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An interesting piece of news popped up on Twitter last night when Aaron Levine of Q13-FOX in Seattle sent some well wishes to former Seattle Seahawk Mack Strong, who had teamed with Levine on Seahawks-related broadcasts for the past few years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bittersweet saying goodbye to Mack Strong this weekend, who leaves w/ his family for Pullman this week. Will miss him on Gameday! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Seahawks?src=hash">#Seahawks</a></p>— Aaron Levine (@AaronQ13Fox) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronQ13Fox/status/625534826809040896">July 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mack Strong's wife, Zoe, completed PHD (huge accomplishment) and is a professor at WSU. The move is permanent. Happy for them, sad for us!</p>— Aaron Levine (@AaronQ13Fox) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronQ13Fox/status/625535375214288896">July 27, 2015</a></blockquote>
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First off, congratulations to Zoë Higheagle-Strong -- what an awesome accomplishment. And if you're unfamiliar with Strong, he played for fullback for the Seahawks from 1994 until his abrupt, midseason retirement in 2007. He started as an undrafted free agent and became one of the pillars of the franchise across three different coaches.
Now, I have no idea what Strong plans to do with his time in Pullman. We know he's not going to commute for Seahawks broadcasts. Maybe he'll continue with motivational speaking and continue to work on his foundation? Frankly, as you all know, there aren't a lot of job opportunities in Pullman unless you work for the university.
Which leads into my brilliant idea: HIRE HIM TO WORK FOR THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM! I don't know what he'd be interested in doing, and frankly, I'm not sure it much matters from WSU's perspective. Strong is a smart dude who won a lot of games and got the very most out of his career, so having him around is going to be a positive in whatever capacity WSU can work out. That won't be as a coach (at least not at first), as the coaching staff is already filled, but he could work in any number of administrative roles. Plus, if his wife is in a professorship, she's not going anywhere for a while, which means he's not going anywhere for a while.
This is the kind of guy you create a position for if you have to. Figure out a way to get this guy in the fold, Bill Moos.
He won't be able to do this, though, unless Mike Leach makes him a coach.