Pac-12 Awards: Mike Leach named co-Coach of the Year

Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach has been named the co-Pac-12 Coach of the Year, the conference announced Tuesday evening. Stanford's David Shaw shares the honor with Leach.

In his fourth season at Washington State, Leach led the Cougars to an 8-4 record and a 6-3 mark in the Pac-12, which included road wins over Rutgers, Oregon, Arizona and UCLA. It was the Cougars' first eight-win regular season since 2003.

This is the second conference coach of the year award for Leach, who was also named the 2008 Big-12 coach of the year at Texas Tech when he led the Red Raiders to an 11-2 record and an appearance in the Cotton Bowl.

Leach, who is also a semifinalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year award this season, has previously received three national coach awards, including the George Munger award (2008), the Woody Hayes Award (2008) and the Howie Long/Field Turf Coach of the Year award (2008).

This is the first conference coach of the year award for a Washington State head coach since 2003 when Bill Doba was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Mike Price, in 1997 and 2001, was also named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year.