Mike Leach - RIP

[wicked]

Wasn’t the Flora-Bama where Mike Price had his little incident?

 

[dixiehack]

Wasn’t the Flora-Bama where Mike Price had his little incident?

No. Flora-Bama is just a state line dive bar (or was until fame caught up to it.) Price was at a strip joint up the road in Pensacola.

 

[Regan MacNeil]

As always, Horns Down:

 

[BTExpress]

I love talking about the good 'ol days of UAT football.

 

[dixiehack]

I never once heard about Leach's politics. From his persona I'd guess he'd swing libertarian.

A lot of that comes through in this rant. How have I never seen this before today?

 

[HanSenSE]

Would any other college coach have been so in character with his cameo on "Friday Night Lights?"

 

[MileHigh]

 

[wicked]

To shotty's point, Leach was pals with Trump. I don't get the sense it was an ideological thing.

 

[wicked]

Only tangentially related to Leach, but still:

 

[hondo]

I've read a few stories so far that say Leach was the lone major college coach who didn't play college football ... but they don't finish the story.

Mike Leach was born to Frank and Sandra Leach in Susanville, California. Frank was a forester and the family moved around several times while Mike was growing up, before finally settling in Cody, Wyoming.[4] He was raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Leach graduated from Cody High School in 1979; he played football there from 1975–1978 and was recruited to play at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. An ankle injury that he sustained in high school ruled out playing college football, and he played rugby instead.[5][6]​

****ing guy was a bad ass every which way.

 

[Batman]

To shotty's point, Leach was pals with Trump. I don't get the sense it was an ideological thing.

Talked to one of his former Mississippi State players today for a reaction story. He said they were at practice one day, getting ready to run a drill, when they realized Leach was off to the side talking on his phone.
He'd gotten a call from Trump during practice, and was over there talking to him.

 

[LanceyHoward]

The admiration for Leach today is a revelation, considering how he was held in relative contempt in many corners.

I have no doubt that was mainly because of his politics. Which makes me wonder if we are too quick to denounce an individual with differing political views. There's more to a man than his politics.

I don't think it was just his politics. Leach had that reputation as a jerk long before Trump became a national political figure. If I remember correctly part of the brouhaha involving the son of Craig James was because Leach had the kid sit in the equipment shed as punishment for poor play. Which seems to me to indicate Leach was something of a jerk.

Maybe Adam James was just a spoiled kid with powerful parents and small humiliations are a motivational technique used by college coaches everywhere. But Leach used to criticize players after games more publically and vociferously than virtually any other D-1 coach. Leach gave the impression that he always out coached the other guy and his losses were alway due to his being burdened with inferior players.

Leach was a very smart X's and O's guy who was very good at designing offense that were tactically sound and easy to teach. The fact that the Air Raid is easy to teach is one reason it is so popular in high schools. I think that Leach, like many other very smart people, relied on his intellectual skills and ignored interpersonal relationships.

 

[Octave]

Being unfiltered doesn't make someone great.

 

[UPChip]

One of Mike Leach's angrier tirades came in the SAME GAME as "I'm a man! I'm 40!"


After a loss to Oklahoma State in 2007, Leach said of his defense: “The entire first half we got hit in the mouth and acted like somebody took our lunch money. All we wanted to do was have pouty expressions on our face until somebody dabbed our little tears off and made us (expletive) feel better. And then we’d go out there and try harder once our mommies told us we were OK.”

Don’t remember that last one? There’s a good reason. In the other head coach’s news conference after that same game, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy emphatically announced his gender and age while criticizing a column written about one of his quarterbacks.

 

[dixiehack]

I think it is fair to say that if Leach was starting out as a head coach in the age of free transfers he wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far. Seems like if you played for him you’d either take a bullet for the guy or grow to despise him, with not much room in between.

 

[BTExpress]

 

[Regan MacNeil]

If someone can outscheme teams with superior talent that many times, he must have been OK at his job.

 

[dixiehack]

A buddy I used to work with at the Valdosta Daily Times posted this gem.

 

[MileHigh]

 

[kickoff-time]

This short quote probably sums it up as well as any.

"Our sport was better because of Mike Leach and is far less interesting without him." – Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury.