After a disappointing 2-4 start and comments that compare many of his players to “dead corpses,” is Washington State Cougars head football coach Mike Leach already wearing out his welcome in his first year as the school’s new signal caller?
Leach was already a controversial hire following his tumultuous time as head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Two days after being investigated for his treatment of a player with a concussion and suspending him, Texas Tech fired Leach. After being out of coaching for a couple of seasons, Washington State signed Leach to a five year contract that made him the 4th highest paid coach in the Pac-12 conference.
But after a 2-4 start that includes a winless 0-3 mark in conference play, Leach certainly did not endear himself to fans after his comments about his players through the first six games of the 2012 college football season.
“Some of (the seniors) have been great, and some of them have been very poor,” Leach said Monday. “Some of them have had kind of this zombielike, go through the motions, everything is like how it’s always been, that’s how it’ll always be. Some of them quite honestly have an empty-corpse quality. That’s not pleasant to say or pleasant to think about, but that’s a fact.”
Leach said that his comments were taken a bit out of context, although when given the opportunity to clarify his remarks, he actually made them even worse.
“The biggest thing, most of our leadership’s coming from younger guys,” said Leach. “We do have some key seniors that really do a good job. And it’s interesting that somebody told me about a quote that was taken our of context, which certainly wouldn’t be the first time they’ve taken something I said out of context, but at any rate, we’ve got some seniors doing a good job, we’ve got a whole bunch of them as I said, are dead corpses. You can either breathe life into yourself and get out there and play … we’ve got a bunch of younger guys that are stepping up and playing hard.”
His message about the senior players needing to step up their play is clear. So, too, unfortunately, is the fact that he continues to call them a bunch of dead corpses.
The Cougars are struggling. The fact that they are just 2-4 is one thing, but for a Mike Leach team, they are not scoring points. In fact, entering this Saturday’s game against the also disappointing California Golden Bears, the Cougars rank just 100th overall in the nation in total points scored per game. They are 15th overall in passing yards, but they are stalling out late in drives.
If the team cannot put points on the board and play exciting football, the losses in Washington State are going to appear even worse.
And if Leach does not learn how to use a bit more tact in his sessions with the media, his tenure in Washington State may be short lived.
Filed under: Breaking News, NCAA
Tagged with: Mike Leach, Pac-12 Football, Washington State Cougars
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Leach is never going to use more “tact”. Have you done your homework on your subject? When has Mike Leach EVER used tact? And anyone that thought he’d win more games than 4-6 (we may not even win that many) this year was delusional and doesn’t understand football and has a lack of understanding in regards to the massive hole in the program, called talent. He’s building. He’s doing great. No one is calling for heads and I guarantee you, his tenure is NOT going to be short lived. You obviously don’t know anything about the previous WSU coaches. He’s pure gold compared to the past decade.
Swing and a miss, Rob Kelley. We know what Leach is doing, he’s doing it his way and nobody is up in arms over his statements.
The upperclassmen need to get their act together and decide now if they want to have any positive impact on the turnaround of the program. Buy in or get out.
Hmmmm…. “And if Leach does not learn how to use a bit more tact in his sessions with the media, his tenure in Washington State may be short lived.”
Coach Leach doesn’t play media games and says what he wants when he wants. Sorry if you’re a little butt hurt over this but that’s no reason to imply anyone in Pullman sees him as wearing out his welcome. You also should retract this statement…”Leach was already a controversial hire…” No, he wasn’t. Controversial to the admin at TT and to espn? Maybe, but that’s it. He was/is welcomed with open arms by everyone at WSU. Not a very well thought out or researched piece, Rob.
A question, Rob… where does Coach Leach use the term “dead corpse”???? Maybe you’re referring to this…”I think it’s mixed. I think some it’s stellar. I think [receiver] Gino [Simone], Gino’s a guy elected team captain this week. Came from not playing hardly at all to elected team captain. A lot of it is just he’s kind of accelerated his focus and effort. Some of them have been great and some of them have been very poor. Some of them have had kind of this zombie-like, go through the motions, everything is like how it’s always been, that’s how it’ll always be. Some of them quite honestly have an empty corpse quality. That’s not pleasant to say or pleasant to think about, but that’s a fact. That’s why it’s been necessary for us to have the youth movement that we’ve had.”
Taking phrases out of context is never a good idea.
Wow, talk about building a mountain out of a molehill.
wow. Rob Kelly. You failed to do any homework on this. Your bias is clearly showing. Are you employed by TT, CJ’s or ESPN. Pullman loves Leach and he knows what he’s talking about. Apparently, you didn’t do your homework and this article just looks biased and stupid. WSU FAN.
You have no idea of what you are talking about. We still love Leach. Give him some time.
Have you even seen a WSU game or even talked to Mike Leach or any of the players? It’s a whole new system on both sides of the ball. Anybody who doesn’t buy into it is gone. Give him a full year of recruiting and then see. How can you ndraw such a stupid conclusion after what he said? It’s called motivating the players.
As a season ticket holder for both football and basketball at WSU I can tell you that Mr. Kelley is full of crap. Wake up Mr. Kelley. WSU fans patiently supported Paul Wulff (9-42) for four years. I think we understand patience.