Mike Leach’s death reverberated across the college football world on Tuesday.
The 61-year-old died Monday night due to complications from a heart condition, Mississippi State University said in a statement. He was hospitalized on Sunday with what the school called a “personal health issue.”
Thoughts and prayers poured in over the last two days while Leach battled the health issue. On Tuesday, the college football world remembered Leach after his death was announced. Mississippi State and Texas Tech gave just a fraction of the number of condolences on social media.
Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach watches his players warm up before playing the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on Oct. 2, 2021 in College Station, Texas.
(Bob Levey/Getty Images)
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Leach got his collegiate head-coaching start at Texas Tech University in 2000 after serving as an assistant under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma in the late 1990s. He was also an assistant under Hal Mumme at Iowa Wesleyan University and moved to Valdosta State and later Kentucky.
He also spent time in the American Football Association of Finland as a head coach.
He brought that knowledge to the Red Raiders, where he developed several quarterbacks into gunslingers – Kliff Kingsbury and Graham Harrell to name a few. He was 84-43 with Texas Tech and 5-4 in bowl games.
Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach and Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin talk before the game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Nov. 24, 2022 in Oxford, Mississippi.
(Justin Ford/Getty Images)
MIKE LEACH’S EPIC RANTS AND CLEVER QUIPS REMEMBERED AS MISSISSIPPI STATE COACH BATTLES HEALTH ISSUE
Three years later, Leach took the Washington State job and brought the Cougars to prominence. Again, he would put together an offense that saw Gardner Minshew and Anthony Gordon rack up more than 4,000 passing yards in their respective seasons.
He spent eight years at Washington State and led them to an 11-win season in 2018. He was 55-47 with the Cougars and 2-4 in bowl games.
In 2020, Leach moved to Mississippi State and an SEC that was already loaded with the sport’s top coaches. He was 4-7 in the COVID-impacted season but salvaged the year with a win in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach talks about the quarterback position during the Big 12 media day in Irving, Texas, on Wednesday, July 29, 2009.
(Kelley Chinn/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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He would go 7-6 in 2021 and 8-4 in 2022. He was preparing for the ReliaQuest Bowl when the school announced his health issue.
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