There was another coach that rocked the boat and got blackballed for over a decade by major programs. He made the final 4 this year at Auburn.
Leach sued his former athletic department after they screwed him. That and "old school" athletic directors who still live in 25 years ago are doing the hiring. Mike Leach has had a bigger impact on football than any coach we've had since Neyland. The NFL now has switched over in large part, to the Leach offense. His former players are coaches. His tree has spread far and wide through all levels of football. This is from a story about why Leach is at WSU still while his disciples get jobs all over.
Leach's problem, then and now, is simply that he shoots too straight. Makes for great copy, and no one appreciates that more than yours truly. But no one you know could get away with what the Pirate has said about his employers, either.
More to the point: No one could sue his boss and expect to be welcomed with open arms by his boss's peers.
That's the truth of why Leach is at WSU still. The ego of our current AD who still thinks 1995 football works today. That all you have to do is hire someone from the Saban tree and you'll be great, even though that fails more often than it works.
The same article above makes this point...
The reason they're getting these chances is two-fold: First, Leach's Air Raid offense, which he refined with his mentor, Hal Mumme, has proved to be formidable. Doesn't require five-star athletes, either, which is key, because 99 percent of the best athletes are drawn to a handful of college programs. Didn't help recruiting when NFL types looked down on the players who ran Leach's offense. System quarterbacks, they said. Leach would counter that the NFL had no idea what it was doing with quarterbacks anyway, or else how could JaMarcus Russell be the first pick of a draft and Tom Brady a sixth-rounder?
Now that the NFL is pretty much headed air raid, the opportunity to sell NFL caliber players on the system from the guy who is the architect would have been epic. His supposed recruiting liability (which doesn't exist) would now be a major plus. Pat Mahomes is a product of that system and he is the best QB in the NFL. Right now there are 4 starting NFL QBs that came from the Leach tree.
One of those guys, Baker Mayfield had one P5 offer. Who found him and saw his potential? That would be Mike Leach. But WSU is so far out in the middle of nowhere that Mayfield chose to walk on at Oklahoma and play the Leach system under Riley.
His QB from last year is now starting in the NFL. The guy was a 2 star grad transfer from East Carolina. Passed for almost 5000 yards last season and they went 11-2. Imagine a coach going 11-2 at Vandy, Indiana or Wake Forest. Leach just did the equivalent of that. They just went to Texas and beat Houston, who hired Holgorsen from WVA, another Leach assistant. That same Holgerson who hung nearly half a hundred on Pruitt last year. No defense Leach's team held them to 24, a touchdown less than Oklahoma held them to in week one.
Their 1 star juco transfer QB that Leach found at San Francisco community college is 96-122-1324 yds, 12 touchdowns and 2 ints in his first 3 Div 1 starts. He had 5 career attempts before the first game this year. That's barely less yards than JG's entire 2018 season, same tds and less ints.
I can sure see why people wouldn't want a guy like that here.
