Ryan Leaf - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 2001, Leaf married a Chargers cheerleader, also a daughter of financial radio host Ray Lucia. They separated two years later and eventually divorced. In San Diego, Leaf worked as a financial consultant. Leaf went back to college and enrolled in a sports management class called Media Relations at Washington State. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in arts and humanities in May 2005.

Leaf's younger brother, Brady, was a backup quarterback and cornerback for the Oregon Ducks football team.

Leaf joined Don Carthel's West Texas A&M University coaching staff as a volunteer quarterbacks coach in 2006, stating "About a year after I retired from playing, I decided that I wanted to get back to college, where I had the greatest time of my life, and to get involved with college football." Leaf also admitted that he was unprepared for the NFL when he was drafted back in 1998. In April 2008, ESPN described Leaf as having come to terms with his past, with Leaf saying, "When playing football became a job, it lost its luster for me. I kind of got out of the spotlight and life's never been this good."

In November 2008, Leaf was put on indefinite leave, and subsequently resigned one day later, from his coaching position at West Texas A&M for allegedly asking one of his players for a pill to help him deal with pain in his wrist from past injuries.

In October 2009, Leaf was living in Vancouver, British Columbia as a business development manager for a travel company. The Associated Press reported in September 2010 that Leaf spent a lot of time with his family in Montana. In December 2010, Leaf signed a contract to write three autobiographical books.

In June 2011, Leaf had surgery to remove a benign tumor from his brain stem.