Injury News: Leach happy, excited & thrilled

WE LEARNED A lot about Mike Leach in his first spring at WSU over 15 practice sessions. He can install a prolific offense in but four days. He doesn’t yell much, dishing out both praise and disapproval in calm, measured tones. And had he been born earlier, he would have made one helluva NASA man back in the 1960s.

Mike Leach doesn’t discuss injuries. He also places a high premium on keeping violations of team rules under wraps.

But it’s the way he delivered his non-answers to those questions, particularly regarding injuries, that stands out.

In the movie Apollo 13, a scene was depicted showing how NASA had instructed the astronauts’ wives to respond to inquiries by the press:

REPORTERS
- Mrs. Lovell! Mrs. Haise! Please, wait a minute! Can we just have a word with you, please?! Can I take a photograph?

MARILYN LOVELL (confidentially to MARY)
- Remember? You're proud, happy and thrilled.

REPORTER
- How are you feeling?

MARY HAISE
- We're very proud, and very happy, and we're thrilled.


Now consider some of Leach’s responses this spring:

QUESTION
- Connor Halliday didn’t practice, he took a shot the other day..is going to be out a couple days?

LEACH
- He’s here and he’s doing what we want him to do. And so like all the Washington State Cougars, he’s as healthy as can be, and we couldn’t be happier.

QUESTION
- How’s Connor doing. What’s his status?

LEACH
- He’s doing good.

QUESTION
- How about Connor, any status change at all?

LEACH
- He’s doing great. Got a family deal he’s taking care of, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’re going to have a very thrilling film meeting – and can’t wait to see him back there. Because I think that’s going to be exciting for all of us. So we’re looking forward to seeing him again. He’s only been gone a couple hours, but we miss him.

QUESTION
- When do you think you’ll have (Halliday) back in pads, have the doctors said anything?

LEACH
- Well, he was in pads today… any stuff on that is so closely guarded that, I don’t know if you saw Harry Potter but in the basement of this building it’s guarded by serpents and wild dogs and things like that. And so you can go try and go find the secret to that but chances of survival, always a risk. Heck, it took until Movie 5 before he got it done himself and he had magical powers. Anyway, he’s doing just fine and we’re excited about him.

As for in and around Planet Coug, the take on Leach following spring drills seems pretty clear: 'Pullman, we do not have a problem. All systems Go. Ready for ignition sequence. Ready for launch.' Maybe CougFans would have fit in well at NASA back in the 60s, too.