More on Leach’s big day
COUGARS
We're back in our palatial Pullman apartment with the heater going full blast, the sun that shined most of the day a distant memory. We have a few thoughts, along with links to our stories from Mike Leach's introduction, so read on.
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• Before we get too deep into our thoughts, wanted to correct something I wrote earlier today on the blog concerning Leach and the Washington State position. My question to David Emerick was about the last couple years, but his answer, as I listened to it carefully on my recorder, was more specific to the recent past. So I've changed it on the earlier post. But it doesn't change the thrust of the answer, which was that Leach has been intrigued with the WSU job for some time and really was only thinking about it, not any of the other myriad positions that might or have come open this offseason. ... It's funny. I've read a lot of stuff about Mike Leach and some by him in the past couple weeks and I'm not sure if any of them prepared me for what he was like in person. He wasn't nearly as off-the-wall as one might think by some of the portrayals I've read. He was funny at times, sure. He's intelligent and well educated, that's true. But he didn't come off as some odd, story-telling, pirate-loving maverick as he seems to have been portrayed. One of the players even tweeted during their meeting with him the word nerd, though I can't say for sure if he was referring to Leach. But his erudite manner, his law-school-refined answers make him a bit different than some of the football coaches I've been exposed to around the nation. Though he has a reputation as a gunslinger, my guess is there is very little he does that isn't well thought out. ... Right now I can link my main story on the press conference, but that is only part of the Leach package we have for tomorrow's paper. I talked with Emerick a bit and tried to get a different view of his boss. And John Blanchette will have a column on today's event.
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• That's what we have for now. We'll return in the morning with more links. And it will be early. We have an 8 a.m. meeting with one of the journalism classes at WSU, just in time for me to share my jaded vision of the world they want to join. Until then ...
