Report: Tennessee now in talks with Mike Leach
Has Tennessee now turned its attention to Mike Leach?
The Vols’ coaching search has been a disaster and an embarrassment. The school backed out of an agreement with Greg Schiano, and since then they have reportedly been turned down by many others.
But one person whose name has been mentioned all along is Leach, who has turned around Washington State’s program.
Yahoo! Sports reporter Pete Thamel said that Leach’s name is picking up steam while Kevin Sumlin is fading.
The name picking up steam for Tennessee is Mike Leach. The name losing steam is Kevin Sumlin.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 1, 2017
NBC Dallas reporter Newy Scruggs upped the ante and said Leach is working on a deal with Tennessee.
Sources tell @NBCDFWSports that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is working on a deal to become the next coach at Tennessee. A deal could be announced Friday. I’m working on more details.
— Newy Scruggs (@newyscruggs) December 1, 2017
And then there was this from Saturday Down South reporter Dan Harralson.
Mike Leach tells me tonight that “I'm on my way.” Leach interviewed for the Tennessee job today.
— Dan Harralson (@danharralson) December 1, 2017
Leach, 56, won consistently at Texas Tech from 2000-2009. He turned around a downtrodden Washington State program and has won 26 games over the past three seasons. He even had the Cougars ranked as high as No. 8 this season.
One concern with Leach reportedly was that he had sued Texas Tech after things fell apart there. But he has been mentioned as a possibility for the job for a while, and Vols fans seemingly would be excited about the hire.