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By Dale Anderson
Sports Columnist 

Worst Seat In The House: Goodbye, Hello

 

Last updated 1/16/2020 at 10:18am



It’s been about 55 years ago or so when then Beatles had a hit song titled Goodbye, Hello. Considering what has happened in the last week at WSU I think the title of the song is quite appropriate.

Last Thursday it was announced that WSU football coach Mike Leach had been hired as the new Mississippi State coach. Leach replaces Joe Moorhead who was fired after the Bulldogs were defeated in the Music City Bowl by Louisville. Leach is the second former WSU coach to wind up in Starkville. Jackie Sherrill was the MSU head coach from 1991-2003. Sherrill holds the record for the most Bulldog wins with 75.

Depending on who you get your information from the hiring of Leach is either a great victory or a major accident waiting to happen. When I first heard about the hiring I tried to find out as much information as possible.

I turned the TV to the Pac-12 network which was rerunning a football game from the last five years. So I switched to the SEC network (MSU is a member of the Southeastern Conference) and guess what? There was an interview on the Paul Finebaum show and the guy on the phone was telling Finebaum why this hire makes sense. He suggested that no one expects the Bulldogs to be competing for a SEC championship but Leach should be able to bring 7-9 wins and go to Bowl games. And every so often have double digit victories.

He also said it was important to defeat their rival Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl on a consistent basis. Finebaum chimed in by saying that Leach’s record against Washington in the Apple Cup was terrible and that Leach better figure out that the Egg Bowl may be be a bit more important to MSU than the Apple Cup is to WSU.

After the interview, Finebaum started talking about Leach and brought up some history that the new MSU coach had at Texas Tech and an interview that Leach had with a writer for the newspaper in Spokane. To say the least Finebaum doesn’t seem too happy that Mike Leach will be an SEC football coach and that he will have to cover some of the Bulldog games and even say something nice if the team pulls an upset or has a great season. Let’s just say that Paul Finebaum doesn’t like Mike Leach. So coach, welcome to the SEC. I’m sure that Leach could care less what Finebaum thinks until he hits a nerve.

For WSU finding a coach in January is not always an easy task but it seems that they will fill the void by hiring Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich. So goodbye Air Raid offense and hello Run and Shoot. So what’s the difference? According to the statistics at hand not a bunch until you figure in that the Rolovich offense actually runs the ball a bit more which would be a boon to Cougar running back Max Borghi. Neither offense employs a tight end in the basic sets but I’m sure on a special occasion they could slip in a lineman with an 80’s number to see what happens. But not very likely.

Another positive with this hire is at the QB position. Jayden de Laura is used to running the Run and Shoot offense at a high school in Hawaii. And Rolovich knows de Lauren since he tried to recruit him to play at Hawaii but it seems that both of these guys are looking for success in the Pac-12 conference.

I had the chance to watch a few Hawaii games this fall since those games are broadcast late Saturday nights. They were fun to watch this year and exciting. So I think the offense will be similar and fast paced. Hopefully for Coug fans it will bring a bunch of victories as well.

I think that WSU fans need to thank Coach Leach for an exciting and interesting time in Pullman. Best wishes in the SEC since his Bulldogs will be playing Texas A&M, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi on a yearly basis, a daunting task indeed. Good luck to you Coach.

So goodbye Coach Leach and hello Coach Rolovich, the more things change the more they stay the same.

 

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