While leading the program at Texas Tech, Mike Leach coached a number of really good players that would go on to careers in the NFL. Michael Crabtree, Graham Harrell, and Wes Welker are among some of the guys that come to mind.
Working with that kind of talent means that your facility, and players, are constantly being approached by agents hoping to make a good enough impression that when it comes time for that player to leave the college ranks and declare for the draft, they've already planted the seed on the best choice to represent them in their quest to become millionaires.
To lead off his presser yesterday, Leach was asked about some of those prominent players he's worked with, and how he managed to keep agents at an arm's length and the program out of the limelight of any suspected improprieties. Of course, Leach dealt with the issue in a rather unconventional way.
"How do I deal with it?" Leach asked the reporter who phrased the question. "Let's see, I ignore it. Players that don't ignore it, then I play someone else."
Then Leach went on to describe the bounty system he used to put on on agents.
"At Texas Tech I had a bounty on agents. $500 for information contributing to the arrest and conviction of an agent, and then banned then from our building. It hasn't been a problem here, but if it gets to be a problem, then I'll probably post a sign on this building and offer a bounty again."
As Leach continues to build the Wazzu program into one that develops NFL caliber players, agents are bound to try to infiltrate things, and coaches looking to keep agents out of their buildings and away from their players might be smart to adopt Leach's bounty system.
https://youtu.be/PnHGbT_H5ew