Want to fire Mike Leach? Here's his contract with Washington State

Over the summer, I submitted a public records request for Mike Leach's contract, mostly just to have it. After the debacle that was the game against Portland State -- and in the context of his now 12-26 overall record at WSU -- many are wondering when WSU pulls the plug and just cans Leach.

Here's the short answer: They probably couldn't if they wanted to.

In the 11 pages of contract embedded at the bottom, the most important clause when it comes to whether WSU will be firing Leach anytime soon is Section 4.6.1, which includes language that compels the school to pay Mike Leach 60 percent of his $2 million base salary for the remainder of the contract. (You might remember that Leach got a raise last August, but that only amended his media compensation to make his total annual guaranteed payout $2.75 million -- it appears the base salary remained the same.)

Leach's contract runs for four more years after this one through 2019, meaning if he is fired at the end of the season, the school appears to owe him $1.2 million per year -- $4.8 million total.

When you consider the money it would cost to make Leach go away, plus the money it would cost to hire a replacement, combined with the currently insolvent state of the athletic department ... simply put, without a large donation from a wealthy donor who really wants Mike Leach out the door, Washington State won't be able to afford to fire Leach anytime soon.

If you're convinced it's only a matter of time before Leach is shown the door, about the best you'll be able to hope for is Bill Moos electing not to roll over his contract next January, cutting that buyout by $1.2 million at the end of 2016.

Mike Leach's Contract by Michael Preston