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Mike Leach would not have recognized these WSU, Texas Tech football teams | Don Williams
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- Mike Leach would not have recognized these WSU, Texas Tech football teams | Don Williams
PULLMAN, Wash. — Before Saturday, the last time the Texas Tech football program squared off with Washington State was a few weeks before I was born, and I was born a long time ago.
Washington State posthumously inducted Mike Leach into the university's athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, and it was no coincidence the people up here chose the weekend of the Texas Tech game to do it. Installing his revolutionary offense everywhere he went, Leach coached Tech to an 84-43 record from 2000-09 and coached Washington State to a 55-47 mark from 2012-19.
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Lubbock and Pullman are the two places where he racked up most of his 158 career victories. They have in common being located way over on one side of a state, hundreds of miles from the major metros. Out on the South Plains and out on the Palouse was where Leach did some of his best work, setting records, making headlines, going to bowls.
Washington State beat Tech 37-16 Saturday night in this first meeting since 1964. WSU's Hall of Fame class of 2024 was given on-field recognition at halftime, Sharon Leach and daughters Kim and Kiersten soaking in the full-throat approval Cougars faithful gave their late husband and father.
More: 5 takeaways from Texas Tech football's humbling loss to Washington State
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Oh, there were other signs of Leach's impact on the two programs. Players on both sides wore commemorative pirate-themed helmet stickers. Tech ran a couple of plays out of the Ninja formation, the one where both offensive tackles split out with a pair of receivers to form three-man pods on each side. A visual curiosity, the Ninja never seemed to yield a big play for Leach's guys and Zach Kittley's guys ran it for a couple of modest gains.
Dec 27, 2019; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Mike Leach against the Air Force Falcons during the Cheez-It Bowl at Chase Field. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Post-game, not far from the Tech equipment hauler and the Red Raiders ' locker room, stood a young woman with a handmade sign alleging the university owes Leach's family $2.5 million.
Leach died, unexpectedly, tragically young at 61, only 21 months ago. He has since been inducted into the Texas Tech athletics Hall of Fame , the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and now WSU's. Which the Pirate would have appreciated it. He loved the attention.
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He might not have loved how the Cougars and the Red Raiders go about their business these days. Leach quarterbacks led the nation in passing every year, and if they came up short, it wasn't for lack of trying.
How's this for irony? The quarterbacks were the leading rushers Saturday night. Tech backup QB Cameran Brown came in to get 70 yards on five carries.
Speedy WSU sophomore John Mateer popped Tech for 197 yards on 21 carries, going a very un-Leach-like 9 of 19 passing for 115 yards. Kliff Kingsbury might have gone 9 of 19 for 115 if he fell asleep in a team meeting and had a bad dream.
Tech's Behren Morton threw it 58 times, a Leach-era sum, connected on 34 and finished with 323 yards. That, however, had much to do with Tahj Brooks 's absence and the Red Raiders tumbling into a 27-10 halftime deficit. Nowadays, the Red Raiders like to run it with Brooks only a little less than Spike Dykes used to run it with Bam Morris and Byron Hanspard.
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It's a different offense, though. Every school Leach used to coach does it differently than he did, not that his offshoots didn't admire him. They just can't replicate him, his demanding nature, his exacting attention to detail.
Sep 7, 2024; Pullman, Washington, USA; Washington State Cougars fans wear tee shirts in memory of former coach Mike Leach before a football game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Gesa Field at Martin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images
Often studied, frequently imitated, Leach was hardly, if ever, duplicated. Dana Holgorsen, Sonny Dykes, Lincoln Riley, Kingsbury, Josh Heupel, Bill Bedenbaugh, Neal Brown, etc. Much as they revered Mike's work, they never really tried to copy it.
Maybe it's an acknowledgement that he was one of a kind.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Mike Leach mightn't recognize these WSU, Texas Tech football attacks
