Peter Berg Working on Mike Leach Docu-Series

Controversial college football coach may be next up for series set to launch with Freddie Roach

By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/13/2012 3:47:16 PM

HBO is eyeing controversial Washington State college football coach Mike Leach as the subject of a new documentary series.

The team of Peter Berg, Jim Lampley, Sarah Aubrey and Michael Price are behind the project.  That team produces the new HBO docu-series On Freddie Roach, set to debut Jan. 20, about the legendary boxing trainer battling Parkinson's Disease.

"I assume HBO will go for it because it will be really good," Berg tells B&C. "I don't know why they wouldn't."

Berg had gotten to know Leach over the years after reaching out to him following a 60 Minutes story and a New York Times Magazine story.  Berg brought him in for a Friday Night Lights cameo, and Leach actually came to Hollywood for a month to live with Berg two years ago and observe Hollywood.

"I was just fascinated with him," Berg tells B&C.

So Berg sent Brendan and Emmett Malloy -- who shot the Roach series -- to Washington to spend three days with Leach last week.

"I thought he would be the my way or highway type," says Brendan Malloy. "He wasn't, but I think he gets interesting when something controversial happens."

The plan for the new series is to have it cover training camp and through the first or second game of the season.

Leach came under fire in 2009 when a player, Adam James, suffered a concussion under Leach's tutelage at Texas Tech; he was accused of handling the situation inappropriately after the student was ordered to refrain from sports activity. The college subsequently fired Leach, who filed suit against Texas Tech in Jan. 2010 for wrongful termination. Early the next year, the Court found that Texas Tech was immune to Leach's claim that the college breached his contract, though Leach's attorney announced they planned to appeal.

Lindsay Rubino contributed to this story