Georgia Football shares condolences following Mike Leach passing
The football community is mourning on Tuesday after the news of the passing of Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach overnight. The 61-year-old suffered a heart attack at his Starkville home on Sunday and had been transported to Jackson, Miss. for further care.
“RIP to a man who changed this game and so many lives within in,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart posted to Twitter with a picture of him and Leach from this year’s Georgia-Mississippi State game that took place exactly a month to the date before his passing. Georgia Football quote tweeted Smart with its own message too.
“We are extremely saddened by the loss of Coach Leach. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the entire Mississippi State community during this difficult time.”
Mike Leach played Rugby at BYU from 1979-1983 before getting into coaching in 1987 at Cal Ply. He was an offensive line coach for one season before spending a season each at College of the Desert and with the Pori Bears, an American football team in Finland. Three seasons at Iowa Wesleyan (1989-1991) with Hal Mumme led to Leach’s next stop at Valdosta State where he was the offensive coordinator, and his “Air Raid offense” took off.
“He was at Valdosta State when I was in high school and his staff recruited me to go to Valdosta State from right down the road, so I know he was there at that time,” Smart said about Mike Leach prior to Georgia’s matchup with Mississippi State this season. “I know a lot about him and followed his career because of Coach (Chris) Hatcher and because of the air raid kind of family. But I have a lot of respect for what he does. He’s evolved, too. He’s not stayed exactly the same. Their backs and their commitment to the run — and the air raid. And he’s brought that physicality, really, to the SEC in terms of what he does … They have answers for what they do. They’re usually one step ahead in their answer then you, because you don’t play against them but once a year and they do it all the time. So they have exposure to everything every defense has tried on them.”
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Leach would eventually head to Lexington with Mumme before getting his feet wet in the Big 12 at Oklahoma, both stops as the offensive coordinator. That led to Leach’s first head coaching job at Texas Tech where he guided the Red Raiders to an 11-win season in 2008 including an upset victory over Colt McCoy and No. 1-ranked Texas. In 2009, Leach became Texas Tech’s all-time winningest coach.
Leach packed his bags and spent three seasons out of coaching before getting back in, this time in the PAC-12. He spent eight seasons at Washington State, once again including an 11-win season in 2018, one that finished with the Cougars in the top-10 of both the AP and Coaches polls.
Leach eventually came back to the SEC in 2020 as the head coach at Mississippi State, guiding the Bulldogs to a 19-17 record in three seasons before his passing. Mississippi State went 8-4 with a win over rival Ole Miss, Leach’s first, this season and finished No. 22 in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Bulldogs are scheduled to take on Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Fla. on January 2nd.
