Washington State head coach Mike Leach didn't pull any punches when talking about his 0-2 team during his weekly session with the media Monday afternoon. Saying his team was immature and doesn't handle success, he spent several minutes talking about their deficiencies and his shortcomings as a coach to properly motivate them.
"Right now we have the atmosphere of a JC softball team," Leach said. "That's what we are, a JC softball team. It's not whether you win or lose, it's the team that wins is the one that has the most fun. Crap like that that's contaminated America where they give every kid a trophy and they don't keep score in Little League anymore. I think that entire thing has retarded the competitive spirit of America. We need to keep that in mind as coaches and we need to aggressively reinforce our points."
Washington State entered the year with considerable momentum following nine wins last season, when the Cougars capped 2015 with a bowl victory over Miami. Many considered them a fringe Top 25 team that could be a dark horse in the Pac-12 North. But they've opened the year with back-to-back losses -- both by three points -- to Eastern Washington and Boise State.
"Mentally, [the players] overindulged whatever success we considered that we had last year," Leach said.
"We have this assumption that they know stuff. As coaches we need to be smart enough and disciplined enough to get that out of our heads. They don't know anything. We wouldn't be reteaching the same stuff if we could trust any level of retention. We can't."
Among his other critiques:
• "I've got receivers running routes that don't even resemble anything we teach."
• "We don't tuck the ball and go straight upfield. We do all of these stupid moves."
• "We run out of bounds more than any team in the country."
• "We're the easiest team in the country to tackle."
• "We don't like to run and hit, and this is a game for running and hitting. We don't care to do that."
A school spokesman said no players would be available for comment for the rest of the week. It's Leach's policy that three players speak before him on Mondays and then access is closed until after the following game.
The Cougars wrap up their nonconference schedule Saturday at home against Idaho.