Leach was awarded a pay raise for the Cougars' 2013 performance. 2014 season The 2014 season saw the Cougars regress to a record. The Cougars defeated Portland State Utah and Oregon State 2015 season In 2015, despite a season-opening loss to FCS school Portland State, the Cougars had their breakthrough season of the Leach era with a record, in the Pac-12. The Cougars were invited to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, where they beat the Miami Hurricanes This was the best Cougar record since the 2003 team went 2016 season WSU began the 2016 season with two losses, but rallied off eight consecutive wins before dropping their final two games. The success of their season, led by Luke Falk at quarterback, landed them in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego where they lost to Minnesota of the Big Ten. WSU finished in the Pac-12, with notable wins over Oregon and #15 Stanford. It was the Cougars' best conference finish in thirteen seasons, but the bowl loss gave WSU an overall record of 2017 season Washington State was in the Pac-12 in 2017. They were again invited to the Holiday Bowl where they lost to Michigan State and finished overall. 2018 season Leach recruited graduate transfer Gardner Minshew at quarterback in time for the 2018 season and it paid big dividends. The Cougars won a school record-tying ten games, the first time they had won that many in the regular season since the Rose Bowl year of 2002. They also surged as high as seventh in major polling and went into the Apple Cup with a chance to clinch the Pac-12 North title and a shot at the Rose Bowl, but lost 28–15 to rival Washington in the snow in Pullman, a sixth consecutive loss to the Huskies. The Cougars were invited to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio to play the Iowa State Cyclones of They won 28–26 for a school record 11th win. 2019 season After Minshew went to the NFL, Leach led Washington State to a 6–7 record in 2019. Notably, Leach and the Cougars lost to unranked UCLA while ranked #19 going into the game. WSU ended the regular season with Leach's seventh consecutive Apple Cup loss. Mississippi State 2020 season On January 9, 2020, Leach agreed to be the head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. His contract was reported to pay him $5