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Football Coach Receives Raise, Contract Extension

Red Raiders picked to finish third in the south division.

Athletics

Head Football Coach Mike Leach Head Football Coach Mike Leach

Red Raider Head Football Coach Mike Leach signed a new contract last month that Texas Tech officials hope will keep him in Lubbock another four years.

Under the new contract, with its bonus and incentives clauses, Leach receives a raise for this season to $1.6 million and would make $2 million per year if he stays through 2010.

“This puts Mike in the upper tier of Big 12 coaches,” says Gerald Meyers, Texas Tech athletic director. “I think he has earned this contract. Our football program has gotten better every year and we continue to expect good things from Mike and his players.”

“I want to thank the Board of Regents, Chancellor Don Haragan, President Jon Whitmore and Gerald Myers for recognizing our program for what it has accomplished and for what we want to accomplish both in the classroom and on the field,” says Leach.

Leach’s teams have consistently led the nation in passing offense and total offense in his six years at Texas Tech. He has directed the Red Raiders to 48 wins in those six years, the most wins ever by a football coach in his first six seasons. Leach is also the only Red Raider football coach to take his first six teams to bowl games.

While the on the field accomplishments are outstanding it’s the team’s performance in the classroom that has Texas Tech President Jon Whitmore most excited about keeping Leach.

“Mike Leach puts academics first in his program,” says Whitmore. “These young men are students first. Mike is a first class coach whose teams bring honor to Texas Tech both on the field and in the classroom.”

Since Leach took over as coach for the 2000 season, the Texas Tech football program has placed 108 players on the Academic All Big XII team , second in the conference.

For the past six years, the Red Raider football program has been recognized by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) as one of the nation’s top academic performers for consistently having a graduation rate at or above 70 percent. In 2006, the Red Raider’s 80 percent graduation rate made it one of only 29 football programs in all of Division I-A, and one of the four Big XII programs, to be so honored by the association. Prior to 2001, the football program had never made the AFCA’s list of top graduation programs. Only one other Big XII team has made the AFCA list every year for the past six years.

Since his arrival, student-athletes in Coach Leach’s program have earned five of the eight Big XII Community Champion Awards claimed by Texas Tech.

For more information on the Red Raider’s 2006 season and schedule, go to www.texastech.com.