Mike Leach

Six months after narrowly missing out on the Maryland head coaching job, controversial former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is back in the news. This week, Leach, who was fired at Texas Tech following alleged player misconduct during the 2009 season, released a tell-all book titled  Swing Your Sword. Leach’s firing stemmed from his punishment of Adam James, the son of former NFL running back and ESPN broadcaster Craig James. Leach writes that while the Red Raiders coaching staff had originally gone out on a limb by offering James a scholarship, they quickly grew fed up with his lack of effort.

Washington State is barely on anyone's radar when it comes to college football, so fans on the East Coast might not be following what has transpired in Mike Leach's first season in Pullman. It has a striking resemblance to Randy Edsall's first season in College Park.  After a 2-1 start - including a win over Football Championship Subdivision power Eastern Washington - the Cougars are in free fall, having lost their last seven games, and they've gone winless in the Pac-12 Conference.

Former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach said Monday that he felt optimistic following his second interview for the Maryland job and that he can't guess why the school did not hire him. Leach said Monday afternoon that he had not heard anything from Maryland since leaving College Park. His interview — it was his second with representatives of the school — ended last Thursday and Maryland hired Connecticut coach Randy Edsall, who was introduced to the media on Monday.

He has lost his team Teddy Greenstein Chicago Tribune How could he? The school already acknowledged that Gillespie exceeded practice-time limits. Now his leading scorer says he does not want to play for him. From a distance, Gillispie seems to be everything wrong with college sports. If it's true that he held an eight-hour practice and forced a player with a stress fracture in both legs to practice, the NCAA should ban him. If the allegations are not true, Billy Clyde, then speak up. I've read the statements from those who defend you, and they are not convincing.

Washington State is barely on anyone's radar when it comes to college football, so fans on the East Coast might not be following what has transpired in Mike Leach's first season in Pullman. It has a striking resemblance to Randy Edsall's first season in College Park.  After a 2-1 start - including a win over Football Championship Subdivision power Eastern Washington - the Cougars are in free fall, having lost their last seven games, and they've gone winless in the Pac-12 Conference.

Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said Monday that he wants to return to the sideline and that "I would talk to Maryland" about the vacancy being created by the buyout of Terps coach Ralph Friedgen, but the school has not contacted him yet. Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson told The Baltimore Sun that, while Leach is on his list of candidates and he is researching his credentials, there is no front-runner. Anderson is interested enough in Leach — he called him "cerebral" — that he has begun to gather such information as the graduation rates of Leach's former players.

Here's a handicapping chart for the Maryland coaching search by reporter Don Markus, who is 1-1 in picking previous Terps head football coaching hires. Markus picked Sam Rutigliano over Joe Krivak in 1987, but had Friedgen over the field in 2000. Pre-race favorite: Mike Leach (5-1) Though various reports say that Leach's candidacy has cooled in recent days, this still appears to make the most sense. He's immediately available and was making at Texas Tech around what Maryland was paying Friedgen ($2 million per year)

Wednesday's Military Bowl against East Carolina is not only the last game of Ralph Friedgen's 10-year career. It could be something else for the Terps and their fans — a preview of what they can expect if former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach takes over. Though Leach is officially nothing more than a candidate for now — the only candidate first-year athletic director Kevin Anderson mentioned by name last week in announcing that Friedgen won't be back next season — a semblance of Leach's famous Air Raid offense will be on display at RFK Stadium.

In his first season at Maryland, Randy Edsall took a wrecking ball to everything Ralph Friedgen had built at his alma mater. Edsall overhauled the offense from pro-style to a spread. He ripped the names off his players' jerseys and the doo-rags off their heads. He chased a bunch of players from the football program, including David Mackall and maybe soon Danny O'Brien. And he lost a lot of games, including eight straight to finish 2-8. If you can think of a way that Edsall's first season coaching the Terps could be worse, I would love to hear it. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Washington State just introduced Mike Leach as its head coach.

Texas Tech fired Mike Leach on Wednesday after the coach took the school to court to try to overturn his suspension for alleged mistreatment of an injured player. "I'm very sad to say there's only one person to blame for this and it's Mike Leach," Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance told The Associated Press. Jerry Turner , vice chairman of the university system's Board of Regents, said "other things" came to light during an investigation of Leach's treatment of receiver Adam James . The sophomore alleged the coach twice confined him to a small, dark place after the player was diagnosed with a concussion.

Baltimore Sun reporter Don Markus, editor Matt Bracken and intern Connor Letourneau (The Diamondback's co-sports editor) weigh in on the three biggest topics of the past week in Maryland sports. Are Kevin Plank's feelings about Randy Edsall genuine? Don Markus: It didn't surprise me that the Under Armour CEO told The Sun's Jeff Barker that Maryland fans should be more supportive of the school's embattled football coach . Had he stayed mum, Plank's silence would have been construed by the media as a sign that he wasn't on board anymore -- if he ever had been.

The 2012 college football season is still months away, but those who oversee its coverage at The Sporting News did their best this week to turn some of the attention away from the NFL's concussion controversy, the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs, the NBA's latest playoff injury and Josh Hamilton's home run derby at Camden Yards. Ranking the 125 coaches of Football Bowl Subdivision teams was a pretty ambitious undertaking , and I'm sure it will cause quite a bit of chatter in places like Tuscaloosa, Ala., where Nick Saban was ranked at the top as well as other college towns where the folks are still dissecting spring practice and recruiting classes.

No love lost in Texas David Teel Daily Press A democracy that has given us Sen. Al Franken and Gov. Terminator surely is capable of producing Sen. Craig James. But I'd sooner vote for Lee "Don't forget the 7-second delay" Corso. The beauty of James' folly is he's running in his native Texas. Sure, he starred there at SMU, but that outlaw era earned the program the NCAA's only death penalty. More than two decades later, James' ESPN-enabled crusade helped take down Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.

SEATTLE — Mike Leach had just gotten the Texas Tech coaching job in 1999 when he and an assistant coach flew from Lubbock down to Odessa to recruit a decorated receiver named Roy Williams. "Amazing-looking kid," said Manny Matsakis, the former assistant. They told him they'd throw the ball all over the place at Texas Tech, and at the end, they told him, "Before we're done, we're going to beat Texas. " Of course, Williams went on to a prolific career at Texas. But on a November night in 2002, Tech beat the Longhorns 42-38, and afterward, Williams met Matsakis at midfield and shook his hand.

In his first season at Maryland, Randy Edsall took a wrecking ball to everything Ralph Friedgen had built at his alma mater. Edsall overhauled the offense from pro-style to a spread. He ripped the names off his players' jerseys and the doo-rags off their heads. He chased a bunch of players from the football program, including David Mackall and maybe soon Danny O'Brien. And he lost a lot of games, including eight straight to finish 2-8. If you can think of a way that Edsall's first season coaching the Terps could be worse, I would love to hear it. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Washington State just introduced Mike Leach as its head coach.

Six months after narrowly missing out on the Maryland head coaching job, controversial former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is back in the news. This week, Leach, who was fired at Texas Tech following alleged player misconduct during the 2009 season, released a tell-all book titled  Swing Your Sword. Leach’s firing stemmed from his punishment of Adam James, the son of former NFL running back and ESPN broadcaster Craig James. Leach writes that while the Red Raiders coaching staff had originally gone out on a limb by offering James a scholarship, they quickly grew fed up with his lack of effort.

Many angry Maryland fans handed out a big red "F" when the Terps hired Randy Edsall to be their football coach last month -- mainly because they wanted Mike Leach and his high-flying offense. But Yahoo's Matt Hinton liked the move, giving them a "B" for the hire. "Edsall's not exciting; fans aren't going to start flocking in droves for 8-4 runs to the Champs Sports Bowl," Hinton wrote in this post on his Dr. Saturday blog. "But if he gives Maryland the decade Friedgen did -- that is, six eight-win seasons, seven bowl games and rare conference championship -- this is a good hire.

No love lost in Texas David Teel Daily Press A democracy that has given us Sen. Al Franken and Gov. Terminator surely is capable of producing Sen. Craig James. But I'd sooner vote for Lee "Don't forget the 7-second delay" Corso. The beauty of James' folly is he's running in his native Texas. Sure, he starred there at SMU, but that outlaw era earned the program the NCAA's only death penalty. More than two decades later, James' ESPN-enabled crusade helped take down Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.

Few state leaders care about the University of Maryland, College Park and its athletic teams more than Thomas V. Mike Miller, president of the state Senate. In recent years, Miller heard weariness creep into the voice of his friend Gary Williams at the prospect of courting another wave of teenage basketball players. So when Williams shocked much of Maryland by announcing his retirement Thursday as men's basketball coach, Miller hardly blinked. More importantly, he did not fret for the future of his alma mater, despite the latest in a year of big changes.

Many angry Maryland fans handed out a big red "F" when the Terps hired Randy Edsall to be their football coach last month -- mainly because they wanted Mike Leach and his high-flying offense. But Yahoo's Matt Hinton liked the move, giving them a "B" for the hire. "Edsall's not exciting; fans aren't going to start flocking in droves for 8-4 runs to the Champs Sports Bowl," Hinton wrote in this post on his Dr. Saturday blog. "But if he gives Maryland the decade Friedgen did -- that is, six eight-win seasons, seven bowl games and rare conference championship -- this is a good hire.