When people get lost they usually say, "I'm in the middle of nowhere." They might even get scared that they may not be heard from again. That's what some people think of Pullman, Washington, home of the Washington State Cougars football program. The closest major city is 90 miles away in Spokane. The last decade or so that's what playing football in the rolling hills of Pullman has been like for coaches and players.
Now, I'm not the guy that is going to dump a bunch of negativity on Washington State for playing in a small town. As an alumni of Oregon State, I know what the struggles are for a school in a small town. However, at Washington State they have turned into a doormat in the Pac-12 North division. Wins have been few and far between and it's been tough to maintain any continuity with players or coaches who leave for programs that win. When the wins are not plentiful, it's tough to get talent to come to your school.
When they hired Mike Leach, the offensive guru, who coached Texas Tech to some success with his high octane, quick strike offense that finally created some noise for the program that they had not had since the days of Ryan Leaf. Yep, Ryan Leaf. In Leach's third year, he has amassed a record of 12-25 overall, but is 7-20 in the parity rich Pac-12 Conference. It's a program that had not recruited well before Leach's arrival and not really recruited any better since he has got to Pullman. Due to this recruiting issue it's made the reclamation project that much tougher.
This past year for them was very tough. They ended up 3-9 in a division dominated by the Ducks. Ironically, the game against the Ducks went down to the end with the Ducks pulling out close win over the Cougars in Pullman. However, in the end, when one looks at their season, you see offensive bursts, defensive busts, a youthful team getting exposed, and what some fans call a crazy officiating call at the worst moment. Fans are frustrated that the Cougs did not learn how to close a game and get the win. In other words, they don't know how to win yet. They are young and they dealt with a major blow to possible wins when Connor Halliday went down with a season ending injury to his leg and ankle. Leach now has a young, inexperienced quarterback in Luke Falk and that will either show promise which he did at the end of the year or he will be over matched at the Pac-12 level. I saw him play live and he threw for 601 yards, but he did have to throw 74 times to get those 601 yards, but in each of his starts he threw for at least 340 yards in each of his starts after taking over from Halliday.
Leach is making 2.75 million which pretty good money anywhere, but in Pullman that money can go a long, long way. Provides a pretty comfy lifestyle in the Palouse. However, when you make that kind of scratch, people expect results or "other" things will happen to you as a coach, like getting fired. Leach needs to make some in roads in the win column and into getting more talented kids to Washington State or his stint is over there. This is something that could affect his legacy as a coach and any future jobs that may come his way. Only the future will tell us what eventually happens.
Washington State Athletic Director Bill Moos thought he was hitting a home run. Well, as one alumni has put it... "it has been more like a sharp single into the gap that might be a leg double." That, in a nutshell, is the conundrum that is facing the Washington State program because their rivals in Seattle, the Washington Huskies has a coach that is in essence trying to put a fence around the state of Washington in recruiting.
I have been to both campuses and if I am Washington high school football recruit, it really is a no brainer where I would go. Seattle has what most kids look at now, great facilities, a great coach, a big city with lots to do, and just a better "vibe" to it. On top of that, it has been winning a bit more than the Cougars. In the end, kids do look at how successful the program has been and what their future success looks like. That's where the Cougs fall short. They don't have that success and that is really to bad because Washington State fans are great fans.
When Mike Leach was hired he was viewed as a miracle drug by many Cougar fans. With what the fans have seen so far and with some sobering realities that they have to admit to, the ills of the program may be to much for Leach to overcome. I hope I am wrong...
No comments:
Post a Comment