Mike Leach has passed away. He was 61 years old.
The Mississippi State football coach is the first active SEC coach to die since 1980 when Bo Raine was killed in a plane crash while recruiting for LSU.
While Leach could be the source of controversy at times, what most in the sports media remembered and loved about him was his irreverent personality.
He was a favorite interview subject of many that covered the sport and they paid tribute to the man on social media following his death.
This is just a small list of the tributes and memories that poured in on Twitter. To put together a full list would take more bandwidth than we have here at BSM.
Credited as one of the creators of the Air Raid offense, Mike Leach revolutionized the game while serving as offensive coordinator at Kentucky under Hal Mummy. He eventually became the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, a role he held from 2000 until 2009 when he was fired amid accusations of mistreating a player that had suffered a concussion. After three seasons away from the sidelines, he became the head coach at Washington State in 2012. He left Pullman for Starkville in 2020.
During his career, Leach amassed a 158-107 record. He lead his teams to bowl games in 18 bowl games in his 21 seasons as a head coach.
Mike Leach is survived by his wife Sharon and four children: Janeen, Kimberly, Cody and Kiersten.
