Mike Leach: The Mad Scientist Of Football

Scott Pelley Profiles Texas Tech's Unorthodox And Successful Football Coach, Mike Leach

(CBS)  Leach started coaching as a kid, but he seems to have worked pretty hard at giving up the profession. He left sports for law school.

Asked what kind of lawyer he thinks he was going to be, Leach told Pelley, "I wanted to do products liability, as in if that camera explodes all over that guy we'd sue the camera company and the insurance company."

Education matters to Leach - his teams have among the highest graduation rates in the nation. And he's still trying new pursuits himself - he was even a guest weatherman at a Lubbock TV station.

"My favorite weather pattern happens to be when it rains mud. Dust comes through. Rain on top of it. It rains mud. This weather report here, what do I know, I'm a football coach. I suggest you go out and do what I do, get out of bed, go outside, then you know," he said. "A lot of the throwing guys have all come out of nasty weather."

"In the great game of college football writ large, does Mike Leach matter?" Pelley asked Lewis.

"Mike Leach has had a huge intellectual influence on the sport already. If you look at a Big XII football game now, versus ten years ago, it's a completely different event. It's because everybody's watching Mike Leach's offense.

"What would you say someone who says 'This is all well and good but he's never won the conference championship, let alone a national championship?'" Pelley asked.

"I'd say first, he's young. Just wait. I'd say also, God help you if he gets hold of the sort of athletes they get at Texas or Oklahoma or USC. Nobody else will stand a chance," Lewis predicted.

And toward the end of our time with Leach, we learned that even this interview was part of his plan to get those athletes: "I hope the next Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree are sitting in their living rooms. And they're, you know, kind of astute, studious guys in addition to being talented and they say, 'Say, hey, I know what. You know the game's over but I'm gonna watch 60 Minutes. Oh Texas Tech, 60 Minutes, yeah, that's me.' You know? And then they come here. So hopefully that'll turn out that way."

[luluche45]

Ole Miss Fans- apparently you did not learn the basics in kindergarten. Learn to TAKE TURNS. This story is about Texas Tech''s Mike Leach, not Houston Nutt. When 60 Min. talks to your coach it will be your turn.
Also, 1998, I believe- Tech beat you at your house. If your team is so great why are you 8-4 and why weren''t you playing in a BCS bowl?
Stop bragging until you have something to brag about.

[squallyg04]

Scott , I was disappointed in your comments to the team players regarding you getting the short end of the stick in having to do this story. You call yourself an alumni? We Red Raiders are very proud of our instituion and our football team. The team didnt need to hear any negative comments from smucks like you. I was furious you would say such a thing. They played their hearts out this season and we are all very proud of them. I suggest you dish out a large donation to the school as an apology. We need are alumni to spritiually, emotional, financially and postively support this fine institution.

[dan400man]

fgcubaseball: Um, better take remedial spelling this semester.

[ttu1969]

Hey jlk1091, Scott didn''t mention the Cotton Bowl score because the report was filmed weeks ago...

Nevertheless, your guys played one heck of a game and deserve full credit for keeping Graham and the boys out of their rhythm. How about a re-match next year; say in the BCS Championship Game?

[drputt45]

Politics, religion and football; three conversations you aren''t gonna win.

So, everyone is entitled to and has their opinions. Unfortunately, the sports writers have another apinion that few people agree with.

[jlk1091]

While I enjoyed the story about Mike Leach, I wonder why Mr. Pelley failed to remark that Texas Tech lost to Ole Miss (the same team that beat Florida 31-30 this year) in the Cotton Bowl with a score of 47-34. Ole Miss was able to accomplish this in Coach Houston Nutt''s first year with our team. GO REBELS!

[jackas13]

Good story, but if you were really looking for the young genius of football, you have to look at Gus Malzahn, who called the offense at Tulsa for the last 2 years and had the best total offense in the country for those 2 years. Before that he was responsible for engineering the "Wildcat" and the hurry up offense at Arkansas under Head Coach Houston Nutt, until Houston felt threatened. Gus is now headed for Auburn as the Offensive Coordinator. A young man that has pulled himself up by his own genius and now is becoming known and respected, Gus would be your subject for a true genius on a shoestring budget.

[fgcubaseball]

This was a great story, I am a student athlete at Florida Gulf Coast University, and I thought our baseball team has a great story for 60 Minutes. In 2008, our baseball team won our regular season conference championship in our first season in division one and we''re not allowed to advance to playoffs do to a reclassifying period. We were preseason ranked 240something out od 260something teams. We finished our season with a 38-15 record, while setting all sorts of school and coference records on our way to a champoionship. We had 3 players chosen in the MLB amature draft in June. There is a lot of great things about our small over achieving that I would like more of America to see. Can some one email me back at [e-mail] and let me know what you think of my possible story. Thank you and God Bless

[msredraider]

It''s nice to see a story about Texas Tech that isn''t condescending for once. Believe it or not, folks, great things come out of Lubbock! [JEH, BA ''02, MS ''04]

[msredraider]

It''s nice to see a story about Texas Tech that isn''t condescending for once. Believe it or not, folks, great things come out of Lubbock! [JEH, BA ''02, MS ''04]

[critrdoc]

Great story about a good football program but I''m not sure you could call them a powerhouse just yet. RE: the good old fashioned *** whoopin'' put on them in the cotton bowl by an SEC team (Ole Miss) that lost 5 games this year.