Washington State football coach Leach calls some seniors ‘zombies’

Pullman, WA, United States (4E Sports) – Washington State head coach Mike Leach has lambasted some of his senior players for their lack of leadership qualities that contributed to the Cougars’ 2-4 start, comparing them to “empty corpses” and “zombies”.

“Some of the seniors have been great, and some of them have been very poor,” Leach said. “Some of them have had kind of this zombielike, go through the motions, everything is like how it’s always been, that’s how it’ll always be.”

“Some of them quite honestly have an empty-corpse quality. That’s not pleasant to say or pleasant to think about, but that’s a fact,” he added.

Known for his offense during his 10-year stint at Texas Tech, Leach is in his first year at Washington State after replacing Paul Wulff, who led the Cougars to a 9-40 record during his four-year stint.

Despite having an offense-centered coach, the Cougars have lost their past three games and generated just 227 yards of total offense in Saturday’s 19-6 loss to Oregon State.

“We just need focused people. Rather than have fragmented focus, right now we’re a team that if we face any adversity, we get discourage. If you don’t embrace adversity, you’re never going to improve,” Leach said.

“We’ve got to be a team that embraces adversity, and right now we’re a team that if it’s not easy, we want to flinch and flounder. We’ve got to change that,” he added.

Leach said part of the solution is for the senior players to encourage the younger members of the team by setting a good example on the field.

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