The Pirate hits Pullman: Mike Leach back on the sideline
PULLMAN, Wash. - On the bottom level of his new five-bedroom house, Mike Leach has been adding some finishing touches to his home movie theater.
Two statues of pirates stand on the floor. A few feet away, two framed photos of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne lean on the ground. In front, a movie screen covers an entire wall, blankly waiting for an audience.
After moving into town late last year, Leach's show is nearly ready to roll, at home and at his new job at Washington State. By morning, he's completing a home construction project. By night, he's working late at the office, using a familiar blueprint -- one that builds winning football programs. In his last 21 years as a head coach or assistant, Leach has had just one losing season -- his 1997 Kentucky team finished 5-6.
"And we shouldn't have had one then," Leach says in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports, as he prepares the Cougars to play Thursday night at BYU, his alma mater. "There were some games we could have won."
Two seasons since his controversial firing at Texas Tech, there's a new attraction in college football. It's Mike Leach, The Sequel. He's got the same spread offense, with a wrinkle: the pistol alignment. He's got the same active imagination, now fueled by beet and kale juice. He's got the same trademark quirks, right down to the cinematic motifs.
The only difference might be that he's bigger than ever, already so beloved in his new community that WSU might sell out every home game for the first time.
"I've been around a long, long time, and I have never seen the energy that we're seeing now in our fan base," says Bill Moos, Washington State's athletic director and former co-captain of the team in 1972.
Since Leach's hiring, more than 3,200 new season tickets have been sold, up to about 13,400. All 21 stadium suites sold within 10 days of Leach's hiring, Moos says, at a price of $30,000 to $50,000 per season. Donations to WSU athletics are up more than $3 million from last year, with the number of donors increasing from 4,123 to 6,000-plus.
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