Mike Leach details crazy travel experience after Arizona game

Mike Leach and the Mississippi State Bulldogs were humbled this weekend by air travel issues. On their way back from a game in Pac-12 country at Arizona, Mississippi State’s team plane battled treacherous weather and had to circle around the city of Starkville for several hours before being able to land.

“Oh it was pretty wild,” Mike Leach summarized after the ordeal, which he was asked about at his press conference this week. Here was the whole tale:

“We got back and then we started coming back. Then we had fog, so we circled around. After circling around, we went ahead and went to Birmingham and once we got to Birmingham, we waited for another crew. Then once the other crew got there, we landed in Starkville probably around 10:30 a.m. So it was over the river and through the woods for sure.”

A pretty crazy adventure for the Bulldogs on their way back from the desert. So how does a head SEC football coach put all this extra travel time to good use? Leach explained his plane-time process of reviewing film, stats and such before trying to catch whatever sleep he can.

“You just kind of line out your tasks and put one foot in front of the next time and so we had our meetings later on Sunday. But it was still a jam day, no question.Usually, coming in from a game, the first thing is…you’ll have a bunch of attacks. So while you’re sitting, you hope that the security process is not ridiculously onerous. And then you try to get through that quickly. Then there will be food on the plane. So you try to eat that because you haven’t eaten for like five hours. But it’s airplane food, so don’t get too excited about it. So I don’t end up eating that much. Sometimes I eat stuff out of my bag instead.

“And then, I kind of do a combination of getting on the stats, which, going through that helps me kind of see how the game unfolded and how we responded. And then, you know, they have these iPads. So we’ll try to watch the previous game, which that gets you a step on the next day. Then after that, sleep as much as you can.”

Sleeping was a fool’s errand on this trip, though, due to all of the interruptions.

“But you’re getting announcements that you’re doing circles in the air, you’re going to Birmingham and maybe this, maybe that, etc. Well then you try to sleep — and some people are better at it than others. Through a massive amount of practice, I would like to think I’ve become average, which means that, basically, you lay there half awake with your eyes closed. But every little bit helps at this point. And then, get home, take a nap, and then you’re back at it, firing both barrels.”

So perhaps a more sluggish Mike Leach manned the sidelines at football practice this week. Got to catch up on sleep before heading to Baton Rouge to play LSU Saturday night.