The Beast : The Leach Phenomenon

It really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Hurricane Nation always tends to jump on one bandwagon or another.

Whether it’s going to games when ‘The U’ is winning, or getting ‘hooked’ on a name when a coaching vacancy is available, it’s more of the same in Coral Gables.

This current bandwagon is being navigated by ‘The Pirate’ himself, Mike Leach.

Leach is the current ‘flavor of the week’ that fans are latching on to. In the past it was names lime Marc Trestman, Greg Schiano, Bobby Petrino, Steve Kragthorpe or Brian Kelly. The fans always have ‘someone’ they’re ready to anoint the next great.

Look, there’s no denying that Leach’s offense would be explosive on the turf at Sun Life and no one can argue the damage he did with lower-tier recruits would be exponentially better with top-tier guys.

There’s also no doubt that his enigmatic personality, would in some way fit perfect in a town more enigmatic than anywhere else in the nation. However, there’s a lot more to “it” than just that.

When you’re looking for a head coach, you’re looking for the face of your program and a guy that not only gets it done with Xs and Os, but can also raise money, shake hands, schmooze boosters, kiss babies, all while becoming an integral part of the community. Simply put, I don’t get the sense that Leach is that guy.

Miami just fired a coach, not just for his record on the field but also because he failed miserably at several of the things mentioned above. (Need more proof? Dig up some of my past blogs about Randy’s wonderful dealings with the media.)

Fans also have to realize that UM has a pretty good file on Leach. They’ve interviewed him before and whether he was sporting a Hawaiian shirt or a suit, or sober vs. tipsy, everything I can tell you is that Leach didn’t fare well in the interview. Period.

There’s also that small matter of the pending litigation against both his former employer, as well as ESPN – yes, that same ESPN that loves to put Miami on national television.

Do I think Leach should get an interview? Absolutely. It definitely can’t hurt and if anything, depending on who winds up the Canes’ next head coach, you might want to give The Pirate a crack at being your offensive coordinator. The demotion might bruise his ego a bit, but then again his phone hasn’t been ringing off the hook lately with head coaching offers.

We’d all love to live in that fantasy world where Miami would score 70 points a game with Leach as head coach. But unfortunately we live in the real world where you need more than just a great offensive mind to lead a program that’s where UM currently sits today.

Another thing about Leach; his recent media blitz reeks of desperation. It’s one thing to do an interview or two, but in the past week he’s been on more shows than Gloria Alred. Last week when I was a guest on the Jack Arute Sirius/XM show, co-hosted by Leach, the first thing Arute asked me was for the cell number of Kirby Hocutt. Off the bat, Arute wanted to let UM’s athletic director know that ‘The U’ should hire Leach.

We get it guys. He’s interested in the job.

On a daily basis I’m asked who I want to see as Miami’s next head coach. I guess after Grudengate, I’m still a little numb and my brain has been to tired to really ponder it.

Randy Edsall. Tommy Tuberville. Marc Trestman. Jim Harbaugh. Chris Petersen. Gary Patterson. I’ve done my research on all the ‘candidates’, as did my boy Canes305, who really broke things down yesterday.

Harbaugh would have to be atop my list, though many believe he’d be Ann Arbor-bound if Rich Rodriguez is leg go after the bowl game. I’m not so sure that’d be the case though, as Harbaugh fired a pretty good shot at his alma mater a few years back.

Many believe Harbaugh has NFL aspirations, which is fine. So did Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erickson and Butch Davis.

I don’t see Petersen leaving Boise State and I’m not sure the west coaster would be able to relate to South Florida kids, anyways.

Edsall is intriguing and he’s a Tom Coughlin protege that has spent some time at the next level, which is always a plus when talking about Miami. He might not be that big splash this program needs, though and while talking about coaches in the northeast, I’m absolutely off the Greg Schiano bandwagon.

I tried to make the case the other night on allCanes Radio against overpaying for a head coach. It’s one thing to give a Jon Gruden and his resume $3.5M, but it’s another thing to overpay a Tuberville or say a Steve Spurrier (not that he’s in the running) who are probably closer to the end of their careers than the beginning.

Here’s a shot in the dark for you; Skip Holtz. We can say, “hey you beat, you can coach us, no?”

Problem right now is there really isn’t anyone out there not under a long-term contract (or who would want to leave their current position) who would make a splash, but also has all the intangibles this program is looking for.

I hope Kirby and his search team are a lot more creative than I am because aside from a Harbaugh, no one else mentioned really gets my juices flowing.

Thanks Grudengate. You caused me to officially lose whatever swagger I was holding onto.

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