Anybody see this from Mike Leach?

[307bball]

https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Mike-Leach-Washington-State-Cougars-football-cold-hard-truth-discipline-136987527/

Interesting quotes from Mike Leach...I think he's right on in addressing what it's like to succeed at non-football factory schools. He basically comes right out and says that there is a reason that no coach that has been at Washington State for a significant amount of time has a winning record. I think what he's saying applies to Wyoming as well. It is really hard to out-effort your opponent every down, every game, every season. I think that is why I like Bohl...it's great to get high end talent when you can but you build sustained success through a culture of effort and execution.

 

[LanderPoke]

https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Mike-Leach-Washington-State-Cougars-football-cold-hard-truth-discipline-136987527/

Interesting quotes from Mike Leach...I think he's right on in addressing what it's like to succeed at non-football factory schools. He basically comes right out and says that there is a reason that no coach that has been at Washington State for a significant amount of time has a winning record. I think what he's saying applies to Wyoming as well. It is really hard to out-effort your opponent every down, every game, every season. I think that is why I like Bohl...it's great to get high end talent when you can but you build sustained success through a culture of effort and execution.

To an certain extent I agree. WSU is the absolute bottom of their conference, whereas I'd put us somewhere in the middle-top of ours. We've got schools like UNLV, New Mexico and SJSU that are just pure garbage with garbage histories and garbage commitment to football. We are not them. For the first time in a long time I feel like we can really go toe to toe with the most athletic and physical schools in our conference (at least most positions).

 

[307bball]

What he says makes a lot of sense though. The category that we share with WSU is "non football factory". To be fair...that is most all college football. The point being...if you expand your window of time that you analyze at "non football factory" schools to more than 2 or 3 years... the results tend to regress to below .500. Wyoming has been better than WSU only relative to our respective conference affiliation. If you compare Wyoming to WSU in relation to Ohio St or Alabama....well we look pretty similar then.

I'm playing around with a theory that there are factors beyond strategy/training/individual effort that have a lot to do with long term success in college athletics. I have no way of quantifying it...people talk about "culture" and "commitment to excellence" but it's hard to pinpoint what that is. Anyways...maybe it's a boring topic...what can I say..i'm a nerd.