Wonder if CML wishes he had stayed in Pullman a little longer?

[COCoug]

With job openings at USC, LSU, Oklahoma, Washington, Notre Dame, and more to come, I think CML would have been in the mix for some of these.
He was being regularly mentioned for P5 jobs for several years before he made the jump to MSU.
I think if he was at WSU this year we probably have 9 wins and are playing for the conference championship. At a minimum, we are where we are right now, assuming he was brave enough to get his little shot. Of course it is debatable whether the real Blue Bloods of college football would want CML or his version of the Air Raid, but I think his stock would have been as high or higher as when he was getting offers from Tennessee and MSU, so how much of a reach would it be for him to get an offer from LSU or any of the rest?

 

[Glad Cougar]

If LSU was able to hire Kelly and USC was able to land Riley, I would think Leach would've been Plan C, D, or E at best.....at least for those schools. I've seen his name mentioned as a longshot candidate at Oklahoma but not really a primary target. I think MSU is an appropriate program for Leach right now.

Glad Cougar

 

[Cougsocal]

Well, Leach has come a long away since the Sports Illustrated article, "Why won't anyone hire Mike Leach" days, thanks to us, but if you are a blue blood program would you hire him? Tennessee completely melted down when it seemed likely he was going to offered the job. And we don't really know why!

 

[roses04]

I doubt Leach regrets his move, he already has Miss St in a better place than they were, if they are even better next year, there will be more offers. I still think Leach has one or two more moves, he's 60, and he'll probably can coach until he's 70 under the right circumstances. Bruce Feldman always felt Leach wanted a chance to bring the AR to the NFL, well it's already there, one of his pupils beat him to it.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

No.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

I'm sure that Leach is fine with being at MSU. Although he was ready to take the Tennessee job, he knows deep down that the top tier jobs come with a level of scrutiny and oversight that he would hate. The thing that's going to be interesting about MSU is to find out what his ceiling is there. There's obviously nothing wrong with 7-5 and they had a lot of close losses this year. Alabama was the only team that really cleaned MSU's clock. That said, Auburn, A&M & La Tech could have easily been losses. It'll be interesting to see where the pirate is in a few years. Given that they play LSU, A&M, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Ole Miss, getting to more than 8 wins is going to be quite the accomplishment. I'm betting that LSU and Auburn will be better teams next year. You can write down Alabama and Georgia as losses right now.

Even though I'm still bitter that Leach chose to make a lateral move like he did, I'm still intrigued to see how the Air Raid holds up over time there.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

I'm sure that Leach is fine with being at MSU. Although he was ready to take the Tennessee job, he knows deep down that the top tier jobs come with a level of scrutiny and oversight that he would hate. The thing that's going to be interesting about MSU is to find out what his ceiling is there. There's obviously nothing wrong with 7-5 and they had a lot of close losses this year. Alabama was the only team that really cleaned MSU's clock. That said, Auburn, A&M & La Tech could have easily been losses. It'll be interesting to see where the pirate is in a few years. Given that they play LSU, A&M, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Ole Miss, getting to more than 8 wins is going to be quite the accomplishment. I'm betting that LSU and Auburn will be better teams next year. You can write down Alabama and Georgia as losses right now.

Even though I'm still bitter that Leach chose to make a lateral move like he did, I'm still intrigued to see how the Air Raid holds up over time there.

Flat, your last sentence says it all. Agree with it. The SEC was starting to learn to defend the AR this year, and I expect that half the league will do a good job of practicing the Jimmy Lake strategy by next season, with suitable personnel to do that. And Mike Leach, God love him, will non-respond in exactly the same way he did while at WSU. You also noted the big question: What is his ceiling at MSU? I'm going to say that most years it will be 4 league wins. So if they don't blow a cupcake game (and we all know how prone Mike is to do that), 8 wins will be the ceiling most years. Sure, the stars could all align and combine the weakest possible SEC schedule combination with a year where CML has his best offense...and then he might get 9 wins. And I can't realistically see less than 6 wins with the typical SEC noncon schedule, so let's say 6-9 wins per year, with 6 wins being as common as 9 wins, and the rest split 50/50 between 7 and 8 wins.

 

[COCoug]

Yes- there does appear to be a ceiling for wins at MSU, but not for expectations by alumni. For what it is worth, the MSU faithful did not view this as a rebuilding job- they went to lower-tier bowls every year, and the team CML inherited was actually pretty loaded, at least on defense. CML was their "big name" hire to get to the SEC championship, and beyond, not the Music City Bowl, again....

 

[CougPatrol]

Leach is poised to have a year next season similar to the one Lane Kiffin put together this year at Ole Miss. We're see how it plays out. One thing about Leach, I don't think he's the Least bit concerned about alumni pressure or getting fired.

 

[ttowncoug]

I've spoken with SEC guys and they think Leach's QB will be #2 or #1 in the conference next season. I personally feel if he has another good year....maybe great based on the fact Ole Miss loses their QB....his stock and interest will rise.

Some place like Auburn might knock if they have another disappointing season. Their alumni is not happy Harsin was hired and blame their president and AD for "going outside the Board" to get him.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

ttown, it would be no surprise if CML's QB has the best statistics in the SEC. On the other hand, if he were the top NFL prospect at QB in the SEC, I would be surprised. Time will tell.

 

[Brent H.]

No, he's making $5M a year and his agent will get him more.

 

[roses04]

There are still some upset Leach left, others that were glad to see him go. I was disappointed to see Leach leave, but I think we all have to thank him for what he did for the program, he certainly left it in a much better place than he found it. Yes there were things that Leach did that made me cringe, and I didn't always agree with him, but I don't know that anyone else could have pulled the football team out of the hole the previous staff had dug. He put is back on the map, got us to back into the top 20, he was featured on game day weekly, got game day to Pullman, got us to bowl games, no he couldn't win more than one Apple Cup, but embraced Pullman and WSU. Leach is the only coach that never used Pullman's remote location as a recruiting excuse, in fact he did just the opposite. Loved the small town, pushed the true college down, had TV shoots of him walking to work, he made the place almost sound magical, which it is to us that understand, now that was a sales job. Plus it is his recruits that are responsible for the winning record this year and the winning attitude Leach instilled in the program. Dickert did a good job of tapping into it, but Leach built the foundation. So if you liked Leach or hated him, he rescued a program that may never have recovered from the 4 years in the dark ages. So I think we all need to be remindful of that and thank Leach for what he did for our football program.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Good lord, I thought we were finally past the ex-girlfriend stage with CML. I've never understood why anyone would have more than a passing interest in a former coach, especially when we have all we can handle with our coaching situation.

Cougfans remind me of Paul Rudd's character in 40 year old virgin vis a vis his ex.

 

[Observer11]

Would be curious as to how many people have stayed with their same employer for 10 plus years.

My guess is it is a fraction of my father's generation and will become a smaller and smaller percentage each succeeding generation.

People leave and do other things. It's what they do.

 

[Cougsocal]

I doubt Leach regrets his move, he already has Miss St in a better place than they were, if they are even better next year, there will be more offers. I still think Leach has one or two more moves, he's 60, and he'll probably can coach until he's 70 under the right circumstances. Bruce Feldman always felt Leach wanted a chance to bring the AR to the NFL, well it's already there, one of his pupils beat him to it.

What? Better place? Under Leach MSU is 11-12, with two Egg Bowl losses. Ole Miss just won 10 games, and is 15-7 under Kiffin, who signed the #17 recruiting class this year. Moorhead was canned for going 14-12 despite two Egg Bowl wins. 2022 is a make or break year for Leach in Starkville. He wasn't hired to do as well as Joe Moorhead, but to exceed what Mullen accomplished. We are talking about the SEC, not the friendly confines of the Palouse.

 

[FnuLnu]

Would be curious as to how many people have stayed with their same employer for 10 plus years.

My guess is it is a fraction of my father's generation and will become a smaller and smaller percentage each succeeding generation.

People leave and do other things. It's what they do.

Mike Leach lived in the city of Pullman perhaps longer than Jay Inslee ever lived in the city of Seattle.

Pac12 Conference is a basket case, Robert Barber case repercussions unfortunately bearing fruit.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Mike Leach lived in the city of Pullman perhaps longer than Jay Inslee ever lived in the city of Seattle.

Pac12 Conference is a basket case, Robert Barber case repercussions unfortunately bearing fruit.

Care to elaborate/ clarify?

 

[FnuLnu]

Care to elaborate/ clarify?

USC game targeting call/noncall - league officer in replay booth? Officiating, TV deal ramifications leaking down to salary pool. About every other little thing. Media coverage etc.

Several of his assistants were pealed off after Barber affair. Poly recruiting not recovered. Seeing Schulz behavior during that probably give him Tech administrator flash backs

Seemed to have liked Pullman though.

 

[roses04]

OMG, Leach decided to move on, people do it all the time, no big deal, it was time for another challenge, nothing more nothing less. Throw in all the outside stuff you want, they are excuses for people leaving not reasons. More money and a better opportunity were the primary reasons any of the coaches left.

 

[CougEd]

USC game targeting call/noncall - league officer in replay booth? Officiating, TV deal ramifications leaking down to salary pool. About every other little thing. Media coverage etc.

Several of his assistants were pealed off after Barber affair. Poly recruiting not recovered. Seeing Schulz behavior during that probably give him Tech administrator flash backs

Seemed to have liked Pullman though.

When did Joe leave .. after Barber case ? I certainly don’t remember it that way.

 

[FnuLnu]

When did Joe leave .. after Barber case ? I certainly don’t remember it that way.

After.

Quote involved during in fact.

 

[79COUG]

Would be curious as to how many people have stayed with their same employer for 10 plus years.

My guess is it is a fraction of my father's generation and will become a smaller and smaller percentage each succeeding generation.

People leave and do other things. It's what they do.

Coaches staying for 10+ years? Dunno. Days of Woody and Bo are long gone. However you do get the occasional Mark Few.
I was with a Spokane printing company for 27 years... and I was the LEAST tenured on the sales staff. Ownership was turned over to a family member and all 4 of us were gone within 12 months. Things change, cultures change.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

USC game targeting call/noncall - league officer in replay booth? Officiating, TV deal ramifications leaking down to salary pool. About every other little thing. Media coverage etc.

Several of his assistants were pealed off after Barber affair. Poly recruiting not recovered. Seeing Schulz behavior during that probably give him Tech administrator flash backs

Seemed to have liked Pullman though.

Joe might have left because of the Barber situation but I don't think you can point to coaches that left in 2018 and 2019 and say that it had anything to do with that. Those other coaches left because of the money, not from some moral outrage over Barber. Hell, Joe went from $400k per year to over $600k. It's hard to argue that it wasn't about the money for him too.

On a different note, someone asked about staying with the same employer long term....I've been with my company for 20 years (and 24 out of the past 25).

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Joe might have left because of the Barber situation but I don't think you can point to coaches that left in 2018 and 2019 and say that it had anything to do with that. Those other coaches left because of the money, not from some moral outrage over Barber. Hell, Barber went from $400k per year to over $600k. It's hard to argue that it wasn't about the money for him too.

On a different note, someone asked about staying with the same employer long term....I've been with my company for 20 years (and 24 out of the past 25).

16 total years here, including the last 14.

We're dinosaurs though. Job jumping is expected if not necessary in order to advance financially and professionally.

 

[COCoug]

What? Better place? Under Leach MSU is 11-12, with two Egg Bowl losses. Ole Miss just won 10 games, and is 15-7 under Kiffin, who signed the #17 recruiting class this year. Moorhead was canned for going 14-12 despite two Egg Bowl wins. 2022 is a make or break year for Leach in Starkville. He wasn't hired to do as well as Joe Moorhead, but to exceed what Mullen accomplished. We are talking about the SEC, not the friendly confines of the Palouse.

This is exactly right. MSU 2019-2021 is not WSU 2011. MSU has been winning 6 or 7 games and going to bowls for years and years. Six wins a year is the absolute floor, which is basically where CML is right now. If you told MSU fans 2 years ago that they had a shot at 12 wins in the next 2 years, zero percent would have signed on. I would never discount the possibility of CML getting 9 or 10 wins next year, but the point is that so far the Air Raid has not translated in SEC wins, and I for one think his stock would have been higher right now if he had coached WSU this year.

 

[kougkurt]

Not enough trees to build treehouses

 

[CougPatrol]

I wasn’t upset when Leach left, nor do have anything but gratitude for the turn around he provided us with.

This is our 6th bowl game in 7 years, and our 7th since Leach was hired 10 years ago. Go back in time when we were finishing up our final season with Wulff and tell me you were expecting the next decade of Cougar football to play out like it has.

 

[chipdouglas]

If LSU was able to hire Kelly and USC was able to land Riley, I would think Leach would've been Plan C, D, or E at best.....at least for those schools. I've seen his name mentioned as a longshot candidate at Oklahoma but not really a primary target. I think MSU is an appropriate program for Leach right now.

Glad Cougar

Agree. Even MSU fans disliked the Leach hire bc they [delusionally] believed they were a Top P5 team who should play power football and not resort to novelty offenses with notoriously sketchy Ds.

Maybe USC would have been desperate enough after its string of failures, and after having Kingsbury, but I can't imagine anyone else other than middle-of-the-pack-P5 or worse.