HCA: Mike Leach ranked as 31st best head coach in college football

Athlon Sports released their top-130 coaches in college football for the 2018 season on Monday and Washington State head coach Mike Leach found himself at 31st. After a 9-4 season in 2017, Leach dropped 13 spots from 18th in last years ranking.

Athlon made it known that this was not just a team ranking for the upcoming season. Everything was taken into consideration from their overall success to recruiting and how well a coach can develop talent.

Since being hired as the Cougars head coach in 2012, he has compiled a 38-38 record while going 26-28 in conference. If you were to look at the past three years however you would never have thought he was .500 as they have gone 26-13 and been to three straight bowl games and has finished in the top-3 in the Pac-12 North each of those years.

Prior to his current stint in Pullman he had a 84-43 record at Texas Tech from 2000-09 and led them to 10 bowl games over those years where he finished 5-4 - he was fired before coaching in the bowl game in 2009.

Leach ranked as the 5th best coach in the conference with Kyle Whittingham (Utah) at 19, Chip Kelly (UCLA) at 12, David Shaw (Stanford) at 11, and Chris Petersen (Washington) at 4. Leach was just ahead of USC head coach Clay Helton who ranked at 38th and Kevin Sumlin at 42, who was hired at Arizona this year. For a full ranking of Athlon’s rankings of all 130 head coaches in college football, click here.

*****

Football:

Ranking All 130 College Football Head Coaches for 2018
Complete ranking and analysis of all 130 college football head coaches for 2018.

Baseball:

Better Know a Black Bear: Behind Mullins' arm is a masterful musician | Sports | tdn.com
Like music, pitching is all about having good rhythm and tempo.

Track and Field:

WSUCougars.com | Washington State University Athletics
The trio of Washington State track and field competitors - Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Brock Eager, and CJ (Craig) Allen - fared well at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships, held June 21-24, at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Rowing:

WSUCougars.com | Washington State University Athletics
Washington State University rowing graduate assistant Dave Kempsell has been named assistant rowing coach, WSU head coach Jane LaRiviere announced.