Random Thoughts – Vol. VI

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Random Thoughts – Vol. VI – Farewell to the Pirate

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Thin crust pizza

The Pac-12 will miss Mike Leach.

One of my favorite quotes from Leach came from his days in Lubbock, when he was the head coach at Texas Tech. In a 2004 game against Nebraska, the Red Raiders hung 70 on the Cornhuskers in a 70-14 rout.

When asked about running up the score, Leach had this to say:

“The interesting thing about football is that football is the only sport where you quit playing when you get a lead. In golf, you keep trying to score well when you’re ahead.

“In basketball, they don’t quit shooting when they’re ahead. In hockey, they don’t quit shooting when they’re ahead. In boxing, you don’t quit punching when you’re ahead. But in football, somehow magically, you’re supposed to quit playing when you’re ahead. Well, I don’t subscribe to that. I don’t do it like that. And you know, the truth of the matter is, Nebraska never has either.”

The 70 points bested the 62 the Buffs had put on Nebraska three years earlier (I kinda liked that CU had the record for the most points ever posted against the Cornhuskers) … but it was still a great score.

In more recent years, the Pirate’s name seemed to come up every off-season as a potential replacement for someone who had been fired. When asked about it, Leach replied:

“As a head coach, you’re on two lists. You’re the guy that might get fired, or you’re the guy who might go somewhere. Given the two lists, I guess that’s the one to be on.”

Mississippi State was able to lure Leach out of Pullman, and Leach’s replacement has yet to be named.

One thing for certain … Pac-12 fans will miss the entertainment.

Oh, as to the Thin Crust heading …

“I’m a thin-crust pizza guy,” Leach once said. “I respect people who like thick crust, but in my view it’s mostly bread.”

Here’s hoping Leach can find success against the SEC West blue-bloods.

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Now, as to Leach’s successor … 

A name that has been circulated, and seems to make the most sense, is Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. Grinch spent the last season in Norman, was the defensive coordinator in Columbus for Ohio State the year before that, and, before that … turned around the defense for Washington State.

From the Spokane Spokesman-Review …

Alex Grinch

Current job: Defensive coordinator, Oklahoma

Why it makes sense: First and foremost, because Grinch is familiar with WSU and had mounds of success in Pullman as Leach’s defensive coordinator. The Cougars allowed 46.3 points per game the year before Grinch arrived and gave up just 25.8 in his final season as WSU’s DC. Grinch has already had a taste of major Power Five football, at Ohio State and Oklahoma the past two seasons, and even after his unit was strafed by Joe Burrow and LSU in the College Football Playoff, he has the Sooners’ long-maligned defense trending in the right direction.

Likeliness: 4 (out of five) Grinch surely wants to be a head coach at some point, and FootballScoop.com has reported he’ll be on the Cougars’ short list, potentially with designs on bringing Ken Wilson back as DC and Jim Mastro as OC. But he’d have to leave a great situation in Norman.

Other potential candidates … 

Jim McElwain

Current job: Head coach, Central Michigan

Why it makes sense: McElwain has had 10 gigs since then, but the former Eastern Washington quarterback started his career as a QB/WR coach in nearby Cheney, and a Power Five coaching job may lure him back to the Inland Northwest. McElwain’s only other P-5 gig, at Florida, didn’t last long amid controversy, although the coach has rebounded at Central Michigan, where his team went 8-6 last season.

Likeliness: 3. Some would consider McElwain a risk based on his tenure in Gainesville, but the Missoula native’s ties to the region make him an intriguing fit. You’d assume McElwain would at least take a phone call from Chun and the Cougars.

Graham Harrell

Current job: Offensive coordinator, USC

Why it makes sense: A variety of Leach’s pupils will be candidates to replace the 58-year-old in Pullman, but none is more familiar with WSU than Harrell, who coached the Cougars’ outside receivers for two seasons in 2014 and ’15 before leaving to be an offensive coordinator at North Texas. Despite reports that Harrell and/or Clay Helton would not return to USC next season, both have since committed to spending 2020 with the Trojans, though the opening at WSU could persuade Harrell otherwise.

Likeliness: 3. By all accounts, Harrell, at 34 years old, has enough experience to make the next step his career and the Trojans put up impressive numbers – 32.5 points per game – with him calling the plays last season.

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Washington State did not have a great Recruiting Class, according to the recruiting sites. Rivals has the WSU Class at No. 54 nationally; 247 Sports has the Cougars at No. 61. Of the 19 commitments to the Class, 18 of them signed in December, so the Washington State administration does not have to have a sense of urgency when it comes to finding a replacement … at least in terms of recruiting.

That being said, many schools are back in session (CU opens this upcoming week), which means players will be back in class, with off-season workouts in full swing. Quality assistant coaches might not want to leave their current situations as preparations for the 2020 season are already underway.

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The Sky is Falling

While the loss of Mike Leach might result in Washington State returning to the backwater of the Pac-12, if you read Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News, the entire conference may not be far behind.

In his article, “Pac-12 media strategy: A worst-case scenario with ESPN and Fox looks something like this“, Wilner lays out a dire scenario in which the Pac-12 ceases to be considered a Power Five conference …

The SEC currently distributes approximately $44 million annually to each school.

If we estimate $325 million annually for the SEC ‘Game of the Week’ package, the net gain for the conference (over the current CBS deal) is $270 million.

Or an additional $19 million per school per year.

That would push the SEC’s annual campus distributions to about $63 million — more than the Big Ten’s current Brinks truck delivery ($52 million per school) and approximately double what the Pac-12 currently sends home to each of its 12 members.

And there’s this: The Big Ten’s Tier One deals with Fox and ESPN expire in 2023, one year before the Pac-12’s rights are up.

We should expect that $52 million per-school figure in the Big Ten to increase substantially.

In other words:

Even if the Pac-12 were to receive a whopping 50 percent annual increase in media rights from its next deal(s), it would still lag far behind the SEC and Big Ten in annual take-home pay.

… But on a broader scale, imagine a college football world in which the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC are foundational pieces of the ESPN and Fox content plans (linear, streaming, morning, noon and evening).

And imagine the Pac-12 at its own table with Turner or Apple or Amazon.

Think the three-hour time difference is a problem now?

Think the Time Zone issue undercuts income and eyeballs … that it makes everything just a wee bit more challenging.”

If the Pac-12 isn’t a key piece of the ESPN and Fox football packages, the conference might as well be on Hawaiian Time.

Its difficult to believe that the major players in college football, including ESPN, ABC, CBS and Fox, would completely divest themselves from that half of the country west of the Mississippi River.

At the same time, it’s also difficult to not see the Pac-12 falling further and further behind in overall television revenue. If Colorado is earning $20 million less per year than say, Vanderbilt or Indiana, how will the CU administration be able to pay competitive dollars for their coordinators? How will CU coaches be able to recruit when the Champions Center is considered small potatoes compared to the palaces being constructed in College Station and Lincoln?

And that’s even before we started worrying about how lop-sided the college football world is going to get when the Name, Image and Likeness debate ends with players being allowed to earn “outside” money.

Here’s hoping Coach Tucker & Co. can turn things around in short order over the next few seasons, so that the University of Colorado can be positioned as a player in the post-2024 world of college football …

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This post, about the Postseason game, from the 2019 Season, is filed under Article.
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