Mike Leach feels at home in Pullman
— -- PULLMAN, Wash. -- Most days, the first part of Mike Leach's workday is spent knee-deep in a field of garbanzo beans.
He and his wife, Sharon, refer to this as going "over the hill," but it's actually a bit more dangerous than that. It's a downhill trek that's best done in a slightly sideways maneuver, keeping one foot angled in front of the other. The dirt gives under any amount of weight and the burrs that hide beneath the plants are unforgiving to socks and skin.
Leach recommends light hiking boots for this route to his office, and he isn't wrong.
Halfway down the hill, he reaches down and grabs a stem, pops a tan pod off the plant and cracks it open.
"Hummus is a relatively recent food fad in America," says Leach, as he bites down on the garbanzo bean and throws the shell over his shoulder.
It has been a hot, dry summer, making the top layer of soil even more arid than usual. Here, they call this region the Palouse. Everywhere else, they just call it Eastern Washington. It's a hilly area doused in rich soil, perfect for the farming of legumes and wheat.
When Leach moved here in December of 2011, after becoming Washington State's head football coach, that's what he was most curious about. He spent the entire flight from Spokane to Pullman asking the Cougars' media relations official about the Palouse.
Why was it called the Palouse? Is it due to volcanic activity or glacial runoff? What is grown there now? What's the projected agricultural value of the land in the coming years?
At previous coaching stops, Leach rollerbladed or biked to work, but in Pullman -- through the Palouse -- it's a hike. The first 10 to 15 minutes are spent wading through the garbanzo patch. From there, he removes the burrs from his socks before crossing the road, where his route varies among the different neighborhoods, parks and streets leading into town. The whole trip takes him anywhere between 40-55 minutes, sometimes longer, depending on what captures his attention along the way.
He's the busiest man in Pullman who has no interest in keeping a schedule.
His most frequent stop is at Café Moro, where owner Tyson Feasel almost asked Leach to leave the first time he entered. Leach had walked into the café with a competitor's mug, but as Feasel approached Leach, Feasel, a college football fan, realized it was the school's new coach and decided to forgive the transgression.
The regulars at Café Moro know Leach well. He wrote the majority of his most recent book, "Geronimo: Leadership Strategies of an American Warrior," in a small room tucked away near the back. Typically, he orders a tea, though on particularly rough days he'll order a shot of espresso and mix in four bags of sugar.
Today he has already finished one cup of tea and one cup of coffee. He again has walked into the coffee shop with a non-Café Moro cup, but Feasel says nothing.
"I feel like a caffeine addict," he says as he sips green tea and makes his way down Main Street.
Everyone here knows him. Leach seems to know mostly everyone, too.
Some, he knows better than others. He likes Feasel and asks how business is going. He really likes Cesar Ramirez, the owner of Taqueria Chaparrito, Leach's favorite Mexican restaurant. Leach admires Ramirez, who left a more successful restaurant to open up a hole in the wall place that still manages to serve the best Mexican food on the Palouse.
For Leach, this walk is an easy way to get exercise during the season. Even in the dead of winter, he still makes the there-and-back tour at least four times a week.
"When else could I get that in?" he asks. "Two birds. One stone."
It also allows him to indulge his curious nature. He's lived in Pullman almost three years, but there's still plenty for him to explore.
"Follow me this way," he says after getting onto a path. "There's an interesting cemetery through the park. Once, I saw a group of kids dressed in all black doing a séance or something there."
And for just a few minutes it's Leach in a field of garbanzos, and everything seems to make perfect sense.
