Professor Mike Leach Grades His Washington State Students' Play Design Skills

John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images For their final project in Mike Leach's special spring seminar on insurgent warfare and football, Washington State students had to draw up some plays the Cougars might use in a real game. Now the pirate-professor weighs in.

Toward the end of last year, Washington State football coach Mike Leach asked the university if he could teach a class with his friend, the former state Sen. Michael Baumgartner. They figured there was enough crossover between their respective fields and interests that it could work. Baumgartner had worked in the United States Embassy in Baghdad during the Iraq War; Leach had an affinity for pirates, Geronimo and mesh routes.…