Report: Mike Leach’s conspiracy tweet might cost WSU $1.6 million

Back in June, Washington State Cougars coach Mike Leach caused quite a dustup when he tweeted out an obviously doctored video of former president Barack Obama saying some stuff that sounds pretty bad.

The original tweet wasn’t a good look for coach, but what really made people upset was that Leach pushed back for quite a while against the notion that the video wasn’t real, saying things like “prove it.”

Apparently, there’s been some actual fallout. Justyna Tomtas of the Lewiston Tribune is reporting that the tweet — which WSU defended as the coach’s right to free speech — has cost the university $1.6 million dollars in withdrawn pledges, mostly from changes in estate planning.

Marketing and Communications Vice President Phil Weiler said nobody has asked for a donation back.

The university anticipates that some of the donations could end up coming to WSU anyway.

“What happens sometimes is people watch for six months, see how things are and then say ‘maybe on second thought, we’ll do this,’ ” Schulz said in the article. “So, I think it’s a little bit early to tell.”

This is obviously a bit of a bummer in what has been a fantastically fun season. It’s also probably not a stretch to say that Leach might have made the university more than $1.6 million this season with the performance of the team.

At any rate, maybe Leach could just stick to tweets like this: