Mike Leach

#52
#52
McDad said:
Why is the defense his Achilles heel? Is there something unique about his offense which makes a decent defense more challenging or impossible? Is it what Diderots mentioned...can't keep DCs...and the turnover creates issues?
Seems to me if he could get a consistently decent defense on the field, he would win championships.
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The only reason people say that is because he’s been at places where getting good talent is tough. In most cases those schools have to focus on one side of the ball. The issue is that he’ll have to likely do the same at State. He isn’t known as a recruiter and once SEC coaches get a grip on his offense it could spell trouble. We’ll see. The SEC was already moving to more open offenses.
 
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#54
#54
McDad said:
Why is the defense his Achilles heel? Is there something unique about his offense which makes a decent defense more challenging or impossible? Is it what Diderots mentioned...can't keep DCs...and the turnover creates issues?
Seems to me if he could get a consistently decent defense on the field, he would win championships.
Click to expand...
I think he's just such an offensive guru that he has trouble identifying and keeping good defensive coaches. Leach never has run an offense that operates at warp speed, so I don't think it is his offensive scheme that leads to his bad defenses.

I think it's just something outside his core competency, which is fine - I mean all coaches have things that are outside their core competency, but really good head coaches are skilled at identifying people that can help with the things they aren't good at. That's the epitome of Coach O last year and Dabo's time at Clemson. Leach did have Alex Grinch on staff for 3 years, and when he left for Ohio St that was thought to be a good hire for them, but now he's at Oklahoma and struggling.
 
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#57
#57
Shocker0 said:
I think it's one of those situations where when we thought we were gomna land him as coach, 99% of people were excited and couldn't wait to have Leach as coach. Then when it fell through, it was the ole "didn't want him anyway" routine.
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I was all in on leach. Not because I thought he’d win championships. I don’t think he would here. But at least it would be entertaining.
 
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#60
#60
Roustabout said:
I’m keeping in mind that Leach did this in his first year, first game, ever in the SEC, taking over a very down program. I think he’ll struggle at state to recruit, but I’ll bet you he’ll light up some defenses.

One has to wonder what he could do at a top tier program.
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He did install an offense that won Oklahoma a National Championship in this century.
 
#61
#61
I wonder if the whole Adam James thing hadn't have happened if his next step would have been a chance at an elite job. When that incident occurred, he'd been at Texas Tech for 10 years with a real solid record, and was coming off a breakthrough 11-2 season where he finished in the top 10 and was briefly a player in the national title conversation.

That was the moment where if you thought he was going to leave, it probably would have happened at that point. Then Texas Tech fired him and kind of threw a wrench in his potential career arc.
 
#64
#64
BUBear said:
A. Pittman isn't stupid enough to play man D against Leach like Bo and O were

B. The Briles family know The Pirate's weaknesses from their time in Lubbock

C. There's still another half of football to play

D. All of the above
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100% agree on all points. Still love Leach
 
#68
#68
After losing to lowly Arkansas I remain one of Leach's critics and tickled to death he'll not be a UT coach any time soon. I don't want my coach to be an entertainer. I want my football coach to be a winner. Leach has yet to bring home a conference title to any school he's coached at.
 
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#71
#71
YankeeVol said:
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GoDucks349 said:
Does this sound a little familiar, Leach takes over a program in a big 5 conference, at a university that is typically regarded as the smallest, perhaps weakest football program in the conference. Also, the university is considered a place where you typically can't get top recruits. A place that is simply out in the middle of no where....

Pullman, WA meet Starkville, MS

Leach was a headache, I'm glad he's yours to deal with. I think he was 4-4 against my Ducks. Every time you played WSU your gut churned.

He was 36-36 in conference play at WSU. That doesn't win championships very often. But it does give you headaches.
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Put these two posts together and ask yourself if passing for 600 yards in the SEC is proof that his system will work in the SEC.

He did it elsewhere as a .500 coach?
 
#72
#72
The Leach haters always have ridiculous standards. They are acting like he didn't take over a 6-7 team. Miss State was expected to be the 2nd worst team in the SEC West this year and most people expected them to go 2-8 or 3-7 against their schedule. They win 2-3 more games and Leach is already overacthieving with that roster. And it's typically taken him a few years to get his players anyway.

Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney would not be winning national titles at Wash State or Texas Tech either

Of course, a lot of these same Leach bashers were bashing Dan Mullen; saying he'd fail at Florida because he didn't win a national title at frickin' Miss State. There are some people on these boards that think a coach sucks if he can't get a middle school team to beat the Super Bowl champs.

I think he's just such an offensive guru that he has trouble identifying and keeping good defensive coaches. Leach never has run an offense that operates at warp speed, so I don't think it is his offensive scheme that leads to his bad defenses.
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I don't agree with this. Leach has had a few great DCs (Ruffin McNeal, Alex Grinch). It's just as soon as they prove themselves under Leach, they can get a huge raise by going somewhere else. If you can make $200k at Wash State and you get a $1 million offer elsewhere, you take the mil. Texas Tech and Wash State can't compete for top coaching talent.

Leach at a top-tier school where he could get a top-notch DC would be scary.
 
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#73
#73
DiderotsGhost said:
The Leach haters always have ridiculous standards. They are acting like he didn't take over a 6-7 team. Miss State was expected to be the 2nd worst team in the SEC West this year and most people expected them to go 2-8 or 3-7 against their schedule. They win 2-3 more games and Leach is already overacthieving with that roster.

Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney would not be winning national titles at Wash State or Texas Tech either.
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Fair enough, but I don't think Leach would win titles at Alabama or Clemson.

I think the teams he'd field at an elite school wouldn't be altogether different than the ones he's fielded at Texas Tech and Washington St. Occasionally pull a big upset, and at an elite school many of those games wouldn't be upsets anymore but rather games he'd be expected to win. However I think he'd still have some inexplicable loss(es) that would keep him out of a championship conversation. Kind of like Georgia under Richt. The thing with Leach is that it is unclear how good of a recruiter he is because he's only coached at places where it's really difficult to recruit well, and I'm not sure he could put together a lockdown defense that would be needed to win titles.

One of the most interesting things to speculate about with Leach is why he hasn't taken a job at an elite school.
 
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