PULLMAN — Washington State coach Mike Leach was fined $10,000 and publicly reprimanded by the Pac-12 last week for alleging that Arizona State coach Todd Graham goes to elaborate means to steal opponents’ signals.
Leach hasn’t — and won’t — say anything, and did not respond when Graham called him “chicken-(expletive)” during the postgame handshake, but the move clearly still rankles him. After the Cougs’ 37-32 win over Arizona State on Saturday, he declined to answer questions about the Sun Devils’ strategy, saying only “I respectfully decline to answer on grounds I might be publicly reprimanded and fined.”
And he continues to bust out that phrase this week, resorting to it once when asked about Oregon State during his Monday press conference, and saying it again Tuesday on the Pac-12 coaches teleconference call, when a different reporter asked another Beavers-realted question.
“You know, I really don’t comment on the other teams because I may get publicly reprimanded or fined, but like anybody you just do the best you can with what you have,” Leach said.
Picking captains
In typical discursive Mike Leach fashion, the Cougars’ head coach took 10 minutes of his Monday press conference to explain.
He doesn’t like having the team vote on captains at the start of the year because “they may select poor representatives,” Leach said. He’s had situations where his teams elected captains who got a little too big for their britches, captains who got complacent and captains who were just downright unfit for office.
Leach:
“I thought, all the guy does is the coin toss. One of the most screwed up things about this country is that in order to do anything, or cross the street, we have to have a committee. I said screw the commitee, we only need one guy who’s smart enough to call head or tails, that’s it. …I thought, should we pick the biggest guy or littlest guy on the team? Then I thought, ‘Well, Jamal Morrow was on The Price is Right, he was very lucky, he went to the final round and almost won the sucker. I figured, well, Jamal Morrow’s a lucky guy, he’s got pretty good energy. … Jamal goes out and did have an amazing knack for winning the toss.”
For those counting at home, Morrow is 5-2 in the coin toss this season.
Props for Tavares Martin
Sophomore receiver Tavares Martin has come into his own this season, and currently sits third behind Gabe Marks and River Cracraft with 409 receiving yards and four touchdown grabs. Martin also had a 9-yard touchdown reception last week against Arizona State.
His progress has attracted Leach’s attention.
“About two games in he really started to play well,” Leach said. “He’s kinda rangy and fast. He’s just getting better and better. I think he might be our best receiver right now, he’s kinda gotten better each week.
“He’s not playing at full potential yet because we haven’t gotten him more balls. I think we should get him more balls and he’ll be even more productive.”
Bonus material: Leach is rooting for Cleveland over the Chicago Cubs in the World Series
Because “every yuppie with a BMW” is a Cubs fan.
Also, former Arizona Cardinals long snapper Mike Leach has been on the receiving end of tweets from fans irritated by WSU’s Mike Leach. He’s taking it all in his stride though.
