Pac-12 Football: Five burning questions for 2015

Nov 29, 2014; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach talks with quarterback Luke Falk (4) during a game against the Washington Huskies during the second half at Martin Stadium. Huskies won 31-13. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

3. Can Mike Leach Succeed at Washington State?

When Mike Leach was hired by the Washington State Cougars in December of 2011, it was supposed to be the move that brought respectability back to a traditional conference bottom feeder. The administration was excited about the hiring of Leach, who went 84-43 over ten seasons with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The program was thinking big at the time, dismayed by the losing the football team had witnessed over the last nine years.

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While longtime coach Mike Price had miraculously turned around the football program in 2001, winning 10 or more games in three straight seasons, it was only a brief foray into relevance for the Cougars, who would drop back into the bottom tier of the Pac-12 by the end of the 2004 campaign.

Price, of course, would go on to be hired, then almost immediate fired, by Alabama, before settling in at the University of Texas-El Paso. Price aside, no one has been able to win in Pullman, Washington. Bill Doba lasted five years before getting booted out of town. Paul Wulff won nine games in four years before being mercifully sent out to pasture.

Leach is entering his fourth year at the University, and while he has been better than Wulff, he is still just 12-25 during his tenure. It is easy to imagine Leach having another ho-hum season and getting axed sometime in December. The revolving door of coaching will continue in Pullman, and the football team will dream of the day when they are relevant again.

Next: Is Kirk Herbstreit Losing His Mind?