Ryan Leaf joined Don Carthel's West Texas A&M staff as quarterbacks coach. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?i...ce=NFLHeadlines
Beleive it or not, Ryan Leaf has really really changed. Dan Patrick had him on yesterday and you could just tell that his failure has really humbled him. Even Dan remarked that he could not believe this was the same person. Ryan talked at great length about his failure in the NFL and how he just "was'nt good enough". Also said that the biggest mistake of his life was blowing up at that reporter after loosing to KC in week two and how he wished he could have changed that. When DP asked him how come he acted like he did towards the media, he said that when he played college football at Washington State that he had the same type of attitude and he did really well on and off the field. He thought that he had to bring that same arrogance to the NFL and that was not the case. He said that being picked #2 overall just made his ego swell up even more and that he thought since the Chargers had paid him all that money, they would back him no matter what he said to t he media. Ryan then said that after he understood how to "act" that he had injured his wrist and could not compete at the same level anymore. Said that he learned so much more about the game of football at Tampa Bay and at Dallas. Said that Dallas was the best place and that he got along with the media really well there. I hope Leaf does well at West Texas. I admired that he has matured and made no excuses for the way he used to act.
I think he'll do fine there. I would not be surprised if 15 years from now he's a coordinator in a 1A program. Excellent college quarterback... he just lacked the mental toughness of the pro game. He has a solid offensive mind and would make a pretty good coordinator in college. Good luck to the kid! Too bad WalMart has now lost one of it's top employees...
He was helping out his old coach Mike Price at Utep last I'd seen him, I guess giving tutilage to Jordan Palmer. That must be quite the spectrum of advice, on one side his brother, #1 pick, and pro bowler Carson Palmer, and on the other side one of the most high profile busts in NFL history.
