Tech chancellor: ‘We want to keep Mike’
BY DON WILLIAMS
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance on Wednesday morning said the university will do what it can to retain football coach Mike Leach, but remained consistent with earlier statements from athletic director Gerald Myers about having to watch spending.
A source told The Avalanche-Journal that Leach was in Seattle late Monday and into Tuesday to visit with University of Washington officials about their soon-vacant head-coaching job. The source said Leach had not been offered the job as of Tuesday night but that Washington should not be underestimated in its potential to hire Leach away.
“My comment is, we want to keep Mike,’’ Hance said. “We like him. We’re a good fit for him, and he’s a good fit for us. We’re going to do what we can to keep him. Anytime somebody wants you, you’ve got to listen to them, I think. I don’t blame him for listening, but I don’t want him going.’’
Washington announced on Oct. 27 that head coach Tyrone Willingham would leave at the end of the season, and Willingham made it clear that his resignation was forced. The Huskies were 0-7 at the time and now are 0-11 with their regular-season finale coming up Saturday at California.
Leach, whose contract expires after 2010, might not necessarily be the Huskies’ first choice. Media reports in Seattle have mentioned several other possibilities, including Fresno State coach Pat Hill, who has interviewed for the job.
Myers said Tuesday that he plans to offer Leach a three-year extension with a raise to get him back on a five-year agreement. He said the offer is close to finalized and could be extended this week.
“We want to get it sewed up pretty soon,’’ Hance said. “We like Mike, and we want to keep him.’’
Some Tech fans wondered why a new deal wasn’t sewed up over the summer. Their anxiety grew as the Red Raiders went 11-1 during the regular season and Leach’s name again popped up as a candidate for jobs elsewhere, which has become a routine occurrence the last few years.
Asked about the reasons for Leach’s contract not being addressed before the season, Hance mentioned several points that Myers made during the summer.
“He was in the middle of a three-year contract,’’ Hance said. “We told him, after the season we would look at (redoing) it. We didn’t feel like the money was there at that time, and we felt it would be at the end of the year.
“We wanted to concentrate on winning games and getting the stadium expanded. If you renew a contract in August and have a great year, those agents are going to come back in December and want another bite at the apple.’’
Tech had a ground-breaking ceremony Saturday for a $25 million project to add a stadium building with suites and club seats to Jones AT&T Stadium. Over the course of the season, fund-raising efforts devoted to the project generated about $9 million, bringing the money earmarked for stadium expansion to $28 million.
During the summer, the Web site CoachesHotSeat.com, which links copies of head coaches’ contracts, showed Leach to be the 31st highest paid out of the 120 major-college head coaches. But with Tech athletics having run deficits two of the last three fiscal years, Myers and Hance say they have to draw a line.
“In any position, there are limits of what you can do and remain financially stable,’’ Hance said. “ … You have to look at your revenue and what you can afford and what you can’t.’’
Hance, Myers and Leach’s staff members said he did not tell them he was going to Washington to check out the job. Hance said he didn’t know until word began to spread Tuesday afternoon.
“We were going to visit with him this week – which, he was out on Monday,’’ Hance said. “I figure today or tomorrow we’ll be visiting with him – Gerald or I will.’’
After this season, Leach has two years left on a contract that pays $10 million over five years. Counting a pair of contract-completion bonuses, Leach stands to make at least $2.65 million next year and at least $2.35 million in 2010, not counting incentives.
On Tuesday, Leach was named coach of the year on The Associated Press All-Big 12 Conference team. A panel of media members who cover the league gave Leach 16 votes and four to Texas’ Mack Brown. On the coaches’ all-Big 12 team, Leach and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops were voted co-coaches of the year by their peers.
Though Washington has fallen on hard times with a fifth straight losing season, the Huskies were a perennial contender in the not-too-distant past. Under now-Hall of Fame coach Don James from 1975-92, Washington went to the Rose Bowl six times as Pac 10 Conference champions, winning four, and won a split national championship in 1991.
The Huskies’ stadium seats about 72,500, almost 20,000 more than Jones AT&T Stadium’s listed capacity.
In addition to Hill and Leach, the Seattle Times also has reported that Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Haywood has interviewed for the Huskies’ job.
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- UPDATED: MIKE LEACH-WASHINGTON WATCH DAY 2 « The Williams and Hyatt Show Blog
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Kent and Gerald,
You’ve got to spend money to make money. Invest in Leach TODAY, and watch the money roll in. Does nine million dollars raised during the regular season play for the expansion tell you anything? You’ve been quoted that the expansion is a $25 million project. You’re now at $28 million. Now, in my line of work, I see that you’ve raised more than needed for job completion. Let’s earmark that additional $3 million for the Pirate’s Bounty. I want to watch this program GROW!! Keep Leach!!
Wreck ‘em!! TTU ‘85
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milke leach we need you to stay because you are the man for this job so don;t go no where ok because they need you and so do were ok milke leach good luck I hope you stay
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Imagine the Pirate boating to work.
http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/march02/images/place_stadium.jpg
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Dammit Jim,
You’re making me worry….Its not good for the complexion.
Wreck ‘em!! TTU ‘85
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Here is an idea…. Have another fundraiser for the “Keep Leach Foundation” . If alum can dish out 9 mill in months to extend the stadium, then they can raise 7 mill each year for the next 5 years to make Mike the highest paid coach. It is not the first time a fundraising event was held on Leach’s behave (Big XII fine last year).
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I don’t understand why Gerald Meyers wanted to “wait until after the season is over” to extend Mike Leach’s contract. If he screws around and we loose coach Leach, our AD ought to fired and tarred and feathered. Gerald, DO IT NOW !!!!!!!!
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I think Tech and Mike Leach are a perfect marriage and there is still a National Championship Mike and the Raiders need to win, so please Gerald and Mike, work the number$. BUT if Mike chooses Seattle over Lubbock, then Tech, and everyone who reads this, needs to look Chris Hatcher, a kind of “mini me” of Coach Leach. I am sure Coach Leach would agree.
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Leach is gone and Tech has is two stupid bastards Myers and Hance to blame. Hance is a UT grad so what does that tell you.
The University is so mismanaged. Things never change at Two Bit Tech. This whole thing was handled poorly. Expect 5,000 fans a game just like basketball. Where is the Alumni Association and why are they not a part of this. What stupidity!!!
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Kent and Gerald…
We let an awesome coach go in the late 1970’s… and Texas Tech football did not recover for 10-15 years. I remember games where there were MAYBE 10,000 people in the stands and Tech was in the cellar of the SWC.
LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES… let’s not lose this one!
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How did you possibly GRADUATE, on your behind ,or was it your behave?
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Like “the Donald” said, it’s a matter a of time before Mike Leach makes more money than he ever thought and it may not be in Texas.
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Gerald – a 3-year extension; what in the world are you thinking? Wake up, for Pete’s sake. You’re making me nervous with your lack of understanding of the big-time. Time for you to step out of the picture, ol’ buddy, and turn the leadership over to someone with vision, courage, and the ability to shepherd Tech onto the next level. Tech needs to pay the big money, for the long term, with a stiff buyout to go with it. Don’t be bumbling, stumbling along, fumbling this one away and taking Tech down with you. Good Gosh!
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Well said Terry…. WELL SAID!
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If we loose Mike….I want Jerry Moore back
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I think we lost him with Brilliant Ole’ Gerald calling the shots……We will always be a stepping stone school with this kind of leadership. I’ll miss him…..
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Washington=Iowa St. or worse……When Mike came in he took over a more talented team than Washington is…….It will take 15-20 years to pull that out of a nose dive. Good luck to ya mate
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ESPN just reported that Texas Tech is struggling to find funds because Marsha Sharp and Bob Knight are still on the payroll.
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I think we all realize that the sense of relief we will have when Mike Leach signs an extended contract with Tech will only be about a fourth of the sense of dread that fans (and coaching staffs) of other schools in the conference will feel. A stable full of talented receivers and running backs, a QB who is bigger and stronger than the incomparable Graham Harrell, a just-beginning-to-blossom defense [giving hints of the old days when Tech was, indeed, known for its defense], and enough holdover on the O-line to bring the new guys along in the tradition this one has picked up and grew from last year’s. And, Mike Leach will be looked at long down the road, when he finally does retire with multiple conference championships [and more, maybe] under his belt, as someone whose shoes it’ll be difficult to fill at Tech. Aw, yes, life will be good when he signs on long-term at Tech.
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I am not expecting Red Raider fans to be friendly to Husky fans at a time like this, but I do have to address the UW=Iowa State comparison.
How could it possibly take 15 to 20 years to fix UW, when it only took just a few years to get this bad? It wasn’t that long ago we won the Rose Bowl, and beat Sugar Bowl champion Miami and Fiesta Bowl champion Oregon State in that same season.
I think Mike Leach likes coaching the Red Raiders, I think he’ll stay. But one thing has to be bugging him…at UW, an 11-1 regular season would mean a BCS bowl berth. Unless OU chokes to Missouri, it doesn’t mean a BCS berth at Tech right now.
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It takes very little time for a UDub team [or any team, for that matter] to go that bad. It takes a long time for one to come back from those depths. When you beat the Sugar and Fiesta bowl champs, was that in the season they actually went on to win those bowls, or was it the next season? If the latter, then you did not beat those bowl champion teams; you beat the schools whose teams won the season before – hardly the same thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Seattle – as a place to visit. For as much as I like a cold, damp, constantly rainy environment, it’s only for visiting. And traffic, good gosh, it’s horrendous there. Have they built a new stadium, since I visited several years ago, or is it still the tired old venue it appeared to be then?
UDub offers nothing that Mike Leach can’t get and achieve at Tech, and it’s much more readily reachable at Tech, now, than it’d be at UDub in the next six to eight years. In fact, his prospects now of beating Texas and Okla. each game in Lubbock, while grabbing a few wins as the visitor, have never been better. And, winning the Big 12 will guarantee a shot at the Nat’l title game; same cannot be said for winning the Pac conference.
And come on, purple as a manly color. At least it not that close-to-lavendar stuff TCU sports. Scarlet and Black – you can’t beat that for football [and pirate] colors.
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How come these schools aren’t contacting Mike Sherman?……
WOW, it sure is Beautiful on this side of the fence!!
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this is sick if the bcs wouldnt give autimatic bids to the undeserving big east and acc and give the big 12 3 this year we would get 17 mill just for being in a bcs bowl. we could then give leach as big a contract as he wants. the cotton bowl guarentees 3 mill. if only….
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Leach is not leaving. I think he’s showing Tech a willingness to leave, despite the fact that there is no desire to go to the Washington program. He is making Tech act, and pay up…he deserves it. Secondly Washington? Why go there? Have fun competing with Oregon/St USC and UCLA for recruits. If hes going to leave its gonna be somewhere that has the tradtion and the “big time” atmosphere that can get top rated recruits…I think hes staying…although, I’d love to see what Leach could do with 5 star athletes and a stellar defense….wow. Unbeatable?
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i hope it was cold windy and rainy in washington when he was up there to take every desire to move up there away. i find it interesting that he turned down an offer to go to ucla last year and now everyone thinks he will go up to washington if he wanted the pac 10 he would have left last year i think that he will stay here but just want us to pay up. to bad we dont have the money to do that or the ad that has the guts to give him wat it takes. cmon big incenitives and a raise and the works. if only we would be playing in a big money bowl
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What was the weather like in Seattle Monday & Tuesday?? Give me tumbleweeds and prairie dogs any day to cold, rainy days.
This 56 year-old gal just became a REAL football fan this year. I was at the TX game and I finally got what all the football fuss was about. That was absolutley THE most fun I’ve ever had at any sporting event!
Mike, DON’T GO!
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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3741224
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You TT fans are delusional. You are ripping on Seattle? Where exactly is your university located? Try and travel outside of your area code before you rehash the same old about Seattle. I went there for a game this year. Ask kid outside of Lubbock where he wants to go if Leach could be in either place and 7 or 8 out of 10 pick UW. And winning the Big 12 guarantees you a spot in the national championship game? It did for us, but it for others it doesnt even guarantee you a spot in your own conference championship game or a BCS berth! And if you lose Leach you will really see how excited people are to go to TT when you are trying to find a new coach…
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I heard that a friend of Mike Leach said that it is a done deal with WU and that the anouncement will come after Myers makes Leach an offer. If he makes an offer.
Word from inside is that Myers does not have the money to offer much more than what is in the current contract.and that Sonny Dykes will probably be the new head coach. So hasta la vista baby!
Myers and Hance really do not care about a winning team just the fan’s money to build . Tech is just a half way house for has been politicians like John Longhorn Montford and Kent Longhorn Hance.
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I think Sonny Dykes would be a great fit if Leach leaves!
Here’s a link to New York Times sayin that realtionship between Tech and Leach appears to be strained. ttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/sports/football/04colleges.html?ref=sports
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/sports/football/04colleges.html?ref=sports
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Jone Stadium will be 60, 000 seats after a $30 million addition.
Wow that is huge Tiny Elvis!!!!! Hey, we got no coach????!!!!!!!!!!
Build it and they won’t come!!!!!
Lubbock is best described as “Hell in a cotton patch” for you Seattle folks. Lubbock or Leave it!
Dennis Francionne wants the job if his high school coaching interview falls off.
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Myers better come up with the money or people are going to start calling for his job. I think its probably gonna take about 2.75 million a year to keep him.
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I know Hyatt is right. Leach is gone. Get ready for some low scoring sweep right, sweep left , up the middle, punt with James Hadnot ! All of the bars will be full at half time.
Sleepless you sound like someone I knew at LCAD. He was a Sonny Dykes fan too. Please Sonny Dykes!!!! Jesus take me now!
Myers needs to go. He is an old hot headed bastard. He was a loser and still is.
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Sonny Dykes runs the same system he learned under Leach for 5 or 6 years. He has Arizona averaging 40 points as their OC in just his second year. Not as many recruits would transfer if they know he’ll run the same spread offense.
Plus, the fans would be entertained as usual.
Plus, if finances are the real issue for Myers not signing Leach, then Sonny would come cheap due to lack of head coaching experience.
Overall, the program would not take the serious hit that it would take if you have to recruit to a completely different offense.
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Sleepless in Plainview,Never Trust the New York Times!
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What the heck is going on with the people in charge at Tech. I guess their memories aren’t all that great, lest they forget the woeful days of 30,000 fans at Jones Stadium in the not-to-distant past. Pay Leach, he’s earned it, and he is getting us used to winning which motivates the fans to show up and cheer. When we show up, we buy tickets and we spend more money on food and other items we buy at the stadium, plus, we give more to the alumni association. I have supported Tech for years, and i remember the 4-7 seasons in empty stadiums, DO NOT BLOW THIS guys, SIGN OUR COACH, and if you are in negotiations with Coach Leach, somebody should TELL Coach Leach, according to the NY Times, he isnt aware of any negotiations.
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Give The Head Pirate the Booty – 3.5 mil. per year + Bonuses and let’s move on!
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And come on you guys, the very thought of another Dykes nauseatesme – Fat Bastard would be just as good!
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To Terry,
You said winning the Big 12 guarantees a shot as the BCS title game? I don’t seem to remember a Big 12 team in the title game the past 2 years. You are dream in land to think that Tech has a superior history than the UW. Check the top 20 finishes over the past 25 years. Tech has never had a top 15 finish that I can find. How many national titles has Tech won. UW won in 91 and got ripped off in 84 and 01. We’ll be back with or without Leach. Better hope Oklahoma doesn’t get matched up with USC again – remember the last time they played for the National title – it was the most lopside National Title game yet. The Big 12 is having a good year this year, but it is cyclical and next year could be a different story.
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If Marsha Sharp and Bobby Knight are still on the payroll, they need to be FIRED! Especially Bobby. He’s makin’ money off of ESPN now. BOBBY KNIGHT, GIVE UP YOUR SALARY AND NOW!!!!
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Interesting post on Husky Blog.
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/huskyfootball/index.html#34957
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Tech won’t pay leach 3.5 mil because Myers ego won’t let him. Cheap is why someone like Dykes will get the job. Christy Curry was cheap. Bob Knight was cheap and Junior is cheap and over paid. 5,000 fans for a men’s basketball game but look how much we saved on Juniors salary. Man this arena is awesome but where are the fans. Lets raise ticket prices. That is Texas Tech management style. whether you are a coach or a professor. Cheap, Cheap, Cheap!!!!! Too Conservative to achieve greatness!
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By the Way Sonny Dykes owns a ton of rental property in Lubbock
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ERRRRR Rick Dykes not Sonny!!!!!!
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I would assume Leach would stay. West Texas may be third in the recruiting tree, but it is out of the spotlight. I doubt Leach likes talking to reporters anyways.
But Washington or Auburn would be the worst mistake ever.
I understand that’s closer to home for Leach, but the football program would have to be built from below ground level.
From 11-1 to 0-11? Come on people, he’s way smarter than that
Go Leach! GUNS UP
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washington folks,. get a life-pac ten sucks. if not for usc, the pac ten could not compete with the mountain west. lol
washington is worse than the aggies!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sorry Chance Hance, but it seems you and the cheap AD want to try and hold on to your hole card and hope it is a safe bet UW hesitates on Mike. They want and we all lose the best coach we have had in a loong while.
You want to wait another decade or two to experience the excitement of this year, well it looks like that is what your cheap shot has set up. Your will have this cross to bear for sometime to come and make Texas Tech look foolish and suffer through losing seasons with many missed opportunities.
We thougth you were smarter than this?
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