Washington State’s Mike Leach named semifinalist for Coach of the Year award

PULLMAN – Mike Leach, who has guided Washington State to its first 10-win season in 15 years, was recognized Wednesday by being named one of 18 semifinalists for the George Munger Collegiate Coach of the Year, the Maxwell Football Club announced.

The 10 wins for WSU match the program record and are the most for the Cougars since Bill Doba led them to a 10-3 record in 2003. The Cougars, still in the College Football Playoff conversation, could play up to four more games, but will play two at the minimum – three if they win Friday’s Apple Cup and book a ticket to the Pac-12 championship game.

Leach, in his seventh year at the helm in Pullman, has made the Cougars bowl-eligible for a fourth consecutive year, a program record. They’ve gone 36-14 in the past three seasons.

The Cougars (10-1, 7-1) are ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings. They head into the game against No. 16 Washington riding a seven-game win streak.

WSU ranks No. 1 in the nation in passing offense at 400.5 yards per game and has the nation’s No. 26 defense.

The other 17 semifinalists are Dino Babers (Syracuse), Bill Clark (UAB), Butch Davis (Florida International), Jim Harbaugh (Michigan), Josh Heupel (UCF), Brian Kelly (Notre Dame), Lance Leipold (Buffalo), Jeff Monken (Army), Ed Orgeron (LSU), Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma), Nick Saban (Alabama), Kirby Smart (Georgia), Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Matt Wells (Utah State), Kyle Whittingham (Utah), Luke Fickell (Cincinnati) and Mark Stoops (Kentucky).

Two coaches on the list played for Leach. Central Florida’s Heupel played for the WSU coach at Oklahoma in 1999 and Oklahoma’s Riley was a walk-on quarterback for Leach at Texas Tech in 2002.

Leach has been a semifinalist for the award each of the past two seasons. Semifinal voting begins on Monday and closes on Dec. 10.

Three finalists will be selected and one winner will be announced by the Maxwell Club on Dec. 28.