Ryan Leaf Pleads Guilty

How the mighty have fallen! That phrase could easily apply to Ryan Leaf. Thirteen years ago, he had the world by the tail on a downhill pull. Everyone agreed he had a very bright future. Today he is lucky to have avoided going to prison.

While at Washington State University, Leaf was a star quarterback, and there were many football talent scouts that said he was probably the best college football quarterback in the whole country. In fact, the San Diego Chargers made him the second overall draft pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. That was the high point of his football career.

Over the next four years, first with San Diego and then with the Dallas Cowboys, he threw 14 touchdowns and 36 interceptions -- a terrible ratio for any quarterback. At the end of those four years, his NFL career was over. He had failed with two teams and no one else was interested.

He then decided to try his hand at coaching. In 2006, he became the quarterbacks coach for West Texas A & M University (above picture) in Canyon, Texas (about 10 miles south of Amarillo). Evidently he was a good coach, because West Texas became the number one rated passing offense in the NCAA's Division II. It looked like he'd found his niche and would soon be a head coach somewhere.

But Leaf found a way to screw that up also. He started to abuse drugs -- especially pain-killers. He would visit injured players and wind up stealing their pills for his own use. The problem reached a peak when Leaf broke into an injured player's apartment to steal his hydrocodone pills. After that, the Canyon Police began an investigation, and wound up arresting Leaf in 2008 for Burglary, Delivery of a Simulated Substance and seven counts of Obtaining a Controlled Substance -- all felonies.

After being released on bail, Leaf entered a treatment facility in Vancouver. That was followed by months of outpatient treatment. Then yesterday, he returned to Canyon and entered a plea of guilty to the eight drug charges. He was sentenced to 10 years of probation. If he fails to successfully complete that probation, he could be sent to prison for up to twenty years.

Leaf told the court, "I wish I had asked for help long ago. But I am proof that it's never too late, and the battle can be won. I've been clean for 17 months, a fact that I'm very proud of."

For the present, Leaf says he's returning to his hometown of Great Falls, Montana, where he'll work for West Coast Resorts. He said he doesn't know if he will try to return to coaching in the future.

I hope Ryan Leaf now has his demons under control and can begin making a good life for himself. But only the future will tell if that is the case.