SportsDecember 23, 2019

WSU coach didn’t read rival’s mind, but challenge of coaching is no secret

Dale Grummert, of the Tribune
Then-Washington head coach Chris Petersen reacts to a play during the Nov. 29 Apple Cup game against Washington State. Petersen coached his final game Saturday, leading the Huskies to a 38-7 victory against Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Then-Washington head coach Chris Petersen reacts to a play during the Nov. 29 Apple Cup game against Washington State. Petersen coached his final game Saturday, leading the Huskies to a 38-7 victory against Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl.Pete Caster/Tribune

PHOENIX — Washington State football coach Mike Leach denies peering into his rival’s soul during warmups for the Nov. 29 Apple Cup.

As he does so, however, he wears the bemused look of someone who’d just predicted Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan in 2007.

Leach’s curious pregame remark to Chris Petersen, followed three days later by Petersen’s stunning resignation as Washington coach, served as another reminder of the steepening challenges of spearheading a Power Five football program these days.

A day after his announcement Dec. 2, Petersen drew laughter from reporters by relaying an exchange with his inscrutable adversary before Washington’s 31-13 win at Seattle in the Apple Cup.  

“How much longer you going to do this?” the WSU coach said.

Petersen, who routinely describes Leach as insightful even while routinely defeating him, didn’t specify what he told the other. But his thought was, “Oh my God, this guy is a mind reader too. I hope we have a good plan today because this guy is on us.”

A few days later in Pullman, Leach was asked if he’d had a premonition of Petersen’s career move.

“That’s a good question,” he said, pondering a moment. “I don’t know. I was just kind of curious, so I asked him. He thought I read minds. But no, I just asked him. Under the best of circumstances, seasons are taxing, and I threw it out there. Two days later he retired, and I hope he has a happy retirement.”

The 2019 regular season wasn’t the best of circumstances for either coach.

Leach needed to win back-to-back home games in November to extend to five the Cougars’ streak of bowl berths. They’ll take a 6-6 record into the Cheez-It Bowl against Air Force at 7:15 p.m. Friday (ESPN) here at Chase Field.

Petersen, coming off three consecutive Pac-12 North titles, watched his team, especially his offense, languish at key times before finishing on a high note, stifling WSU in the Apple Cup before drilling Boise State 38-7 on Saturday in the Las Vegas Bowl.

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In handing the UW reins to defensive leader Jimmy Lake, Petersen, 55, spoke not only of a needed spark for the program but a personal need to “recharge.”

“Fourteen years is a lot of years (in) this position,” he said of his head-coaching stints at Boise State and Washington. “And it comes with a lot of frustration and anxiety and stress. And some of the excitement and positivity and optimism has got to be pushed away.  That’s never a way to live your life. I pay close attention to that.”

He said in recent months he’d been impressed by the Confucius quote, “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.”

Leach, 58, generally doesn’t reference Eastern philosophers, but his remarks often echo their thoughts, especially on the importance of living in the moment. He was asked if he’d contemplated stepping away from the game.

“There are ups and downs,” he said, “but you’re consumed by it, so you keep grinding away. It’s a constant series of corrections, and you just stay immersed in it.

“You’ve got to be careful. I think sometimes — and I think we all experience this — wins are a relief and losses are kind of torturous. But the biggest thing is to lock in on the day-to-day improvement, the small things and the people you get to work with.”

He and his intrastate rival the past six years had entered the coaching profession from opposite directions. Petersen, the son of a coach, said his lifelong immersion in the game is one reason he wants to come up for air. In announcing his resignation as coach, he said he plans to serve in an advisory role for the Huskies.

Leach, on the other hand, never played college football and was on the cusp of a law career when he decided to follow his heart and plunge headlong into a game that always had intrigued him. In the meantime, he had developed a broad range of other interests.

Petersen, too, has found a way to maintain an intellectual balance. Hence the basis for his friendship with Leach. So the Wazzu boss doesn’t seem to be referring to Petersen when he speaks of the perils that often await coaches who step away.

“Coaches retire typically quite poorly,” he said. “It sounds good because there’s a relief — you get rid of the pressure. But you’ve got to make sure you fill your life with other things to do. I think where it’s difficult on some people is if there’s not other activities and goals, because it’s all been football. If all of a sudden you erase it, you’d better generate some new stuff, otherwise you go back to football. That’s all you’ve got. You want to have a diversity of interests that are going to keep you occupied and keep you excited.”

As for Petersen, “I hope he takes notes,” Leach said. “When I retire, maybe he can coach me up.”

Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.

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