Here's an excerpt from the latest Cougar Sports Weekly, in which I wrote about the end of the Paul Wulff era at WSU and why Mike Leach would be a great fit in Pullman. You can subscribe here, at which time you'll have access to our complete archives.
It seems to me that in addition to the usual skill at identifying talent, developing players and coaching on gameday, for a coach to really be successful at WSU, he needs to have a certain kind of personality -- a little audacity about him, a little swagger. I mean, when you think about how crazy it is that little Wazzu -- with its miniature athletic budget -- stands toe-to-toe week in and week out with the heavyweights of the Pac-12, you'd have to be just a little bit nuts to want that challenge, wouldn't you?
Remember when Don James called himself a "2,000-word underdog" to Jim Walden? Say what you will about Walden's loose-cannon nature today -- it was unquestionably an asset then. And it wasn't that long ago that Mike Price brought one of the first spread offenses to the Pac-10, eventually leading WSU to not just one, but a previously unthinkable TWO Rose Bowls!
Unconventional isn't a sure route to success by any means, and being unconventional for unconventional's sake is a bad idea. But if you can get someone who is talented and unconventional to come in and fire some shots across the bow of Washington, Oregon and USC, then isn't that what you want? It's why I get so excited about the prospect of a guy like Mike Leach. He's a great fit for WSU for the following reasons.