Mike Leach AP Pac-12 coach of the year; Luke Falk and Eduardo Middleton on first team

The writers who cover the Pac-12 on a regular basis were impressed with Washington State’s five-win improvement in 2015, selecting six Cougars to the Associated Press’ All-Pac-12 teams and naming Mike Leach the conference coach of the year.

Interestingly, although the Pac-12 writers believe Leach managed the finest season, it is Stanford coach David Shaw who is up for national coach of the year.

Luke Falk was named first team quarterback, and that’s not a surprise considering he led the Pac-12 in passing yards per game by 33 yards and completed 70.7 percent of his passes – no other starter completed more than 68.6 percent of their throws. He also engineered a multitude of fourth-quarter comebacks for the Cougars.

But that right guard Eduardo Middleton was also named to the first team may be a little more eyebrow raising to the casual fan. Middleton had one of the best offseasons of any Cougar according to coaches, and that improved play carried over to the season where, according to Pro Football Focus, he gave up just two sacks in 994 drop backs, while also grading out well as run blocker, and not hurting the team with penalties.

Rounding out the first team offense for WSU is wide receiver Gabe Marks, whose 8.2 receptions per game and 14 total touchdowns led the conference.

Left tackle Joe Dahl was named All-Pac-12 second team by the writers, even though the coaches had him on the first team. While Dahl was very effective when healthy, he did miss the final four games of the season, meaning not as many writers saw him as other candidates and he was not able to have the same impact as a 12-game starter.

Defensive lineman Darryl Paulo was named to the second team defense after capping a previously quiet career with a stellar senior season. Safety Shalom Luani’s big hits were rewarded with a second team selection. The junior college transfer was a missile at the back end of the WSU defense and quickly earned a reputation for punishing receivers and running backs in the middle of the field.