Happy Tuesday Cougs. Now that Monday's in the rearview, just a couple more days and the long holiday weekend is upon us! Here's hoping you are staying cool as the summer weather does it's thing around the great NW.
First off, a little off-topic but I went to my first M's game this year on Saturday, as the Cubbies and M's played a turn-back-the-clock game in Safeco. It was a beautiful day and we got great seats from my wife's employer, just a few rows back of the visitors dugout. But while I'm not nearly a baseball guy as I used to be, it struck me as I was taking in the game as to what a fantastic sight Safeco Field and the M's can be when the weather is great and fans come out to the ballpark. It's easy to get down about the losing record and all that, but they sure do a great job down there in terms of marketing and the in-game experience for the common fan.
What I really came away with though is this – how is it, in this great city and a fantastic ballpark, how is it this team just consistently loses baseball games!? I know there are probably 100 reasons why, from mistakes in trades and free agency to an ownership unwilling to say EFF IT and go for it by breaking the bank and spending money they don't yet have to try and go for it. And of course, the young prospects thus far haven't fully come through (even though I really like the player Kyle Seager is turning into, and Nick Franklin looks like he could be a legit everyday second baseman). But I looked around on Saturday and soaked it all in, and it just struck me as to how in the world this franchise has done nothing but lose for almost a decade?? It doesn't make sense, it doesn't add up that they can have so much to offer the fan in the stands in a fantastic city, yet the product they put out there has been sub-par to say the least.
Alright, on to the Coug links-n-such…
I may be a few days late to the party on this one, but Athlon's had a good read on the current NCAA coaches "trees" and which head guys are producing some decent head coaches themselves. Bill Snyder ranks #1, with guys like Bob Stoops and Bret Bielema as coaches who cut their teeth under Snyder's tutelage. But what about Mike Leach? Well, the current Coug coach checks in at #2 on the list, and a rising group of names attached to him along the way. Per Athlon's:
2. Mike Leach
Texas Tech (2000-09), Washington State (2012-present)
Branches: Dana Holgorsen (West Virginia), Sonny Dykes (Cal), Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech), Ruffin McNeill (East Carolina), Art Briles (Baylor)
Why is Leach his own tree rather than a branch off Bob Stoops? Leach was an established Air Raid commodity while offensive coordinator for Hal Mumme at Kentucky before Stoops hired him at OU. And Leach has established a clear tree of offensive masterminds from his time at Texas Tech. Leach gave Briles his first college job after the now-Baylor coach was a legend in high school. Leach also gave Holgorsen his first Division I job and made Kingsbury his first quarterback in Lubbock. It’s almost tempting to put Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin on this list as Sumlin and Leach share similar offensive philosophies and assistants, but Sumlin never coached with Leach at Texas Tech.
Leach’s roots: Hal Mumme
It probably isn't breaking news to some of you, how last year it was repeated many times that Holgorsen and Briles both learned their craft under Leach at some point. And of course, Dykes and Kingsbury are easy to connect to Leach. But out of Holgorsen and Briles, what's different is how both of those guys took Leach's principles of the Air Raid, but then went out and charted their own course and in the process have added wrinkles to the scheme to create their own versions of the offense. Under Holgorsen last year, WVU averaged over 500 yards of total offense (502), including 172 yards rushing per game. They stumbled a bit down the stretch, but early on they were just lighting people up left and right on the ground and through the air.
And under Briles, Baylor was again well over 570 yards per game (572), and an impressive 232 yards rushing per game at 5 yards per carry, the third year in a row they were over 5 YPC. Briles has had three straight winning seasons after a couple of years of getting his guys in place for his schemes, and they have just been crazy-good offensively along the way. And last year, did you know that in 10 games they went over 500 yards in 10 different games, and over 600 in 6 games!? That's NUCKIN' FUTS!
Sutra brought up the running attack numbers in his post from yesterday, and about how severely behind the Cougs were in 2012. In past interviews, Leach has "bristled" at the very mention of the term BALANCE in regards to offense, and thinks the whole idea of running it and throwing it in equal amounts is just plain stupid. Get the ball in the hands of your playmakers in any way possible and good things will happen – period – is the way Leach sees it, and it's hard to disagree with his approach over the years. But it's also hard to not look at what's happening at WVU and Baylor and two of the brightest minds who have taken the Air Raid in new and exciting directions, and well, at least I wonder what things could be like if WE were to see more of a legit emphasis on the ground game??
Moving on, I picked up Phil Steele's 2013 preview over the weekend (see how I used "YPC" above, instead of saying Yards Per Carry??). As usual it's overflowing with information on every program in the country, and as always a great read if you have the time. I will probably dig into it more this upcoming weekend but I immediately flipped to the Pac-12 section. And for the first time since, well, maybe 2007, Steele didn't pick WSU last in the conference! That's right, Steele picked WSU 5th in the North, ahead of CAL.
SWEET.
That's it for now. Enjoy your Tuesday, and of course, GO COUGS!
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