I'm the Devil's Advocate

This Crazy Pirate may be the Best College Football Coach in the Country
Texas Monthly

Okay, I know I'm going to catch an ample amount of shit for this one but allow me to be the lone dissenting voice about Mike Leach in West Texas.

He may be the best college football coach in the country. I'm going to have to go out on a limb and say not even freaking close. Granted, what he has accomplished at Tech is beyond impressive. He went into a stale, consistent environment and shook it up, making it exciting and relevant within a few years. That's not an easy thing to do in the most competitive division in college football.

What irks me about Leach is how much better things could have been. Imagine if B.J. Symons had started for four years ahead of Kliff Kingsbury. The all-time records would be destroyed, but Leach was too stubborn to admit he made a mistake choosing between them.

And his greatest shortcoming has been the lack of competent defensive leadership during his tenure. I love Greg McMackin but he wasn't the right guy for the job. But Leach kept him despite poor results. It took Dennis Erickson pulling McMackin away to change things. Then instead of scouring the country for a bright young defensive position coach like successful programs have done, he calls one of his old coaching buddies who was (I shit you not) working on a horse ranch before he was hired. Three years of craptastic defense followed until Stencich was given the heave-ho.

Did Leach learn his lesson? No, he hired a 50+ coach who had sat stagnant on his staff for years. I give Ruffin McNeil credit for improving what was the WORST defense in college football but its not good enough. I assure you this. When Art Briles takes over, Ruffin is going to be standing in the unemployment line.

It's that I don't give a rats ass about defense or time of posession type attitude that sets Leach back. If he cared about time of posession, Tech would have blown Nebraska out last year instead of having to go into overtime. He got outcoaches. Just like he does every time he travels to Norman. And Bob Stoops may have been right when he said Oklahoma wouldn't have won the title with Leach as coordinator.

Time will tell with Leach. Ultimately I think he gets a higher profile job after this year and then the experiment to truly measure him as a head coach begins. Unless he just retires and open a surf shop. Who knows?