If Mike Leach Isn't Coaching Somewhere in 2012

ohio state’s will be filled soon with meyer so out of the rest i would jump all over the UCLA job if i were him. tons of great recruits right in your back yard in a fairly weak conference in comparison to the SEC jobs. you could easily make yourself the number 3 or 4 team in the PAC12 which would make the alumni there ecstatic. not to mention the great lifestyle there…

If you listen to Leach on his Sirius radio show, he comes across as not being very willing to take anything less than a top tier job. He goes on about how he wants to have a school President and AD who are totally committed to winning. Translation: he doesn’t ever want to haggle over money again. Well, that cuts out a lot of the above schools, because schools with money have a lot to lose and are generally going to be afraid to hire him. If he would just deflate his ego a little, he might want to consider Florida Atlantic. A school that would hire Howard Schnellenberger would surely hire Mike Leach,. He would only be a 45 minute King Air flight from Key West. He could get enough athletes to run his system. A nice re-entry point to the profession, perhaps.

but the longer he stays away from coaching, the less of a commodity he becomes I would think. Despite rumors, even Maryland didn’t hire him. He really should go after the KU job.

This just shows how clueless most AD’s are. You can’t leave winners out in the cold. Leach would wreck sh** at UCLA.

How athletic directors continue to stay employed with their coaching hires is beyond comprehension. The firing of Mangino and Leach by their respective schools continues to boggle my mind. They fire coaches who bring programs to heights never seen before then hire or recycle coaches who were failures elsewhere. It’s amazing….Willingham, Zook, Neuheisal, etc., etc.,

If I’m UCLA, Penn State, Texas A&M (if they choose to do so), my first call is to Jim Tressel. He is the number one guy on my list and it’s not even close. The amazing thing about the aggies is there is not one mention of this guy on their message boards when talking about replacements. That’s all you need to know about their football IQ. Who the hell wants a guy won a National title and numerous big ten titles?

Does anyone honestly think Leach would coach at FAU? Read his book. He’s paid his dues. I think he would be a wonderful fit at Wazzu, KU, or hell even Arizona State. However, I’m of the mind that ASU is a bit of a sleeping giant. Can you imagine Richrod and Leach as rivals. He would do well in the desert.

Ole Miss and UNC are interesting jobs as well. UNC tried with Davis, but he failed but upgraded the talent level. It will be interesting to see where they go from here. Ole Miss needs to find a young up and comer with a lot of energy.

Derek Dooley will be given more time. His team was decimated by injuries and the program was crippled by 3 coaches in 3 years. He is recruiting well and has some young talent on campus. He will be given at least 2 more years.

Riley is an OSU graduate and is revered in the community and has fielded good teams largely due to the Rodgers brothers. He was given a large extension when everyone thought USC would come calling so I doubt his seat is that hot.

ASU would be a great fit. Don’t know about that spread scheme in the SEC. Any PAC 12 team would be blessed, and Kansas could be really interesting.

Leach to Aggy.

A&M ought to be a little gunshy about hiring a guy with NCAA baggage like SweaterVest. Institutional memory.

WSU, ASU, any Pac spot really. UCLA thinks they are above him. I really hope he moderates a bit for his interviews, goes west and kicks serious ass.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that any tier-1 school considering hiring Leach would receive a phone call from ESPN suits.

Yeah, the Vest is persona non grata for a few years at least. Leach should try very hard to get the ASU job. Failing that, he should take the Houston job when Sumlin moves into one of these higher profile gigs this year. Two years maintaining success there will lead to bonafide top tier offers.

Tressel won’t be coaching anywhere until the NCAA decides if it is going to issue a “Show Cause” on him. Hopefully they leave him hanging until all the good jobs are filled if they are aren’t going to punish him.

If I’m UCLA and ASU I offer Leach with a quickness.

the aggies hired sherrill. the vest is the perfect big gun they need.

Tressel HAS to wait at least a year, I would think. And if AD’s can’t figure that out, the NCAA should step in.

I guess you are right about Tressel needing another year away. Still I think he would be perfect for A&M if they can get him. They are too broke to fire sherm now anyway.

Being from near Lubbock, They should Beg Leach to come back. Nobody from the high plains wanted him gone in the first place. Most of them were for a Craig James public hanging.

Agree with you, 55. He and Mangino, who I shall always dub Jabba the Coach, both got raw deals. Look for Mangino to take over KState when the Wizard hangs em up or diesmon the sideline.

2nd most important thing to AD’s: winning.
Most important: Avoiding NY Times articles about their programs.
Leach made a blunder taking on the most powerful organization in the bizness: ESPN
Tressel made a blunder taking on the 2nd most powerful organization in the bizness: NCAA
Tressel can’t coach in college for a while. Leach hasn’t.

There are now plenty of coaches running AirRaid-like systems well without the unpredictability that makes Leach the Blogger’s King.

ASU would seem to be the perfect fit for Leach, PAC12, good recruiting base with CA and TX close, warm, but Erickson was not an inspired hire. Will ASU take the risk or look at Sumlin or try to bring in Briles? If these programs were smart, Waco and Houston are where they should start their search. I can’t believe Fedora wants the Ole Miss job.

55, you should give a big congrats to Jim Sowell and Kent Hance. They used James and those morons wrecked Tech. Truly amazing to fire a guy a year after being one game game from playing for the National Title.

Leach at ASU would be awesome. He’d be a great fit. Everyone would win.

And Fresno State fans are calling for Pat Hill’s head. Leach would be an awesome fit there too.

Quig,

Leach should be suing ESPN. That was the most unbelievable railroading I’ve ever seen. How does Craig James still have a job there after what happened regarding Spaeth communications and the testimony and emails that came out regarding Leach’s firing.

I don’t want to get on the ESPN subject because that is a whole other subject, but that network has way too much power and influence over the sport.

Im not sure why they let Sowel and Hance slide, Groundhog. Im thinking it will bite them soon.

Leach would kill at ASU. I can’t believe Arizona didn’t give him a call. Huge mistake that would be compounded if ASU has the balls to hire him. Kush was no angel and he is the only one that ever got it done there. Hell, they hired Erickson. Leach is like a choir boy compared to Dennis. This is a no brainer that only an NCAA AD can screw up.

Leach could also do well in the ACC. It’s not a solid conference with consistency ever year aside from a team like VT which is prone to losing a few head scratchers every year. But a team like UNC is pretty well stocked..

I admit, I like the UNC idea too.

UNC would be good.

ASU is showing interest in Sumlin from Houston.
That’s be a great hire

How long does Franklin stay at Vandy and London at UVA?

Yes, these are all great rumors…

But…who is going to hire Greg Davis?

Tressel is a very good football coach, and would be an absolutely radioactive hiring decision for any major university. You are basically announcing to the NCAA that you don’t give a rat’s ass about anything but winning, and, um, A&M has had some issues with that mindset in the past few decades.

I believe London stays at UVA for a while. (I certainly hope so as a Virginia alum.) He likes the lifestyle, likes being near Richmond, and feels like he’s building something special.

If the aggies ax the shermonator look for them to raid cougar high and grab kevin sumlin
He’s previously been a coordinator in the big XII

Briles >> Sumlin, just because Briles has already done it in an AQ conference. Sumlin was at A&M prior to OU.

Groundhog: We agree RE: espn, but the fact remains.

It’s not like Penn State has any other choice.

Briles has done what exactly, Quigly?
Neither Briles or Leach have ever won a championship which is what you internet guys hang your hats on, isn’t it?
Leach is a brilliant offensive coach but will never win anything because he’s like a kid on playstation that hates playing defense. He’s also a grade A douche bag.
He’s better than a lot of coaches, I will give him that.

Hopefully UCLA won’t crawl out from under its’ rock to swipe Chris Petersen.

I don’t think the Ags can aford to fire Sherman. His salary is $1.8 million per year, about half of what his replacement will command (unless they go cheap again). Extending Sherman’s contract last year (the six game win streak convinced them he was the long term answer) was a key element in their SEC strategy, to help cover the cost of the Big 12 departure penalty.

My preference is to see Leach in the SEC. There are few memes more irritating to me than “that scheme won’t work in the (SEC, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, etc)”.

I would love to see Leach takeover somewhere off the radar and non-descript — like Wyoming — and turn them into a crazy side-show, BCS wrecker.

I don’t see him getting a chance at a big program, ever.

I’m not sure that either ATM or Tennessee can afford a new coach. Tennessee is still paying Fulmer. ATM was broke even before the exit fee came to fruition. (At least I think that’s right.)

Unfortunately, for my TN wife and friends, it may be quite awhile before TN can approach any semblance of the late 90’s success that they had. Local sports shows are adamant about the fact that it’s really, really hard to recruit nationally for any TN coach. There is very little local talent and why would, say, a hotshot recruit from Louisiana want to sign with an average to below average TN team? There is quite a bit of doom and gloom up here.

Makes me happy to be a Longhorn in that any down trends should always be correctable considering our recruiting, money, prestige, etc… If we are not doing well, a coaching change is all that we have to consider as opposed to places like TN that might not recover even with a good coach due to geography and perception.

Hey! At least I’m getting a hell of a lot less “we’re the real UT” these days.

My preference is to see Leach in the SEC. There are few memes more irritating to me than "that scheme won’t work in the (SEC, NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, etc)".

If you could convince an elite program to run it, maybe, but I doubt it. Leach and Hal Mumme ran it at Kentucky, put up a lot of points, got Tim Couch a rich NFL contract — and didn’t win squat.

I just don’t see someone like Leach recruiting the elite talent needed on the defensive side of the ball.

I’m curious what you all think about Leach at Kansas. I can see why it wouldn’t be a good fit at a place like Texas, but for Kansas, it seems like a no-brainer.

It would be an incredible hire for Kansas, in my opinion. The fighting Dedfischers would be so pissed when y’all beat them, too.

Srr50: Did Kentucky do better or worse with the AirRaid than with every other system they’ve employed?
It’s silly to argue against the AirRaid by arguing that minor programs who employed it didn’t win championships. Minor programs didn’t win championships running any other offense either.

If I am Kansas I am calling Leach in today and holding a press conference tomorrow.

I don’t get the Mangino love. Yeah, he was a great coach, but he’s also just a bad dude – and not in a good way. I’d like my coach to have at least a modicum of human decency. If Mack or Stoops or anyone said something like Mangino supposedly did to Raymond Brown, I’m all about letting him go.

I don’t mind my coach being an a-hole, but there is a difference between being an a-hole and being a disgusting human being.

As for UNC - they were pretty sure they are hiring Chris Petersen on 12/5 as of Saturday, but that has changed after the beatdown UCLA got. Now the Bruins think they have inroads on CP. With so many jobs opening up, I’d be somewhat surprised if this wasn’t the year Petersen made his move, especially with uncertainty at QB and other positions at Boise next year.

Maybe this is why UT wants a timetable with Mack, the threat of missing out on hiring Peterson. Maybe they feel they can keep Peterson free for the Texas job if we have a definitive timetable for when it’s available. Just a guess, I don’t have Shuttlesworth’s access, but I bet it’s something like that.
Plus, it sucks to lose guys like Diaz who are rare and then have the ticking time bomb of Mack’s departure threatening to go off at the most inopportune time.

Mumme’s system only failed at UK after Leach left. Leach was only there two years – one of which included the best season it had in two decades.

Good schemes can work anywhere if executed well.

KU hiring Leach would make me extremely happy. I love that guy.

Nickel, I agree with your premise, but unless the timetable was publicly announced, to prevent Mack from backing off, how are you going to get Petersen to sit still? And then you’d need to get Peterson to agree to hold his fire on any of really attractive jobs out there. I just don’t see it. If he was on staff currently, that’d be one thing, but where’s our leverage here?

Unless the timetable is retiring THIS year… I’m not in for or against Mack doing whatever he wants, but the idea that we’re going to get a guy at another program to avoid looking elsewhere for another year or two strikes me as unrealistic, but by all means, tell me if I’m missing something.

From what I’ve read coming out of Boise, Chris Peterson has had many calls re jobs and he has yet to even consider one opening. Seems unlikely, but there’s a chance he’ll be there forever.

I’d also be curious what any of you think about the potential for Diaz to become a HC. Is he ready yet? Or is he a defense only guy for now? I’m curious why his name hasn’t popped up much for any of these jobs.

Nickel, are you implying that Diaz is gone after this year? Or do you think he sticks around another year or two?

Diaz is already being mentioned as a candidate for jobs like Ole Miss, which is a pretty solid job offer. SEC school and in an area where Diaz has already played and recruited.
We don’t want to have to replace him for 2 reasons: 1). He’s awesome. 2). whoever comes in next probably isn’t going to run the same defense unless we get a Dom Capers’ assistant or something. Even then, Diaz is fairly unique.
It would suck to teach our guys a new scheme all over again, although our talent guarantees that we’ll still be really good.

I don’t know what he would do as a head coach but I suspect that he’d be pretty good. He’s demonstrated that he understands gameplanning and general strategy really well, and you have to wonder what it would look like if he applied his outsider’s perspective to the offensive side of the ball. My only question with him is recruiting, he’s pretty used to getting by without elite talent, which is great for Ole Miss but not as great if he were the head man here.

Quick disclaimer for casual readers, I don’t have insider access like Shuttlesworth or Scipio.

If Peterson is our favored target to be head coach at Texas someday, it would make sense that we have a solid timetable so he wouldn’t accept a job like UCLA when Texas could have been available in another year.

Regardless of what Peterson does though, we need a plan for Mack’s departure and with so many other jobs opening up it’s hard to make plans if we have no idea when Mack will step down.

ASU alums out here are saying Tressel to the Sun Devils. Unsure if it’s just wishful thinking, but that’s their party line this weekend.

Manny has one huge leg up on many other HC candidates imo. Having lived in a political family (his dad was mayor of Miami) and worked at ESPN, he has a comfort level with the media that most other assistant coaches do not. He would not be intimidated by the demands and spotlight that a HC gig entails. Also, I have to think he would be good at the kind of lobbying and gladhanding with boosters that Mack is so good at. I can’t see him being uncomfortable having to attend the kind of events that would probably make Mike Leach spit up bile.

I am not ready to anoint him the next HC, but I can say after watching him this season, he would be pretty high on my list.

I would not have a problem hiring Manny sometime in the near future. Oklahoma hired a young Bob Stoops,who had not been a head coach. Worked out well for them.

That Boise coach has trouble with TCU, one of the few good teams he coaches against. No way TCU should have beat them this year, but they did. I dont think Peterson will ever be head coach at Texas.

should be spelled Petersen.

I’d like our next coach to have some schematic chops on one side of the ball, or the other. I’m not particular about a specific candidate. I just don’t want another CEO guy, because it seems to cause accountability problems.

What makes anyone think we couldn’t get Petersen to leave UCLA or UNC in a couple of years?

Why in the world would Peterson even think about going to UNC which is facing NCAA sanctions or UCLA where there is a huge talent gape between he and his cross town rival let alone a couple of schools to the North.

With Utah, TCU, and UH out of the non-AQ pool the road to a BCS bowl game is much easier for Boise than it has been in years past. No one will be able to beat them in the MWC and that means he wins his one ’big" early season game and then ride it out.

Peterson is verging on mythical stature and if and when he decides to leave Boise it won’t be for train wreck programs like UCLA or UNC (presuming the NCAA does in fact drop the hammer on them).

In regards to Peterson and Austin, my biggest question would be not the X and O’s nor recruiting, but the ancillary shit you have to deal with in that position. There are no “big cigars” in Boise and there is not the constant spotlight on the program. It will take someone with very, very thick skin to follow Mack under the microscope that has only been intensified with the LHN.

I think quietly we’d want Petersen to go to UCLA or UNC just to prove he could be successful outside of Boise.

Do we want Applewhite to get a HC gig? He seems the most ready between he and Harsin, Diaz. Just feels like we are grooming him.

That Boise coach has trouble with TCU, one of the few good teams he coaches against. No way TCU should have beat them this year, but they did. I dont think Peterson will ever be head coach at Texas.

rolls eyes

He’s 2-2 against TCU with both losses coming by one point. TCU has a very similar, if not superior, talent level to Boise State on a year-to-year basis.

TexanNick: I might agree, or at least I would like a guy who could maintain a steady system that produced assistant coaches and schemes that other schools would want to import.
Mack’s methods have been pretty successful though, obviously.

55f100tx: I think you’re going to see more schools struggle with TCU in the near future.

holdem: you’re right. But I think our AD and management would like to have an idea of what that would look like beyond vague references by Mack to future retirement. You don’t want a situation like with JoePa where the coach dictates everything and leaves a mess when he leaves. It was going to be hard to move on after him without that horrifying scandal.

Big duke, this is TCU’s down year. Boise had there all everything Qb. Should not have happened this year. Gary Patterson is a heck of a coach.

Doesnt really matter, Mack’s going to be here for a while.

I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Applewhite get a HC job to see what he can do on his own. Assuming he is successful he seems like the most likely candidate to replace Mack in my mind.

I thought the way Diaz handled himself at that introductory presser screamed “head coach.” Not saying he will be or should be the next guy at Texas, but he would seem to have not only the football acumen but the polished persona for the job (albeit with a lack of head coaching experience).

Nickel, I cant compare Mack to 80 plus Paterno. I lay the Paterno problem on Penn st. One , I think Mack wants to leave a good solid program for his successor, not something like Muschamp ended up with at Florida. Mack is only sixty, same age as Saben. 16 years or so younger than Bill Snyder. Im sure Mack will retire by or before 65. I think he promised the new coaches 3 years, so that leaves 2 more to go.

I agree with you about TCU. Gary has been real good finding nuggets of gold in south dallas over the years. Now that he is in a BCS conference i see him getting most anyone he wants from the south Dallas area. Not sure anyone evaluates talent as well as he does.

Penn St. was an extreme example but if Mack is always going to hang around “just a few more years” that makes it hard to plan for his departure. I agree though, I think Mack wants to leave Texas in strong shape.

NR,

I also think Dodds has the stones to tell Mack when it is time to leave. Paterno and Bowden essentially ran roughshod over every President and AD they encountered. I don’t think Mack has that same luxury here. A pissing match with Deloss would end badly for Mack.

ASU alums out here are saying Tressel to the Sun Devils. Unsure if it’s just wishful thinking, but that’s their party line this weekend.

At ASU, every line is a “party” line.

But seriously, Tressel had a hard time getting hired as a reply booth guy in the NFL (the NFL!), and even then they had to suspend him for several games first. I can’t imagine anyone – even ASU – would be willing to put up with that kind of heat.

Hiphop’s appearance already sorta made the point, but Leach to KU is a dream shared by many a KU fan right now…

I would so be behind The Pirate coming to Lawrence… :)

That (Texas) coach has trouble with (Oklahoma), one of the few good teams he coaches against.

Hmmm….

If Peterson can’t win at UCLA, he can’t win at Texas. I agree with whomever said that it would be nice to see him compete at a big level program before anointing this mythical figure to head coach at Texas.

I’ve been critical of Mack in the past, but he rebuilt this program and built UNC into a program that any competent coach could walk in and do well there. In fact, he had a perrenial top 10 team at UNC when he left and was stockpiling talent.

I would like to see Peterson do the same at UCLA. If he really is the coach that people on here say he is he should be able to rebuild UCLA much like Mack did at UNC and/or Texas. If he can’t do that, we certainly don’t want him here. Anyone saying UCLA is a dead end job doesn’t know squat about football. It’s a beautiful school, a great academic institution, plays home games in the rose bowl, sits in a recruiting hotbed, plays in a good (hmmm) conference, and used to compete for Rose Bowls. The adminstration has held back that program but it looks like those days might be coming to an end.

I want to be clear, particularly to Nickel. I think we should build a statue to Mack, and short of more 5-7 or 6-6 years, I’d give him as much time as he wants. But when it comes to the NEXT guy, I just don’t want a CEO.

I also believe that we are grooming Major to take over the reigns, but that may be wishful thinking. Personally, I LOVE the idea! Major’s Longhorn karma is set up for success, he has proven himself a witch in the recruiting game, he is very football smart and has demonstrated a passion for winning and an urgency to that end that has been woefully lacking from the current “CEO” head coach. Promoting Major also resolves the issue of keeping the core of the staff intact through the transition.

Let’s not forget that Major has also been exposed to the Saban school of coaching there has to be some positive residual takeaways from that experience, even if Applewhite is not a protege per se. Additionally, I gotta think he’s earned his chops with both the Big Cigars and the high school coaches in the state. Why not Major?!?! Seems like a no-brainer to me…

There are no "big cigars" in Boise

I’m purty sure you’ll find “Big Cigars” at damn near any school you pick… including Boise State..

Mack’s methods have been pretty successful though, obviously.

“Mack’s methods” meaning “Find an NFL caliber QB able to overcome GDGD’s inanities, and find a DC who can shut down the oppo”, yeah? That seems to have worked for Carroll, Meyer and Chizik, although Saban and Miles managed it without the superduper QB. If you could have one of those five, would you take him? I’m not too sure I would, although the Mad Hatter seems less objectionable overall.

I think Mack wants to leave Texas in strong shape.

Too bad he didn’t think of that five or six years ago, when he put the Winnebago on Cruise Control and stepped to the back for a good long shit, leaving no one to steer or brake.

If Peterson can’t win at UCLA, he can’t win at Texas.

Doesn’t follow. Substitute “USC” for “UCLA” and I’ll agree with you. Your definition of “win” may be different from mine, tho’.

…give him [Mack] as much time as he wants…

Give him 2012, if he wants it. Lose to the ’clips by five and a half TDs again, might need to cut that short.

Srr50: Did Kentucky do better or worse with the AirRaid than with every other system they’ve employed? It’s silly to argue against the AirRaid by arguing that minor programs who employed it didn’t win championships. Minor programs didn’t win championships running any other offense either.

This minor program had more success after AirRaid. Rich Brooks came in with a system that emphasized defense as well as offense and put together 4 years that lapped what Mumme/Leach did.

Of course any system will work at an elite program. Leach’s system is based on bringing a certain amount of success to a program that cannot aquire elite talent.

Kansas would be great for Leach. He could do what he did at Tech. He won’t win championships, but he will score lots of points and he will bring them lots of publicity.

Srr50: I think the airraid would be a good fit for a major program. You would just increase the number of playmakers in the system and, if emphasized at all, pair it with solid defense.

Tex Long: By Mack’s methods I meant: recruit superior talent, deploy them with simple “beat every defense” offense, and hire the best defensive coordinators available. I also think that man-coverage is an important part of Mack’s philosophy and appeals to the part of him that likes to recruit the best players and train them to overwhelm anything.

Obviously 5 or 6 years ago Mack didn’t realize that the program was starting to decay or he would have begun this process of correction sooner. Yes, too bad he didn’t realize it. He seems to understand now, hopefully he can fix it. I think he can.

If these kids coming in next season are as good as this seasons freshman have been, Mack will have it back. When this years group are Jr’s watch out.

Why do we care so much about Leach? He vexes me on the field, and I can’t get enough of him off it. I’ve always thought the PAC10 would snatch him if he ever left Lubbock. They hate defense on the West Coast and the freakier the better. His fast passing style would win over any of those fans quick. ASU or UCLA would be freakishly successful. Leach with a tan and roller blades talking about pirates…..just fits there.

@Nickel, I agree Mack would have fixed it sooner, but we were living in a “Colt/Shipley bubble”.

TLong,

Why would we hire a guy who can’t win at UCLA? They have a lot of built in advantages and I’ll argue this is by far the best opportunity available. Do you remember LSU before Saban? It was a graveyard for football coaches, but it was a sleeping giant. UCLA is also a sleeping giant.

Do you remember LSU before Saban? It was a graveyard for football coaches, but it was a sleeping giant. UCLA is also a sleeping giant.

Not even close in comparison. LSU has always cared about football — deeply.

UCLA never has — it is a basketball school that thinks winning in football is cool, but they have never committed financially to upgrade facilities to compete with USC.

Leach was the best thing to EVERvhappen to Texas Tech. Season tix were the best ever, the stadium was hugely grown due to the attendance his success brought. TTU was able to compete with UT, A&M, OU, OSU etc. So was their record. After the admin turned on him we now have the worst Tech season since 1993!!!! No Bowl game for the first time since. Of course Adam James got plenty of playing time—- enough to drop a Key pass in the Baylor slaughter of Tech this weekend- the only time Baylor has beat TTU. And by a route. But I digress. Please read Double T, Double Cross, and let the truth be known! The Tech Regents and Kent Hance ( who I supported in his run for Governor years ago) should save their own face and at least allow Mike Leach to go on to another school and be successful. Their gigg is up.

I love the Leach to Kansas idea for the big 12 in general. Even if a school can get past his lawsuit against his former employer, no school with hire him while he still has a pending case against ESPN.

SRR,

No doubt Louisiana fans are more passionate about football, but that doesn’t change the fact that a good hire will have success. It has a lot of built in advantages to do so. That’s my point with Chris Petersen and whether or not he is truly up to the task of big time college football. In fact, one could argue that a good hire inspires an upgrade in facilities. My LSU reference had more to do with the fact that people continually throw out the “why would he go there” comment. LSU was a complete after thought until Saban showed up, but was a sleeping giant for the reason you mentioned above and it’s high school talent and being the only game in town.

Another example is Florida who had zero success as a football program until Spurrier showed up 20 years ago.

Since you brought up leach, are you still amazed that people give Leach (who basically had the same success as Dykes) so much credit in Lubbock? He did a lot more in Lubbock than win. He brought attention to the program and made people very passionate about their team. His success will be tough to duplicate and Tuberville is in over his head. First off, the spread offense isn’t who he is as a coach. He is a defensive minded coach first and he is trying to be someone he is not. I hope Leach gets the KU job so he can torture Kent Hance and the rest of those fools in Lubbock.

Why would we hire a guy who can’t win at UCLA?

I give up… why would we? My point is, it is a whole lot harder to turn the UCLA program around than the USC one, so not winning at UCLA is not nearly as damning as not winning at USC.

Why would anyone drink decaf? What is the point of taking a drug with the active ingredient removed? Coca-Cola sez Hi…

Since you brought up leach, are you still amazed that people give Leach (who basically had the same success as Dykes) so much credit in Lubbock? He did a lot more in Lubbock than win. He brought attention to the program and made people very passionate about their team.

I’m not amazed that he gets so much credit in Lubbock. I am amazed that people think he could wreak havoc at a major power with his philosophy.

Leach: .667 winning percentage, 5 AP Top 25 finishes in 10 years (all in his last six years)
Dykes: .550 winning percentage, 2 AP Top 25 finishes in 12 years

That is not “basically the same”. Leach’s last 6 years were easily the best stretch in school history.

Sarcasm, big duke, from an earlier conversation a few weeks ago with SRR. I’m a big Leach supporter but agree that he is not the guy to take over a MAJOR job.

Fair enough, T, but a good coach can and should win at UCLA. The built in advantages are obvious. Because USC wins doesn’t mean UCLA can’t. They are not mutually exclusive. Perhaps the hires that school has made is the reason why they can’t win. Dorrell? Really? Neweasel? Really? Toledo? Really.

Because USC wins doesn’t mean UCLA can’t.

USC is in a similar position to ours, in that it is THE big dog. UCLA? More like agy, imo, third or fourth in conference, not even second in state. Building a “winning” program at UCLA has to be every bit as tough as at agy.

Leach: .667 winning percentage, 5 AP Top 25 finishes in 10 years (all in his last six years)
Dykes: .550 winning percentage, 2 AP Top 25 finishes in 12 years

Spike Dykes non conference opponents:
Florida State, Georgia (twice), Oregon (twice), Penn State, Tennesse, Arizona, Arizona State, Ohio State.
One D-1AA team was on the schedule — Pacific
(He also played OU, Oklahoma State and Missouri as non-conference games.)

Leach inhereted home-and-home series with Mississippi and North Carolina State, and his AD added a TV game with Ohio State.

Otherwise, Leach non-conference opponents: Nevada, SMU, TCU, Rice, UTEP, New Mexico, Florida International, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Massachuesetts, Indiana State, North Dakota Northwestern State.

There were 2 seasons (2005 & 2008) where Tech played two D-1AA teams in a single season.

Conference records
Dykes (Big 12) 19-13 59%

Leach: 47-33 59%

T,

I respectfully disagree. UCLA is not like aggy and USC is not like UT. First off USC is a private school located in the middle of compton and plays its football games off campus in a horrible facility. Yes, I’m sure the athletic facilities on campus are wonderful, but people weren’t speaking this way about USC until Pete Carroll resurrected a program many thought was dead due to a series of inept coaching hires. You remember the days of Ted Tollner and Larry Smith don’t you? I remember watching a half empty coliseum. It uses the great tradition built by McCay and continued by Robinson to sell recruits on its program as it should.

UCLA is in beautiful location unlike aggy, sits in fertile recruiting area, is a great academic institution, plays its home games in the historic rose bowl, and has a positive student body.

Use Bama/Auburn, Mich/Mich State, Vir/Vir Tech, Miss/Miss State when using the UT/Aggy comparison.

SRR,

Dykes = Southwest Conference
Leach = Big 12

Leach was close to playing for a National Championship in 2008 and knocked off a number one team in the process. Can Dykes say the same?

First of all that is Dykes BIG 12 record.

I guess I haven’t been clear enough as to my point. Mike Leach is an entertaining coach whose philosophy (not his scheme) prevents him from being attractive to elite programs. He doesn’t enjoy recruiting, he ignores defense, and his shoot-from-the-hip style with the press is an AD’s nightmare.

Tech was arrogant when they essentially told him that “We are as good as you can do.”

Arrogant, but not that far off.

In some places the "big cigars’ are Cohibas and in others Tiparilloes and White Owls.

Boise has an endowment of less than $80M and an athletic budget that just crested $30M this past year. Compare that to five schools in the Big 12 next year with endowments (not factoring in market impact) of just around or over $1 B and the smallest endowment of over $250 M.

I don’t think the AD at Boise has in the Rolodex a world class heart surgeon, some senior partners in some of the biggest law firms in the world, a Saudi Prince, and a guy like Bob Moses. Might be wrong.

That was Dykes’ record with traditional powers OU and TX in a very down cycle.

Hey, but we agree that Leach is not the guy at a top 5-10 program. I think Tech will be challenged to find someone who did what Leach did at Tech and that is to get Tech in the National Title discussion. Not to mention his attention to his players’ education. If bringing money in the door through publicity of pirates and fat little girlfriends all the while graduating his players is a headache for schools like Tech then the NCAA should promote more guys Hance and Myers as administrators.

ASU would be great. Can you imagine the insane offensive stats from the Pirate vs RichRod every year?

UCLA is not like aggy and USC is not like UT.

One of the things that are sine quan non for survival is the ability to see how things are the same, in addition to see how they are different.

Certainly there are multitudinous differences, but there are significant similarities as well. UCLA is every bit as much the graveyard of coaches as is agy, and I think generally for the same reasons, chiefly cultural – which is not to equate the cultures between the two, only to point out that they are not conducive to football success. I grant you, agy is just plain weird in many respects, while UCLA apparently has better things to do than support football.

Likewise, USC and Texas have similarities, both historical and present. I would venture that within the respective states, the best football players generally choose the two over almost any other schools, to the detriment of UCLA and agy respectively – and in each case there are more schools that also appeal more to recruits than to the two. Unfortunately, outside the state, USC has a decided advantage… but that’s not the point at issue.

Ultimately, to me, not being able to “win” at UCLA is not necessarily a deal-breaker. Without looking up its record, I have to say that I don’t immediately recall any really good coaches at UCLA – in football, at least.

But, let’s agree to disagree – if indeed we do… the overall thread is about Mike Leach. I still haven’t forgiven him for voting the ‘clips over us in 2008, but… he IS a funny guy, and hugely entertaining. Kinda like a monkey, ya know – fun at someone else’s place, at least until he shits on your chair.

I’d love to see him have a shot at a school with a Name, even UCLA (although I can’t imagine that they’d hire him). It would be scary as hell for him to come to the realization that he needs to find, and keep, his own Manny Diaz along with the next Holgo, and work with them on strategy, but leave them (D at least) the hell alone as far as tactics are concerned. I’m really not sure I want to see him at Kansas, but I’d love for him to take Ole Miss (never happen) or UNC (possible, but seems unlikely). Maybe New Mexico?

The fact that LSU and ‘Bama are head and shoulders above most of the rest, and that they do it with D rather than O, probably lies uppermost in the minds of most of the tire-kickers. On the other hand, if they’re looking for an exciting team that puts butts in seats and dollars in the local pockets, I’m not sure who’s better than the Pirate.

Kansas would be great for Leach. He could do what he did at Tech. He won’t win championships, but he will score lots of points and he will bring them lots of publicity.