Mike Leach runs a very exciting type of offense. His Texas Tech teams did very well while he was there. Yet, with a lot of high profile schools looking for new coaches this year, Leach only got one call (and I think you know who that was from). According to Stewart Mandel at SI, Leach still isn't entirely sure why he hasn't generated more interest.
"I didn't really have a preconceived notion about [the job market]," said the current Key West, Fla., resident. "But I guess a lot of the hires have surprised people. A lot of times the folks that are looking for people, they've never really done a job search."
Three simple words can sum up this whole thing pretty neatly:
Too. Much. Baggage.
Leach is a brilliant offensive mind, there is no doubt about that. But when you bring him aboard, that isn't the only thing you are getting. you get the two pending lawsuits that he is tied to. The history of being accused of mishandling his players. Let's not forget, the school that he was so good at, thought they needed to fire him without even paying him the salary he believes that he deserves.
Colleges that need a football coach need a fresh start. Leach has too much bad history for many officials to take a chance on him. One school official quoted in the article summed it up perfectly.
"When you're looking for the promise of a new day, you don't want to have to account for those cloudy days from years past," said a senior athletic administrator whose BCS-conference school had a recent opening but never considered Leach. "Wherever he is hired, it's going to be difficult not to have that opening press conference and those opening profiles include what happened at Texas Tech."
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