According to LAJ's Don Williams Mike Leach was in Seattle to discuss the Washington Husky job with university officials. I'm just going to blockquote from Williams' story, but this is according to Williams' source:
"As of now, he hasn’t been offered the job,’’ a source told The A-J on Tuesday night.The same source said although Washington is 0-11 with one game left, if UW officials decide to zero in on Tech’s coach, their potential to hire Leach away shouldn’t be underestimated.
"I don’t care if they are 0-11,’’ the source said. "They’re the state university; he would bring a national flair to the state, and he’d be able to recruit there at a level he’s not able to recruit in Texas. He’s still the third or fourth level of recruitment in Texas. At Washington, he’ll be the first. All that’s true, and a man of vision such as Mike Leach considers these things.’’
This strikes me as strange and a little too surreal. On the same day that Leach won the AP's Big 12 Coach of the Year with OU's Bob Stoops he's interviewing with Washington.
That's a hit in the gut.
And rather than actually have Leach comment on what a great award this is, we have his defensive coordinator, Ruffin McNeill, giving his concession speech:
"I think it’s a great tribute to coach Leach," defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. "He’s been consistent ever since he’s been at Tech, so I think that was a great honor for Mike and well-deserving."
Of course in the background, you have Gerald Myers sounding a little bit befuddled about the situation and that he has not contacted Leach since Saturday evening's win agaist Baylor.
Myers said he had not talked to Leach since Saturday evening after the Red Raiders’ 35-28 win over Baylor in the regular-season finale. Myers said no one from Washington nor Leach had contacted him about any discussion between the two.
What?
I thought the deal was that Myers was going to start talking contract right after the season was completed. That was Saturday and it sounds like Leach gave him Sunday and Monday to start talking numbers and that didn't happen.
If Leach doesn't sign a long-term extension at Texas Tech I don't think it will be hard for me to figure out where I need to look for a little bit of blame.
Myers also seems to think that Leach would be the nice guy and contact him if he was looking elsewhere:
"I think he would if he’s serious about it," Myers said. "I think he would let me know. So I don’t know. He wouldn’t have to tell me, but I haven’t heard from anybody, the coaches or anybody else about that."
Right.
There's a couple of things that don't make sense to me and/or bother me about this entire story:
- The only solace to the story is this bit about Leach confirming on Monday that he wants to stay at Texas Tech:
- Why is Leach and his wife flying a commercial jet if they're being wooed by UW? Don't you think that a booster could spring for a private jet or something?
- If Leach leaves between now and the bowl game, who coaches the offense? I've got no idea and I'm pretty sure it would not be pretty.
On Monday, Leach told The Associated Press that he “absolutely” wants to stay at Tech.