The first season he went up against the mighty juggernaut East Carolina Pirates in the much coveted mattress mac galleryfurniture.com bowl in Houston. Tech was a heavy favorite as I recall. We had driven back to Texas from a white Christmas in the New Mexico mountains the night of the game, and I think arrived at my folks place sometime around half-time.
East Carolina just whooped Tech up and down the field. I don't think the game was as close as the final score of 40-27, but maybe it was. All I know is my dad and I were disgusted because this was supposed to be an easy win for Tech, and we weren't that enamored with what we saw on the field that first season to begin with. My dad was cussing about "dink and dunk this shit and dink and dunk that shit and lose to fucking east fucking carolina."
It was my new bride's and my first Christmas as a lawfully wedded couple. Good times.
We followed it up the next year by investing in a bowl trip to San Antonio to watch the mighty Tech offense score a whopping 16 points to Iowa, who scored 19, in yet another game in which Tech was favored to win.
Yep, those first two years under Leach weren't too bueno. And sadly, still better than pretty much all but 2 or 3 of the past 10 years.