Washington State football head coach Mike Leach held his weekly press conference on Monday. While Saturday’s loss is now behind them, there are some lingering issues.
Washington State football coach Mike Leach held is usual Monday morning press conference. His mood was a bit different than it was in the past three weeks, due to the Cougars 39-36 loss at USC. Not that he was surly or moody, just a little more subdued than usual. There were still a few good nuggets that came out of the coach’s presser. Here are a few takeaways.
Don’t talk or it will cost you
On the first question of the day, Mike Leach wasn’t talking. Well at least about rules or referee calls. He deflected several questions about both. He said he wanted to answer the media’s questions but wasn’t allowed to.
Specifically, the first question had to do with whether or not Porter Gustin should have been hit with a targeting call on WSU quarterback Gardner Minshew. Leach said he’d watched the hit again, he did have some thoughts about it but was not allowed to talk about his opinion. Instead, he suggested that the media get in contact with Woody Dixon at the PAC-12 offices.
The only thing Leach did say was that player safety should be at the forefront. In other words, the coaches have been told that targeting calls is out of the coaches hands and they had better keep quiet about it or be prepared to pay some money out of pocket.
It was almost the same answer later on when Leach was asked about the several “disconcerting signals” penalties called against Washington State Saturday night. His answer was “I respectfully decline to comment on the grounds that I may be incriminated and get a $10K fine. On follow up, Leach was asked if the Cougars had done anything different Saturday than they had in the past three years. He said they are doing the same things on defense they have done for the past three-and-a-half years.