Mike Leach coaching tree: Ranking every head coach to serve under The Pirate

Ruffin McNeil had a pretty decent run as the head coach of East Carolina football

Although he has become more of an assistant head coach at this point of his career, Ruffin McNeil did have a pretty strong six-year run at East Carolina after leaving Texas Tech. He was a huge part of the Leach era in Lubbock, having served on the defensive side of things for the entire decade. McNeil look over in Greenville in 2010, where he went 42-34 in six seasons leading the Pirates.

While he didn’t have staggering success at ECU, McNeil did have three winning seasons and went to four bowl games. Keep in mind he was at the helm of the operation when East Carolina leveled up to some degree from Conference USA to The American. He was fired after the 2015 season and has since worked at places like Virginia, Oklahoma and NC State, where he has been since 2020.

McNeil’s coaching peak was not elite, but he has proven to be an invaluable part of many staffs.

Neal Brown was outstanding at Troy, but mediocre at best now at West Virginia

One could argue that no Power Five head coach’s seat is hotter entering 2023 than Neal Brown’s at West Virginia. When former athletic director Shane Lyons was ousted, we thought Brown was a goner. Well, he was retained for one more season. So far at WVU, Brown has gone 22-25 over four seasons, having never won more than six games. His best year came in 2020 when he went 6-4.

The shame in it all is the former Kentucky wide receiver who played for Leach on Mumme’s staff was outstanding in his first stop as a head coach at Troy. He had them winning 10 games pretty much annually. Brown went 35-16 overall and 23-9 in Sun Belt play during his four years at Troy. Admittedly, Troy is a fantastic Group of Five program, which may be the level Brown works well at.

Achieving bowl eligibility will help Brown keep his WVU job, but will he even get that opportunity?

Kliff Kingsbury is honestly the hardest Leach coaching tree branch to dissect

And here we are. We have arrived at Kliff Kingsbury, the former Red Raiders quarterback, Texas Tech head coach, Arizona Cardinals head coach and current USC quarterbacks coach. His resume on Wikipedia is the epitome of all over the place. Kingsbury may be a savvy offensive mind, but his teams’ inability to play defense and demonstrate any level of mental toughness hurt his viability.

Because he is so dashingly handsome and charming, he will get another opportunity to be a college head coach, possibly an NFL coordinator if he wants to go in that direction. However, he is a sub-.500 head coach at both levels. He went 35-39 at his alma mater over six season. Patrick Mahomes played for him… Kingsbury went 28-37-1 in four years at Arizona with … Kyler Murray.

Quarterback play usually thrives under Kingsbury, but it is often at the expense of winning games.