Mike Leach’s undefeated Texas Tech Red Raiders will be center stage Saturday as they host #1 Texas in Lubbock. The game reps the pinnacle of Leach’s coaching career, which has seen him go from the smallest of colleges to coaching football in Finland to an assistant-ship under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma.

(Creepy: Leach has painting of himself as Van Gogh in his office)

I’ll be rooting like crazy for Leach, because he’s the kind of guy that makes the main media uncomfortable. The reason he isn’t a bigger name on the national scene? He’s always in control of the conversation during interviews, which the hair-gelled types in Bristol despise.

He doesn’t fit into the little, tidy box that the College GameDay crew wants him in. The Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer buttoned-down profile. Kinda like Kansas’ Mark Mangino last season, who was generally ignored by ESPN & Co. despite authoring one of the most astonishing stories in the history of college football.

Mangino and Leach, though different personalities, are the same guy. Outsiders. You can put Pat Hill in that group too. Too honest, too quirky, and in some cases, too innovative. Take for instance Leach’s attempt to get the head coaching jobs at UCLA and Miami in recent years. Read more…