CBS: Mike Leach has verbally agreed to be the head coach at Washington St.

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MaxyJR1 said:
Not saying that Maturi ran a good process, but let's play devils advocate here. This is the first school to offer Leach a job since he left TT. Leach was pretty sure to jump at the first offer to get back in.
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Perhaps, but there were several other schools that would have been good fits. It didn't hurt that WSU was aggressive and ponied up enough money where Leach didn't feel the need to negotiate. And when it comes to process, it's worth noting that the WSU AD traveled to meet Leach in the middle of November JUST IN CASE they ended up needing to hire a coach. The back-channel work was all done proactively. And more importantly, it was done so quietly that it didn't leak. Anyone think Maturi could have pulled that off? He couldn't get down to SD to see Hoke without getting spotted.

This article as the details I mention above: http://www.cougcenter.com/2011/11/3...hired-contract-bill-moos-wsu-football-cougars

Also one note: I would have enjoyed having Leach here. (This isn't about Kill. I love Kill.) But I think he'd be a terrible fit for the U. Minnesota nice and the Minnesota media would not play well with the Pirate. Is that dumb? Yes. But whatcha gonna do.
 

There's another wrinkle here that is being overlooked. Brewster was fired mid-October and there was a big deal made about the search for his successor. The minute that happened all eyes were on Maturi and company and every move they made was monitored. That wasn't the case for the WSU athletic director. While Wulff was obviously on thin ice at WSU, the AD kept it under wraps and was able to operate surreptitiously in his pursuit of Leach.

The Brewster firing was inevitable, but when it was done mid-season, it put the administration under the microscope. Not saying that was good or bad. Additionally, if Maturi and Mona had not flown coach and run into Michelle Tafoya, the meeting with Hoke probably stays at the rumor level.

I have nothing against Leach. I hope he does well. I don't think he was a fit for Minnesota, but that's beside the point.

As for his developing great QBs (and many will find this odd coming from me as I often stress the difference between pro and college football), the combined total of passes thrown in regular season games by Texas Tech QBs who played under Leach is 2 (both by Kliff Kingsbury in 2005 as a member of the NY Jets). He runs a great system and his QBs numbers are a product of that system, which does, when you come to think of it, make Leach something of a wizard.
 

50PoundHead said:
There's another wrinkle here that is being overlooked. Brewster was fired mid-October and there was a big deal made about the search for his successor. The minute that happened all eyes were on Maturi and company and every move they made was monitored. That wasn't the case for the WSU athletic director. While Wulff was obviously on thin ice at WSU, the AD kept it under wraps and was able to operate surreptitiously in his pursuit of Leach.

The Brewster firing was inevitable, but when it was done mid-season, it put the administration under the microscope. Not saying that was good or bad. Additionally, if Maturi and Mona had not flown coach and run into Michelle Tafoya, the meeting with Hoke probably stays at the rumor level.
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So you A) do the same thing the WSU did only you do it in October. Or B) you don't fire Brew until the end of the year.

Of course, this process only makes sense if Leach or another guy who wasn't coaching was going to be considered. And since it's clear that he wasn't considered (and I do get why...as I said, I don't think he'd be a great cultural fit in MN) then on that level Maturi really shouldn't be critiqued.
 

Schnauzer said:
Queue the first comparisons between Washington State and Minnesota progress in their dual attempts to rise from the depths of their respective conferences. I know a lot of eyes here will be on how Leach does, and what comes out of his mouth if he takes over WSU. Either way... I predict there will be some "I told you so's..." from one side or the other from the debate last fall to bring Leach here.
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Home & home with Wazzu?
 



GoAUpher said:
So you A) do the same thing the WSU did only you do it in October. Or B) you don't fire Brew until the end of the year.

Of course, this process only makes sense if Leach or another guy who wasn't coaching was going to be considered. And since it's clear that he wasn't considered (and I do get why...as I said, I don't think he'd be a great cultural fit in MN) then on that level Maturi really shouldn't be critiqued.
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I honestly don't know the answer. Maturi can be harshly and justifiably critiqued for a number of decisions/non-decisions during his tenure. I just think comparing our search to this search (if there really even was a search in the case of WSU) is an apples-and-oranges proposition.

If the program was imploding and the tension between Brewster, his assistants, and the team was as palpable as it appeared to be, he simply had to go in October. My only critique of Maturi is that he came out with some rather outlandish statements at the firing press conference that may have boxed him in and it certainly invited a higher level of media scrutiny to every move he made or sentence he uttered than had he simply said, "We're going to hire a coach. I'll get back to you when I have more details."
 

50PoundHead said:
I honestly don't know the answer. Maturi can be harshly and justifiably critiqued for a number of decisions/non-decisions during his tenure. I just think comparing our search to this search (if there really even was a search in the case of WSU) is an apples-and-oranges proposition.

If the program was imploding and the tension between Brewster, his assistants, and the team was as palpable as it appeared to be, he simply had to go in October. My only critique of Maturi is that he came out with some rather outlandish statements at the firing press conference that may have boxed him in and it certainly invited a higher level of media scrutiny to every move he made or sentence he uttered than had he simply said, "We're going to hire a coach. I'll get back to you when I have more details."
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AMEN!

It wasn't how Maturi did anything other than set expectations. Whenever you fly somewhere there's a risk of being seen - it happens. Just like an aunt of a friend of mine saw Glen Mason flying back to MSP from New Mexico just before he stated he never had any interest in the UNM job (I'm sure that Albuquerque is great this time of year but get real). Unless you're going to go black-ops a guy like Maturi will likely be seen by somebody who recognizes him wherever he goes.

I wish we would have been willing to hire a Leach type coach who was a little controversial but not a cheater. But I know we aren't and probably won't be in that position any time soon. Do you think the media would still be on board if Leach was here and the team went 3-9?? I think he'd be getting crucified.

I'm very happy we hired Kill and look forward to good things coming down the road...
 

50PoundHead said:
I honestly don't know the answer. Maturi can be harshly and justifiably critiqued for a number of decisions/non-decisions during his tenure. I just think comparing our search to this search (if there really even was a search in the case of WSU) is an apples-and-oranges proposition.
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Yea, that's what I came to in writing my other response to you. There really wasn't a realistic scenario under which we were pursuing anyone who wasn't actively coaching (whether we should have done so is a separate discussion that I think is pointless). It's clear that Wazzu's AD made Leach the primary target well in advance. Thus, as you say it's apples and oranges. I think what is flustering is to see how a clear, decisive plan executed well can make a coaching search much easier to do (and appeared to be something we lacked). Then again, there is no way to know how much of that apparent disorganization was actually on Maturi and how much of it was related to unplanned issues (like the apparent last second change of heart by Edsal, etc). In the end, I think it's fair to say Maturi could have executed his plan better but you can't be cranky at him from comparisons like this one.
 




Lakeville Goldy said:
AMEN!

It wasn't how Maturi did anything other than set expectations. Whenever you fly somewhere there's a risk of being seen - it happens. Just like an aunt of a friend of mine saw Glen Mason flying back to MSP from New Mexico just before he stated he never had any interest in the UNM job (I'm sure that Albuquerque is great this time of year but get real). Unless you're going to go black-ops a guy like Maturi will likely be seen by somebody who recognizes him wherever he goes.I wish we would have been willing to hire a Leach type coach who was a little controversial but not a cheater. But I know we aren't and probably won't be in that position any time soon. Do you think the media would still be on board if Leach was here and the team went 3-9?? I think he'd be getting crucified.

I'm very happy we hired Kill and look forward to good things coming down the road...
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It would be nice however if Maturi had the connections or relationship with some of our wealthy boosters that he could fly under the radar (private/corporate Jet) on these types of important troops rather than flying coach on Delta. A little bit easier to not be seen when you can fly on private planes. That is what many A.D.'s due when flying around on trips where they want to keep it out of the press. However, maybe the next A.D. can look at this option in the future when the need arises.
 

The whole thing basically was just another example of how spineless and muddling Maturi has been.
It may not have been a good fit, might have been apples to oranges, but the process was so badly bungled from before Brewster was fired through Kill's presser it's just amazing to see how well aimed and precise the WSU AD search was.

As for private planes I call BS, and if there are none available to Maturi it's his own fault due to pissing off almost every big time booster the athletics dept has.

Can't wait for this suckpile to get thrown out so we can hopefully have an AD with some guts and pride willing to fight for something, anything with conviction and direction.
 

Ole, all relevant points, but do you think Maturi had the luxury of operating in the same environment as the WSU athletic director? I'm not Charlie Walters' little birdie, but my guess is the WSU AD knew what he was going to do a few months ago and worked behind the scenes to make that happen in a way that didn't arouse that much noise.

Pullman isn't exactly a major media market, so my guess is it's not that difficult to make certain one's counsel remains inside a small circle of individuals.

In the end, Maturi built up unreal expectations at the firing press conference and opened himself up to rampant criticism (and to make sure I'm not coming off like a Maturi sop, much of that criticism was warranted).
 

50PoundHead said:
Ole, all relevant points, but do you think Maturi had the luxury of operating in the same environment as the WSU athletic director? I'm not Charlie Walters' little birdie, but my guess is the WSU AD knew what he was going to do a few months ago and worked behind the scenes to make that happen in a way that didn't arouse that much noise.

Pullman isn't exactly a major media market, so my guess is it's not that difficult to make certain one's counsel remains inside a small circle of individuals.

In the end, Maturi built up unreal expectations at the firing press conference and opened himself up to rampant criticism (and to make sure I'm not coming off like a Maturi sop, much of that criticism was warranted).
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The WSU AD did exactly what a D1 BCS AD should do. Maturi's incompetence is the only thing that prevented him from planning ahead and executing a search process behind the scenes. Did we ever find out who leaked brewster's firing to of all people Corey Roofs from AM1500? Whoever did THAT should have been fired.

Everyone in the world knew after the South Dakota game Brewster was in trouble, if Maturi had no plan in place at that point he's incompetent.

I really don't believe the TC media is so scrutinizing that they would have found anything out if the process was run professionally as it should have been.
Of all people Michelle Tafoya uncovered one of their targets simply by sharing a plane with them.

I guess this has moved beyond Leach in my mind, it's just good to see WSU execute a coaching hire without so much bungling and tripping. Again, good for them to have such a steadyminded AD.
 



GopherGod said:
It would be nice however if Maturi had the connections or relationship with some of our wealthy boosters that he could fly under the radar (private/corporate Jet) on these types of important troops rather than flying coach on Delta. A little bit easier to not be seen when you can fly on private planes. That is what many A.D.'s due when flying around on trips where they want to keep it out of the press. However, maybe the next A.D. can look at this option in the future when the need arises.
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Exactly. This is the sort of thing I watch other AD's do and then go "argh grumble grumble".
 

Ole, do you think Maturi would ever have been given the institutional control to do what the WSU AD did? I'm not related to Maturi and he is not immune to criticism, but given the clusterf*ck he inherited, do you think he (or anyone else in that position) would have been given the leeway to act as unilaterally as the way it appears to have been done at WSU? Could Tom Moe had done this? It's not a matter of ability in some cases. It's a matter of what you are allowed to do in terms of procedure.

Again, Maturi deserves much (perhaps most) of the criticism leveled at him. I just don't think he was operating in an environment that allowed him to be the sole voice on hiring and firing. For good or ill (and it has worked both ways in this state), we're "committee types" here.

As for the Twin Cities media, I wouldn't be surprised if the U coaching search was reported in multiple outlets every day it went on last fall. I don't know if that qualifies as scrutiny, but the drumbeat was pretty steady.

And yeah, Maturi screwed up a number of times during the search. I don't think that is what either one of us is debating though.
 

50PoundHead said:
Ole, all relevant points, but do you think Maturi had the luxury of operating in the same environment as the WSU athletic director? I'm not Charlie Walters' little birdie, but my guess is the WSU AD knew what he was going to do a few months ago and worked behind the scenes to make that happen in a way that didn't arouse that much noise.

Pullman isn't exactly a major media market, so my guess is it's not that difficult to make certain one's counsel remains inside a small circle of individuals.
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My thoughts mirror Ole's in many ways. How does the size of the media market and the level of scrutiny effect Maturi's:
- ability to build and communicate in secret to a small group of confidants?
- organize a coaching search well in advance of firing the coach?
- ability to set appropriate expectations?
- etc?

WARNING: ARMCHAIR PSYCHOLOGY AHEAD...To me, it seems like an issue could be that Maturi tries to make many decisions by consensus. In many cases in his job and at the U I bet this is a good thing. But in a situation when you have to keep things close to the vest and make the decisions yourself, I can see this being a liability (i.e. it slows the process, means more people know what you want to do and thus increases possible leaks, etc). I don't know that I have anything to point to, but his style and temperament strike me as someone who prefers wide buy in for contentious decisions.
 

50PoundHead said:
Ole, do you think Maturi would ever have been given the institutional control to do what the WSU AD did? I'm not related to Maturi and he is not immune to criticism, but given the clusterf*ck he inherited, do you think he (or anyone else in that position) would have been given the leeway to act as unilaterally as the way it appears to have been done at WSU? Could Tom Moe had done this? It's not a matter of ability in some cases. It's a matter of what you are allowed to do in terms of procedure.

Again, Maturi deserves much (perhaps most) of the criticism leveled at him. I just don't think he was operating in an environment that allowed him to be the sole voice on hiring and firing. For good or ill (and it has worked both ways in this state), we're "committee types" here.
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This is a very plausible reason and would be a logical alternative explanation to my armchair consensus diagnosis. It is certainly possible that he was hamstrung by how the U operates. I'm actually more worried that this is the case because it speaks to wider institutional problems facing football and the department as a whole.
 

In response to Post #1, I believe Maturi did set unreasonable expectations for himself in the search process and of all the criticism, I think that is the point on which he should receive the most criticism.

I do think the sports media in this town does a lot of "after the fact" griping. That shouldn't--and hopefully didn't--bother Maturi, but as soon as the dust settled on the Brewster post-mortem, the meme became "Maturi simply isn't up to this," which led to what be perceived as self-fulfilling prophecy in the public's eye. For the record, I was at first a bit disappointed in the Kill hire but that was only because I was led to believe that a higher-profile guy would be in the mix. I'm not familiar with the Pullman local media, but my guess is they don't have three or four dueling sports talk radio stations and three dueling local television stations. I could be completely wrong on that.

In an analogy that may not be apt, Maturi may be a lousy shooter, but by the same token, you can't shoot when you don't have the ball. He didn't make a unilateral decision because he didn't have that power. Will the next AD have that power? Don't know, but Kaler will likely have to convince a lot of people that is a good thing for it to actually happen.
 

50PoundHead said:
In response to Post #1, I believe Maturi did set unreasonable expectations for himself in the search process and of all the criticism, I think that is the point on which he should receive the most criticism.

I do think the sports media in this town does a lot of "after the fact" griping. That shouldn't--and hopefully didn't--bother Maturi, but as soon as the dust settled on the Brewster post-mortem, the meme became "Maturi simply isn't up to this," which led to what be perceived as self-fulfilling prophecy in the public's eye. For the record, I was at first a bit disappointed in the Kill hire but that was only because I was led to believe that a higher-profile guy would be in the mix. I'm not familiar with the Pullman local media, but my guess is they don't have three or four dueling sports talk radio stations and three dueling local television stations. I could be completely wrong on that.

In an analogy that may not be apt, Maturi may be a lousy shooter, but by the same token, you can't shoot when you don't have the ball. He didn't make a unilateral decision because he didn't have that power. Will the next AD have that power? Don't know, but Kaler will likely have to convince a lot of people that is a good thing for it to actually happen.
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The size of the media market means that they can certainly do more to shape the preception of Maturi, but unless your thoughts about not having enough power are true then he still has the ability to execute the search in a way that is not impacted by those perceptions. If you are correct though, then in some ways he was probably doomed to some level of failure beyond his control. That's still not true because if he knows he's on the way out he could force the issue. But again, that doesn't seem like Joel's style.

I suspect in the end it's a little bit of column A and column B. Joel wasn't allowed to make all the decisions and isn't a forceful enough leader to take charge of the power he did have. Result? A muddled approach that leaked into the public eye much more than it should have.
 

GoAUpher said:
The size of the media market means that they can certainly do more to shape the preception of Maturi, but unless your thoughts about not having enough power are true then he still has the ability to execute the search in a way that is not impacted by those perceptions. If you are correct though, then in some ways he was probably doomed to some level of failure beyond his control. That's still not true because if he knows he's on the way out he could force the issue. But again, that doesn't seem like Joel's style.

I suspect in the end it's a little bit of column A and column B. Joel wasn't allowed to make all the decisions and isn't a forceful enough leader to take charge of the power he did have. Result? A muddled approach that leaked into the public eye much more than it should have.
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I have no way of knowing this, but my guess is that Maturi's allowable decision-making space was well-defined when he took the job and that you are absolutely right that he probably didn't make any efforts to expand that space. Not his style and my guess is he liked the job enough that he didn't want to risk it.

Let's remember that Maturi did preside over a unified men's/women's department that had operated separately for a decade or two. Moe was a bridge guy hired to clean things up. Maturi probably should have been a bridge guy to serve five years or so to work the bugs out of the new system. He's stayed on longer, probably to no net gain for the athletic department.

This is Kaler's gig now. We'll know soon enough how he wants to approach this and how much control he wants give the AD of a single department. I have no idea how he will proceed.
 

50, if that's the reality of the situation then I'm a bit too harsh, however I'd expect then that Maturi's responsibility as a leader would have been to stand up the nonsense committee atmosphere and take charge.

It's his job to lead the athletic department, not be a schill for a committee or board and just do what they say. Stand up for what needed to be done and fight until you are removed and a yes man is planted(in which case alert the media to THAT) or you get the authority to do what is right and necessary to improve your department. The lack of guts here in that case is striking.

Kaler is a scientist, at least i hope he still is. He's observed, noted, and I think probably now understands what is needed at the AD position. If it's his call(I hope it is and not a committee)he'll be able to find an AD with the skills and gumption needed to lead and make tough decisions. It seems like there's a culture of complacence and a resistance to change in the athletics dept, maybe some house cleaning is in order when a new AD is found.

Should be nice to look forward rather than back like we are here today.
 

Again, there are a whole lot of other athletic directors around the country not named Joel Maturi who didn't hire Leach.
 

A bean counter and a pirate? Maturi would've had a nervous breakdown. As Glen Mason said at the Insight Bowl: "The guy can flat out coach but he is one strange cowboy"
 

+1. While Wulff's overall record doesn't reflect it, he definitely did his part to rebuild the program (Bill Doba is more to blame for the current state of that program). They were easily the worst major conference CFB team a couple of seasons ago, and while they're still not good, Wulff did a respectable job of bringing in talented young players.


beavergopher said:
it would be nice to have an aggressive AD. Wulff restocked the roster with some good players. Leach will have success very soon.
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Ole said:
50, if that's the reality of the situation then I'm a bit too harsh, however I'd expect then that Maturi's responsibility as a leader would have been to stand up the nonsense committee atmosphere and take charge.

It's his job to lead the athletic department, not be a schill for a committee or board and just do what they say. Stand up for what needed to be done and fight until you are removed and a yes man is planted(in which case alert the media to THAT) or you get the authority to do what is right and necessary to improve your department. The lack of guts here in that case is striking.

Kaler is a scientist, at least i hope he still is. He's observed, noted, and I think probably now understands what is needed at the AD position. If it's his call(I hope it is and not a committee)he'll be able to find an AD with the skills and gumption needed to lead and make tough decisions. It seems like there's a culture of complacence and a resistance to change in the athletics dept, maybe some house cleaning is in order when a new AD is found.

Should be nice to look forward rather than back like we are here today.
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It's Maturi's job to promote and implement his program within the confines set by his bosses (U of M Prexy, Board of Regents). My only beef about Maturi is that he should have been a five-year guy. Moe swept out the problems. Maturi got the new program off to its start and likely stayed past too long past the shepherding phase.

And don't downplay the influence of the Board of Regents. It has become increasingly political and meddling.
 


Buttcheeks McGaffigan said:
Lubbock despite it's far away distance is still in the state of Texas. The state of Washington doesn't come close to talent depth.
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Correct.

Lubbock is only a 50-minute flight to DFW, and in Texas football is god. Texas produced 345 D-1 football players last year.
 

GopherGod said:
However, maybe the next A.D. can look at this option in the future when the need arises.
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I'm hoping that when the next coaching search happens, we have personal hover crafts, or wormholes to just zip over and visit the next coaching prospect.
 

A few thoughts from a cluttered mind:

1) Congratulations to WSU and to Coach Leach.

2) Only thing that matters is whether or not he wins there in his new situation, which I believe he will. The guy can flat out coach. It doesn't matter if he'd get more wins in this conference or that conference. At the end of the day, he will be judged by whether or not he can produce more wins for WSU than the others who have preceded him.

3) Would he have been a good fit here? Probably is dependent on how each of us operationally define what a "good fit" actually is. For me, it may have completely different meaning than for others. I can't play coulda, shoulda, woulda on this topic (good fit). I will on #4.

4) Minnesota Media: I honestly would have LOVED to seen this. I hold an opinion that Coach Leach would have crucified our media more than the other way around regardless of record.

5) Recruiting to Pullman or anywhere, for that matter, may or may not be of concern. Each coach has different approaches to recruiting and one would think his presence there now will have an immediate impact. If his predecessor, a career 9-40 guy with prior experience being head coach at Eastern Washington can get 2-3 star athletes, why wouldn't Leach and Co. at the very minimum, get 3-4 stars given his prior success?

6) NFL QB's - While his QB's will be developed, he has more OG's and Wideouts in the NFL than the QB position. He'll get a kid who can chuck the ball and fit his system of madness which ultimately will translate into points on the scoreboard.

7) While the WSU deserves kudos in the hire, I guarantee you there was something (other than $ or an AD) that led him to his decision (eg. looking for something to do, wasn't catching enough fish, wants to learn about the history of Whitman County and the formation of the Palouse River). The guy, his thought processes, curiosity, etc. are on a way different level than most. He has an underlying curiosity about nearly everything and something about this situation sparked that curiosity. What that is? I don't know. You never know with him.

Lastly, I have avoided posting anything on OTDAD (Out The Door AD) since joining GopherHole. These will be my only OTDAD comments in regards to him. He simply hasn't been worth my time when there are way more enjoyable topics to read or post about. It's bad enough to live through OTDAD's decision making once, let alone having each decision dissected ad naseum again. His actions, or lack thereof, have sent a message to Gopherhole members that he obviously doesn't care whatever opinions we had or currently have so I'll sign off by saying I hope the door doesn't hit OTDAD in the a$$.

Have a great holiday season everyone and Go Gophers!

Buck
 

Buttcheeks McGaffigan said:
Lubbock despite it's far away distance is still in the state of Texas. The state of Washington doesn't come close to talent depth.
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I imagine there will be a steady stream of Texas players going to wazzu. Just because he isn't in Lubbock doesnt mean he still doesn't have relationships with coaches down in Texas. Wazzu can compete for 2nd and 3rd tier recruits in Texas.
 

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