I have constantly asked this question since Leach's popularity and so called coaching genius became cult like during his reign at Tech from 2000 - 2009. I have always been a Tech fan, in my years I have seen Tech win great games under Spike, Leach, Tuberville and Kingsbury. Nothing has really ever changed my die hard attitude for Tech. But what really gets under my skin are Tech fans that seem to think that Mike Leach would have Tech winning consistently if he was still at Tech.

And what really irritates me is when they seem to bash Spike like he never accomplished anything while at Tech. Lets look at Spike Dykes record shall we... Coaching career spanning from 1986 - 1999, all time record of 82-67-1, SWC record of 38-27-1, and Big 12 record of 19-13. All time conference winning percentage both SWC/BIG12 is 58%. I am not going to compare all time winning percentages, because under Spike Tech actually played competition pre-conference. Do you want to know a mind blowing stat that a lot of Tech fans don't know...? Leach's all time conference record while at Tech was also 58%. Please do the math if you don't believe me. Yes Leach had a bowl game every year, but when you examine the qualities of bowl games its all here say. Not only that Spike had 4 years under his helm where Tech had 6 wins but didn't go bowling. So really why do people love Leach and the Air Raid? Video Game stats? The unrealistic belief that you can beat someone throwing the ball 90% of the time, and not having a defense? Ok, well what about Baylor, TCU, and OSU being competition in the BIG 12 now, when they weren't during his time? What about teams owning the time of possession and running the ball, keeping your offense on the sideline? What about teams evolving and being able to cover the screen, and pass? All things that have been the death nail for Air Raid teams.

I know most of this is a rant, but I am writing this to bring everyone back to reality. Air Raid is dead, it will never win consistently and it will never win a NC. I am also writing this article to get everyone to chill the eff out about Tech this year. I witnessed almost 3 or 4 people yesterday say "Man I miss Leach..." or "Do you realize where we would have been if Leach stayed...". Yeah I have a thought where we would be, exactly where we are now. Kingsbury realizes that you have to have a balanced team to win the game, and guess what? We are going to go through growing pains. It's not a far fetched idea to realize that Leach and Tuberville were ready to leave Tech. Leach was continuously searching for new HC positions, and of course Tuberville skipped a recruiting dinner and the check just to go to a lower tier conference coaching position. Kingsbury is hopefully here for a long time, but it needs to be his team, no more Leach talk. The guy was a narcissist and had this cult like following where the fans would side with him after an embarrassing loss, which was obviously a coaching boner. I don't ever remember Leach ever taking a loss as his mistake... Really? If you can find something out there where he took the blame, let me know. Like little sheep our fan base bought in to it. "Oh mighty leach will get us to this magical 3rd/4th place and the Big 12 and we are so lucky to have him." No talk from the fan base that we can do better, or "why don't we run the ball or play defense?" It was always following blindly while our only year of promise was 2008. The most annoying year that any Tech fan can talk about... Yeah that year, 7 freaking years ago! Stop talking about it! We sound sooo dumb when we rub that in a UT fans face. It makes no sense to brag about that when we haven't beat them since. Also, name one high profile coach that still has a job that was at a school for a decade and only had 1 year of a share of the conference title? Please... I'll wait. Quit talking about Leach. As Bill Belichick would say "stat are for losers," and to tell you the truth that is what we have been for a very long time, clinging to stats that mean nothing. I remember the day that Leach was canned, a co-worker of mine and quite a dweeb came in and said, "what about our Air Raid offense." I kindly smiled and said, "if you can point to a National Title trophy down at the Athletic Dept. that came from Leach, then I would be mad or ashamed at Tech." But really who in their right minds is going to keep their job after they throw a little hissy fit and cuss out their boss, and hire a lawyer. Really?

Before I finish this rant I will say this. Leach recruited no Defensive talent and believed that he could score along with anyone... That has failed and did fail miserably at Tech. And it is continuing to fail, I don't want to say that it is Leach's fault, but when you create a culture of uneducated football fans that buy the tickets and merchandise, you have no choice but to hire someone who is somewhat similar just to keep the money flowing into Tech. It is a shame that we operate under mob rule, but then again what did Leach actually do at Tech that hasn't been done in the past?

If you want to win big games you have to do 2 things, run the ball consistently and play defense. 2 things that is a very new idea to Tech Football. Stay focused and stay patient fellow Raiders. We can be so much better than a lovable loser.