The College Football Hall of Fame is an attraction that helps keep the history of college football. There is strict criteria to get into the Hall of Fame for players and coaches alike. That needs to be changed, as Mike Leach, the late coach of Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State is not in the College Football Hall of Fame, but he should be.
For head coaches to be on the ballot for inclusion into the College Football Hall of Fame they need 10 years of head coaching experience, coach in 100 games and have a winning percentage of at least .600. That criteria leaves Leach out of the College Football Hall of Fame, as his winning percentage was .596.
The problem with having such lofty criteria for inclusion is that so many talented coaches (and players) can get left out. Leach provided so much to college football, but unless the criteria changes he won’t be remembered in the museum.
Leach’s Career
Leach earned his law degree, but shortly after decided to go into coaching. His first job was as an assistant at Cal Poly. He then coached at the College of the Desert and then in the American Football Association of Finland with the Pori Bears.
He really started to build his legacy with Iowa Wesleyan where he was the offensive coordinator under head coach Hal Mumme. They formed the Air Raid offense, which emphasized using all five skill positions on the field and stretching the defense, forcing them to cover more area.
After three years at Iowa Wesleyan so Mumme and Leach moved to Valdosta State, where they continued to improve their offense. They were there from 1992-1996 before the duo moved on to Kentucky. With the Wildcats, Leach helped Tim Couch become one of the best quarterbacks in the country and he was the no. 1 overall in the 1999 NFL Draft. Following the 1998 season, Leach left Mumme and took the offensive coordinator job at Oklahoma. In the 1999 season, Oklahoma finished 7-5, but they had the 12th-ranked offense in the country. Although he left after one season, he helped lay the foundation for Oklahoma to win the national championship the next season.
Leach left Oklahoma to take the head coaching job at Texas Tech, where he would start in the 2000 season. He coached there for 10 years, going over .500 in every season. The Red Raiders won at least nine games four times (2002, 2005, 2007, 2008) and one season of 11 wins (2008). There were some great wins over the year, including when the Red Raiders defeated no. 1 Texas in 2008 with Michael Crabtree scoring the game-winning touchdown with one second remaining.
Following the 2009 season, Leach was fired after an investigation into his treatment of a player. He refused to apologize to the player, which convinced the school to fire him for insubordination. Those claims ended up being false. Leach’s attempts at wrongful termination lawsuits were unfruitful. Texas Tech invoked sovereign immunity to avoid paying out the rest of his contract. He was accused of something similar later in his career, but an internal investigation found no wrongdoing.
In 2012, Leach got back into coaching, taking the Washington State job. He coached there for eight seasons, finishing with a record of 55-47, which wasn’t easy at a school that hadn’t won six games since 2006. Leach won at least nine games three times (2015, 2017, 2018). His best season was when the Cougars won 11 games in 2018. Quarterback Gardner Minshew led that team to an Alamo Bowl win.
Leach coached Washington State through 2019, then took the Mississippi State job in 2020. Although he won just four games in his first season, he won seven and eight games in the next two seasons. On December 12, 2022, Leach passed away before the team’s bowl game with the cause of death being complications due to a heart condition.
Leach’s Impact on the Game
As mentioned, Leach helped foster in a new way of looking at football. He helped develop the Air Raid offense, eventually leading to many teams throwing the ball a lot more. While at Texas Tech, his offense led the nation in passing six times and total offense three times. At Washington State, his teams led the nation in passing four out of six times. The schools he worked at didn’t have the greatest history or resources, but Leach led them to a lot of success.
It was easy to see Leach’s offense being copied by other colleges. Now several other colleges run a variation of the Air Raid, while some of the concepts have even made their way up to the NFL. Some of that is because some of his former players are coaches. Josh Heupel played under Leach at Oklahoma and is now the head coach of Tennesse, where they had the no. 1 offense in 2022. Kliff Kingsbury has worked as a college coach and in the NFL after playing quarterback for Leach at Texas Tech. Graham Harrell also played quarterback for Leach at Texas Tech and he is now the offensive coordinator for the Purdue Boilermakers. Here is a list of some others who either played for or worked with Leach: USC’s Lincoln Riley, TCU’s Sonny Dykes, Baylor’s Dave Aranda, Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia’s Neal Brown, North Texas’s Eric Morris.
Leach’s Personality
Not only was Leach an offensive genius, he also proved to be the best with the media. While a lot of coaches will do “coach speak” and not give any real answers or show personality, Leach was the opposite of that. He would answer questions about football, but would also indulge in crazy topics too.
He once went through all the Pac-12 mascots and answered who would win a fight.
Another time, Leach gave his opinions on coffee.
Leach elaborated on his favorite Halloween candy.
He also gave his takes on marriage.
Leach was multi-faceted as well, writing books even while he was coaching. He wrote Swing Your Sword: Leading the Charge in Football and Life, Geronimo: Leadership Strategies of an American Warrior, and Squib-Kick it to a Fat Guy. He had an interest in Geronimo, Pirates and so much more that he shared over his years.
Does his personality warrant him getting a better chance at the College Football Hall of Fame? I would argue yes. His personality helped bring attention and excitement to college football.
Conclusion
Hall of Fames should aim to capture the story of their sport. Criteria can be nice, but letting people select what matters to them can really help keep the history of the sport more realistic. Mike Leach added a lot to college football as a whole, whether it was his coaching success, his lasting legacy of the Air Raid offense or his personality. In order to remember all he did, he should be included in the College Football Hall of Fame.
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