His quirky ways -- and now his unbeaten season -- have endeared him and his team to a loyal following in West Texas.
But Leach's wall-in approach to player availability to media is about as restrictive as any in the country and might not fly at bigger programs. Even standout players can be insulated from reporters for weeks at a time.
Leach claims the policy minimizes distractions and players stay better focused. He picks players he thinks can handle the media exposure.
"We're tighter than some places and we're more generous than some places," Leach said last week. "Then we have to make decisions and so that's what we do. We're diligent about calling media back the best we can and other places don't do that."
How, though, would his media policy play in, say, Knoxville, a bigtime Southeastern Conference program where Tennessee fans are accustomed to hearing from players regularly?
"That'd be very interesting," said quarterback Graham Harrell, a contender for the Heisman Trophy along with favorite receiver Michael Crabtree. "He'd keep his players limited in their availability. I think he feels that winning football games is going to make you a lot more popular than having his players" available for interviews. "I feel that's his philosophy ... and that's what he's going to stick with."
