Shooter: People who know say Mike Leach had serious interest in the Gophers job after he was fired in 2009.

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Shooter:

— People who know say Mike Leach, the eccentric Mississippi State football coach who died after a stroke the other day at age 61, had serious interest in the Gophers job after he was fired at Texas Tech in 2009.

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Go Gophers!!
 






I was one that really wanted him and had several disagreements with fellow Gopher Holers. Remember, this was following the disastrous Tim Brewster regime and I felt he would be the spark the Gophers needed.. It would have been risky, and his fights with Dan Barreiro and Patrick Reusse would have been legendary but he would have provided immediate interest and reenergized the program.

He went on to be successful at WSU and that only confirms my beliefs he would have been successful here because it is almost impossible to win in Pullman.

But with that said, the Gophers did pretty well with Kill, Claeys and eventually Fleck so I am not complaining. Still -- it would have been pretty interesting around here that's for sure!!
 

It was a while ago but I'm pretty sure it was fairly well known that Leach had interest in coming here. But it was never going to happen because he was far to controversial for the U of M.

It definitely spurred a ton of debate on this forum, would have been interesting to see how it would have gone had it happened.
 

Yeah, outright said it on the radio show I recall.

I think it was just that he wanted a P5 five job.
 

MNVCGUY said:
It was a while ago but I'm pretty sure it was fairly well known that Leach had interest in coming here. But it was never going to happen because he was far to controversial for the U of M.

It definitely spurred a ton of debate on this forum, would have been interesting to see how it would have gone had it happened.
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This was my thought also. I was in the camp that wanted Leach, but There was zero chance Maturi would take on the baggage that came with Leach While the (false) narrative of Craig James getting him fired was still in the news
 



WHB Brewer said:
This was my thought also. I was in the camp that wanted Leach, but There was zero chance Maturi would take on the baggage that came with Leach While the (false) narrative of Craig James getting him fired was still in the news
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I was one of the bigger proponents here for hiring Leach at the time. Maturi did some good things here (helped raise the money for the stadium), but he was incredibly milquetoast in terms of doing anything bold.
 

After he was fired from TTech he would have taken any G5 HC job he was offered. And he finally was offered the worst one of all.
 

It’s always easy to make up stories involving dead people. I call bullshiite.
 




Gold Rush said:
I was one that really wanted him and had several disagreements with fellow Gopher Holers. Remember, this was following the disastrous Tim Brewster regime and I felt he would be the spark the Gophers needed.. It would have been risky, and his fights with Dan Barreiro and Patrick Reusse would have been legendary but he would have provided immediate interest and reenergized the program.

He went on to be successful at WSU and that only confirms my beliefs he would have been successful here because it is almost impossible to win in Pullman.

But with that said, the Gophers did pretty well with Kill, Claeys and eventually Fleck so I am not complaining. Still -- it would have been pretty interesting around here that's for sure!!
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He did have good success at WSU, especially for Pullman. He was not really well liked as there was certainly some things said and done by Leach and AD Drunken Bill Moos that hurt the University. They overspent for moderate success in a half empty stadium. University ultimately had to cut a couple of programs. He also never beat University of Washington their biggest rival and got beaten badly by a Gopher team under Clays.
 

MNVCGUY said:
It was a while ago but I'm pretty sure it was fairly well known that Leach had interest in coming here. But it was never going to happen because he was far to controversial for the U of M.

It definitely spurred a ton of debate on this forum, would have been interesting to see how it would have gone had it happened.
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For sure
I am guessing he would’ve never won a title here (he never has won a title anywhere) but he would’ve been guaranteed football competence and entertainment….
And those are two things I was longing for after 2006-2010.
As it turns out, we hired a guy (Kill) who probably won less than leach would have won in year 1 (IMO) but won just as much as leach would’ve won in years 2-4.
I do think leach had a little more upside than Kill but we ended up doing fine. I would guess we would’ve moved Gray to wideout right away and been starting some freshman from Texas in year 1.
 

In 2009, there was a large portion of this board that also thought you had to play a certain style of football to win in the Big 10. Maybe some of those folks are still around, but I know that was one of the concerns from that group.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
In 2009, there was a large portion of this board that also thought you had to play a certain style of football to win in the Big 10. Maybe some of those folks are still around, but I know that was one of the concerns from that group.
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Throw to the TE? ;)
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
In 2009, there was a large portion of this board that also thought you had to play a certain style of football to win in the Big 10. Maybe some of those folks are still around, but I know that was one of the concerns from that group.
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Absolutely. There was a large contingent that said you couldn't run an air raid style in this conference. I think it would have been extremely fun to see us try. I loved watching those Texas Tech games where the final scores would be 48-42 and the like.
 

Goldmember said:
After he was fired from TTech he would have taken any G5 HC job he was offered. And he finally was offered the worst one of all.
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I assume you meant P5. There are a LOT of G5 programs that are much, much worse than Wazzu.
 

I was in the camp that didn't want him to come here. He clearly had much baggage, salty mouth that doesn't translate to making the players good citizens, teammates, and over all life learning experience.

No doubt he is a character that I appreciated at times. He possibly would have been fired and then we would have to start over again for a new coach. Not worth it.
 

disco said:
I assume you meant P5. There are a LOT of G5 programs that are much, much worse than Wazzu.
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Oh yeah, P5.
I think he was holding out for a G5 job because he knew he could compete to win even at a bottom-feeder. And he did.
 

#2Gopher said:
I was in the camp that didn't want him to come here. He clearly had much baggage, salty mouth that doesn't translate to making the players good citizens, teammates, and over all life learning experience.

No doubt he is a character that I appreciated at times. He possibly would have been fired and then we would have to start over again for a new coach. Not worth it.
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Oh no, not a coach that uses bad words. How awful!
This isn't little league.
 

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