After a season that pretty much no one saw coming, thanks in part to a quarterback pretty much no one saw coming, Mike Leach and Gardner Minshew II have earned top conference honors. The Pac-12 announced today that Leach was named the conference’s Coach of the Year while Minshew earned Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Despite being voted to finish fifth in the Pac-12 North, Leach guided the Washington State Cougars to just their fifth ten-win season in school history, including seven wins in conference play. The team also defied all expectations after Leach had to replace dang near his entire coaching staff, with his hire of defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys as the master stroke.