Jacie
7/30/2009, 07:21 AM
. . . you put Listerine on your legs.
Laughing with Leach
By Jason King, Yahoo! Sports
13 hours, 49 minutes ago
Jul 28, 2009
IRVING, Texas – If he had to choose, Mike Leach said he’d get a piercing instead of a tattoo.
“If I got tired of it,” the Texas Tech football coach said, “I could just pull it out.”
Leach, we now know, rubs Listerine on his legs to stave off the West Texas fire ants. He thinks graduation rates should be the determining factor in the Big 12’s tiebreaker system, and following his daughter’s marriage this summer, he has a new take on weddings.
“There’s a point where all the women are racing around, changing their position on virtually every subject,” Leach said. “You just try to disappear until it’s over and you have to shake everyone’s hand and pat them on the back. That part went really well.”
Yes, just as he does every summer, Leach had reporters in hysterics at Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday, when it became evident that last year’s 11-2 record and co-Big 12 South championship did nothing to inflate the ego of the conference’s kookiest coach.
Whether he’s filling in for the local meteorologist, offering dating advice on YouTube or criticizing President Obama for getting involved in the push for a college playoff – “I’d deal with other stuff if I were him,” he said – Leach hasn’t changed a bit.
But his situation has.
Throughout most of his career Leach’s persona has made him the bearded lady among college football coaches. He was a guy everyone loved to watch but never took seriously.
Now, thanks to last season’s finish, Leach and his video-game offense are more than just a sideshow. The perception these days is that, along with being the nation’s wackiest coach, Leach also is one of its best.
Or at least he will be if he can rekindle and sustain the momentum that Texas Tech was riding before its national championship hopes were zapped in last year’s demoralizing 44-point loss to Oklahoma in Week 11. A victory would’ve earned the Red Raiders a spot in the league title game – and likely the BCS championship game.
“With all the interviews and cameras and commotion, we just wore down,” Leach said.
Still, it was a magnificent season, with Texas Tech claiming a share of the division title for the first time since the inception of the Big 12.
Now it’s time to see if Leach can really coach.
The 2009 campaign will say a lot about Leach. With a new five-year, $12.7 million contract that will keep him in Lubbock through 2013, Texas Tech’s coach will be tested like never before. Some pundits have picked the Red Raiders to finish fifth – ahead of only Texas A&M – in the Big 12 South.
Receiver Michael Crabtree, the 10th overall pick in last spring’s NFL draft, is now with the San Francisco 49ers. Graham Harrell, college football’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, has moved on to the CFL. There still is plenty of talent in Lubbock, but no proven stars.
One person who doesn’t seem concerned is Leach, who shrugged off suggestions that his team could struggle.
“I don’t think it’s really all that dramatic,” he said. “There was a time when nobody had heard of Crabtree and Harrell, too. It’s a yearly ritual. There are going to be some guys that play that a lot of people haven’t heard of, but we feel good about them.
“I don’t feel like there’s going to be a big letdown this year.”
Even though his roster indicates otherwise, Leach is tough to doubt. From Kliff Kingsbury to B.J. Symons to Sonny Cumbie to Harrell, Leach is not unfamiliar with entering a season behind a new starting quarterback. Still, he’s managed to get Texas Tech to a bowl game in each of his nine seasons. The Red Raiders have won nine or more games in each of the past three years.
That has to be comforting for Taylor Potts, a 6-5 junior who will take over for Harrell under center.
“Early on, people thought his success was a fluke,” said John Scovell, a former Texas Tech captain and a current member of the university’s Board of Regents. “He’s finally getting the credit that he should’ve gotten from Day 1.
“What more could you ask in terms of providing excitement, entertainment and graduation rates? He’s bringing players to Lubbock that never would’ve come there before.”
Leach was rewarded for his efforts during the offseason with a new contract, but it didn’t come easily. Leach and his agent haggled with Texas Tech’s administration for months about a provision in the proposed new deal that would’ve required Leach to pay the school $1.5 million if he interviewed for another job without receiving permission from athletic director Gerald Myers.
In the new contract, which was signed Feb. 20, Leach only needs to notify Myers in writing if he has plans to interview for another job.
Asked if both sides were “getting along again,” Leach said: “I think so. I never felt like that totally changed. There were just too many cooks in the kitchen and not everyone was under the same roof.”
Scovell said it would’ve been a shame to lose Leach.
“Whatever report card you want to use, he gets all A’s. I don’t know how much better he could do.”
Especially considering the challenges that face every Texas Tech coach.
The Red Raiders don’t have an 80,000- to 90,000-seat stadium like they do in Norman or Austin. They operate with a smaller athletic budget and struggle to sway top-tier prospects to move to Lubbock, which is five hours from Dallas and eight hours from Houston.
Yet there Texas Tech was a year ago, one win away from becoming the first team in history to win four straight games against top-25 opponents. The Red Raiders defeated No. 15 Kansas, No. 1 Texas and No. 6 Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks before falling to sixth-ranked Oklahoma.
“He finally got over the ‘can’t-win-the-big-game’ hurdle,” Scovell said. “It felt good for awhile to be at the top.”
The question now is whether the Red Raiders can return there – or at least threaten. Not once every three or four seasons, but every year.
It’s the one subject that evokes a curt response from usually-loquacious Leach, who has never been big on bold statements and predictions.
“You just do the best you can and hope it works out,” he said. “I’m just excited about Texas Tech and the opportunities we’ve got this season. It’ll be interesting to see how we do.”
Not just for Leach, but for the folks across the nation who have a newfound respect for his program. Leach will have their attention this season. Only now it will be about the football.
And not the freak show.
Laughing with Leach
By Jason King, Yahoo! Sports
13 hours, 49 minutes ago
Jul 28, 2009
IRVING, Texas – If he had to choose, Mike Leach said he’d get a piercing instead of a tattoo.
“If I got tired of it,” the Texas Tech football coach said, “I could just pull it out.”
Leach, we now know, rubs Listerine on his legs to stave off the West Texas fire ants. He thinks graduation rates should be the determining factor in the Big 12’s tiebreaker system, and following his daughter’s marriage this summer, he has a new take on weddings.
“There’s a point where all the women are racing around, changing their position on virtually every subject,” Leach said. “You just try to disappear until it’s over and you have to shake everyone’s hand and pat them on the back. That part went really well.”
Yes, just as he does every summer, Leach had reporters in hysterics at Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday, when it became evident that last year’s 11-2 record and co-Big 12 South championship did nothing to inflate the ego of the conference’s kookiest coach.
Whether he’s filling in for the local meteorologist, offering dating advice on YouTube or criticizing President Obama for getting involved in the push for a college playoff – “I’d deal with other stuff if I were him,” he said – Leach hasn’t changed a bit.
But his situation has.
Throughout most of his career Leach’s persona has made him the bearded lady among college football coaches. He was a guy everyone loved to watch but never took seriously.
Now, thanks to last season’s finish, Leach and his video-game offense are more than just a sideshow. The perception these days is that, along with being the nation’s wackiest coach, Leach also is one of its best.
Or at least he will be if he can rekindle and sustain the momentum that Texas Tech was riding before its national championship hopes were zapped in last year’s demoralizing 44-point loss to Oklahoma in Week 11. A victory would’ve earned the Red Raiders a spot in the league title game – and likely the BCS championship game.
“With all the interviews and cameras and commotion, we just wore down,” Leach said.
Still, it was a magnificent season, with Texas Tech claiming a share of the division title for the first time since the inception of the Big 12.
Now it’s time to see if Leach can really coach.
The 2009 campaign will say a lot about Leach. With a new five-year, $12.7 million contract that will keep him in Lubbock through 2013, Texas Tech’s coach will be tested like never before. Some pundits have picked the Red Raiders to finish fifth – ahead of only Texas A&M – in the Big 12 South.
Receiver Michael Crabtree, the 10th overall pick in last spring’s NFL draft, is now with the San Francisco 49ers. Graham Harrell, college football’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, has moved on to the CFL. There still is plenty of talent in Lubbock, but no proven stars.
One person who doesn’t seem concerned is Leach, who shrugged off suggestions that his team could struggle.
“I don’t think it’s really all that dramatic,” he said. “There was a time when nobody had heard of Crabtree and Harrell, too. It’s a yearly ritual. There are going to be some guys that play that a lot of people haven’t heard of, but we feel good about them.
“I don’t feel like there’s going to be a big letdown this year.”
Even though his roster indicates otherwise, Leach is tough to doubt. From Kliff Kingsbury to B.J. Symons to Sonny Cumbie to Harrell, Leach is not unfamiliar with entering a season behind a new starting quarterback. Still, he’s managed to get Texas Tech to a bowl game in each of his nine seasons. The Red Raiders have won nine or more games in each of the past three years.
That has to be comforting for Taylor Potts, a 6-5 junior who will take over for Harrell under center.
“Early on, people thought his success was a fluke,” said John Scovell, a former Texas Tech captain and a current member of the university’s Board of Regents. “He’s finally getting the credit that he should’ve gotten from Day 1.
“What more could you ask in terms of providing excitement, entertainment and graduation rates? He’s bringing players to Lubbock that never would’ve come there before.”
Leach was rewarded for his efforts during the offseason with a new contract, but it didn’t come easily. Leach and his agent haggled with Texas Tech’s administration for months about a provision in the proposed new deal that would’ve required Leach to pay the school $1.5 million if he interviewed for another job without receiving permission from athletic director Gerald Myers.
In the new contract, which was signed Feb. 20, Leach only needs to notify Myers in writing if he has plans to interview for another job.
Asked if both sides were “getting along again,” Leach said: “I think so. I never felt like that totally changed. There were just too many cooks in the kitchen and not everyone was under the same roof.”
Scovell said it would’ve been a shame to lose Leach.
“Whatever report card you want to use, he gets all A’s. I don’t know how much better he could do.”
Especially considering the challenges that face every Texas Tech coach.
The Red Raiders don’t have an 80,000- to 90,000-seat stadium like they do in Norman or Austin. They operate with a smaller athletic budget and struggle to sway top-tier prospects to move to Lubbock, which is five hours from Dallas and eight hours from Houston.
Yet there Texas Tech was a year ago, one win away from becoming the first team in history to win four straight games against top-25 opponents. The Red Raiders defeated No. 15 Kansas, No. 1 Texas and No. 6 Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks before falling to sixth-ranked Oklahoma.
“He finally got over the ‘can’t-win-the-big-game’ hurdle,” Scovell said. “It felt good for awhile to be at the top.”
The question now is whether the Red Raiders can return there – or at least threaten. Not once every three or four seasons, but every year.
It’s the one subject that evokes a curt response from usually-loquacious Leach, who has never been big on bold statements and predictions.
“You just do the best you can and hope it works out,” he said. “I’m just excited about Texas Tech and the opportunities we’ve got this season. It’ll be interesting to see how we do.”
Not just for Leach, but for the folks across the nation who have a newfound respect for his program. Leach will have their attention this season. Only now it will be about the football.
And not the freak show.