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Mike Leach meeting with Washington?

3:19 PM Tue, Dec 02, 2008
Tim MacMahon

A passenger on a flight from Las Vegas to Seattle yesterday afternoon informed the Seattle Times that Mike Leach and his wife, Sharon, were on the plane. (Hat tip, ESPN.com)

If true, it's not too difficult to connect the dots and determine that Leach is meeting with Washington officials to discuss the Huskies' coaching vacancy. He's been mentioned as a candidate since Tyrone Willingham's dismissal was announced.

Leach's cell phone wasn't turned on when I called a few minutes ago. The technophobe does not have voicemail, so I wasn't able to leave a message.

Leach has never been shy about exploring other jobs. He went after the Miami (Fla.) job two years ago, although he described his conversations with The U officials as "informal."

Tech athletic director Gerald Myers has vowed to renegotiate Leach's contract at the end of the season. This could be a case of Leach making sure he has as much leverage as possible.

Then again, Leach might never be able to top at Tech what has happened this season, especially with Graham Harrell and (probably) Michael Crabtree gone after the bowl game. Maybe he wants to sell high and take on a massive rebuilding project in the Pacific Northwest.

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/12/mike-leach-meeting-with-washington.html

Rumor on the CUSA board is that Washington has made an offer that Tech will have a hard time matching financially.

Where does Leach go from this season at Tech? If he can build up a team at UW, he could more easily get to a BCS game, IMO. Follow my logic here....

Let's assume that USC continues to be really good. There are years that UW won't have to play USC, so they could more easily run through the rest of the conference. Not to mention the years here and there that they could rise up and actually knock off the Trojans. Plus, no championship game to play, thus one less potential spoiler gone. They only have to be the 2nd best team in the Pac10 to impress the pollsters enough to put them in a BCS game.

Big Hoss wrote:Where does Leach go from this season at Tech? If he can build up a team at UW, he could more easily get to a BCS game, IMO. Follow my logic here....

Let's assume that USC continues to be really good. There are years that UW won't have to play USC, so they could more easily run through the rest of the conference. Not to mention the years here and there that they could rise up and actually knock off the Trojans. Plus, no championship game to play, thus one less potential spoiler gone. They only have to be the 2nd best team in the Pac10 to impress the pollsters enough to put them in a BCS game.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all teams in the Pac-10 play all the other teams in the conference every year?

CalallenStang wrote:

Big Hoss wrote:There are years that UW won't have to play USC, ... Not to mention the years here and there that they could rise up and actually knock off the Trojans. Plus, no championship game to play, thus one less potential spoiler gone. They only have to be the 2nd best team in the Pac10 to impress the pollsters enough to put them in a BCS game.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all teams in the Pac-10 play all the other teams in the conference every year?

Exactly. All teams in the Pac-10 play each other each season, so nobody misses anyone.

Earlier tonight on ESPN, TTU's AD said they were negotiating an extension while Leach's agent said no talks had occurred? Is TTU's AD trying to play CYA?

CA Mustang wrote:

CalallenStang wrote:

Big Hoss wrote:There are years that UW won't have to play USC, ... Not to mention the years here and there that they could rise up and actually knock off the Trojans. Plus, no championship game to play, thus one less potential spoiler gone. They only have to be the 2nd best team in the Pac10 to impress the pollsters enough to put them in a BCS game.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all teams in the Pac-10 play all the other teams in the conference every year?

Exactly. All teams in the Pac-10 play each other each season, so nobody misses anyone.

Earlier tonight on ESPN, TTU's AD said they were negotiating an extension while Leach's agent said no talks had occurred? Is TTU's AD trying to play CYA?

Crap. That's right. It's the Big Ten (really 11) that gets to skip a team every so often. My bad.

Anyway, so if the only team they lose to most years is USC, and USC is ranked really high, then they still stand a good chance of getting a BCS bid.

Washington is the second-best job in the PAC 10 behind USC. Sleeping giant can be awakened if it has the right direction.

I think Leach will do well up there. I think he should take it. And I agree with the other poster who said that this was as good as it was going to get at Tech.

If he goes, some Seattle TV station better let him do the weather.

i think leach is trying to get more money out of TT - i don't think he has any real interest in going to washington.

Maybe, but that would be kind of hard since Leach's agent is denying that he and Tech are in re-negotiations.

I hope Patterson leaves TCU because I hate TCU and he has done a good job there, and I hope Graham leaves Tulsa, because he is a fantastic recruiter (including in DFW) and has done a good job there (plus I know a couple of people in the athletic department up there who said Graham is one of the nastiest people they've ever met).

But I hope The Leach sticks around in Lubbock. Sure, he puts up 40-something points on us when we see him, and he knows he could put up more, but he's a very creative coach and entertaining as hell. You're never quite sure what's going to come out of his mouth, but chances are, it will be pretty funny. I don't often root for Tech to do well, but he's a great character, and he's enjoyable to watch.

Auburn is supposed to be contacting Leach as well.

SMU2007 wrote:i think leach is trying to get more money out of TT - i don't think he has any real interest in going to washington.

Hmmm...sounds strangely familiar to what we said about another guy who runs a similar offense last year.....

SMU 86 wrote:Auburn is supposed to be contacting Leach as well.

Not sure how the Auburn job is better than the Texas Tech job from the standpoint of getting into a BCS game. The SEC is extremely competitive, so I don't know if he would be bettering himself all that much.

Granted, I think Auburn is considered a better school and has a better tradition of football, and the job would likely come with a nice pay raise. But having said that, I just don't see him doing better "record-wise" at Auburn vs. Tech. Just my two cents.

Found this on the TTU board:

Leach spotted touring outside UW stadium