Mike Leach met with the media on Monday for his weekly news conference, and of course the topic that was front and center was the appearance by ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday morning, some 10 hours before the No. 25 Washington State Cougars and No. 12 Oregon Ducks kick off later in the day.
“Well I think it’s pretty good, I mean with the flag tradition that we have, I think that it’s very important with that, and I think that it’s overdue, and I think that we’re certainly excited to have it and our students are excited to have it,” Leach said. “As a team, it’s kind of business as usual, but I think it’s a really good opportunity for our fans and a good showcase for our university and our team.”
Leach then offered an assessment for what the long-awaited appearance will mean to the WSU community.
“I think they’ll be very excited for it. I think they’ll enjoy it, I think they’ll have a good time. I also think GameDay will see what a beautiful spot this university is in and be a little quicker to come back,” he said. “I don’t think it will take as many years for them to come back the second time as it did this first one, because they’ll love all the really cool stuff that they get to photograph in their shots and everything, and then the game day environment, of course, at our place is outstanding and has been for a long time. And I do think they’ll be back again. But I think everybody this first time out is excited for it and looking forward to it.”
Naturally, Leach had a lot of thoughts on a lot of other things, too, including Oregon’s offense and the retirement of Bob Robertson. You can watch the entirety of the news conference above.