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vaindumbass · 4 years

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((Happy birthday @dannikathewomanika! I got the impression you liked pirate aus, so have this:))

Sirius had never been more grateful that the Potters had taken him in. Of course, the time he ran away from Grimmauld and they welcomed him on their ship with open arms might be a strong contender, but it was definitely second-place.

Euphemia and Fleamont Potter’s son and his wife had long since gotten their own ship and crew, and Sirius had tagged along. James and Lily Potter were the best captains one could ask for, really, Sirius thought to himself as he looked around him.

The entire crew of the ‘Marauders’ was gathered, immediately after Sirius had simply told his captains that he had something to tell them.

“Well,” Marlene, their carpenter, said, “what is it?”. She was a tall, pale woman, with a scar across her left cheek. If one were to ask, she’d tell a different story every time, each one more heroic than the last, but the entire crew knew it was because she had managed to somehow fall face-first into a nail.

Sirius stalked into the middle of the room, and swooped all bottles and glasses off the table. He carefully laid his newly-purchased map down, and unfolded it. “This,” Sirius said, pointing at the left corner, “is where Tom Riddle is located.”

Everyone in the room sat up straighter. They had been chasing Tom Riddle, a truly horrid pirate captain, for four years now, without ever even getting the slightest idea where he could be.

“Do you- Are you sure?” Mary asked. Even the hands of their surgeon, which had been steady while stitching them up countless times, fiddled now with her hijab.

Sirius’ voice was strong, and unwavering. “I am.”

James’ eyes met his. “What’s your source?”

“I got a letter while I was gathering our supplies. It’s from Reggie- Regulus.”

Lily extended a hand. Sirius wordlessly handed it over to her.

She whistled between her teeth. “Sirius, this is big.”

“Believe me, I know.”

Remus Lupin stood up. He was only a navigator, yet he had the most scars out of all of them. “How can we trust him? Hasn’t Regulus been with the Death Eaters all this time?”

“I trust Sirius.” Lily said, her voice cold. At that moment she wasn’t their friend, not the Lily who had had rum coming out of her nose when she laughed too hard at something Marlene had said, but she was their captain.

Lupin sat down, his jaw locked.

As everyone started to file out of the door, to their own quarters, Lily stopped next to Sirius. “James and I are trying to get pregnant.”

“Oh.” Sirius said, completely baffled.

“So you better make sure our trust isn’t misplaced. Our child needs his parents and his godparent.”

“Right.” Sirius said, still busy processing the earlier information. “Wait- Godparent? I would be their godfather?”

But Lily was already gone, with a swish of her red hair and a twinkle of her laugh.

Sirius couldn’t help but laugh a little to himself, too. A godfather, him.

~~~

When he emerged on the deck, there was someone already standing there. “Lupin.” Sirius said.

“Sirius.”

Lupin had been a relatively new addition, but good navigators were hard to come by, and he was good. He’d been getting along well with everyone, until now.

“I suppose I should apologize.” Lupin said, looking out wistfully over the ocean. “It’s just-- I quite dislike Tom Riddle, you see.”

Sirius huffed a laugh, walking forward until he was standing next to Lupin, mirroring his position. “Don’t we all?”

Lupin painted quite the pretty picture, his brown curls waving a little in the wind, his face illuminated by the setting sun. Sirius quickly turned his head back to the sea.

“Ah, my hate for him feels a little more... personal. Fenrir Greyback- I assume you’ve heard of him?”

“I have.”

“He attacked me when I was five.”

Sirius turned to look at Remus so fast it was a surprise he didn’t break anything. Sirius had known of Greyback’s underhanded tactics, who hadn’t? Still, that did not make this any less horrible.”

Remus still looked perfectly calm. At Sirius’ surprised stare, he said: “At Riddle’s command, I mean.”

“Yeah. Yeah I got that.”

A silence fell, for a while.

“I’m sorry.” Sirius said.

Remus shrugged. “Wasn’t your fault. It’s a long time ago, anyway.”

Once again, their conversation halted, no matter how much Sirius would love to keep talking to this intriguing man (he had forgiven Remus the moment he tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear. Or maybe when the last bit of sun had hit his face just so. Or maybe-- well, suffice to say, Sirius harboured no ill feelings towards him)

Suddenly, Remus stretched. “Well,” he said, and Sirius only looked because that’s the polite thing to do when someone talks to you, and not at all because of the small sliver of skin that showed, “I’ll make sure we get to Riddle’s ship in time, alright?”

This was accompanied by a hand on Sirius’ shoulder, so he could only nod mutely, and look on as Remus walked away.

~~~

“You know what, Black? You might regret it if you don’t make your move now.”

Sirius looked at Dorcas, their master gunner, who was lounging casually against the mast, her hair falling over her shoulders in tight twists. Then he followed her line of sight to where Remus and Marlene were talking. “Are you talking to me, or to yourself?”

With a quick movement of her shoulders, Dorcas pushed herself back on her feet. “Who says I can’t do both?”

Remus smiled at Marlene’s animated face, his body language relaxed.

“I’ll make you a deal, Meadowes. If we come out of this alive, we confess.”

“Deal. If you die, though, I’ll kill you.”

They shook hands.

The Marauders had a lot of allies, but there was an enormous chance they would be noticed if they went with more than one ship. According to Regulus, there was only one ship anyway, safely anchored for the night.

Sirius would be the first to enter, together with Dorcas. They wanted to keep the element of surprise, Sirius could make his steps so silent they called him Padfoot, Dorcas was their best fighter, it only seemed the most logical decision.

Regulus would be taking guard duty tonight so they should, hopefully, be able to stay hidden for a while.

~~~

“You did get us here in time.” Sirius says, because he still hasn’t managed to silence that little voice in him that’s begging him to say something, anything, to the man in front of him.

“I said I would, didn’t I?” There are bags under Remus’ eyes, and Sirius doesn’t exactly know what a navigator’s job entails but he’s pretty sure you don’t need to run yourself ragged.

“You did, you did. But why not go to sleep now? We only attack during nightfall.”

Sirius has spent a long time cataloguing Remus’ every smile. This one seems to be his typical half-grin, only the complete lack of sleep is making it seem... weirdly genuine. “You drive a hard bargain, Black.”

Sirius grins back unabashedly. “Wouldn’t be a good boatswain otherwise.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Remus puts up one hand to wave as he walks away. Sirius waves back, even though Remus’ back is turned to him.

That might be why he doesn’t notice Dorcas until she swings an arm around him. “God, you’re so gone for that guy.”

Sirius pushes her back with a smile. “Like you’re one to talk.”

“True, true.” Dorcas sighs, “I’ve fought countless people, but she just- smiles or whatever and I’m defenseless.”

Sirius snorts, “That reminds me, didn’t you tell her the chair she made was, and I quote, “very sittable”?”

“In my defense, it was!”

“At least you’re not constantly complaining about ‘bumpy’ chairs.”

Dorcas looks up at the sky dreamily. “Yeah... Wait, do you think she did it because of that? Because of me?”

“What other reason is there? She must... like you.”

“I can’t wait until today is over so I can know for sure.”

Silently, Sirius agrees.

~~~

Sirius likes being the boatswain, he does. It’s fun haggling with people and then stealing it from under their noses, he likes teasing Peter about the amount of potatoes they need, and he likes being able to, sometimes, get Remus chocolate (out of his own pocket, of course, although he doesn’t tell Remus that).

It still doesn’t compare to this. Feeling as invisible as a shadow in the night simply stills a hunger in Sirius he doesn’t always realize he has. For a moment all worries are forgotten, his mind as clear as the night sky, except for his goal.

His and Dorcas’ boots barely make a sound as they walk over the deck. Regulus greets them with a limp body in his hands.

“Watch duty is always done in pairs,” he explains.

Sirius cringes a little at the intrusion of the silence, but nods.

“Dorcas,” Regulus says, “it would be better if you went first. I need to talk to Sirius.

“Make it quick.”

“What is it?” Sirius hisses.

“Riddle keeps a part of his seven treasures here.”

Sirius’ eyes widen. Riddle’s treasures were each extremely valuable and highly sought-after. “Which one?”

“The medal. It contains the location of the other ones.”

Bringing Riddle to justice, or whatever, meant nothing if he could immediately bail himself out. Besides, having a bit of extra cash was always good. “Fuck. Okay. Lead the way.”

After they had walked for a bit, Sirius couldn’t help but ask: “Why couldn’t Dorcas come with us?”

Regulus shrugged, illuminated in strange shapes by the torch he was holding. “I don’t know her. And I didn’t- I didn’t want to see what they’d do to our parents.”

They walk the rest of the way in silence, until they arrive at the treasure room. Bellatrix is guarding it, because of course she is, his cousin has always been a bit too crazy to be anything but loyal to Riddle.

There are two other guards, but before Sirius knows it Regulus has already said: “I’ll distract them.” and then Regulus is suddenly gone, attacking one of the guards quickly and then running away, two of the guards hot on his heels.

Sirius doesn’t even have the time to stop him. In a reflex, he’d stepped forward, and this is when Bellatrix saw him. Now there’s a sword at his throat. “Long time no see, Siri.”

Sirius moves his knife to the hilt to the sword, and pushes it back in one big movement, immediately after aiming for her heart. “I had so hoped it would be an even longer time.”

Bellatrix eyes glitter maniacally as she deflects his knife. “Tough luck.”

“You know,” Sirius says while trying to hook his foot behind her ankle, “You could just let me in. It would spare both of us a lot of time.”

Bellatrix sidesteps him, and then her sword is suddenly coming awfully close to his stomach. “But where’s the fun in that?”

The sword brushes his shirt as it moves past him, and Sirius fights on in silence.

Until he hears footsteps. He looks up at the same time as Bellatrix does, covered in sweat and with blood on his clothes, and he sees Remus.

Lovely, beautiful, amazing Remus.

“Duck!” Remus shouts, and Sirius does so without a second thought, and then there are two swords above his head.

Lucky for him, Remus’ is the one that strikes true. Bellatrix seems almost surprised at the sword in her arm, which gives Sirius the chance to knock her out.

As soon as she’s fallen to the ground, Sirius clasps Remus’ arms. “You’re here? How did you find me?”

“I-” Remus says, letting his eyes fall shut and his forehead settle against Sirius. “You weren’t where you said you would be.”

“You missed me?” it was meant to be teasing, really, but it came out awfully sincere.

“Of course,” Remus whispers back hoarsely, opening his eyes again.

Sirius looks back at him, and then he kisses him.

It’s messy, and rushed, and absolutely perfect. Remus lips are soft but chapped, and while Riddle’s medal is right behind him, Sirius thinks he already has the greatest treasure the world has to offer in his arms.

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dorkzrul · 4 years

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Thalia: Percy no

Percy: Percy yes

Grover: Percy no

Percy: Percy maybe

Annabeth: Percy NO

Percy: ...Percy no

Source: @forgotten-marauders-quotes

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looopylupin · 4 years

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Ned, holding large box: so what would you say if I came home with 6 puppies?

Catelyn: ...

Catelyn: what’s in the box?

Ned:

Catelyn: Ned, what’s in the box?!

Ned: I think you know...

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sinclairverse · 4 years

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NAOMI: So apparently, I’m in love with Vincent.

NAOMI: I didn’t realize this.

NAOMI: I am deeply offended that nobody told me.

VINCENT: I mentioned it once or twice.

NAOMI: Absolutely nobody. Shocked and upset.

#incorrect quotes #incorrect naomi #v: the next gen #˙ ˖ ✶ ship / chrisley #source: forgotten marauders quotes

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templardragonknight · 7 years

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The Stormcloak Bible DEBUNKED PART 5 (Is Ulfric Racist? Plus Bonus Edition on Trade)

Ah shit, here we go again.

As if all the previous nonsense in his posts was not enough, in the fifth part of this “bible” (http://colonel-killa-bee.tumblr.com/post/69420668506/stormcloak-bible-part-5-final-is-ulfric-racist) the author tries to prove that Ulfric is not racist using some of the same superficial arguments that Stormcloak supporters like him always bring to the table. But before I go any further, I just want to make something clear: I think that the racism card is by far the worst and most ridiculous argument to criticize the Stormcloaks with and the fact many people only join the Empire only thanks to this makes me frustrated to say the least. “So you are racist as well?” No, I’m not. I think that the way Ulfric treats the dunmer and the argonians in Windhelm is frustrating to say the least and I would never support anything like that, but over time I realized that it is not a good argument when talking about the civil war itself. Think about it: Ulfric started the Civil war under a false premise, as he thought that it was the Emperor that ordered his arrest when it was only Jarl Hrolfdir that gave the order (as jarls are largely independent from the High King and do not answer to the emperor directly unlike the High King), and as the war progressed Ulfric ended up tearing Skyrim apart, weakening it in the process with countless able bodied sons and daughters of Skyrim killing each other each day (thus decreasing the amount of nords that could be used to fight the Dominion in the next Great War), attracting the attention of the Thalmor (as Alvor reveals the nords berely paid attention to the ban of Talos worship in one of his possible dialogues: “It’s from that treaty that ended the Great War, remember, when the Emperor was forced by the Thalmor to outlaw Talos worship. We didn’t pay much attention to it when I was a boy - everyone still had their little shrine to Talos. But then Ulfric and his ‘Sons of Skyrim’ started agitating about it, and sure enough the Emperor had to crack down. Dragging people off in the middle of the night… one of the main causes of this war, if you ask me.“) and all of this to the point of the Thalmor secretly using this war as means to keep Skyrim weakened (since it could be a great ally of Cyrodiil in the next Great War) to the point of it considering to help one side if it ends up being necessary to keep the war on... and among all of this mess your main reason is the racial segregation in Windhelm? I am sorry to tell you this but you may be just giving strength to the Stormcloaks.

Alright, with that said, lets get to The Stormcloak Guy’s post: first he tries to prove that the he is not racist by pointing a meaning of racism (the belief that a certain race is superior or inferior due to certain characteristics). Funny how he did not show any source for his claims there, because he only showed a single meaning of the word. In other words: he cherry picked what was convenient to him and threw away what would contradict him. According to Marriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism) one of the meanings of “racism” is simply “racial prejudice or discrimination”. Something similar is stated by Dictyonary.com (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/racism) and the Cambridge Dictionary (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/racism), so the Stormcloaks in Windhelm (again: in Windhelm) are racist if they mistreat individuals thanks to their race, they are just not as racist as actual racial supremacists, like the Thalmor. The Stormcloaks are segregationists, not supremacists, but still racist nonetheless.

Then he says that everyone in Tamriel is technically racist because “ they believe certain races are good at certain things, and discriminate against them because of it.” Is this true? Well yes, but actually no. It is not true from the point that everyone in Tamriel knows what each race is known for, in other words what most individuals from that race are known to be, but not everyone in Tamriel thinks every single member of a certain race will be like the majority of that race. Now lets take a look at his list of points that are used by people who say Ulfric is racist.

He says that Ulfric does not have any hatred towards the khajiit by saying that the caravans are not allowed into the walls of any city (what is actually true) and by mentioning the khajiit encountered in Riften. Well, it seems he forgot what one can clearely hear while talking to Brunwulf Free-Winter (“Whenever a group of marauders attack a Nord village, Ulfric is the first to sound the horn and send the men. But a group of Dark Elf refugees gets ambushed? A group of Argonians, or a Khajiit caravan? No troops. No investigation. Nothing. There's a group of cutthroats out there right now that Ulfric doesn't lift a finger to bring to justice, as long as they don't threaten Nord land.”), once again trowing away what is not convenient for him. Also he seems to ironically lack knowledge of the nord tradition regarding how jarls rule, as there is a loading screen that reveals that the jarls are largely independent from the High King (which is why each hold tracks it’s bounties separately). This means that even if Ulfric was the High King (which he isn’t, at least not yet) he would not have full control over the other holds, just more influence than the other jarls. In other words what happens in Riften does not help with anything here, as Ulfric has only full control over Eastmarch.

Now about the quote “Skyrim belongs to the nords”, the author caims that this is a dialogue for almost every nord in the game (what is indeed true), but did not even talk about racial segregation among the stormcloaks in this part of the post. I will talk about it in a while.

The author goes on to try to debunk the claim that the Stormcloaks hate all elves. While this is factually false as not all of those who call themselves Stormcloaks hate all elves (Laila Law-Giver’s court, for example), some of the arguments Colonel-KillaBee used were, to say the least, pathetic. Like when he says “Firstly, there is a difference between racism and prejudice” as if racism by itself was not a form of prejudice, as we can see here http://www.dictionary.com/browse/prejudice and here https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/prejudice. Prejudice is about preconceived positions, forming opinions beforehand, without enough knowledge and evidence. This is exactly what racism is about, as it is based on the preconceived assumption that someone is despisable or harmful thanks to the individual’s race). He then says “If the Stormcloaks truly hated all elves, why are there not one, not two, not three, but four Altmer npcs in the city who are not only not in the grey quarters, but are merchants?”, showing that he does not realize that these Altmer live on parts of the city that are majorly populated by nords, which means Ulfric probably does not even know they exist. He mentions one of the altmer claming the dunmer for not having what it takes to conquer the nords’ respect. This elf is Niranye and using her as an argument for this is foolish because what she actually says is "It was difficult at first. The Nords of this city are, at best, suspicious of outsiders. But in time, I made the right friends and proved myself useful enough that they don't give me trouble anymore. The dark elves are too proud and naive to understand the way things truly are, and so they continue to dwell in that slum." notice she said that she got the right friends, which means she was lucky. As if all that was not enough, it is revealed in one of the Thieves Guild’s side quests, more specifically the Summerset Shadows quest, that Niranye worked for the Thieves Guild before she became a merchant, so a good part of what she got may not have been trough honest means.

Oh, and that dunmer that owns a farm, Belyn Hlaalu, lives like any other dunmer in Windhelm: in the falling apart slum that is the Gray Quarter, an part of the City that is not populated by nords and that Ulfric treats like trash... and there is no evidence that the Stormcloaks know about his farm, since dialogues suggest they do not know about Faryl Atheron, another dunmer resident of the Gray Quarter, working for Bolfrida Brandy-Mug, a nord woman. You see, while working there we can hear some interesting comments about his situation, such as "Of course working for Bolfrida isn't my first choice. But what else can a Dunmer do out here?", or even "Bolfrida is certainly grating, but she pays well. Thankfully nobody from the city can see me out here." At this point we can see that Faryl is a very tough and hard working individual, but where does Faryl live? You guessed it: in the Gray Quarter (sources: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Faryl_Atheron https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Faryl_Atheron). Another evidence pointing towards the Stormcloaks not knowing about Belyn’s farm is the fact that Belyn's employee, a nord farmer called Adilsa, actually LIVES in the farm while the actual owner lives in the Gray Quarter (sources: https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Belyn_Hlaalu https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Belyn_Hlaalu). Such a thing would not happen in Belyn was not trying to hide the fact that he owns a farm. Would Faryl and Belyn do what they do if the Stormcloaks of Windhelm were okay with dunmer owning farms or working for nords? The fact that these dunmer were refugees that lost everything thanks to the eruption of the Red Mountain must not be forgotten either, because naturally there would not be much they could do on these conditions.

Next he tries to prove that Ulfric is not racist towards the dunmer by citating the Decree of Monument (https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Decree_of_Monument http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Decree_of_Monument), but he clearely failed to consider a specific aspect: it says “no compensation TO Skyrim…” It is funny how he conveniently ignored what came right after it. Lets take a closer look: “with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the Armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply”. In case you do not know what the Armstice was, here it is https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Armistice. It gave Morrowind more independence than the other provinces ruled by Tiber Septim, but the Empire was still allowed to send troops to the province and protect it (remember how the dunmer became angry at the Empire for taking their forces from Morrowind to help defend Cyrodiil during the Oblivion Crisis?), so If Ulfric does not aid the Gray Quarter it is because Ulfric does not want to.

He tries to justify Ulfric’s segregation againt the argonians by saying that it is known the argonians may get suddently overtaken by the Hist, but the question is: did Ulfric have this in mind? The answer is “we don’t know”, so this is not a good argument. The Stormcloak guy then claims Ulfric is doing it for the safety of nords, dunmer and argonians because these races are known to not get along well... sure: he left them to freeze in the docks, with barely having a roof to confort them and barely having what to eat, for their own safety. Logic is overrated, am I right? “Then what about how Brunwulf states that it is also for their own safety” there is a great difference between a ruler banishing a certain group because he is prejudiced towards the group and a ruler who chooses to keep such group separated because the folk in his lands show bigotry (and maybe even violence) towards such group. Comparing Ulfric with Brunwulf in this aspect is a false analogy.

The best part of this? If the return of the argonians to Windhelm would put them in danger, it would show how innefective Windhelm’s governemnt and defences are. Of course, that could be explained by how the war has basically been draining Windhelm’s resources, as it is revealed by Brunwulf himself if he becomes the jarl, but that would only show how ULFRIC’S government was innefective, because the Civil War was Ulfric’s fault in the first place.

Well, about the trade issue: Ulfric would obviously not trade directly with Cyrodiil because he sees them as enemies. Trading with the East Empire Company is no good argument either, as they have business in pretty much all of the provinces of Tamriel, even in the Aldmeri Dominion. And it is funny how he says that “ both are dependent on resources from eachother, and both need to rebuild, especially the Empire.” yeah sure Colonel-Killa-Bee, especially the Empire. Lets just ignore how Tullius reveals that Cyrodiil is managing to keep the Dominion’s army at bay simply by gathering most of the Imperial Legion in the southern border with the Aldmeri Dominion, all while a Stormcloak Skyrim would have just been torn apart by Ulfric’s civil war, weakened and partially devastated, without any chances of receiving any resources from Cyrodiil, unlike an empire supporting Skyrim as Sybille Stentor’s dialogue reveals.

#Ulfric Stormcloak #Racism #Dunmer #Argonians #Brunwulf Free-Winter #Khajiit #Riften #Laila Law-Giver #Maven Black-Briar #Gray Quarter #East Empire Company #Nonsense #The Stormcloak Bible DEBUNKED

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junker-town · 6 years

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Tracking the Mike Leach rumors: Is he Tennessee’s next coach?

The pirate might be headed to the south.

Aren’t you excited to hear even more Tennessee coaching search rumors? Well, I hope so! Over the course of the last few days, Mike Gundy has turned it down, and the school went after Purdue’s Jeff Brohm and NC State’s Dave Doeren. Although recently fired Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin was rumored to be an emerging candidate Thursday, by the end of the day, the Volunteers had reportedly shifted to Washington State’s Mike Leach.

The name picking up steam for Tennessee is Mike Leach. The name losing steam is Kevin Sumlin.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 1, 2017

#Tennessee coaching search update: Source tells me the meeting with Mike Leach went very well. And... stay tuned.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 1, 2017

Sources tell @NBCDFWSports that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is working on a deal to become the next coach at Tennessee. A deal could be announced Friday. I’m working on more details.

— Newy Scruggs (@newyscruggs) December 1, 2017

Now several folks, including someone at Washington St., tell me Currie interviewed Mike Leach & possibly 1-2 other candidates today in the Los Angeles area.

— John Brice (@JohnDBrice1) December 1, 2017

Leach outside Pullman Regional Friday A.M.: “If I had met them I wouldn’t tell you, and if I hadn’t I wouldn’t tell you,” http://pic.twitter.com/DTGZIj1HgX

— COUGFANcom (@COUGFANcom) December 1, 2017

Leach’s name was first mentioned for the Tennessee job last Saturday.

Yes, given all that’s happened between now and then, that seems like a while ago, so you may have forgotten!

FootballScoop.com said Saturday Mike Leach was in play for the Vols.

[T]he buzz in the profession the past 24 hours has been that Mike Leach seems to have a very good shot at being offered the position.

The expectation from those we’ve spoken with is that Leach would accept the position if offered.

FootballScoop went on to report that defensive coordinator Alex Grinch would be tapped by the Cougars to replace Leach if the offensive guru does move on. It was Grinch’s defense that fueled the Cougars’ hot start this season.

His marauding defense is a big reason why the Cougars are 6-0. He’s been described to SB Nation as an elite defensive mind with the personality to do well as a head coach.

He is currently in his sixth season at Washington State.

Although the Cougs haven’t been seriously in the hunt for any major bowls or CFP bids, what he’s done in Pullman is impressive. Led by his Air Raid offense, over the last three seasons, Wazzu has seen eight- and nine-win seasons, along with a 9-3 2017 with a bowl bid upcoming. As Bill Connelly pointed out in his WSU preview for 2017, Leach’s teams are characterized by some key things:

But it’s going to win.

-It’s going to feature a relentlessly efficient, almost completely pass-dependent offense. It might not produce big plays, but it’s going to stress defenses horizontally. It’ll still be unique, even in the age of the spread offense.

-It’s going to feature an aggressive run defense. That’s not quite the same as an excellent defense — Wazzu’s D ranked 44th in Rushing S&P+ last year — but like the offense, the Cougs’ defense is figuring out ways to dictate what you have to do to win. You might do them well, but that’s secondary.

-Of late, it’s going to feature bad special teams. In three years of Special Teams S&P+ data, Wazzu has ranked 120th, 105th, and 122nd. Be it a poor emphasis on special teams, not enough practice time, the wrong personnel, etc., this has cost WSU one or two points per game.

Leach had success in the Big 12 and Pac-12 by sticking to his script, so why wouldn’t that translate to the SEC?

Not to mention his quirkiness would be a breath of fresh air in the conference.

Remember how great Steve Spurrier’s quotes were? Think of Leach as being like that, but way weirder and less Southern than the HBC. He’s always been known to be a bit out there, and unfortunately some East Coasters may not get as much exposure to Leach-isms as they should. This season he’s had some incredible one-liners, like his anecdote about goths:

Mike Leach. Goths. #Pac12AfterDark http://pic.twitter.com/cFpBLzpEMY

— Stephen Osentoski (@StephenToski) October 22, 2017

And he gave some brutally honest wedding advice last week that was pure gold.

It’s rivalry week. #WSU is one win away from the @pac12 title game. But a reporter getting married in 9 days asked @Coach_Leach for wedding advice tonight, and Leach’s answer was incredible. I’m dying. http://pic.twitter.com/alhOiWd9Tv

— Aaron Levine (@AaronQ13Fox) November 22, 2017

Tennessee isn’t the only SEC school considering Leach.

It seems that Leach has at least some backing for the Arkansas job as well.

As we reported during last night’s Apple Cup game on FOX Mike Leach has some support among some influential #Arkansas folks for the Razorbacks vacancy. Not sure if he’d go but given the big win for Gus & Auburn Sat things are pretty interesting w the Hogs HC job.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 26, 2017

Leach has been having some fun with the rumors too, going off of his recent Twitter likes.

Our friends in Vegas like Leach’s chances at the job as well.

Both at Texas Tech and Washington State, Leach has proved that he can win in unconventional places. That’s the sort of thing you have to be able to do to make it work in a place like Tennessee or Arkansas, which don’t have natural bases of talent. He was also an offensive coordinator for two seasons at Kentucky. Leach would absolutely win the press conference. He’d probably win quite a few games as well.

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