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Washington State Football: 5 reasons why college football needs Mike Leach

By Justin Dottavio

EUGENE, OR - OCTOBER 10: Head coach Mike Leach of the Washington State Cougars looks up at the video screen during the third quarter of the game against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
EUGENE, OR - OCTOBER 10: Head coach Mike Leach of the Washington State Cougars looks up at the video screen during the third quarter of the game against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
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SEATTLE, WA – NOVEMBER 27: Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach protests a call during the first half of a football game against the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium on November 27, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA – NOVEMBER 27: Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach protests a call during the first half of a football game against the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium on November 27, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /

2. Mike Leach coaches the underdog

In a sport and especially at the college level, where we claim we like underdogs, Mike Leach is the underdog coach.

When he was at Texas Tech, he was taking over the lowly Red Raiders who hadn’t won double-digit games since 1976. He had to compete for players with powers like Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and rising stars like Baylor and TCU.

After his controversial firing from Tech, he took over the Washington State Cougars. WSU had more recent success than Tech winning 10-plus games in 2001-2003, but had fallen off drastically before Leach won nine and eight games the last two seasons, respectively. He’s competing in the Pac-12 for talent against Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA and USC.

Not to mention Petersen’s old squad Boise State that’s been poaching kids from California for years.

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We love a good underdog story and Mike Leach has won more games per season than Bill Doba or Paul Wulff could manage in Pullman. He’s our Matt Saracen (Friday Night Lights quarterback portrayed by Zach Gilford).

As a culture, we’ve grown to relate to the less athletic intellectual as our hero. “Big Bang Theory” is a top rated comedy, Hank Moody won us over on “Californication” and people read Chuck Klosterman books. Collecting vinyl and being odd are in for today’s culture. Leach likes his hipster coffee shops for people watching, but he’s just as watchable as anyone else.

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