Paul Finebaum reflects on Mike Leach's college football legacy, coaching tree following his death

As someone who didn’t play college football and had a law degree from Pepperdine, Mike Leach had one of the most interesting coaching careers in college football history. His Air Raid offense became a spectacle of the game, going back to the early days of his career.

Paul Finebaum reflected on Leach’s legacy, including his impressive coaching tree, shortly after Mississippi State announced his death at age 61. Leach’s coaching disciples include Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, TCU’s Sonny Dykes and USC’s Lincoln Riley, to name a few, which show the impact he’ll still have on college football.

But his success began in the late 1990s with Tim Couch.

“It started at Kentucky with Hal Mumme, who was an innovator, and Mike Leach worked for him,” Finebaum said on “First Take” Tuesday. “The first great quarterback they produced was Tim Couch, as you guys may remember, was the first pick taken in the late ’90s. Then, it led on. I think Josh Heupel, today, we’ve talked about him countless times here this year producing a near-playoff team at Tennessee. Sonny Dykes has a team in the playoff. Now, Sonny Dykes was the son of Spike Dykes, who Coach Leach followed at Texas Tech.

“You may remember, Stephen A., that epic game in 2008, you had No. 3 Texas Tech playing Mack Brown’s No. 1 team in the country. That team was destined for the playoffs and they pulled off that upset. … He left there in a major controversy and he went to Washington State. Producing coaches like Lincoln Riley, he worked with Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and I think that’s really what he’s going to be remembered for. [Kliff] Kingsbury is one of his more recent products.”

With Leach’s fingerprints on multiple programs across college football, Finebaum said that will be his legacy on the game — even beyond the memorable sound bites and stories. It speaks to his football acumen and the trailblazing system he brought with him wherever he went.

“We will talk constantly today and play clips of his [irreverence], but he was a genius,” Finebaum said. “He was a mad genius, but he was a genius nevertheless. I think ultimately, years from now … his practices will continue to be studied long after we quit talking about this year.

“By the way, it was just three weeks ago — in his final game now, tragically, to have to think about — that he upset Lane Kiffin in the Egg Bowl at Ole Miss on that Thanksgiving night in easily his biggest win at Mississippi State during his three years there.”