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Mississippi State

Mike Leach scoffs at question on helping team fight through adversity with speeches

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•09/20/22
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Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

Mississippi State coach Mike Leach led reporters in a circle the other day when discussing adversity and how his Bulldog team responds to it. At first, when asked about his team facing adversity, Leach quickly threw them under the bus, calling his guys “fragile” while answering that they don’t yet respond to adversity very well.

“I think we play hard. We play hard, we practice hard and I think we’re a little quick to get discouraged. I think we’re kind of fragile as far as getting discouraged when we face adversity, and we’ve got to fight through that.”

Leach then went on, explaining how you’re going to face more adversity against tougher teams. He also noted that his younger team on the offensive side is going to struggle with adversity early in their careers.

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“Well, the the better the opponent, the more that there is. We’re really not particularly old on offense, you know. We have some starts under our belts but we’re not particularly old. We’re older on defense, yeah. We are older on defense. And then, you know, the biggest thing is…both of our trenches, we got to take charge and take control of things. And the offensive line and the defensive line, I think, is where a lot of it starts.”

For Mike Leach, adversity is a part of the game. So teaching players how to be ready in the biggest moments is the best way to combat that.

“I mean, there’s going to be adversity. That’s why they have a football game in the first place, to create adversity and see who comes through it. And so, the way you come through it as you…is you have the discipline to do your job more times in a row than the guy across from you. So that’s what we got to do.”

Lastly, Leach was asked if there was anything he would like to add to his messages to the team. Which brought out his snarky side.

“So you think there was a sentence or two that wasn’t said last week? I mean, left out of phrase maybe a couple words, maybe a key adjective here or there. Now I think it’s a little more complex than that.”