It was the first turn-away crowd associated with WSU football in a long time … and this was merely the introduction of new football coach Mike Leach.
From where Leach stood on the podium Tuesday afternoon, he could look across the fans, past the cheerleaders and the band, and see out the east windows directly at Martin Stadium.
Even as he spoke, heavy machinery grumbled and groaned in the process of reconstructing parts of the football facility. They’d better hurry. And maybe make some additions to the blueprints.
Asked about his set of expectations, given that some coaches construct five-year plans when they take over a new job, Leach dramatically compressed the timetable.
“I came to have a one-day plan,” Leach said. “Win one game a week.”
The response drew applause. And fans have responded to Leach’s hiring a week ago in more tangible ways. Aside from the kind of national exposure that a WSU hiring never generates, boosters are tripping over themselves to be a part.
“We’ve sold nearly 500 new season tickets and raised in excess of a quarter million dollars in contributions – and that was in just the first four working days,’’ said Bill Moos, WSU athletic director. “So the people are answering the call. They’re hungry for success and we’re confident that’s the direction we’re going to go now.”
Four years earlier WSU hired coach Paul Wulff, an alum who had done an exemplary job at Eastern Washington. Let’s just say they did not need to book the ballroom to contain the enthusiasm over his introduction.
Leach, of course, took Texas Tech to 10 consecutive winning seasons and won a national coach of the year award in 2008. And the Cougars are forking over $2.25 million annual salary and ancillary income to hire him.
How does this play to the long-time Cougars boosters? They’re gobbling it up.
Wes McCabe, a 90-year-old booster who motored in from Tekoa for his first WSU football game in 1932, stands as good authority on the matter of Cougars athletic development:
“I have never seen anything like this … ever. I graduated in ’43, and I’ve never seen a reaction to a new coach anything like this … ever,” he said.
Leach was at the lectern for almost 20 minutes. He made a positive impression; straightforward and mostly serious. It played well, and he gave a couple of responses that drew cheers like a Cougars touchdown at the Apple Cup.
“People ask me ‘Why Washington State?’ and once I get past … thinking, ‘Well, that’s a stupid question.’ ”
Cheers interrupted him at that point, because fans had just heard a coach imply that he doesn’t feel as if he has to make excuses for coming to Pullman.
“I’m from Cody, Wyoming,” he said. “That’s practically local from the standards of this part of the country,” Leach said.
He was asked about the lamentable tradition of coaches leaving Washington State when higher-profile universities come calling.
He withheld the obvious response, that he had coached 10 seasons in Lubbock, which is widely known as the Pullman of Northwest Texas.
“At Texas Tech, we won 29 games the last three years,” he said. “I wasn’t in any hurry to go anywhere. I’m excited to be here and excited to stay here.”
As for recruiting, he stressed the battles in the state of Washington. And his three team mandates for Cougars will be: 1. Be a team; 2. Be the most excited to play; and, 3. Be the best at doing your job.
Since a number of students in the gathering were wearing pirate hats and eye-patches, the natural question to Leach was to elaborate on his publicized interest in pirate lore.
He explained that it was only an allegory he used in one team meeting, pointing out that bands of pirates came together without rank and caste to follow a common goal. He used a sword fight as an example of “focused execution.”
The metaphor was exploited in a national article, and he suddenly began receiving pirate paraphernalia and trinkets.
He would not address rumors of his involvement with coaching openings other than WSU, although Cougars fans may presume that they’re lucky the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job wasn’t open.
Leach surely “won” the introductory press conference. He was far from swashbuckling, but composed and direct and workmanlike.
He seemed like a man who had a job to do. Like the construction workers at Martin Stadium less than 100 yards from where he made his Cougars debut, Leach was already at work rebuilding WSU football, and it’s a big job for them all.
Dave Boling: 253-597-8440 dave.boling@thenewstribune.com
