Quotes from Mike Leach

I think the days before cell phones, when it was dirt clod wars at construction sites, was a lot more wholesome and productive, to be perfectly honest.

Freedom of speech should be wide open as long as it doesn't incite violence.

My wife is a great dancer. But I don't dance.

I do have a Viking axe by the bed if I need to whack someone... My wife bought me a Viking axe - the axe side curls down so you can grab the adversary around the neck and you can use it to climb walls, as a grappling hook.

I read the entire Old Testament and New Testament.

If you aren't focused on what's right here in front of you, if you're daydreaming about what might be, you really aren't focused at all.

I just go to work every day, spend hours in the film room, go to practice, go home and then do it all again the next day. I know I can be boring and I sound like a walking cliche but I really do just try to get our team ready to win a game on Saturday. That's pretty much my life.

I know that in Ames, Iowa, they fancy themselves being experts on the wind, but in Lubbock, Texas, we'll put our wind up against your wind in Iowa.

I've directly contributed to losses, but likewise, I'd like to think I contributed to a lot of wins and a lot of good play.

I feel like Texas high schools, when you consider the melting pot that exists in Texas, do a fairly impressive job. No education process is perfect, but I think that, with plenty of room to improve, they do an admirable job when you compare them to the rest of the field.

If you go to any elementary school classroom in Texas, some kids in there are going to be named either Austin, Dallas or Houston.

When things were really rolling at Texas Tech, I was a part of something bigger than myself, bigger than football.

Even in Texas, there's a lot of people who've never been to Lubbock.

I've never had a dumb quarterback. I think if you're dumb, it's difficult to overcome.

Nothing has done more to bring people of different races and different backgrounds together than athletics, certainly more than politicians have done. It's why the Greeks invented the Olympics.

I'm a thin-crust pizza guy. I respect people who like thick crust, but in my view it's mostly bread.

Growing up my favorite coach was Billy Martin.

I don't think people should be allowed to shoot guns unless they have a license.

I'm not a beat around the bush kind of guy.

I think they need to expand the playoff system. I think the minimum should be 16 teams, but they could easily go with more than that... in other words, I want to see more football. Everybody from rec league softball on down can figure out how to put together a tournament and yet Division I can't.

There's shouting, there's blood, there's boogers, there's a whole thing. I mean, there's spitting, there's fighting, there's ripped jerseys. There's someone grabbing someone's throat. I mean, it's why you have football.

As a head coach, you're on two lists. You're the guy that might get fired, or you're the guy who might go somewhere.

If you get into a fight, don't take your helmet off. We're looking for smart football players, not dumb ones.

ESPN wants to scrutinize everyone, but if they're scrutinized, they run and hide.