FROM THE ARCHIVES: Honeymoon begins for Leach at WSU

The story was originally published Dec. 7, 2011, the day after Mike Leach was introduced as Washington State's football coach. Leach was posthumously inducted into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame this past weekend.

PULLMAN - Before anyone had a chance to ask the most obvious question, Mike Leach furnished the most flattering answer.

"People asked me, 'Why Washington State?' " the coveted football coach said Tuesday after being introduced at a lavish news conference attended by perhaps 700 fans. "Once I get past, in the back of my mind, thinking, 'Well, that's a stupid question'..."

He paused, sensing applause. It lasted 11 seconds - this after the standing ovation he had received upon introduction.

Leach said all the right things, and wore all the right colors, as he made acquaintance with a school hungry for romance and wins. Cheerleaders, marching-band musicians and perhaps 40 football players showed up at the Senior Ballroom of the Compton Union Building to welcome the former Texas Tech coach who had claimed 10 bowl berths in as many years before taking an involuntary two-year hiatus.

His name, seemingly cleared of whatever stigma had been attached to it after his firing at Lubbock, Texas, has been mentioned in connection with virtually every coaching vacancy in the country this year. That's why people, in the week since his hiring was announced, have been asking him, "Why Washington State?"

"I roll that through my mind but I don't say it," Leach said of his stupid-question remark. "Then I immediately blurt out the very obvious answers: the commitment to excellence in every phase of the university, the excitement around the community, and the fact that you can win here and win big, I believe."

Leach, 50, who has made his home lately at Key West, Fla., answered questions at the podium for several minutes, submitted to interviews with smaller groups and later posed with students for cell-phone photos during a gala noon-hour session. He wore a suit, with a Cougar-appropriate red and gray striped tie.

"I know what you're thinking," he said immediately after being introduced, "and the answer is yes, this is exactly how I dress in Key West every day."

School athletic director Bill Moos has already told the story of how he traveled to Key West three weeks ago to gauge Leach's interest in the job if it came open. Leach now explained that the early-morning interview took place at a hotel on the far side of the island, and he bicycled 4 miles from his home to get there.

"And he went ahead and hired me anyway."

In introducing Leach, Moos mentioned that "it took me longer to get from Key West to Pullman than it did for me to get from San Francisco to Paris last summer." Turning to Leach, he said, "So, once you're here, you're going to stay here for a bit, Mike."

Also at the head table were Leach's wife Sharon and two of their four children. Absent with illness was WSU president Elson Floyd, who tabbed provost and executive vice-president Warwick Bayly to make an opening statement in his stead.

Leach grew up in Cody, Wyo. - "which is practically local by the standards of this part of the country," he said - and had visited Pullman twice previously, once for a good chunk of time when he attended a gathering of pass-minded coaches, organized by then-Cougar boss Mike Price.

Leach, 84-43 at Texas Tech, was fired after being accused of cruel treatment of a player. At WSU he replaces Paul Wulff, who was released Nov. 29 after going 4-8 this season and finishing 9-40 in four years.

Wulff leaves behind at least two quarterbacks - Jeff Tuel and Connor Halliday - who may thrive in Leach's innovative passing attack, not to mention several receivers led by sophomore standout Marquess Wilson.

"I think it's a hard-working group," Leach said. "I think the quarterbacks are really good starting points, and also you see a group that's got a lot of potential and a good foundation. ... Sometimes you go to a place and there's nobody that looks like a quarterback. Those two guys look like quarterbacks."

Wilson said he's not the only Cougar enthused about playing in Leach's offense.

"It seems like all the receivers are going to be happy," he said. "We've got quarterbacks that can throw the ball. The running backs are even going to be happy. He likes to throw the ball to a lot of people and everybody gets touches. So it's a great offense for us."

As Leach and Moos would have it, it's a good fit for WSU as a whole, including its fans. That's one reason the public was invited to the news conference.

"None of this can happen without the partnership of the fans," Leach said. "It can't be done with just players and coaches. ... That's where things really take off and start reaching different levels. That's what's exciting to me. I think that's all going to ignite, and everyone's going to have a fun ride in the course of it."

---

Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.