The pirate-loving coach and his No. 8 Red Raiders did it by getting their first win over a top-ranked team, garnering their highest national ranking and capturing their first Big 12 South trophy - the latter a shared prize due to a three-way tie.
Now Leach can add another first. The on Tuesday named him Big 12 coach of the year. In balloting of reporters who regularly cover the conference for newspapers in the league’s seven states, Leach got 16 votes to four for Texas’ Mack Brown.
Since the conference began in 1996 it is the first time Texas Tech’s coach has won the honor.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Leach, who’s rarely at a loss for words. “I have good people around me. We had a good year, and I had something to do with it, too, you know.”
For the man known to enjoy reading Winston Churchill, the season has seen, well, his finest hour.
Tech has for years been considered a good team, but the Red Raiders’ pass-happy offense was mostly written off as a gimmicky outfit that put up gaudy numbers in Leach’s spread offense. Every quarterback but one has led the nation in passing in Leach’s nine seasons, yet the Red Raiders never won more than nine games.
This season’s no different from the wild offense standpoint - Tech averages 417 yards passing a game and Graham Harrell will probably be named a Heisman Trophy finalist. But Tech has also added a powerful running game and an improved defense, leading to a top-10 ranking and a school-record 11 victories.
“It’s really flattering because I think we’re in the best conference with the best coaches, and it’s incredible and tremendous company,” said Leach, a rarity among coaches because of his unorthodox approach to the game, his wide-ranging interests outside the game, his law degree and the fact that he never played college football.
He’s also a rarity because of his success.
The Red Raiders have gone to bowl games every year under Leach and won five of the last six. They’ll go to a ninth this year but instead of a BCS bowl, it’s probably a return to the Cotton Bowl, where in 2006 Texas Tech lost 13-10 to Alabama.
Leach’s name has surfaced in recent years when other coaching spots have opened up. Last year it was Arkansas and UCLA. This year there were reports Tennessee and Washington might be interested. Leach, who has two years remaining on a five-year contract and is making $1.75 million this season, said he wants “absolutely” to stay at Texas Tech.
“I mean it’s an interesting question,” he said. “I’ve been there nine years, which is longer than most marriages or jobs, you know.”
Before the season began Leach said this year’s team had a chance to be his best, and he was right.
Leach took the Red Raiders (11-1) to their best record since 1973, only the third time in the program’s 84 years the team tallied 11 wins. Tech’s 10-0 start was the first since 1938.
And some of those victories were big. After back-to-back home wins - 39-33 over then-No. 1 Texas and 56-20 over then-eighth Oklahoma State - the fervor for Leach and the Red Raiders seemed at an all-time high.
Then the Red Raiders suffered a 65-21 meltdown at Oklahoma for their only loss, which ended any national title talk in West Texas.
Tech was the country’s No. 2 team for three weeks before succumbing to the Sooners.
His former boss while he was the offensive coordinator at OU says Leach certainly deserves the award.
“I think it’s a great choice,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “His team’s incredibly competitive, and just year in and year out they’re always a team that you always have to be very prepared for.”
