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re: Mike Leach will be on the 2027 ballot for CFB HOF
Posted on 6/6/26 at 6:27 pm to captdalton
Posted on 6/6/26 at 6:27 pm to captdalton
quote:
Your hyper-fixation on pedophilia is troubling.
Your acceptance of it, is more troubling.
0
Posted on 6/6/26 at 8:23 pm to RollTide1987
quote:
The fact of the matter is, when he died his career winning percentage was .02% away from the minimum required for consideration.
Also if you credit him with the bowl win after his death since it was his team and coaches it puts him over the threshold
Posted on 6/6/26 at 8:29 pm to Gatorbait2008
quote:
This..his chacter will always be his memory..seemed like such a genuine person.
Mike Leach will be remembered as so much more than a football coach.
The funny thing is he wouldn’t give a shite if he is in the HoF or not. He would get more enjoyment out of a cocktail at a beach bar in Key West being named after him
Posted on 6/6/26 at 8:36 pm to Arksulli
quote:
Leach's problem is that if he was at a "top notch" program he'd have tangled with big money boosters sooner rather than later and they would have taken the first opportunity to drive him of
Leach enjoyed life outside of football. He didn’t want the pressure and time consuming job of running a big program. He could make an irrelevant program relevant and enjoyed the smaller town life more. Win 9 games at WSU and MSU and nobody questions why you’re in key west on vacation instead of recruiting
Posted on 6/7/26 at 9:24 am to deltaland
quote:
Leach enjoyed life outside of football. He didn’t want the pressure and time consuming job of running a big program. He could make an irrelevant program relevant and enjoyed the smaller town life more. Win 9 games at WSU and MSU and nobody questions why you’re in key west on vacation instead of recruiting
Exactly, I should have brought that point up. Honestly, if I had a successful season, made millions of dollars, and am adored at my job... you betcha I'm in Key West or Hawaii or what have you enjoying the good life for a couple of weeks.
I think its unhealthy for coaches to never take breaks. Burns them out and a burnt out coach is worse than useless.
Posted on 6/7/26 at 9:38 am to AggieArchitect2004
If they can change the rules for Leach, certainly they can change the rules for this man:
Is left off because he only was a head coach 8 seasons and you need ten.
Resurrected a dead football program who hadn't had a football team in years to win three national titles at the IAA level.
If he had coached two more seasons, could've lost every game and would easily have been put in the college football hall of fame.
Career record: 83-22-1
Never had a losing season, though he revived the program from scratch.
In his last five seasons: 3 national championships in 4 national championship game appearances.
Is left off because he only was a head coach 8 seasons and you need ten.
Resurrected a dead football program who hadn't had a football team in years to win three national titles at the IAA level.
If he had coached two more seasons, could've lost every game and would easily have been put in the college football hall of fame.
Career record: 83-22-1
Never had a losing season, though he revived the program from scratch.
In his last five seasons: 3 national championships in 4 national championship game appearances.
Posted on 6/7/26 at 1:17 pm to AggieArchitect2004
I have zero issues if Leach gets in...He was great for the game. But also if he's in it then Johnny Majors deserves to be in it.
Posted on 6/7/26 at 1:54 pm to Tiger Live2
Major programs didn’t respect him in the same way they did other coaches. It was too “gimmicky”. All he did was make things simplified and let the defense dictate where the ball was going, in a way that white boys that could catch were as dangerous as anyone with elite athleticism.
Posted on 6/7/26 at 3:50 pm to Shamoan
quote:
Major programs didn’t respect him in the same way they did other coaches. It was too “gimmicky”.
Mike Leach and K.J. Costello set the SEC single game record for passing yards against LSU. There is no mentioning of it being gimmicky in the record books.
Posted on 6/8/26 at 9:57 am to Nutriaitch
quote:
his contribution to the game wasn't his wins/losses as a coach.
100% - Traditional powers tend to steer clear of hiring true innovators, fearing they might be a flash in the pan or the benefactor of some anomoly. Therefore his opportunities were limited to historically down or recently struggling teams, which he of course turned around and made winners out of.
His offensive mind was something to behold. Never mind the fact that he was one of the most intelligent, interesting and eccentric men to ever coach - which made for great entertainment.
Very simple - college football is much better because it had Mike Leach, and is missing something now that he is gone.
Posted on 6/8/26 at 12:12 pm to ParkRanger
quote:
What’s his biggest accomplishment?
He took Texas Tech to the highest AP ranking they have ever achieved (#2 in 2008).
Texas Tech has been in the AP Post Season Top 25 12t times in the history of the school. 5 of those (42%) were with Leach at the helm.
He took Washington State to the 3rd and 4th highest AP rankings they've ever achieved (#7 in 2018 and #8 in 2017).
He led Washington State to the only 11-win season in the history of the program (2018).
Washington State has made the CFP top 25 rankings 5 times. Leach was head coach in 4 of those 5 seasons.
Washington State has been in the Post-Season CFP polls twice...both times under Leach.
In the history of Washington State football, they have won 8 bowl games. 3 of those Bowl wins were under Leach.
It would be interesting to see how many times attendance records were broken at schools with Leach as HC.
Posted on 6/8/26 at 12:29 pm to AggieArchitect2004
What kinda loser sports writer or person with a vote doesn’t vote for Leach. He deserves to be in the HOF for contributions to the game alone.
Posted on 6/8/26 at 12:30 pm to Rip N Lip
quote:
Dude was a treasure, but not a HOF football coach. Did he ever win a championship?
I guess you think guys like Frank Coker and Gene Chizik are more deserving than Mike Leach
Posted on 6/8/26 at 12:45 pm to MoarKilometers
quote:
Well deserved.
quote:
They lowered the standard just for him. That's the opposite of well deserved.
They dropped the minimum percentage down to .595 last May (2025).
Exactly...if you let Leach in with a .596 winning percentage in, then who else would you have to let in? People like:
Tess McLaugry - .490 - Inducted 1962
Edward Mylin - .509 - Inducted 1974
Len Casanova - .534 - Inducted 1977
Grant Teaff - .529 - Inducted 2001
Scrappy Moore - .535 - Inducted 1980
Ray Morrison - .537 - Inducted 1954
Lou Little - .539 - Inducted 1960
Jess Neely - .539 - Inducted 1971
John Ralston - .544 - Inducted 1992
Ted Wieman - .544 - Inducted in 1956
Clark Shaughnessy - .562 - Inducted in 1968
Hayden Fry - .564 - Inducted in 2003
Harvey Harmon - .565 - Inducted in 1981
Dutch Meyer - .575 - Inducted in 1956
Dick Romney - .579 - Inducted in 1951
Bill Alexander - .580 - Inducted in 1951
Frank Howard - .580 - Inducted in 1989
Lloyd Jordan - .580 - Inducted in 1978
Bob Higgins - .582 - Inducted in 1954
Doug Porter - .583 - Inducted in 2008
Bill Ingram - .585 - Inducted in 1973
Buck Shaw - .586 - Inducted in 1972
Willie Jeffries - .587 - Inducted in 2010
George Welsh - .588 - Inducted in 2001
Marcelino Huerta - .589 - Inducted in 2002
Jerry Claiborne - .591 - Inducted in 1999
Jack Harding - .592 - Inducted in 1980
Andy Gustafson - .594 - Inducted in 1985
Bill Yeoman - .594 - Inducted in 2001
Greasy Neale - .595 - Inducted in 1967
Mike Leach - .596 - (On Ballot for Induction in 2027)
Bob Blackman - .598 - Inducted in 1987
Carmen Cozza - .599 - Inducted in 2002
I would note that the current requirement is also that a coach must have coached at least 100 games. Currently there are 9 coaches in the HOF who did not coach 100 games. One coach (Tad Wieman) coached a total of 57 games and only won .544 of them.
Edward Hall, did win .600 of is games...because his overall coaching record finished at 10-6-4, so with ties counting at 1/2, he is at 60%.
If/when inducted...Leach certainly will not be the only coach in the CFB HOF under .600.
Posted on 6/8/26 at 1:07 pm to gladchiefisgone
quote:
I have zero issues if Leach gets in...He was great for the game. But also if he's in it then Johnny Majors deserves to be in it.
I'd love to see Majors in there...there are damn few that are there as both a player and a coach.
He's got a higher winning percentage than Hayden Fry (inducted in 2003), and he won a NC, where Fry didn't.
It's Johnny's time at Iowa State that screwed him. He took over a program that won a total of 10 games in the prior 4 seasons, and got them to an 8-win season before he left ( 1971). Their most recent season with 8 or more wins prior to that was 1906. Actually...if you list Iowa State's winningest seasons in the first 100 years of their program, it would be:
1903 - 8-1 - AW Ristine
1906 - 9-1 - AW Ristine
1971 - 8-4 - Johnny Majors
1976 - 8-3 - Earle Bruce
1977 - 8-4 - Earle Bruce
1978 - 8-4 - Earle Bruce
Earle Bruce was inducted in 2002. At Iowa State, he was 36-32 over 6 seasons. Bruce had the advantage of taking over after Majors, who won 13 games in the prior 2 years, instead of taking over from Stapleton (who preceded Majors) who won 4 games in the prior 2 years.
I'll add. that while Majors lost both bowl games they played in when he coached Iowa State...the 20 Head Coaches who preceded him there had a record of 0-0. Iowa State had never been to a bowl game, prior to Johnny Majors taking over the reigns.
Posted on 6/8/26 at 1:30 pm to madmaxvol
Meh. His schtick got old. He was a decent coach but he didn’t win anything ever. Seemed like a nice guy but keeping a team competitive isn’t HOF worthy. Did he ever beat Texas and ou in the same year
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