Young Kwak
Mike Leach
Washington State University says it added the "leadership seminar" taught by coach Mike Leach and his buddy Spokane County Treasurer Mike Baumgartner to the spring schedule.
Students can sign up for the noncredit seminar series, titled Leadership Lessons in Insurgent Warfare and Football Strategies, starting Feb. 26. The first seminar session will be held on March 27, and the three more will be held April 3, 10 and 17. The class only has capacity for 40 students. A final lecture on April 23, however, will be live streamed online so that anyone, even you, can watch.
Leach, WSU's football coach, has floated this idea on Twitter since November. According to an overview Leach posted on Twitter, the first session on March 27 would be called "Introduction to Insurgent Warfare & Air Raid Theory" and would involve a discussion of the Arab Revolt agains the Ottoman Empire, taught by Baumgartner, and then go into a film break down of a football game.
Baumgartner, the former state senator, who has taught economics at Harvard University and counterinsurgency efforts at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, has said football will be used as a "vehicle" to introduce students to concepts he has taught before. Baumgartner and Leach came up with the idea for the class during a trip to Cambodia last year when they met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Students who apply will be asked these two essay questions: Can the British strategy in the Malaya insurgency be used today? Is the wishbone a potentially viable offense for the NFL — why or why not?
The seminar series now has its own Twitter account, in case you want to stay updated.
