Leach Finally Gets The Call

Seven hundred days after being fired by Texas Tech, the quirky Mike Leach is a head coach again. Leach was hired Wednesday afternoon by Washington State and will lead the Cougars in 2012.

While this technically isn’t Canes-related news, the fact that a portion of Miami’s fan base has spent the past few years clamoring for The Pirate to lead ‘The U’ back to prominence, makes it Cane-worthy.

Some took it a step further, chastising president Donna Shalala and then-athletic director Kirby Hocutt for passing on Leach, implying that Miami’s top brass was clueless and that others, if given the opportunity, would’ve lured Leach up from Key West and given him the keys to their program.

For those playing this game and keeping score, a list of schools that passed on Leach the past two years:

Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas State, Ball State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Colorado, Connecticut, East Carolina, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Kent State, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisville, Marshall, Maryland, Memphis, Miami, Miami (OH), Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Notre Dame, North Texas, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, South Florida, Southern Cal, Stanford, Temple, Tennessee, Toledo, Tulsa, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt, Virginia, West Virginia and Western Kentucky.

Who took a chance with Leach today? Washington State, the Temple of the Pac-12 and a bottom dweller that went 9-40 over the past few seasons under Paul Wulff.

Translation? Just about anyone was a step up from the last guy.

The Cougars could afford to take a chance on Leach. A major program could not. Here’s hoping he gets it done in Pullman … and here’s also hoping that those in the Miami camp screaming “Hire Leach” finally see the light as to why ‘The U’ was one in dozens of schools in the nation that passed on him. – C.B.

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