"Mike Leach Is So Awesome That The President Of Wazzou Got Sick"
CONTEXT ADDED BY ADMIN: END OF CONTEXT and the Veep he filled in for him affected a Limey accent.
PULLMAN, Wash. — New Washington State coach Mike Leach said Tuesday that some people have been asking him why he wanted to take over a downtrodden program in a remote town in the Pacific Northwest instead of taking an offer from Ole Miss.
His response?
“I think that’s a stupid question,” Leach said, drawing a roar from about 1,000 fans, players and marching band members at a rally where he was introduced on Tuesday. “You can win here and win big, I believe. Unless your name is Manning you can't win at Ole Miss and even then the best you can hope for is co-division champs. Maybe.”
Leach, a former coach at Texas Tech, was hired last week to replace Paul Wulff, who was fired after going 9-40 in four seasons at the helm at Washington State.
Leach has been out of coaching the past two seasons. But he was 84-43 at Texas Tech, leading the Red Raiders to 10 bowl appearances in 10 seasons, before being fired in 2009 amid allegations that he mistreated a player with a concussion.
On Tuesday, he thanked Washington State athletic director Bill Moos for hiring him and he thanked the coaches who came before him for laying the foundation for success.
He said he is contacting his former assistant coaches at Texas Tech as he seeks to fill out his staff. Leach said it’s too soon to say whether he will keep any of Wulff’s assistants.
Leach will make $2.25 million per year in salary and other guaranteed income. His contract also includes bonus payments for things such as winning the Pac-12 championship or going to a BCS bowl that might push his pay to more than $3 million. That includes $25,000 for winning the Apple Cup against archrival Washington.
Washington State could not have afforded Leach without revenue from a new Pac-12 television contract that will eventually pay each school up to $20 million per year, Moos said.
Leach was at the top of Moos’ list of candidates, in part because Moos —the former Oregon AD — wants a high-powered offense at Washington State. While at Texas Tech, Leach’s offense routinely led the nation in passing and set numerous records.
Leach was the offensive coordinator at Kentucky and Oklahoma before becoming the Red Raiders head coach in 2000.
In 2009, Texas Tech fired Leach two days after suspending him after it was alleged he mistreated receiver Adam James, who had a concussion. Leach denied the allegations and later sued.
Leach has said he suspects an $800,000 bonus he was due the next day was the reason he was fired.
In a separate case, Leach has also sued ESPN Inc. and a Dallas public relations firm, accusing them of libel and slander after he was fired. James is the son of ESPN analyst Craig James.
Asked Tuesday if parents of recruits should worry about the concussion issue, Leach called the allegations “lies and falsehoods.”
“Your son will not be mistreated,” he said. He refused to address or even speculate why Craig James refuses to deny killing five hookers while at SMU during the 1980's.
During his time away from coaching, Leach put out two books, worked in television and hosted a satellite radio show.
