We will get to the Stanford post mortem in a bit but in the meantime we also need to keep an eye on this. Mike Leach is not an original topic of discussion on Bruins Nation. There has been plenty of Leach related discussions in BN 1.0 (pre fanshot/fanposts days) and the current version. You can use the search function on the right side of this post and look up how the former Texas Tech head coach has been discussed in this community.
While UCLA still has a football coach who still has a tiny window to salvage this season and his career in Westwood, we cannot ignore the discussion that has been going in the Bruin community (see the latest fanpost here). Interestingly Leach is in Los Angeles for his book tour and the Bruins are figuring prominently in his discussion. Leach, who is a graduate of Pepperdine School of Law gushed about UCLA's recruiting potential and its reputation as a "quarterback mecca" during a recent interview with the Daily News:
Q: Watching UCLA's season from a distance, what kind of read to you have on Neuheisel's use of the pistol offensive scheme? Does rotating quarterbacks present a problem?
A: UCLA will always get top-ranked recruits, and it's in a quarterback mecca. The one thing about quarterbacks that can hurt your team is not being able to make a decision. That's a quick way to make them both mediocre. There are only so many reps in practice, and you invest them with someone who's going to develop with the players who are around them. It's not hard to find good plays to run. The hardest thing is to make choices about which plays to run, what's going to be your identity, then you repeat that over and over.
See, the one thing you can control on offense is your package, and what you're going to be good at, then you repeat that every day. Defenses don't have that luxury.
Leach also didn't exactly the quash speculation that he would be interested if there is an opening in Westwood by the end of this season:
Here's a reach: Mike Leach just so happened to be landing Saturday night at Los Angeles International Airport, conveniently while the college football team from Westwood was out of town, perhaps for some stealth negotiations regarding a potential coaching vacancy.
Or, the former Texas Tech coach is just in town for a book signing.
That's a double-edge sword he's swinging these days.
"It's difficult for me to say anything because there is no vacancy, but you know, they have a good staff in place right now, they just need to do the best they can this season," said the 50-year-old, asked hypothetically if UCLA would ever be on his list of destination schools now that he's in a job hunt.
"Coming to Los Angeles, a major media center, the real reason I'm coming is for the book."
Uh, hum. Discuss.
GO BRUINS.