Mike Leach Would Give Pitt Football the Quick Fix It Needs

Ask any Texas Tech fans what they think of Mike Leach and they will sing his praises while at the same time ripping into Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance for dismissing him.

Leach turned Texas Tech, a forgotten prairie outpost in Lubbock, Texas, into a national contender. Leach’s offense thrilled fans and put butts in the seats.

Leach is not a concussion-denier nor is he a tyrant. He does run a tight ship and there is never any doubt who is in charge. Whereas Wannstedt’s players-first mentality helped to contribute to the fiasco of 2010, Leach understands his job is to push players so they give their best.

Under Wannstedt, a few of his top recruits achieved their potential. Others, like Jonathan Baldwin, were set up to underachieve. Today, Baldwin blasted Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri and the Pitt offensive play calling this season in a text message to Chris Steuber of NFLscouts.com:

"Heck yeah I'm leaving…It can only get worse. They had me running a lot of deep routes (this year) and yards were hard to come by. I barely ran intermediate routes; it felt like they were purposely trying to disrupt my draft stock."

Pitt fans may remember the scorching behind-closed-doors farewell meeting between LeSean “Shady” McCoy and Wannstedt. Wannstedt described the meeting as “intense.” Rumors spread that McCoy blasted Wannstedt for the play-calling in the Sun Bowl, which Pitt lost 3-0 to Oregon State.

Pitt will probably not interview Leach. The cautious Pitt administration is naturally inclined to stay away from anyone who has two lawsuits going on at the same time, one against Texas Tech, the other against ESPN and Spaeth Communications, the P.R. firm hired by Craig James, father of the player Leach allegedly mistreated.

If Pitt wants to win within the rules and graduate players, athletic director Steve Pederson should seriously consider Leach for the job. At Texas Tech, Leach was well-respected by his players and adored by fans.

Former Tech quarterback Graham Harrell wrote this about his coach:

“Coach Leach is a great coach at Texas Tech that emphasizes the importance of hard work and doing things the right way so that the football program has the best opportunity possible to be successful (nflmocks.com, December, 2009).

Former Tech offensive lineman Cody Campbell weighed in: “I’m privy to a lot of stuff going on down there, and I think the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. I’m totally in support of coach Leach."

Campbell was part of Leach’s first recruiting class at Tech (redraiders.com, Dec. 29, 2009).

Pitt fans are sick and tired of the conventional play-calling Pitt has run the past six years. Bringing Leach on board would spark season ticket sales and fans with tickets would actually show up at games.

This season, Pitt sold approximately 60,000 tickets for each of its six home games, but only once, when the West Virginia Mountaineers came to town, did 60,000 actually attend.

Winning football with a high-powered offense makes fans want to see the action in person.

Big East fans might not think much about Texas Tech, a perennial third or fourth place finisher in a state dominated by the Texas Longhorns before Leach took over 11 years ago.

Leach took this non-descript program and turned it into a big winner, going to bowl games 10 years straight. Pitt’s best is a nine-game bowl streak from 1975-1983.

Leach set the record for career wins at Texas Tech with an 84-43 record. He catapulted the Raiders into the national title discussion in 2008, stunning No. 1 Texas with a last-minute touchdown. He finished with an 11-1 record that season.

Pitt hasn’t seen 11-1 since 1981.

During Leach’s tenure at Tech, Leach always stressed class attendance and graduating. He is like Wannstedt in that respect, but Leach’s graduation rate is higher than Wannstedt’s.

Unfortunately, the Pitt administration may only see the brouhaha created around the Adam James concussion and the fact that Leach was terminated.

Leach was not terminated because of Adam James. He was terminated because Kent Hance didn’t want to pay the $800,000 due Leach based on the terms of his contract. Craig James and his son were the tools Hance used to fabricate the reasons for Leach’s termination.

In 1992, when Paul Hackett was axed by Pitt, Jackie Sherrill wanted to interview for the job. Pitt didn’t even want to interview him, even though he produced the most successful three years in modern Pitt history.

Too much NCAA baggage, they thought.

Instead, the asked Johnny Majors to return. By this time, Majors’ off-field issues were common knowledge. Johnny Majors II resulted in four straight years of losing football.

With the talent Pitt has returning in 2011, along with a genuine competition for the quarterback position, Leach could lead Pitt to a huge breakout season next year.

Leach is being courted right now by Texas’ Mack Brown to replace recently departed offensive coordinator Greg Davis and the Miami Hurricanes are eying him to fill Randy Shannon’s position.

Pitt should act fast. Leach has the experience and skills to make the Panthers Big East champions and regular top-10 contenders.