UCLA didn’t want a Leach

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UCLA may be deserving of the Fickle Finger of Fate, unused since ‘Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In.’

Last December, Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach (pictured above in black) desperately wanted the Bruins’ job, with those near him lobbying UCLA officials hard, as well as trying to drum up interest from those around the football program. Leach, who has a law degree from Pepperdine, wanted out of Lubbock, Texas, which is not to be confused with Luckenbach, Texas.

UCLA officials, though, wanted no part of Leach, one athletic department official calling him a ‘non-starter.’ The concern was over Leach’s outspoken nature. He has lashed out at his own players and game officials and has even been known to do the weather.

Besides, he wasn’t a UCLA guy. So the Bruins hired the outspoken (in a relentlessly optimistic way) Rick Neuheisel, who has deep roots in Westwood and a rap sheet on file with the NCAA. It extended an impressive streak, as the Bruins have not hired a head football coach without UCLA ties in 60 years.

Leach, who took over a Texas Tech team coming off a 6-5 season in 2000, has never had a losing season and now has the Red Raiders on track to play in the national championship game after upsetting previously No. 1-ranked Texas, ending the college football monopoly in the Lone Star State, and routing eighth-ranked Oklahoma State.

Neuheisel, working with the lack of talent left from Karl Dorrell’s 6-7 team, has guided the Bruins to a 3-6 record.

And the last UCLA coach who couldn’t be linked to the Bruins in a game of ‘six degrees of separation?’ Red Sanders, who was hired in 1949 and won the Bruins’ only national championship (half a one, granted) in 1954.

--Chris Foster