Mike Leach has no plans to follow AD to Nebraska

Washington State’s athletic director has gone to Nebraska, but Mike Leach has no plan to follow suit.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are 3-4 this season, and with the dismissal of athletic director Shawn Eichorst means head coach Mike Riley’s status is open to speculation. Washington State athletic director Bill Moos has taken the same post in Lincoln now, so it’s easy to think Mike Leach will become a top candidate to replace Riley.

But Leach was quick to dismiss the notion of following Moos to Nebraska on Monday. (via Stefanie Low of the Seattle Times)

“I don’t have any plan to do that,” “They already have a head coach there, he’s a pretty good one. Mike Riley.”

Moos, as expected, did nothing to really quell the idea Riley will not be back as Nebraska’s football coach next season. Moss hired Leach at Washington State before the 2012 season, and the coach called Moos the best athletic director he has ever worked for.

Leach is in his sixth season Washington State, with a 6-1 record this year and a 23-10 mark since the start of 2015 to raise the program’s national profile. He hasn’t been a job jumper, with a highly successful run at Texas Tech (84-43) putting him in the limelight and surely giving him some options over those 10 seasons. But a messy end in Lubbock may still follow Leach, and a quirky, outspoken personality can make him hard to work with.

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It’s also hard to believe a football coach when he says he won’t take, or has no interest in, another job (see Nick Saban saying he won’t be going to Alabama when he was Miami Dolphins head coach). Plans, like Leach says he has none of in terms of going to Nebraska, can and do change quickly. Washington State definitely wants to keep Leach around for awhile, but it ultimately may not matter if Nebraska and Moos hone in on him as candidate.