Pac-12 Media Day: Leach lauds lifestyle at Washington State
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HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Because of geography, Mike Leach is forced to recruit to a small town of about 33,000 people in eastern Washington, just miles from the Idaho border.
For the Washington State coach, selling Pullman, Wash., is a bonus, not a detriment when he tries to land top talent from Southern California and other talent-rich locales. It gives him something special to sell.
“The one thing that’s pretty key for us. The Pac-12 is a fascinating conference, there is a lot of variety from one team to the next. but it’s also a very urban conference,” Leach said Wednesday at Pac-12 Media Day. “We’re a college town. We offer something that they don’t.”
Then Leach launched into full Leach mode - off-the-cuff jokes and backhanded compliments about living in the greater Los Angeles area.
“You guys might love the traffic in L.A.,” Leach said. “A lot of great things about L.A. You might sit in the car, listen to the radio, look at the person beside you. You get flipped off. I always thought it was pretty funny when somebody flipped me off. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Wait in line for stuff. You don’t have to do that in Pullman, Washington. There are sacrifices you have to make up there in Pullman. You don’t have to plan ahead, which sucks if you want to develop your planning skills. Good food is right there, well, I’d like to wait in line. You can stand there, but I’ll be at the counter doing nothing, so when you’re ready to order, come order.”
For Washington State, landing talent-rich California players remains a challenge. But the Cougars have had some success since Leach’s arrival.
Four-star receiver Jamire Calvin from Los Angeles Cathedral (the campus overlooks downtown Los Angeles) was a major pick-up recently. Talented DB Jalen Thompson is out of Downey, Calif., a blue-collar area southeast of downtown. Late quarterback Tyler Hilinski was a four-star out of Upland, Calif., in the Inland Empire.
The opportunity to sign players from the urban areas of California and elsewhere remains for Washington State, but other Pac-12 programs have made significant strides in those locales as well.
Eugene, Ore., isn’t a massive college town (although recent numbers show a population of more than 166,000 people), so many things are centered around the university. The Ducks have the top-rated class in the Pac-12 and they’re fourth nationally.
So many top recruits still want to play at USC, and to some extent at UCLA. Those are difficult obstacles for Washington State to overcome. But Leach is selling something different in Pullman - a unique, small college town experience without the headaches or the anonymity of big-city living.
“We’re a college town,” Leach said. “The other thing is, 365 days a year, it’s the Cougs. They’ll remember a game you played the rest of your life. This isn’t a deal where you might have had the game of your life, you walk three blocks and they don’t even know you had a game. They know you had a game, they know it’s a big deal and they’ll holler the thing out.
“We had a big win in the conference on the road, we came in at 4 in the morning and the whole balcony of this dorm was just packed with people screaming, ‘Go Cougs.’ At 4 a.m., meeting the bus. It’s a unique place that’s all centered around the college.”
