We’re one day away from the election and I’ve kept my word by not putting anymore of that nonsense on my Thunder blog. Washington’s State’s Mike Leach is a Trump supporter, but I’ll overlook it with him because he’s my favorite college football coach.
I’ve always loved Leach because he speaks his mind and is never boring. He’s one of only five college DI coaches who never played football at the college level. He earned his undergrad at BYU with a degree in American studies, then earned his juris doctorate at Pepperdine.
Leach became Bob Stoops’ offensive coordinator at OU in 1999 before taking the head job at Texas Tech in 2000. Leach went on to be a great success at Tech before his ‘firing/resignation’ after the Adams James’ incident in which he ordered James to stand in an equipment shed while the team practiced. Leach claimed he was just following concussion protocol although he did later admit Adam’s father, Craig James of ESPN, was a pain in the ass who called frequently about his son’s playing time. Under oath, Adam admitted he found the entire shed incident funny.
Leach took a break from coaching until he landed the Washington State job in 2011. Make it clear–Washington State has not had recent success in football. But lo and behold here the Cougars stand at 7-2 and atop the PAC 12 North heading into the second week of November.
Leach’s book, Swing Your Sword, became a NY Times top ten bestseller. Great book and the forward was written by my favorite contemporary author, Michael Lewis of all people.
Leach is somewhat unique in that he encourages his players to read books, take challenging courses, and eventually graduate with a degree. Go figure.
Leach’s other interests beyond football are pirates, Geronimo, Daniel Boone, grizzly bears, chimpanzees, whales, and American artist Jackson Pollock.