LUBBOCK – Only one Texas Tech football coach has been to six straight bowls, and one of his primary motivational themes is ... pirates.

And not the ones from Pittsburgh, either.

You're thinking: How do pirates relate to winning college football games?

Good question. Better for you to ask than Tech players, who believe that probing for explanations only makes the stories longer.

Better question: Can Mike Leach's eccentricities pay off with a BCS bowl this season?

Best question: Did you know that in the anonymity of Web sites, Tech fans call Leach "TSO"?

Translation: The Strange One.

Hard to argue that description. Strange, and not just because Leach calls a timeout with 15 seconds left against SMU to throw another touchdown on the pile. Or regularly goes for it on fourth down, win or lose.

Or that his stories, unlike his record-breaking offense, often lead nowhere.

"One time," says Graham Harrell, the quarterback from Ennis, "he started off by talking about a place he'd coached. Next thing you know, he's talking about Poland and how some country changed languages during World War II, and that's why he couldn't read the subtitles.

"I don't know what he was talking about."

Of course, it doesn't matter. Not when his offense is even harder to decipher.

A coach acts as Leach does and loses, he's crazy and subsequently unemployed.

Win, and last week he gets a new deal for $2 million a year over five years.

The levelheaded people of West Texas have warmed to a man who's coached more bowls than anyone at Tech but Spike Dykes, and one of his six bowls was actually David McWilliams'.

Leach probably could rack up second-tier appearances into infinity with that offense, always a selling point with bowl reps.

But is he ready to move up in class? Hard to fault him up to now with a Big 12 South team playing in the national title game the last three years.

And this year? Texas and Oklahoma are logical favorites. Both have questions at quarterback, as does Texas A&M. For that matter, so does Tech.

The difference: Leach always has a good answer, at least on the field.

Harrell's competing with Chris Todd, who coincidentally reduced the size of the field at quarterback Monday when he broke Ryan Rowland's nose in a post-practice fight.

Barring further fisticuffs, bet on Harrell. No matter who wins, a former Tech quarterback, Sonny Cumbie, says he's never seen Leach with so much talent at the position.

Considering that, the key this season will be Leach's defense. Well, not actually his defense. Tech's defense has been solid pretty much since Leach turned it over to Lyle Setencich, who gave him his first college coaching job when he was head coach at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Here's how that interview went back in 1987: Leach pulls up in a '79 Cadillac DeVille. Setencich asks if Leach's wife, Sharon, and child would like to come in, too. Nah, Leach says. She'll wait in the car. The interview reportedly lasts three hours, which you can believe if you've heard Leach talk.

Good news: Mike and Sharon remain happily married. He grows on you. Sharon stuck with him through dorm living at Cal Poly and a one-bedroom trailer at Iowa Wesleyan with red shag carpet on the floors, walls and ceiling.

He lives in a nice place now. Says he doesn't think much about other jobs, and you believe him. His name doesn't come up much. Probably hard to sell a guy to your search committee who's referred to as TSO in the chat rooms.

He'd be entertaining. He can talk about anything, and does. Vikings, for instance. Turns out he's half-Norwegian. Notes the NCAA's reformation on Native American symbols and wants to know when something's going to be done for Vikings.

"I think me and other Norwegians ought to unite," he says. "We're tired of being characterized as warriors. We dishonor all the lazy Vikings."

Not all his stuff is quite so esoteric. Sunday's topic with the team: a dysfunctional Connecticut family that included a mother who hired a hit man and a "Satan-worshipping" dad who ran off with the girlfriend of his 15-year-old son, who promptly took offense and ratted out his father to the feds.

"Actually," Harrell says, smiling, "that one was pretty interesting."

E-mail ksherrington@dallasnews.com