When WSU welcomes Texas Tech University to Gesa Field Saturday, the Cougs will honor the late legend Mike Leach in a matchup of the two teams he arguably had the most impact on. The game is fascinating for many reasons on and off the field, but more than just Leach, the two teams share a shocking number of similarities.
Mike Leach coached football from 1987-2022, operating as a head coach for the last 22 years of that tenure. He operated as the Red Raiders head coach from 2000-09, going 84-43 with a 5-4 bowl record, winning signature bowls such as the Gator and Holiday.
In his time at Texas Tech, he posted a record above .500 every season with a tenure-best 11-2 record, first-place Big 12 Conference finish and appearance in the Cotton Bowl in 2008. Leach did not coach again until 2012 when he began his character-driven seven-year career with the Cougs.
Leach was known for his headline-producing press conferences and unique style with the media. But he also made football relevant again on the Palouse, posting a 55-47 record with WSU. From 2015-18, Wazzu won at least eight games every year, including going 11-2 in 2018 with a win in the Alamo Bowl.
Leach not only made an impact on both the TTU and WSU football programs but on the people he encountered. One that can truly never be matched, no matter who fills his shoes.
“It’s the same office, but I think he had more character in it,” WSU head coach Jake Dickert said when asked if he has Leach’s office. “It was really cool to honor him with the helmet last year. That’ll be up on that shelf for a long long time. That’s the imprint I believe Coach Leach has left on Washington State.”
Mike Leach was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame in 2023, and Leach will be inducted along with four others to the WSU Hall of Fame Saturday. Beyond the recognition of going into the Hall of Fame, Dickert believes that Leach deserves to be even further stamped in WSU history, he said.
“It’s a crime there’s not a statue of Mike Price around our stadium, and Mike Leach would be [up next] in my opinion. I give coach Leach credit for making WSU football relevant against all odds, against resources, against recent history at that moment. I’ve heard every Leach story,” Dickert said. “So to put him in the Hall of Fame is a big deal.”
The legend of Mike Leach will live forever in WSU athletics history and that legend will be stamped in front of two schools that not only share the impact of Leach but several other similarities.
Receiving shockingly little coverage is TTU offensive line coach Clay McGuire, who is in his third stint in Lubbock. Clay McGuire served his alma mater from 2006-09, becoming the special teams coordinator from 2007-08, and the running backs coach in 2009 all under Leach.
Following Leach’s departure, he briefly worked as the East Carolina running backs coach and special teams coordinator from 2010-11.
He then returned to work for Leach from 2012-17 on the WSU football staff, including as the offensive line coach. Once his first tenure at WSU concluded, he returned to TTU to serve as the co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach in 2018 under Kliff Kingsbury.
He took a break from the two schools briefly, serving as the Texas State offensive line coach from 2019-20, and then as the USC offensive line coach in 2021. After three years away from his two primary stops, he returned to the Palouse as the offensive line coach from 2022-23. After two years, he returned to TTU for the third time, taking over as their offensive line coach, where he currently operates.
The matchup also marks the return of wide receiver Josh Kelly, who transferred to TTU from WSU in the offseason after one season with the Cougs. Kelly posted a career-high 61 catches, 923 yards and eight touchdowns receiving in 2023 as a Coug and did similar things in his first game as a Red Raider.
In just his first game with TTU, Kelly reeled in a career-high 10 catches for 156 yards and a touchdown, working both inside and out. Kelly is certainly one to watch as TTU head coach Joey McGuire called him “the spark” of the Red Raider offense.
Finally, to add to the madness, WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and Joey McGuire have ties dating back to Arbuckle’s high school days. Arbuckle played for Canadian High School in Canadian, Texas where he threw for 7,500 yards and 95 touchdowns in his career.
Those stats earned him a spot in the final Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game before its discontinuation, where Joey McGuire was his head coach.
Arbuckle was also on staff with TTU offensive coordinator Zach Kittley at Western Kentucky in 2021. Kittley was the OC and quarterback coach and Arbuckle was the primary QB coach at the time before Arbuckle got Kittley’s job in 2022 before coming to WSU.
The ties between the two schools sets up a matchup of two teams similar like no other. “It’s like looking in a mirror,” Joey McGuire said.
“Clay knows that defense, and that offensive line. Josh Kelly knows these [defensive backs]. But you turn around, I mean Ben knows Zach Kittley really well, I mean he’s his mentor. I don’t know how much they’ll talk this week but they talk constantly. It’s gonna be somewhat of two teams looking in the mirror and who can make more plays.” Joey McGuire said.
The two teams run offenses stemming from the Leach tree of the air raid, and as a result, fireworks could fly Saturday night at Gesa Field.
The spotlight will be on. These teams know each other like the back of their hand and in a matchup with the legacy of Mike Leach stamped all over it, only one team can emerge undefeated.
