Texas Tech - Mike Leach And The Red Raiders

The Red Raiders football team is the representative of Texas Tech University - often referred to simply as "Tech" - in the Big Twelve Conference of the NCAAs. Football has been an integral part of the Texas Tech tradition since 1925, with varying degrees of success. Overall, the program has garnered eleven total conference championships in its history, and maintains a positive record of wins and losses. One of the brightest periods in its history occurred during the prior decade, when the Red Raiders had a winning season during each year between 2001 and 2009. Much of the team's success during that period can be attributed to the coaching of a man who had never suited up for a football game in his life.

The coming of Mike Leach

Mike Leach was hired by Texas Tech in 2000 after the previous coach had left the school. Unlike most college coaches who began their association with coaching by first playing the game in college, Leach had no such experience. He was, however, an excellent student and teacher of the game, with a motivational presence that inspired teams that were often less talented than their opponents to play at a level that belied their real skills. Leach became nothing short of a phenomenon at Texas Tech, as his Red Raiders squads would find ways to compile one winning season after another. During his tenure, he also became the leader among Tech coaches of the past, holding the record for success in the postseason as well: five wins and four losses in the bowl games his teams went to at the end of each of the seasons in which he coached them.

Offensive genius

There is no question that Leach's true passion in the game rests in the area of offense. He cut his coaching teeth, so to speak, as an offensive coach at several schools prior to taking the job at Tech, and helped each of those schools to create passing offenses that lit up scoreboards across the nation. His variation on the spread offense has been mimicked by other teams through the years, though few have had the success with it that Leach did. In addition, his ability to turn quarterbacks like Tim Couch into top ranked draft picks has been well documented.

The Insight Bowl

The best example of the speed with which his Tech teams could score occurred during the Insight Bowl game of 2006. At one point in the third quarter of that game, the Minnesota Gophers enjoyed a thirty-one point lead over the Red Raiders. With the little more than a quarter left to them in the game, the Red Raiders stormed back to tie the game by the end of regulation play, then won by a field goal in overtime. That 31 point turnaround is the greatest deficit any team has ever overcome in postseason play.

None of his success or the glory achieved in moments like the Insight Bowl would prove sufficient to save Leach's job from his own quirky nature, however. After being accused of player abuse in 2009 - and subsequently refusing to admit that he was sorry for his actions - Leach was first suspended and then terminated by Tech. His lawsuit for wrongful termination has yet to be decided.