Mississippi State coach Mike Leach has died in a Jackson, Miss. hospital.today after complications related to a massive heart attack.
He was 61 years old.
Leach participated in an organ donation at the University of Mississippi Medical Center as a “final act of charity.”
Leach suffered a personal health issue at his home in Starkville Sunday that required him being airlifted to the UMMC in Jackson, about 124 miles from the university. His conditon went downhill quickly, leaving the college football world stunned and saddened.
He was in his third year as the Bulldogs’ head coach and suffered with during the season but said he was getting better. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Leach, whose ”Air Raid” offense changed the game of college football, had a 19-17 record with Mississippi State and was 8-4 this season. He coached at Texas Tech from 2000 to 2009 and Washington State from 2012 to 2019. Overall, he turned around three Power 5 programs and his record was 158 and 107 with eight bowl victories in 21 seasons.
Leach was an American original in a sport dominated by conservative CEOs at places like Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson.
Leach had a colorful nickname. He was known as the Pirate, because of his affinity for priates and had a life sized statue of a singing pirate in his office when he was at Washington State that was a gift from Bob Knight, who was at Texas Tech when Leach coached there. He adopted “Swing Your Sword” as his team’s motto.
He was known for his candor and quirkly personality and dry sense of humor. He enjoyed talking about history, business and politics. During press brieflngs, he might offer advice on wedding planning or his favorite restaurants.
Leach was never adverse to speaking his mind. “He once said, “miss strreakers” afer a fan ran onto the field and dropped his pants following a touchdown in WSU’s 24-22 win over Stanford in 2007, then offered to be Donald Trump’s “Secretary of Offense” after Trump won the 2016 election. Leach has multiple interests. He loved to travel, loved visiting Key West, graduated law school at Pepperdine, wrote a book on Geronimo and his approachto leadership.
On the field, four of the nine highest single year passing totals in FBS history–came under quarterbacks coached by Leach. Leach called plays from a folded piece of paper and his system turned gun slingng passers such as BJ Simmons (448.7 yards per game), Graham Harrell (438.8), Connor Halliday (420.3) and Anthony Gordon (429.1) is record setting passers and Heisman Trophy contenders.
NFL Arizona Cardinals’ coach Kliff Kingsbury played three seasons under Leach at Tech and was the Red Raiders head from 203 to 2018. In addition to Kingsbury and Josh Heupel of Tennessee, who he coached as a coordinator at Oklahoma, Leach’s coaching tree includes USC’s Lincoln Riley, TCU’s Sonny Dykes and Houston’s Dana Holgorsen.
Leach never played football as an undergrad at BYU but closely studied Hall of Fame BYU Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards and his approach to offense.
After law school, Leach began his coaching career at Cal Poly in 1986, then joined Hal Mumme’s staff at Iowa Wesleyan. Mumme was the creator of the Air Raid offense, but
Leach turned it into a brand name when he followed Mumme to Valdosta State and Kentucky. He set himself up to become a head coach when he spent the 1999 season as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator by dramaticallly improving the Sooner’s offense and turning Heupel into a Heisman candidate before leaving to become head coach at Texas Tech when OU’s Bob Stoops won the national title.
Leach established himself as one of the most innovative offensive minds at Texas Tech, coaching 10 years, makng the Red Raiders a Big 12 power before being fired in Dec. of 2009 when a former player Adam James, the son of former ESPN announcer and NFL player Craig James accused Leach of mistreating him after he suffered a concussion.Leach sued the university for wrongful terminaton and lost a bid for monetary damages because of a legal technicality but continued to battle to get records pertaining to his dismissal.
Leach turned around another perennial loser Washington State when he arrived in 2012. The Pac 12 Cougars had eight straight losing seasons. leach led them to a bowl in his second season and from, 2015 through 2018, won at least eight games, including 11 in 2018.
Leach was the king of upsets. His 18 wins against AP ranked opponents when his team was unranked are the most by any coach since the AP poll was started in 1936.
When Leach moved on to Mississippi State, there were questions whether his system could work in the best conference in the country. The Bulldogs set an SEC record for yards passing inhis first game against defending nataional champion LSU.
He will always been remembered as an innovator and a visionary.
