If there’s a fan favorite when it comes to Ole Miss’ coaching candidates, that man is most surely Mike Leach.
The former Texas Tech head coach — who has also had offensive success as an assistant at Kentucky — would bring instant credibility to Oxford. His offense would excite recruits. His fascination with pirates would give students something better than a black bear to dress up as on gameday.
But would he be a good fit at a school like Mississippi? Houston Nutt seems to think so. Speaking on Tim Brando’s radio show today, Nutt said that Ole Miss needs hire a coach who’ll do something different on offense. He then threw props to Leach.
But there’s a downside to making a run at Leach, too. First, the coach’s ugly departure at Texas Tech will be mentioned again and again. Would Chancellor Dan Jones want to fool with that?
Second, Leach’s lawsuit against ESPN for it’s coverage/involvement in his ouster — he also claims the network nixed his chances of landing the Maryland job last year — would make for some interesting times. The SEC and ESPN are business partners. How would ESPN cover Leach? How would Leach handle media requests from ESPN?
Finally, would UM’s chancellor want a known loose cannon heading up his football program? Most bosses like to make safe hires. Leach ran a clean program and graduated playes (and won games) at Texas Tech, but his off-the-wall persona certainly doesn’t jive with the words “safe hire.”
Should Ole Miss kick the tires on Leach? In our view… absolutely. He’d be the first call we’d make.
But we’d want to get to know the guy before we handed him the keys to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
