LOOK: Illinois honors late Mississippi State coach Mike Leach with helmet decal ahead of ReliaQuest Bowl

Illinois is getting ready to take on Mississippi State in the ReliaQuest Bowl. This is, of course, a Bulldogs team that has been dealing with the enormous emotional blow of losing head coach Mike Leach to a sudden and unexpected death in December.

Now, Illinois is choosing to honor Leach in the bowl game with a decal on the back of the team’s helmets.

You can look at those helmet decals, here:

🏴‍☠️#Illini // #HTTO // #famILLy pic.twitter.com/N32T8RsoDk

— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) January 2, 2023

The decal itself says Mike in bold letters. The ‘i’ has been replaced by a cowbell, referencing the cowbells that Mississippi State fans use to create noise during games. On that cowbell is a skull and crossbones image. It was an image that almost became synonymous with Mike Leach in college football, as The Pirate would demand that you, “Swing your sword.”

The caption on Twitter was simply a Jolly Roger pirate flag emoji.

An incredible innovator, Mike Leach changed offense in football with the Air Raid. He also has a massive coaching tree that extends up to the NFL. Between his three stops as a head coach at Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State, Leach had a career record of 158-107.

Mississippi State honors Leach at the ReliaQuest Bowl

An aspect of the ReliaQuest Bowl is going to feel like a Memorial to Mike Leach. Mississippi State is looking to honor its late head coach in every way possible. That includes making him the captain of the ship.

The ReliaQuest Bowl is played at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In one of the end zones is a large pirate ship. It’s fitting that this is where Mississippi State is honoring Leach with a portrait and flowers. He was, after all, the pirate captain of college football. On top of that, they will also have pirate flags on their helmets.

You can see that memorial, here. You can see the helmets, here.