Mike Leach to Washington State: Should Leach Have Waited for a Better Job?

It’s been hard to feel too much pity for Mike Leach lately.

Sure, it was unfair what happened to Leach, when he was ousted at Texas Tech back in 2009, but the former Red Raiders coach hasn’t exactly been living a tough life in his year away from football.

He’s been hanging out at his home in Key West and doing a daily college football radio show with co-host Jack Arute.

The coaching itch seems to have gotten the best of Leach, though, as he’s now reportedly set to become the next head coach at Washington State, according to CBS Sports.

The announcement came just a few hours after it was reported that head coach Paul Wulff had been fired.

Under Wulff, the Cougars had just nine wins in four seasons.

The team has fallen on hard times since their Rose Bowl appearance back in the 2002 season, and they haven’t been to a bowl game since 2003.

Leach will certainly have his work cut out for him up in Pullman.

Being in the same division as Stanford and Oregon probably won’t help matters much either.

What will help matters is that Leach will have one of the most underrated quarterbacks in college football to work with next season in Jeff Tuel, who missed the majority of this season with a calf injury.

Tuel will now get the chance to show off his arm in Leach’s high-flying Air Raid passing attack, which should benefit not just Tuel, but also budding star sophomore receiver Marquess Wilson, who caught 82 passes for 1,388 yards this season.

Don’t be fooled, there are definitely some pieces to work with at Washington State, and Leach’s quirky personality might just be a perfect fit in Pullman.

Although, considering there were so many jobs that are going to be open this offseason, you have to wonder if the coach jumped the gun a little too soon.

Washington State may be a BCS job, but it’s also one of the worst BCS jobs.

The stadium is tiny, the facilities aren't great and the school's recent recruiting track record is far from impressive.

You can certainly find success at Washington State, but it won’t come easy, and it’s going to be awfully difficult to ever compete on the same level as Stanford and Oregon.

There's no doubt that Leach has his work cut out for him with the Cougars, but after seeing the job he did at Texas Tech, another off-the-radar program, there’s no reason to believe that he can’t turn things around and have the Cougars making bowl trips once again as soon as next season.