Octavian
12/30/2006, 01:34 AM
Mike Leach quotes:
Tortillas:
"...at no level do I see where the Red Raider football team is responsible at all for any tortillas being thrown. We watch over them very carefully, and before they ever go on the field, we ensure that none of them have tortillas." 10/29/02
Smart Pugilists:
Barely five minutes after they scuffled the first time, the receivers and the defensive backs went at it again. Players jumped into the pile and helmets came off. It was hard to tell who started the second fight, but Leach called everyone around him and put an end to it with humor.
"If you get into a fight, don't take your helmet off," he said. "We're looking for smart football players, not dumb ones. In the interest of time, don't get into any more fights today."
Ninja:
After being asked on Red Raider Sports after Aggie win 48-47....
"I enjoy your offensive ingenuity and I was wondering what ever happened to your "ninja" formation, and can we expect to see it in the future."
Leach's Classic Answer:
"The Ninja formation is still lurking around back there, and I would expect to see it sometime in the future. I can't tell you exactly when because that is strictly classified."
2nd Team:
"I expect you to score."
- Locker room after the Iowa State game 2003 (addressed to the second team offense.)
Apartment Living:
About living in an Apartment, waiting on moving into their new house:
One of the children sleeps on a couch, one sleeps on a rollaway, and the youngest Leach, baby Kiersten, is on the floor. ''Which she's about floor size, blanketed up,'' Leach said. ''You don't want to step on her, but at least she doesn't fall off of anything.''
First Win:
About winning his first game vs. UNM
''It's kind of like doing surgery with a chainsaw instead of a scalpel. We had pieces and parts flying everywhere. It turned out in our favor. We've just got to clean it up the next time around.''
Wes v. A&M
When asked about the play of Wes Welker in the 2002 game in College Station,
Coach Leach responded:
"Well, Wes had the Huge Punt Return and I thought that once we got him showered off we're going to have everyone hug him"
Wild Kingdom:
But Leach was more outgoing than he ever needed to be, at least publicly, during his one-year term as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, and even charmed the crowd when he stumbled through an analogy that had something to do with the jungle and the speed of antelopes and lions.
Pausing midway through the story, he said, "I guess I fouled that up," and then after the laughter died down, regained control with his voice rising to the occasion. "Nevertheless, you get my point. When you get up in the morning you need to take off running and that's what we're going to do at Texas Tech, and that's why I'm excited to be a part of this program, so we can outrun all the antelopes and lions there are in this country and go on from there."
OSU:When asked about OSU's stadium and what to expect regarding crowd noise:
"Well, it's not as loud as some but it's not quiet either.....plus, I hear they have a horse now, too, so hopefully, we'll feel right at home."
Peppy Story:
Mark it in the history books. Nearly three decades before he brought his pass-happy, spread-the-field offense to Lubbock, the Texas Tech head coach learned the basis for his football philosophy after Peppy, a golden retriever, continually urinated on Leach's back-yard tent in Sheridan, Wyo.
It was near the beginning of the 1970s.
Leach, a Daniel Boone fan, was 9 years old with a toy rifle musket for protection and a natural sense of yearning for the great outdoors. Peppy, wild and playful, was the fastest, peskiest dog in the neighborhood, Leach said.
He'd steal Leach's baseball glove from his porch, chew on it and leave it down the road covered with spit and dirt. After that, he'd seek out Leach in his back-yard tent, urinate on the side of it and sprint down the street as the confident conquering hero of the moment.
"I could never catch Peppy and stop Peppy from doing it," Leach said. "Peppy was as fast as dogs get."
The first time Peppy did his number on Leach's tent, Leach's mom, Sandra, came out to clean it up. A short while later, Leach put his sleeping bag inside it and got it all squared away, ready to go, when along came Peppy again, this time back for more.
With a certain air of cockiness and arrogance, Peppy peed on the tent again and yanked out the sleeping bag. He then dragged it all the way across the yard, chewed on it and fired away.
Leach, a fourth-grade student, couldn't understand it.
So his mom tried to explain it to him the best way she knew how.
What she told him next later became the basis for a victory against Peppy, the basis for his philosophy in football and the story that helped him amuse and impress Tech athletic director Gerald Myers during the get-to-know-you process prior to his hiring at Tech last December.
"It's not your fault," Sandra Leach told him. "That's what dogs do. They mark their territory."
The next time Peppy came back, he was up to his old tricks, marking up the tent, yanking out the sleeping and doing the same thing to it with his hyperactive bladder. The big difference this time was Peppy's daredevil-style attitude. While Leach went berserk, Peppy sat there watching him in seeming amusement.
"I was like Michael Douglas in that movie (Falling Down)," Leach said. "I lost it. Complete rage."
Remembering his mom's speech about Peppy marking his territory, Leach then coaxed Peppy over to him, grabbed him by the collar, took him in a ditch and gave him a taste of his own medicine without causing him harm or pain. Translation: He marked his own territory with Peppy and peed on him in retaliation.
Suffice to say, from that time forward, Peppy never crossed paths with Leach again. He didn't bother him or taunt him. If Leach even looked at him when he came outside, Peppy would run away in the opposite direction, ending the short-lived feud between Leach and Peppy, the dog whose impact on Leach has continued to this day in the form of a colorful parable about his offense.
The message is this: It's all about marking your territory; in football, life or battles against pesky dogs, you've got to claim what's yours.
"At the time, the whole thing was Peppy's territory because Peppy had marked it all over the place," Leach said. "I was at a disadvantage because I only had a little piece of territory. I decided to mark my territory. It illustrates a point that you have to attack the whole field. You need to spread the field and mark your territory. If you can't attack all areas of the field, the defense is going to concentrate on one particular area and take advantage of it just like the Peppy did with me and my tent."
BJ Plays
From an article on ESPN today:
Quote:
"Of course he's going to play," coach Mike Leach said. "We're having a game; B.J. plays in games."
Quote:
"I'd have to talk to the rules people,I don't know how it works. They've lost me on that." On getting Armon Dorrough a medical redshirt after Armon injured his hamstring during his freshman year.
Game Time:
Press: [regarding respect from the media] Coach, you agreed to play this game at 9:00 pm to get it on TV. Since it wasn't over until 1:50 am eastern, don't you think that didn't really help the opinions from those in the east since none probably stayed up to see that you pulled Symons with 11+ minutes left in the game?
Leach: "Well, uh, I don't know. They told me the game was at 9:00 pm so I showed up at 9:00 pm. It was over at 1:00 am, so I left."
silence....................
Moderator: Thank you Coach Leach and good luck against Iowa St.
Hype:
after beating UT 2002:
"I don't even remember what I said. I hope whatever I said was cute and clever, and maybe even a tiny bit humorous. I hope it wasn't mindless babble, and if it was, hopefully everyone will forget about it pretty quick."
- Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, when asked if he regretted not hyping Kliff Kingsbury during the live ABC post-game interview.
Bowl Games:
My favorite Leach quote has be the one he made after the loss to Oklahoma in his first season as head coach. The Red Raiders had just finished the season 7-5 and the reporter asked him what bowl he preferred to go to. Leach responded, "The Rose Bowl".....and walked off.
I've never laughed harder.
Alamo Bowl, 2001:
The absolute, 100%, greatest interview with a coach ever:
Karsten (ESPN Commentator) to Coach Leach: "So do you think the momentum has switched over to your side?"
Leach (sounding like Lou, the manager from Major League): "Oh I don't know. We haven't played worth a damn." Then Leach ran away.
I was watching this game with a bunch of Aggies. (My east Texas relatives...) Anyway, when Leach said this, I was just laughing to myself, and then I turned and looked at the other faces in the room. They were just stunned. I started laughing a lot harder just because of their expressions.
North Texas:
I knew we had a different breed of cat when I heard the post game show after the narrow win against North Texas the first year. John Harris said something like " You got to hand it to North Texas . They always bring their best when the play Tech." I was expecting a Spike like answer about how they had a really fine ball club but Leach took a different route. In a disgusted voice he said words to the effect, "I guess so John, but you know .....we could tackle somebody and it might make a difference."
Grass/Turf:
He also said, "I am not sure why people talk about there being an advantage of playing on turf or grass. There is often reference to turf speeding up the game which helps the slow guys, but I have noticed that the fast guys get faster too so what is the difference."
Lubbock:
The day after he was hired:
Q: With the fact that you grew up in Wyoming, living in Lubbock will not be a culture shock for you and your family, will it?
A: ''I don't think so. The people are incredibly similar. They're very friendly people here. The weather's nicer here. The mountains are shorter here.''
Quote:
This year's team could beat last year's team's ***. - Mike Leach, 2003.
Quote:
"I know that in Ames, Iowa, they fancy themselves being experts on the wind, but in Lubbock, Texas, we'll put our wind up against your wind in Iowa. We practice against it all the time." 10/13/02
New Mexico
I located one of my all-time favorites, from last year just prior to the New Mexico game:
"We're going to treat (the next three games) all dramatically differently, and there will be all kinds of interesting little twists and nuances that we'll do to each individual one to dignify it for its importance that exists in the overall scheme of the universe. There'll be dramatic differences, and throughout the course of that deal, I'll enjoy talking about it in length.
After 2002 OT win at A&M:
"Glover is kind of a squirmy guy and is hard to tackle, so I wanted to get him the ball and hopefully they would overrun him or lose him and that's what happened."
7-11 Quote:
"If B.J. is a product of the system, then he's not getting any of those touchdown passes and all those yards. That means our coaching staff is," Leach said. "That would also mean we could go down to 7-Eleven and get the clerk behind the counter and let him play quarterback." In Amarillo Globe News
Quote:
"One's a governor's trophy, and don't ask me which one. One's a beer barrel. One's a whiskey barrel. And I don't know who's whiskey, who's beer. Whatever's in Tennessee, they've drank a lot of it by now, I'm sure."
On the skip:
"He kinda does that little skip; I'm sure you've seen him do it," Leach said. "He did the skip, and he skipped different than he skipped before."
Mike on TV:
**When asked by the Big 12 moderator about his stint on Fox SW football show, Mike Leach responded with:
"Oh it was real nice. They let me drink Mountain Dew and watch lots of football, so it was pretty good."
Quote:
"We tried to throw a lot the last five games so we could get a couple hundred yards rushing this game, and it all worked out exactly to plan," he said.
Quote:
"I told him to fix his helmet, which I thought was a pretty good coaching point at the time"
Play Calling:
Nothing tops "Your guess is as good as mine" when asked to explain whether the fake field goal against NC State was supposed to be a run or a pass.
Quote:
"Some of the greatest minds in college sports have us rated about 75th, so we're obviously not very good, and we are going to try to build on that as the season goes on."
Quote:
"You know we're kind of in the business of making dreams come true, and the [knee]brace was just a part of that."
Upsets:
One of my favorites this season was when he said, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this was an upset wasn't it?" I believe that was in reference to the New Mexico game.
Quote:
"I've specifically concentrated on not concentrating on this, and up to this point, I've done a really good job."
Aggie Fans:
"A&M wants to rip on our fans and all that. Our fans are as good as their fans are. One thing our fans don't do is sit around and whine about other teams' fans. A&M spent a significant part of the week whining about what our fans are like."
"It's interesting to me that all these Aggies whether they're at A&M or here are sitting around with halos over their heads and they have some divine expertise on fanmanship. I just don't believe that's the case. For the record, I think our fans are better than the Aggie fans."
Euros:
"The one thing that I discovered about European sports is that they're really good with their feet. I had my choice of something like six kickers," Leach said. "But to make a long story short, they didn't do much with their hands. ... As far as catching and throwing, it's not a big part of their arsenal." -- Mike Leach on coaching the Pori Bears, a semi pro American football team in Finland in 1989. SI.com, 10/07/03
Expectations:
On a pre-season sports talk show in Dallas (the ticket)
Q. How do you feel about the expectations surrounding Tech this year?
A. "Well, outside of Lubbock, expectations aren't very high. But it's ok, we play in Lubbock alot this season"
Big Yardage:
when asked what he thought about the 661 yards passing against NC State - "It's better than 660 yards, but not as good as 662 yards"
I respect that man
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