Washington State's Leach calls for change to Heisman
Mike Leach has never been one to shy away from an opinion, and the Washington State head coach is now calling for a change to college football's top individual honor.
The Heisman Trophy goes annually to the top player in the nation, but Leach says that hasn't been the case in recent years. Cougars quarterback Luke Falk threw for an astounding 4,561 yards and 38 touchdowns in 2015, but because Washington State finished 9-4, he didn't receive any support for the award. That was something that angered his outspoken coach.
"I've kind of lost track of what the Heisman is," Leach said during Pac-12 media days last week. "There was a time when the Heisman went to the guy who had the biggest impact and effect on their team, and if that was the case, he probably would have won it last year and should have. The emphasis has kind of shifted from that, and a lot of guys with Heisman trophies wouldn't have him in this day and age because now they try to finesse it to whoever is the MVP on the national championship team gets it."
Leach raises an interesting point, and a quick look at recent winners shows real accuracy to his thoughts. In the past 10 years, every Heisman winner has played for a top-five ranked team except for Florida's Tim Tebow in 2007 and Baylor's Robert Griffin III in 2011.
| Year | Winner | School | Final AP Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Troy Smith | Ohio State | 2 |
| 2007 | Tim Tebow | Florida | 13 |
| 2008 | Sam Bradford | Oklahoma | 5 |
| 2009 | Mark Ingram | Alabama | 1 |
| 2010 | Cam Newton | Auburn | 1 |
| 2011 | Robert Griffin III | Baylor | 13 |
| 2012 | Johnny Manziel | Texas A&M | 5 |
| 2013 | Jameis Winston | Florida State | 1 |
| 2014 | Marcus Mariota | Oregon | 2 |
| 2015 | Derrick Henry | Alabama | 1 |
"I think they either need to have two awards or they need to define it," the former Texas Tech frontman said. "Either you're giving it to the guy that's got the biggest impact on their particular team or it's for the MVP for the team that wins the national championship, and if that's the case, they need to hand it out at the end of the national championship along with the other hardware."
Despite Leach's comments, there's few out there that believe there is any change in the works. The latest edition of the betting odds for the 2016 Heisman have Falk well outside the top 25.