The Mike Leach legend grows

Maybe there is some correspondence involved they don't want ESPN's IT guys to get wind of.

 

Spurrier is entertaining as hell to cover, but if you piss him off and have to deal with him on a daily basis, he can make your life miserable.

A coach at a major (sort of) program who gives out his cell number and regularly returns call is pure gold.

I want to see Leach at a better program. I just want to see if he can have similar success at a bigger school.

 

My latest favorite Spurrier story (and it ties into your question, Moddy):

HBC hires a new assistant coach. Bunch of beat guys are in Spurrier's office with him and the SID. One of the guys asks if they can talk to the new guy. SID starts rambling about all the things they need to do before that can happen. All the while, Spurrier's dialing. Three seconds later, new guy's on the phone answering questions.

 

Texas Tech is fun to watch, and it will pull an upset or two every now and then. But these grandiose predictions of Big 12 South glory won't come true. There is absolutely no running game to speak of, and from what I've seen of the offense, it's so timing-based that it's hard to be consistent for 12 games. The QB du jour will get great numbers, team will lose four or five times every season.

 

This is the craziest Spurrier story I've heard.

Chris Harry, who was the UF beat writer for Tampa or Orlando at the time, was asked to write send a freelance notebook to the Knoxville paper during the week up to the Tennessee-Florida game. Nothing major, just a Florida notebook. I think this was when Manning was at UT, but I'm not sure...

The Knoxville paper runs Harry's notebook under the headline of "From the enemy sidelines"

Somebody faxes the article to Spurrier, who goes nuts. He tears Harry a new asshole at practice and then the columnist of the local paper writes a column ripping Harry by name for overstepping boundaries as a journalist.

A few days later, Harry gets very specific death threats involving his very young daughter. Apparently the person said they knew where she went to school or something like that. Scary shit.

Harry confronts Spurrier about the threats and is told "Well, you shouldn't have written what you did." Doesn't show one bit of remorse and didn't seem to care at all.

 

That's pretty much how it happened. That exact story has been told several times in books about the SEC, I think most recently in the one Tony Barnhart wrote several years ago.

Harry was by far the best beat writer Florida has had in the last few decades. The guy did an incredible job.

 

Where he just might win the Big 12 South for the first time, given what he's got back and what the Sooners and Longhorns lost to the draft and graduation.

 

I'd love to see that, but you have to assume that the guys UT has waiting in the wings will step up. The recruits that place has brought in since winning the national title have been off the charts.

 

Provided they all don't get arrested in the off-season.

 

I seem to recall Leach being mentioned for at least two jobs this year ... one of which I think was UCLA. Does anyone else know if he has been a serious candidate for other jobs? Can't remember but it seems his name came up around the time Shannon was hired in Coral Gables, too.

Leach's sideshow is always fun -- and June Jones in Dallas now -- should make for an interesting fall.

 

Now that you mention it, someone needs to make that game happen. That would be fun to watch.

 

The cell phone thing is true. Guy doesn't know how to set up his voicemail (or so he claims) so he has none. You call, he doesn't answer but you'll damn sure get a call back from him.

Reporter: This is mltru2tx
Coach: This Mike. Did you call?

One time I was leaving his weekly Monday presser and was about to go take a short vacation to San Diego and it comes up somehow. Dude ends up walking out with me, we talk all the way to his office about surfing, and proceed to go in his office and talk about surfing for nearly an hour and a half.

Aside from the spokesperson thing, which I believe does still exist and is quite a pain in the ass, the guy's really fun to cover.