The interest was sincere, and the push was legitimate, but in the end there was not nearly enough for Texas Tech to bring back Art Briles.
According to sources, Texas Tech’s search for a new football coach to replace Matt Wells no longer includes the former Baylor head coach.
There was never going to be more than a small chance that Briles would return to Lubbock, and now there is no chance.
The search at Tech changed dramatically over the last few days with the news that UT-San Antonio handed coach Jeff Traylor a 10-year extension, and Gary Patterson “resigned” from TCU.
Would Tech pursue Patterson? Highly doubtful, but these days things change fast.
Traylor is still a part of this conversation, but that contract extension offers an unexpected added element.
SMU’s Sonny Dykes, however, is near the top of the list, as well as — wait for it — Mississippi State’s Mike Leach.
It’s crazy, but exactly who is surprised? It’s 2021, when crazy is a part of every conversation.
No hire would stir the plains any more than The Pirate.
According to sources familiar with the coaching search, there have been back channel conversations with the former Texas Tech head coach who currently is the head coach at Mississippi State.
Conversations and chats between head coaches and members of other interested schools are not exactly uncommon, but more often these types of talks are inconsequential.
Although his exit from Texas Tech late in the 2009 season was ugly — and Leach made it no secret that he feels Tech still owes him a lot of money — him chatting with a handful of Tech people is logical.
He still has a lot of friends in Lubbock, many of whom happen to be powerful Red Raiders.
He’s even intimated to a few of them that he’d like to come back.
It’s Mike Leach, so he could have been having fun with them. Or, because it’s Mike Leach, he’s serious.
And he could always leverage this interest for a few more dollars from Mississippi State, much like Nick Saban’s agent did when Texas tried to hire him away from Alabama in 2013.
Leach was the head coach at Texas Tech from 2000 to 2009, and in his tenure he made the Red Raiders a nationally recognized name.
They enjoyed a winning record in all 10 of his seasons, including an 11-2 mark in 2008 when they climbed to No. 2 in the Top 25 AP polls. The Red Raiders were 84-43 under Leach, with two appearances in the Cotton Bowl and five bowl wins.
Texas Tech’s football program and Leach were once flatteringly featured by Scott Pelley, a Tech alum, for a piece on 60 Minutes.
With Leach, Texas Tech had a “hook” that everyone knew. His nickname was “The Pirate.” His wide open offenses were copy and pasted at programs all over the country.
What everyone didn’t know was that in the final years of Leach’s tenure his relationship with some members of the Tech administration was toxic, particularly with the former chancellor and current chancellor emeritus, Kent Hance.
As a winning football coach Leach had power, and he was not afraid to use it to do, and say, as he pleased. That didn’t sit well with some of his bosses.
It all went terrible in 2009 when Red Raiders receiver Adam James, the son of former SMU running back and then ESPN analyst Craig James, posted a video of himself sitting in an equipment room during practice. Why was he in there? It was a punishment handed down by Leach.
It was widely believed Leach put Adam James on the team to potentially curry favor with ESPN. Adam James was a college player, but probably not of the Big 12 caliber.
It all got terribly messy. Tech suspended Leach for “abusive” behavior, and then the school fired him.
The dismissal created a fissure among Tech fans and supporters, who loved a coach who made their town and team nationally known.
Since then, Texas Tech has hired, and fired, three head coaches.
Since then, Leach has been unafraid to crush Texas Tech, mostly over money he feels that is still due him.
He sued the university more than 10 years ago for monetary damages stemming from his firing.
In 2012, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tech because it’s a state institution. The decision said the school had sovereign immunity that protects it from being successfully sued.
If Tech can somehow convince Leach to return to Lubbock, it would have to be creative with his contract and include the money he feels he is due.
Leach was the head coach at Washington State from 2012 to 2019, right before he arrived at Mississippi State.
At both places he maintained the reputation he built in Lubbock — that he can build competitive teams in challenging situations.
Winning football games in Pullman, Wash., and Starkville, Miss., is as challenging as it is to win in Lubbock, Texas.
Would Mike Leach leave an SEC job for Texas Tech, whose future status as a Power 5 team is uncertain? It would be rare to see a coach leave an SEC school for another league, but it’s possible.
It’s possible only because we are talking about Mike Leach.
He agreed to a four-year contract with Mississippi State for $5 million per season. He is halfway through that contract that likely includes a hefty buyout.
Would Leach return to a place that he publicly criticized for years?
The people with whom Leach clashed with years ago are now elsewhere. And Hance no longer has the level of influence he once did.
A Mike Leach return to Lubbock sounds crazy.
If it were any coach other than Mike Leach, you would be right to rule out this scenario.
But it’s college football, it’s 2021, and the crazy is always possible with The Pirate.