Gillispie's fate a lesson for Leach
by RICHARD JUSTICE, Staff , The Houston Chronicle
He was the hottest coaching candidate in the land by the time the Aggies made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Had Gillispie stayed at A&M, they would have named streets for him. Bill Byrne would have given him whatever he wanted in terms of money, facilities and perks.
Most of all, he would have had an endless supply of good will. He left anyway. He couldn't help himself. Maybe it was ego. Maybe it was prestige.
Kentucky pain
When Gillispie was offered the chance to coach the basketball team at Kentucky, he bolted.
Leach should ask Billy Clyde how that move has worked out. Gillispie landed in a place where he was no longer a legend. He was nothing more than the next coach for a program with maybe the highest expectations in the land.
His first season ended with a first-round Tournament loss to Marquette. Ouch. His SECond has begun with losses to VMI and North Carolina. Ouch.
He has been vilified on message boards and talk shows. Columnists are taking shots at him. His recruiting tactics are being examined. Ouch, ouch, ouch.
Losing is unACCeptable
Mainly, he's losing games that Kentucky fans don't expect to lose. And that's the way it's going to be after every loss.
Every decision will be nitpicked. So what if North Carolina has more talent? Do you think your average Kentucky fan wants to hear that?
Gillispie would be a good case study for Leach as he considers his future at
If Leach leaves for Tennessee or Clemson or Washington, he's simply the next coach. If he stays at Tech, there will be statues built in his honor.
If he leaves, it won't be about money. Yes, the Red Raiders dropped the ball by not extending his contract before now.
Leach has two years left on his deal. That's less job SECurity than any other Big 12 coach, and
Want to make what Mack Brown makes? Done. Bob Stoops? Done. Nick Saban? Uh, nice knowing you, Pirate Face.
If Leach leaves, it won't be about facilities, either. Tech's compare favorably with any school in the Big 12 .
He's recruiting against Texas and Oklahoma for the top players, but there will be brutal competition for recruits in the SEC as well.
In other words, there are no negatives, no good reason to leave unless, after nine seasons, he's simply ready to move on.
Lifestyle? Lubbock has friendly people, decent weather and good restaurants. Who doesn't like Chili's?
Beyond weather and facilities and waffle houses, there's something way more important at play.
Leach is football at
An oddball elsewhere
He'll be amazed at how quickly those things become an annoyance when the Vols lose to Alabama or, heaven forbid, Vanderbilt. What was iconic and interesting in Lubbock could be seen as a needless distraction someplace else. It's Leach's oddball, stream-of-consciousness personality that put off University of Miami officials two years ago.
That's another thing. He's not one of the best coaches in the country because he can go on for hours about pirates and grizzly bears and Churchill and whatever other thought pops into his head.
Check him out on YouTube. He's like a windup toy. Throw out a topic, and listen to him talk.
If Tennessee is looking for someone who is the complete opposite of Phil Fulmer, then Mike Leach might be the guy.
The thing is, he is different.
He's a graduate of Pepperdine Law School who came home one day and announced to his wife that he wanted to give coaching a try.
Leach found a job that paid almost nothing and began working his way up a very different career ladder.
His quirks sometimes obscure his coaching brilliance. For instance, there was the time he publicly wondered why one of the Lubbock weathermen did such a lousy job with the forecast.
Really, coach? You can do better? Want to come down and give it a try?
There Leach was on TV a few nights later, standing awkwardly in front of a map, mixing the tiniest bit of weather information with a few life lessons.
"On Monday, it says bad stuff - serious storms," he told viewers. "Well, you're going to be dead in a hundred years anyway. Live dangerously. Go out there and have a good time. Don't be a coward. Stay out in it. Enjoy the day."
And ?
"My favorite weather pattern is when it rains mud."
Huh?
"See, the dust comes through and it rains on top of it," he said. "How many times in your life are you going to see it rain mud? Think about it. I love it. Worse thing about it is you have to wash your car. Who cares? It's worth seeing. Trust me."
Finally ? "What do I know, I'm a football coach. I would suggest you do what I do. Get out of bed, go outside, then you know."
To focus on this Mike Leach is to miss the brilliance of the other Mike Leach. That's the one with all those passing routes, the one espousing the belief that there's always a place for the quarterback to go with the ball.
Four wins from title
That's the one who has the Raiders just four victories from a national championship. Leach is not about to say anything about Tennessee or Clemson or Washington that would get in the way of what Tech can ACComplish.
Once it's over and he has time to reflect and begins adding up the pluses and minuses, he might use Gillispie as an example. He might not want to put Lubbock in his rearview mirror just yet.
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