpost style schools his whole career, except his short stint at Okie?
Also, I think some of this is in HOPES that he leaves. If WSU becomes a perennial? Pac12 will have it's head on the bottom and their feet on the top. They won't know what to do with that. Their world will be upside down.
I swear, everyone just can't fathom that Pullman is a destination. So I shall refer to CML's introduction to WSU back in 2011.
"People ask me Why Washington State? Once I get past thinking in the back of my mind, 'Well that's a stupid question...'"
"I've never been a big opening statement guy. I always find the media asks what they want anyway."
Like I've consistently said, he's going to leave if he wants to. But just because WSU has had some success, that's his cue to bolt?! He didn't "bolt" from TT. I swear, all of this is a thought process that is a bit too cookie cutter. "Well, if I was a coach, I'd leave!" Have you met Leach?! The dude that relishes his memories in Wyoming? The guy that has ONLY coached at small outpost style schools his whole career, except his short stint at Okie?
Also, I think some of this is in HOPES that he leaves. If WSU becomes a perennial? Pac12 will have it's head on the bottom and their feet on the top. They won't know what to do with that. Their world will be upside down.
The PAC 12 already is upside down with this. a winning WSU, is not good for business.
WSU has been the best kept secret on the West Coast.
Unequaled college town. Unequaled student experience.
WSU has “it.”
The last thing some of these peer institutions want is to have to compete with anyone. Rather than get their act together and be better, they put their energy into pulling others down. Same could be said for their media markets.
You do not build the quality of your conference by teams being unsuccessful or not competitive. I would think that it would serve the conference more if WSU had a good team. In fact, if every team was good it would elevate the conference. Look at the SEC. Name another conference that gets talk of half the playoff being their teams.
Instead you have media and coaches focused on someone getting worse so they can be better. How about worrying about your own coaching staff???
Unequaled college town. Unequaled student experience.
WSU has “it.”
The last thing some of these peer institutions want is to have to compete with anyone. Rather than get their act together and be better, they put their energy into pulling others down. Same could be said for their media markets.
You do not build the quality of your conference by teams being unsuccessful or not competitive. I would think that it would serve the conference more if WSU had a good team. In fact, if every team was good it would elevate the conference. Look at the SEC. Name another conference that gets talk of half the playoff being their teams.
Instead you have media and coaches focused on someone getting worse so they can be better. How about worrying about your own coaching staff???
WSU not being good for business is more of a backward looking mindset rather than forward looking, but I agree that from the current perspective of the league and it's other members, you are 100% correct.
What's interesting is that nobody looked at Kansas State's success as a bad thing for the Big 12, nobody thought that West Virginia being successful was bad for the Big East and nobody thinks that Penn State experiencing success is bad for the B1G. Florida State being good wasn't considered bad for the ACC. All of those schools are from "relatively" small metropolitan areas that are minor media markets. I'm sure that when they first experienced success, there were other "power" programs that didn't like it and thought it was a bad deal, but nobody questioned them after they had proven that they were not a one hit wonder and all of them were embraced over time. Hell, Eugene is an afterthought when it comes to TV markets.
If WSU can truly start competing at a high level for a 5 year plus period, and start avoiding the bowl meltdowns that happened the past couple years, WSU will start being good for business for the whole conference. Mike Leach, WSU's long term stereotype as a program that has had great offenses and quarterbacks, the devout nature of our core fanbase and other factors can make WSU a great boon for the conference.
This year's success, if we can finish with some emphasis, will tell the world that WSU is going to be a factor as long as Leach is here. We know that the QB situation is murky at best looking forward, but personally, I feel that Cooper is going to make us forget Minshew a little as he blows up the league in the next few years. If WSU has another 9+ win season in 2019, the media will fully embrace WSU as a legitimate football power on the West Coast. There's still a lot of work to do, but this year is doing wonders for Leach and WSU in terms of reputation. Let's just hope that Chun and Schulz are doing their jobs behind the scenes to make Leach want to stay here.
We also have what Oregon had a few years ago before their musical chairs of coaching. The best home field advantage in the conference. Most of the schools in the conference can’t fill their stadiums and the fans that do show up don’t give a shit. 33K passionate fans packing a stadium is a helluva lot more intimidating than 50k that are indifferent. Throw in the bitch of travel getting to Pullman and the late season cold...not a fun road trip.
This part is amazing >
"Leach took over a WSU program that had gone 4-32 in four dreadful conference seasons. It took him three years dig out from under the rubble, but since then the Cougars are 35-14.
That’s more victories in a four-year period than at any time in Arizona history."
Wow.
"Leach took over a WSU program that had gone 4-32 in four dreadful conference seasons. It took him three years dig out from under the rubble, but since then the Cougars are 35-14.
That’s more victories in a four-year period than at any time in Arizona history."
Wow.
That is an amazing quote. Of course, that 35-14 mark happens to match our best stretch of 35-14 from 2001-04, which is even more reason why Leach's performance at WSU in the past few years is so amazing.
My only quibble with the article, and this is pure conjecture, is that in my opinion, Michigan screwed up in firing Rich Rodriguez so soon. The reason that I say that is because Brady Hoke went 11-2 in his first season at Michigan with RichRod's guys, and slowly spiraled into the toilet as time went on. I think that RichRod had set the table for success and they gave up too soon. Of course, you could argue that he built up Arizona briefly before it crumbled out from under him, so maybe he really deserved to be canned by Michigan. He's definitely guilty of being a domineering jerk, no matter what.
WSU being good at the expense of USC & Oregon isn't good. But, SC, UCLA & UW didn't agree to equal TV revenue sharing just because Bill Moos is a swell guy. I always envisioned that conversation going something like this, "Ok, you want to share the TV money, fine. Improve your product and get more people to watch your games." That's exactly what WSU did. Not only by winning, but just by being interesting.
I'm sure Oregon and Stanford aren't fond of losing to us every year, but in the grand scheme, us being interesting enough to have Gameday, a Top 10 ranking, and 12:30 ESPN slots is better than having to air some 58-0 Paul Wulff debacle.
The horse trading included the north south divisions (rather than the zipper) and the California schools all playing each other annually.
Great points. You can bet that they'd prefer a world in which they go 10-2 and WSU is putting out a watchable, exciting, but not dominant 6-6 or 7-5 type of product, though (with the losses in conference play). Sorry, guys ... pick it up!
Imagine what the Pac-12 would look like in the rankings if it had no one in the Top 10. I get the grudging envy, but overall, revenue sharing has been a pretty good thing for the conference.
And yet outside of USC nobody in that division wins the conference. Maybe UCLA got lucky one year early in the Mora tenure, now that I think of it. But since the split the North has dominated the South
