Mike Leach Begins Hiring Washington State Coaching Crew

Adding credence to the report is the fact that Breske was present Sunday at a team meeting between players and the coaching staff.

Leach has said no formal announcement will be made about his coaching staff until after the American Football Coaches Association conference, which ends Wednesday.

One interesting note from the hiring and firing that occupies college football fans for the better part of the holiday season is the hiring of former Nevada and UCLA assistant Jim Mastro by Washington State. Mastro is schooled in the pistol offense, a run-first attack known for cranking out 1,000 yard rushers with regularity. It seems incompatible with Leach’s pass-friendly Air Raid scheme, but it may not be as inharmonious a match as you might think.

Leach protege Dana Holgorsen has worked with integrating the pistol formation and other variants of the scheme into his sets at West Virginia and Oklahoma State. In order to keep his attack fresh and unpredictable in his return to coaching, Leach may be looking to do the same thing by going straight to one of the attack’s sources. It’s a fun tweak, but don’t worry, Cougar fans: Leach will still throw the daylights out of the ball, and then probably pass some more even after he’s all out of daylights, so to speak.

Mastro coached Nevada running backs for 11 years before joining UCLA’s staff, where he helped implement some of Nevada’s run-oriented Pistol schemes. Coupling the Air Raid with the Pistol, perhaps? Dare video gamers dream?

A rally in the WSU student union building was the site of the introduction. Hundreds of fans, football players and the marching band were on hand to greet their new coach.

Leach spoke to the crowd for a half-hour with a mix of humor and excitement for his first job since being fired from Texas Tech. From CougCenter:

Well then, now we all know where we stand.

via Coug Center

Five reactions to Mike Leach’s move to Pullman:

In the short-term, this hire will maximize the strengths of the current Washington State squad. The Cougars may have had a terrible defense (118th in Def. F/+) and running game (118th in Rushing S&P+), but they could pass (46th in Passing S&P+), and Leach should be able to improve on that. If there’s one thing a Mike Leach team can do, it’s pass. From 2005-09 (S&P+ only spans back to 2005), the Red Raiders ranked no worse than 29th in Passing S&P+ in any single year. They were not amazingly explosive (they ranked between 30th and 40th in Passing PPP+ every year), but they were often among the most efficient passing games in college football (they ranked in the Top 15 in Passing Success Rate+ in 2005, 2007 and 2008).

The Washington State Cougars announced Mike Leach as their next head coach on Wednesday, just one day after Paul Wulff was relieved of his duties. Word of Leach making the move to Washington State began to surface on Wednesday morning, with reports indicating the Cougars had made an offer to the former Texas Tech head coach. Shortly thereafter, Bruce Feldman reported Leach had an agreement in principle, though no contract had been signed.

The contract has been agreed to and will span five years, according to the Washington State athletic department, who confirmed earlier reports on Wednesday afternoon. In the press release, Washington State athletic director Bill Moos spoke of Leach being an exciting hire that should energize the Cougars’ fan base.

It’s all but official at this point: Mike Leach will become the next head coach of the Washington State Cougars. According to reports on Wednesday afternoon, Leach has signed a contract with WSU. Earlier in the day, reports emerged indicating Leach had reached a verbal agreement with the Cougars, and all that was pending was a signature on the contract.

The report comes from Ian Furness of KJR Radio in Seattle.

Mike Leach has verbally agreed to coach Washington State, according to a report from the man who co-wrote Leach’s book “Swing Your Sword.” Leach would replace Paul Wulff, who was fired on Tuesday. Bruce Feldman is also reporting that the deal is for five years and would make him the third-highest paid coach in the Pac-12.

Mike Leach has reportedly been offered the Washington State football job and is expected to accept. This is just the latest report suggesting a deal was imminent for the former Texas Tech head coach, who has been out of coaching since being fired in 2009.

Adding fuel to the fire that something is in the works, Leach reportedly did not make his regularly-scheduled appearance Wednesday on XM Radio.

Every coaching vacancy for the past year or so has come with Leach’s name attached. He’s viewed as an offensive genius whose Texas Tech teams scored in scads. He’s known for his Air Raid offenses, gooey defenses that get the ball back to his Air Raid offenses in the most efficient manner possible, and amusing quotes.

The school’s complete statement, including a quote from athletic director Bill Moos, takes time to note the team’s improvement in 2011 despite an injury-racked depth chart.

Wulff, 44 years old, had a rough early go in Pullman, winning only five games in his first three seasons. But the 2011 Cougs pulled off four victories, including a takedown of Arizona State and an overtime loss against Utah.

Rumors have attached the Cougars to Mike Leach, which is the case with every school in the country.

Wulff is 9-40 in four seasons in Pullman, though his 2011 effort at least produced a Bill Doba-esque four wins. Mike Price isn’t walking back through that door (hold your punch lines, please), but Cougars fans have joined fans of just about every other school in hoping for a certain other Mike to declare their program a sea-worthy venture.

Paul Wulff’s time at Washington State may be up. Bud Withers of the Seattle Times cites sources in reporting that Wulff will be fired after a meeting with athletic director Bill Moos, barring a change of heart. That meeting could take place as early as late Sunday.

Wulff’s 2011 season was his best at Washington State: the Cougars went 4-8, and beat an Arizona State team that beat USC. But that minor distinction certainly doesn’t cancel out the fact that Wulff had as many conference wins (two) in 2011 as he did in the three seasons prior to it, or that his 9-40 record at Washington State is the worst in the school’s history.