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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Grip on Sports: WSU’s Mike Leach shows once again social media is not his best friend

Washington State coach Mike Leach set off a Twitter storm by posting a fake video of a speech from former President Barack Obama. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Mike Leach has picked up a lot of wins the past few years in Pullman. But he suffered another loss over the weekend and it had little to do with football. Read on.

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• If we wanted to be succinct and to the point, this column would consist of one declarative sentence: Mike Leach needs to stay off Twitter.

But we are rarely succinct, never to the point and only occasionally show self-control, so we are probably the perfect person to explain why.

Sooner or later everyone tweets out something they shouldn’t have. 

If you have a low profile, it doesn’t really matter. Joe Cool can tweet out his debatable thoughts about anything and only his 17 followers may care. And they all probably agree with him. 

But if you are a major college football coach, what you tweet does matter. Tweet the wrong thing and it can cause irreparable harm to your program and make it harder to do the main thing you were hired to do, win football games.

College football coaches make their living in America’s living rooms. At least it begins there. Players matter, more so than Xs and Os. Anything that makes it harder to attract players to your school hurts the program. And an untoward tweet fits that category.

Forgot a minute what the tweet might be about. Forget for today that Leach, a unabashed supporter of the president of the United States, tweeted a link to a doctored video that makes a former president look evil. Put that aside for a moment. Just realize, in this day and age, any tweet that comes close to touching on the divisions in our society is going to cause a reaction, not just in Pullman or the Palouse or the Inland Northwest or Washington. It will cause a reaction everywhere, from Cambodia to Key West. Such is the power of social media.

And it doesn’t go away. Ever.

Which is where the subject of Leach’s most recent tweet storm comes in. Again, we are not touching on the social aspects of the tweet, there are others who are more qualified than I – and wrote about it today. We are staying in our lane, the one that takes us to football success. And this tweet is a truck-swallowing pothole on that road.

Many of the players Mike Leach wants to attract to Pullman believe in the ideals embodied by Barack Obama. So do their families. His presidency was a watershed moment in this country’s history and he holds a special place for many Americans.

The video Leach referenced in his tweet Sunday night was created long ago in an obvious attempt to undermine the Obama legacy. 

Even if Leach’s only goal was what he said it was, to get a discussion going about the role of government in our society, his choice of the video was tone-deaf at best. How about just quoting Henry David Thoreau and his premise the best government is that which governs least to kick off the discussion?

I’m pretty sure Leach won’t ever lose a recruit over their love of Emerson instead of Thoreau, but he may lose one – or more – over the doctored Obama video. 

And that’s the bottom line with his Twitter use. For every recruit he touches in a positive way, tweets like Sundays touch even more in a negative way. Any cost-benefit analysis would conclude the risk isn’t worth the reward. 

Especially after 5 p.m. on a Sunday evening.

Leach has always done things differently as Washington State’s football coach. Every policy the Cougars have in place that rubs folks outside the program the wrong way is there for one reason: To help the team succeed. At least that’s Leach’s explanation. 

From secrecy about injuries to how the program is preparing for games, from starters to strategy, Leach defers answers because, he’s said, he wants to keep a competitive advantage. If that’s the real reason, fine. 

Then don’t undermine the program, don’t undercut your ability to attract recruits, don’t make it harder to win by doing something untoward on social media.

To be succinct and to the point: Mike Leach needs to stay off Twitter.

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WSU: As we said above, the non-football aspect of Leach’s tweet is better handled by others. Jim Camden covers the particulars of the controversy and Shawn Vestal delves into what Leach’s tweet storm means in a broader context. … Other voices, from Cougfan to Deadspin to the Seattle Times and beyond, waded into the fray. … Around the Pac-12, the evolving media landscape will be important to the conference. … Washington and Oregon State met in a loser-out game at the College World Series yesterday and, hours and hours later, it was the Huskies headed home from Omaha. A more than four-hour rain delay interrupted OSU’s 14-5 victory. … Washington has decided on its new track and field coaches. They come from Oregon. … Utah will play an old football rival at an interesting time this season.

Indians: The season isn’t starting out all that well for Spokane, as the Indians lost for the third time in their first four games, 3-2, last night at Avista. Dave Nichols has the game story and a feature on two Boise Hawks, one of whom has a huge Spokane connection. … It was the first dog day of spring yesterday, and Johnathan Curley covered the Indians’ “Bark in the Park” promotion. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Eugene won again and Everett won for the first time.

Mariners: The M’s were traveling to New York yesterday so there was no game. Which made it a good day for Larry Weir and I to talk about the Mariners and many other subjects. It’s all in this Press Box pod. … The M’s have a bunch of all-star caliber players this season. How many will end up all-stars is a tough question to answer. … There were some roster moves yesterday. 

Seahawks: The Hawks will have 12 practices open to the 12s during training camp. … Michael Bennett is selling a book. 

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• The most important, and underused, feature of social media? The delete button. But it only works if it’s used before hitting send. We all share ill-advised thoughts on the platforms, ones that should only be expressed in jest in front of a mirror. Alone. In a sound-proof room. In the dark. Until later …