May 17, 2006) -- Last fall, Michael Lewis, author of the seminal baseball book Moneyball, wrote an article for the New York Times magazine about Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and his spread offense. Lewis quoted Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz as one coach studying the success of this program and wondering if it could work in the NFL.
Kliff Kingsbury broke 72 school, conference and NCAA records while at Texas Tech.
Lewis made a case for the spread offense, although similar systems -- from Mouse Davis' run-n-shoot at Hawaii to Gary Crowton's own spread at BYU -- have been tried in the NFL to mixed, and somewhat limited success. Lewis also noted how Leach's system produces quarterbacks that arrive unheralded and leave Tech with amazing statistics and pro contracts. Two of them, Kliff Kingsbury and B.J. Symons, are playing in NFL Europe this spring. And like the spread itself, they have had mixed results. And in Week 9, the two met head to head as Cologne surprised Berlin 25-7 in a game between teams already out of the World Bowl running.
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