Originally published Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 8:07 PM

Mike Leach's arrival will make Cougars fascinating

Overview How to describe the ride ahead for followers of Washington State football and its pirate/coach, Mike Leach? How about fascinating fascinating...

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DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Look for Mike Leach to provide some color, and perhaps more wins for WSU.

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Top comments Hide / Show comments

I think Leach will attract good talent to WSU and his coaches are very good at recruiti... (December 31, 2011, by JP+) Read more

I predict 7-8 wins next year. All the best players are underclassmen. If Tuel stayed... (January 1, 2012, by CougarRoseBowl2012) Read more

Seriously? Only 6 wins? They SHOULD have had 6 wins this year... I think at this... (January 3, 2012, by HuskyCoug) Read more

Read all 4 comments > Post a comment >

Overview

How to describe the ride ahead for followers of Washington State football and its pirate/coach, Mike Leach? How about fascinating?

One thing Leach never was at Texas Tech was boring, whether he was guiding the Red Raiders to 10 straight bowl appearances, waxing provocative about matters unrelated to football, or suing the school over his departure.

Leach, hired Nov. 30, might inherit as many as 16 returning starters, including a proven quarterback in Jeff Tuel and another, Connor Halliday, who strafed Arizona State for 494 yards before ever starting a game.

Quotable

"He wants everybody to be pinpoint. He knows what he wants to do, and how he wants to do it. He said we're going to be (getting) after it in winter conditioning. Get ready to run a fast-paced offense." — Standout receiver Marquess Wilson.

Prediction

Unless the immediate transition to Leach proves too fretful, the Cougars ought to be good for a 6-6 record and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, which would keep alive Leach's streak of consecutive postseason teams. The colorful part, he should have no trouble preserving.

Bud Withers