Scott Stricklin, get Mike Leach on the phone pronto

[QuaoarsKing]

I REALLY hope Dan Mullen stays, but we have to be prepared to act quickly if he doesn't. It's not heresy if we start thinking about this now.<div><div>
</div><div>Don't listen to the hype that Mississippi can't produce a QB that Leach needs for his system.Russell is the perfect fit for Leach's system. Favre is better than most QBs Leach ever had at Texas Tech. The guy from Amory could run it too.</div><div>
</div><div>Don't listen to the hype that Leach doesn't play defense. Yes, some of his DCs were busts at Texas Tech, but he was simply trying to win in the Big 12, where everyone was obsessed with high-powered offenses. Leach isn't stupid enough to not have a defense in the SEC.</div><div>
</div><div>Don't listen to the hype about "locking a kid in a closet" or whatever lies Craig James made up about him because his son was too lazy and bad at football to get playing time.</div><div>
</div><div>Programs beneath us like Kansas, Washington State, etc., are moving on Leach, and we need to call him first. Maybe he turns out to be a bad fit after an interview. Maybe he turns us down for another job. Maybe Stricklin finds someone even better (maybe Hudspeth is better). But we'd be idiots not have him on the short list.</div><div>
</div><div>And if Mullen doesn't leave, awesome. We can't just wait until he's gone to have the gears turning.</div> </div>

 

[QuaoarsKing]

I REALLY hope Dan Mullen stays, but we have to be prepared to act quickly if he doesn't. It's not heresy if we start thinking about this now.<div><div>
</div><div>Don't listen to the hype that Mississippi can't produce a QB that Leach needs for his system.Russell is the perfect fit for Leach's system. Favre is better than most QBs Leach ever had at Texas Tech. The guy from Amory could run it too.</div><div>
</div><div>Don't listen to the hype that Leach doesn't play defense. Yes, some of his DCs were busts at Texas Tech, but he was simply trying to win in the Big 12, where everyone was obsessed with high-powered offenses. Leach isn't stupid enough to not have a defense in the SEC.</div><div>
</div><div>Don't listen to the hype about "locking a kid in a closet" or whatever lies Craig James made up about him because his son was too lazy and bad at football to get playing time.</div><div>
</div><div>Programs beneath us like Kansas, Washington State, etc., are moving on Leach, and we need to call him first. Maybe he turns out to be a bad fit after an interview. Maybe he turns us down for another job. Maybe Stricklin finds someone even better (maybe Hudspeth is better). But we'd be idiots not have him on the short list.</div><div>
</div><div>And if Mullen doesn't leave, awesome. We can't just wait until he's gone to have the gears turning.</div> </div>

 

[was21]

af

 

[Dawg in a pile]

And, going by your posts in the past, the fact that you want him makes me not want him even more.

 

[shsdawg]

bad move. </p>

 

[FQDawg]

Just curious. He's not my No. 1 choice if Mullen were to leave but I think we could (and have - cough, cough, Croom, cough) done a lot worse.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

that we as a fanbase would turn up our nose at a guy who spent 10 years at a program as prestigious as ours and never had a losing season?<div>
</div><div>If we don't choose him, fine, but CLEARLY he should be considered. He just wins:</div><div>
</div><div><div>Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12 Conference) (2000–2009)</div><div>2000<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>7–6<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>3–5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>4th (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>L galleryfurniture.com<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span></div><div>2001<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>7–5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>4–4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>T–3rd (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>L Alamo<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span></div><div>2002<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>9–5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>5–3<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>T–2nd (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>W Tangerine<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span></div><div>2003<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>8–5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>4–4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>4th (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>W Houston<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span></div><div>2004<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>8–4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>5–3<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>T–3rd (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>W Holiday<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>17<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>18</div><div>2005<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>9–3<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>6–2<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>T–2nd (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>L Cotton<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>19<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>20</div><div>2006<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>8–5<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>4–4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>4th (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>W Insight<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span></div><div>2007<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>9–4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>4–4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>T–3rd (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>W Gator<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>23<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>22</div><div>2008<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>11–2<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>7–1<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>T–1st (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>L Cotton<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>12<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>12</div><div>2009<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Texas Tech<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>8–4<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>5–3<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>3rd (South)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>Alamo*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>23<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>21</div></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-spacere"> </span>84–43 47–33</div><div>
Yes, he should've beaten Ole Miss, but his players were naturally disappointed to go 11-1 and then get relegated to playing Ole Miss in a second-tier bowl. And that's just one game anyway. His record is outstanding.</div>

 

[whosyourdawgy]

I'd take Hud any day over an older, crazy pirate with baggage. There is a reason Mike Leach hasn't been hired by another team.

Get this straight, I still want DAN MULLEN as our head coach. But if he goes to his dream job(even though I wouldn't touch it with a 100 foot pole), then Hud is the coach to get. Can even keep Chris Wilson as defensive cooridinator and other assitstants he's familiar with.

 

[Coach34]

that **** dont fly in the SEC- we'd have to have 7 QB's on the roster to get thru a season

 

[QuaoarsKing]

Only Croom is that big of an idiot. Leach would obviously put a higher priority on defense if that's what it takes to win. It wasn't necessary in the Big 12. Leach, possibly the most cerebral FBS coach in recent memory, is going to realize that he needs to make defense priority #1 in the SEC.<div>
</div><div>People said the Spread Option wouldn't fly in the SEC until Urban Meyer proved them wrong.</div>

 

[therightway]

No one will hire him until it is dropped.

 

[was21]

asdf

 

[Dawgzilla]

Hate Leach, and I would hate him more if he coached my favorite team. That would truly suck.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

He's damaged goods!
I don't like Pirates!
We can do better!

If he were to get hired, time for me to check out!

 

[QuaoarsKing]

of why they don't like him.<div>Is it because he's a nerd? I like that he's smart and analytical. He takes every advantage he can.</div><div>Is it because he's interested in pirates? So what...we all have our quirky hobbies.</div><div>Is it because he lost to Ole Miss? That's understandable, but his whole record speaks for himself.</div><div>Is it because he "locked a kid in a closet?" That's a well-documented hoax.</div><div>Is it because his defenses at Texas Tech weren't SEC-caliber? That's an area he can and will improve in if he has to (which he knows that he would in the SEC).</div><div>Is it because no one else wants him? He's unconventional, and that scares people. People would don't like shaking up the status quo when they don't have to. But we need something unconventional, some edge to have a chance to compete with the Haves in the conference. If not Leach, we need someone who thinks like him.</div><div>
</div><div>Leach is a proven winner. He was successful as an assistant and even more successful as a head coach. That's the kind of coach we need to keep the program going.</div>

 

[biguglyjoe]

******

 

[Coach34]

will be hard for him to find QB's in Mississippi and surrounding areas...WR's in our state dont grow up in passing offenses...no way we recruit the depth needed to play defense 35 minutes every week in SEC play<div>
</div><div>Would just be a terrible hire</div>

 

[BudgetDawg]

The knock on Mullen seems to be that he isn't doing himself any favors recruiting-wise due to his personality. So how the heck is Mike Leach going to fare? He's just as abrasive, if not more so, and twice as crazy. He doesn't give a 17 what he says, but that is not always a good thing. I think that guys like him that speak their mind are great to listen to as far as commentating, hosting a radio show or giving an interview. But I don't want a guy like that being the face of our football program.

 

[Predestined]

bully could wear a patch, we could fire cannon after every score, make opposing mascots walk the plank. I like it.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/magazine/04coach.html?pagewanted=all

<div>
</div><div>If you read that, and he's still not your guy, that's cool. But at least sift through the ******** Craig James character assassination.</div><div>
</div><div>It's pretty long, but here's a relevant excerpt that will hopefully calm your fears about Leach's recruiting needs: (The Schwartz in the story is an NFL DC analyzing Leach's teams)</div><div>
</div><div>"Looking for fresh coaching talent, Schwartz analyzed the offensive and defensive statistics of what he called the "midlevel schools" in search of any that had enjoyed success out of proportion to their stature. On offense, Texas Tech's numbers leapt out as positively freakish: a midlevel school, playing against the toughest football schools in the country, with the nation's highest scoring offense. Mike Leach had become the Texas Tech head coach before the 2000 season, and from that moment its quarterbacks were transformed into superstars. In Leach's first three seasons, he played a quarterback, Kliff Kingsbury, who wound up passing for more yards than all but three quarterbacks in the history of major college football. When Kingsbury graduated (he is now with the New York Jets), he was replaced by a fifth-year senior named B.J. Symons, who threw 52 touchdown passes and set a single-season college record for passing yards (5,833). The next year, Symons graduated and was succeeded by another senior - like Symons, a fifth-year senior, meaning he had sat out a season. The new quarterback, who had seldom played at Tech before then, was Sonny Cumbie, and Cumbie's 4,742 passing yards in 2004 was the sixth-best year in N.C.A.A. history.</div><div>
</div><div>Now Texas Tech had Cody Hodges, still another fifth-year senior - barely six feet tall, with an average arm and four college seasons on the bench. Before the 2005 football season even began, Hodges was short-listed for the Maxwell Award for the finest college football player in the land. Whoever played quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders was sure to create so much offense that he couldn't be ignored.</div><div>
</div><div>Schwartz had an N.F.L. coach's perspective on talent, and from his point of view, the players Leach was using to rack up points and yards were no talent at all. None of them had been identified by N.F.L. scouts or even college recruiters as first-rate material. Coming out of high school, most of them had only one or two offers from midrange schools. Sonny Cumbie hadn't even been offered a scholarship; he was just invited to show up for football practice at Texas Tech. Either the market for quarterbacks was screwy - that is, the schools with the recruiting edge, and N.F.L. scouts, were missing big talent - or (much more likely, in Schwartz's view) Leach was finding new and better ways to extract value from his players. "They weren't scoring all these touchdowns because they had the best players," Schwartz told me recently. "They were doing it because they were smarter. Leach had found a way to make it work.""</div>

 

[Coach34]

we need youth and energy in this program

 

[QuaoarsKing]

It happens from time to time.

 

[CivilEngineerDog]

just sayin

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

He's 60 and this is his 14th season.
Give it up. A Leach hire will severely divide the MSU Nation!
We just don't need that.

 

[prettygooddawg]

So, if Leach gets MSU to another title match and/or wins three or more SEC games per season.....

You gotta have someone who knows all the tricks to survive the Western badlands. No pansies nor fresh-knits will survive this division very long.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

just sayin!

 

[tcprdr321]

As a Red Raider myself, I would LOVE to see Leach get another chance to coach. I have followed his career and his lawsuits closely and can honestly say -- he is NOT damaged goods and deserves to coach again. I love Texas Tech University, but Leach had every right to sue the school, ESPN, and Craig James.<div>
</div><div>Texas Tech is the only school in the Big 12 Conference (until this year....thank you Tommy Tuberville) to reach bowl eligibility every year since the creation of the conference. Obviously Mike Leach was a HUGE part of that in his ten years as the Texas Tech Head Coach. He helped put Texas Tech on the map. Yes, he is quirky andbrilliant(he has a law degree), but the man will also bring EXPOSURE as well as a will to win. Something else -- under Mike Leach, Texas Tech football consistently had the highest graduation rate in the country for publicinstitutions. That in itself would be something to be proud of if it could be repeated at State. </div>