Editor's Note: The following story is the final installment of a five-part series highlighting the members of the 2024 Washington State Athletic Hall of Fame Class. The Hall of Fame induction will take place, Sept. 6-7, at the Washington State University campus.
Part 1: Micaela Castain
In a Better Place
Part 2: Alissa Brooks-Johnson
Greatness from Small Beginnings
Part 3: Don Collins
Coug for Life
Part 4: DeWayne Patterson
The Sackmaster
Luke Falk appreciated how Mike Leach allowed him the freedom to check into plays he wanted.
However, Leach would get annoyed if his quarterback checked into too many runs.
And he would get an earful on the sidelines.
"Do you like bunting?" Falk, the record-setting quarterback who played for Leach at Washington State from 2013-2017, recalled his coach asking him.
"Are you allergic to TDs?"
Mike Leach passed away, Dec. 12, 2022, but his spirit continues to live on through his stories.
Stories he told. Stories from those who played for him. Stories from those who coached with him. Stories from fans who met him at a fundraising event or on one of his many walks he would take in Pullman to people who never met him, but were entertained by watching his press conferences and smiled when hearing his comments about a Pac-12 mascot battle, wedding advice, Bigfoot or aliens.
"I'd say 80 percent of what we talked about had nothing to do with football," said Bill Moos, the WSU Director of Athletics from 2010 to 2017 who hired Leach. "He was brilliant and was very well read and knowledgeable on so many things."
Leach served as head coach at WSU from 2012 to 2019 and his achievements during this time could fill novels. His induction to the Washington State Athletic Hall of Fame offers one more chapter to his ongoing story.
The Only Choice
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"I go back to when I hired him," said Moos. "I've been at WSU two years and there was apathy in the fan base, the conference had just expanded, and there was a new TV deal. I felt we needed a big hire that could draw national attention and also provide sizzle that could lift the whole university and get people excited again.
"I'd been intrigued with Mike," Moos added. "He was a nationally known as much for his quotes and comments as he was for his football knowledge, which was tremendous. He instantly brought exposure on the national level."
An architect of the Air Raid offense, Leach's teams were a nightmare for defenses to prepare against but would catch the eye of those watching in the stadium and on TV.
"I thought his offense could entertain the fans while we were building the program," Moos said.
On his flights to Key West to meet with Leach, Moos brought Leach's book "Swing Your Sword" with him for the journey.
"There are no direct flights from Pullman Washington to Key West," Moos said, laughing. "That was an all-day deal, so I had plenty of time to read the book. It was fascinating to me. He was so brilliant in his mind; he could imagine how you could attack a defense and put them on their heels.
During the four-hour meeting a variety of topics were discussed.
"It was almost like pulling teeth when I interviewed him to get him to talk about football," Moos said. "We're talking about U.S. Generals, Indian chiefs, British prime ministers.
"At first, I thought, 'I don't know if this is going to work,'" Moos explained with a chuckle, and then added, "But we segway into the philosophies of what we were looking to do with the football program.
"He and I hit it off," Moos continued. "He is the only one I pursued."
"Fans need to know that was a year when there were four openings in the Pac-12 for head coaches," added Moos, who emphasized how supportive President Elson Floyd was in Leach's hiring. "They all looked at him and there were other openings as well."
What about WSU?
Dave Emerick served as Chief of Staff with Leach during the entirety of his tenure at WSU. His relationship with Leach spanned two decades from Texas Tech, WSU, and to Mississippi State.
"Before he took the WSU job, there were several job openings that year," remembered Emerick, who is in his second season as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Football/General Manager for the USC football program. "I would inquire about the other places; he would always come back to "what about WSU"?
"It was then that I knew he saw the potential of Washington State, perhaps even before anyone else (other than Bill Moos) really did," Emerick added.
When Leach arrived at WSU in December of 2011, he inherited a program that had not had a winning season since 2003, which was a 10-3 campaign capped by a victory against Texas in the Holiday Bowl. That win also marked the last time the program had been to a bowl game.
When Leach left for Mississippi State in 2019, the program reached a bowl game in six of eight seasons, including five consecutive postseason appearances.
The pinnacle was 2018 when, in a magical season highlighted by an appearance on ESPN College Gameday, the Cougars capped an 11-2 season, the most wins in school history, with an Alamo Bowl victory and No. 10 national ranking.
"We recruited tough, hard-nosed players and Mike always stayed true to what he believed," Emerick said. "The first few years would be challenging, but he never strayed from the things that eventually caused us to be so successful."
"Bill Moos and President Floyd delivered on every single promise they made in hiring Mike, and so many incredible players bought into our vision and really embraced Coach Leach as their leader," Emerick added.
The first few years were tough, but signs of progress appeared.
"Each year he had a game or two that restored the faith and direction the program was going," Moos said.
Though Leach's first season ended at 3-9, it was capped by a scintillating overtime victory in the Apple Cup.
The following season, after a season-opening loss at Auburn, the Cougars traveled to No. 25 USC. Ironically, in a low-scoring affair, WSU upset the Trojans 10-7. The season was capped by a trip to the New Mexico Bowl, the first for the program in a decade.
"The way Coach Leach packaged it, he said you will have a chance to change the program around and leave your legacy and that's exactly what we did," said Jeremiah Allison, who played for Leach at the onset from 2012 to 2015. "We beat UW my freshman year and that was a long time since that happened. We were the class that went to the first bowl game in 2013."
"The standards got raised," Falk said. "We saw what he done at Texas Tech, and he had instant credibility. Leach hired great coaches and let them coach and he allowed freedom and autonomy for the players."
Keep it Simple
Moos cites the rivalry against Oregon as when the turnaround "kicked in."
In 2014, the Cougars hosted No. 2 Oregon in a late September night game.
"I remember I asked permission from the conference to wear all-white uniforms," Moos recalled. "There was a questionable call at the end, or we had a real good chance to beat them."
The Cougars lost 38-31 to the Ducks and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and finished the season 3-9.
The next year, WSU visited Eugene.
"We waltz in and beat Oregon and then beat them four years in a row," Moos said. "That was just put proof in the pudding that we had arrived because, say what you want, Oregon was the king of the conference then."
Falk, too, remembers that game, a 45-38 win in overtime, as a turning point
"That got us over the hump," Falk said, who threw for 505 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
For Falk, it was redemption. In a battle for the starting quarterback position throughout fall camp, the season started in nightmare fashion, a 24-17 loss to Portland State at home.
Despite the loss, Leach started Falk the next game at Rutgers. His confidence in his quarterback was rewarded when Falk threw for 478 yards and four touchdowns in the win.
"He put in his chips on the line for me," Falk remembered.
The Cougars ended the season with a victory against Miami in a snowy Sun Bowl at El Paso, their first Bowl win in 12 years, to end the year with a 9-4 mark.
"He was a great leader," Emerick said. "He did not micromanage. He hired people that he trusted and allowed them to do their jobs. If you were loyal to him, he was going to be fiercely loyal to you."
"The key was consistency. Keep it simple and do your job," Falk explained. You don't realize how rare that is in coaching.
"Those are things still embedded in me," he added. "Simplify. Simplify. He was a master in that."
Leach Stories: From Late Night Calls to A Change in Locker Rooms
The simplified philosophy extended beyond what happened on the field.
Originally a walk-on, when Falk earned his scholarship, it was in the simplistic way possible.
"When I signed my scholarship papers his exact words right before practice were, 'Go see Emerick he has some papers for you to sign.'"
Late night calls were also a norm for the renowned night owl Leach, who regularly walked from his home to the WSU campus and back.
"He would be walking home, and he calls me at midnight and ask, 'Jeremiah, what do you think of today's practice?'"
Groggy, Allison recalled a reply to the effect of, "I don't know Coach Leach, I'm asleep."
There were other stories, too, often to send a message.
When the Cougar Football Complex opened in 2014, the facility featured a state-of-the-art locker room. The players had moved from the previous locker room across the way in the Bohler Gym building.
After a 24-13 loss at Nevada-Reno in the second game of the season, Leach had the players go see Director of Equipment Operations Milton Neal, who gave them trash bags.
"He made the players go to the old locker room," Moos said, remembering that Leach told the team that "'You haven't earned these new digs and until you do, you're staying in this locker room.
"That was a typical Leach story on his discipline and the demands that he expected, which were legitimate, of his individual players and his team as a whole," Moos said.
A Man Who Loved the Palouse
Leach's legacy lives on through the people he impacted during his life.
"Here's a guy who was raised in Cody, Wyoming who coached at places not on the interstate," Moos said. "He didn't have any desire to be in any of the big metropolitan areas. He fit Pullman. He got people proud again to be a Cougar,"
"I was going through the recruiting process and found out he was a law school graduate," Allison said. "I know I wanted to go to law school after I finished my playing days and he said, 'Jeremiah, I can make sure that happens.'
"From writing my letter of recommendations and helping with law school applications, not once did he ever bat an eye making sure that happened," added Allison, who earned his law degree from Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, MN and is currently Associate Counsel with the Minnesota Vikings.
"Mike had a tremendous impact on my life," said Emerick. "He empowered me at a young age and put a lot of trust in me to handle aspects of his organization the way in which he envisioned.
"Mike loved the Palouse," Emerick continued. "He loved living in Pullman and especially enjoyed the people. We have so many great memories of our time at Washington State. I know that Coach was extremely proud of our accomplishments there and saw our time at WSU as one of the crowning achievements of his career. If you had told me in December 2011 all that we would be able to achieve, I wouldn't have believed you. All of the success is a credit to a great coach and a great man: Mike Leach.
"After he passed away, I regret I didn't express how much gratitude I had and how much he meant to me," Falk said. "Looking back on texts with him I see the immense love I have for him. Those texts meant a lot to me.
"My life would be different without him. He changed my life forever."
