Mike Leach experienced an incredible coaching occupation but what ought to not be lost in the tragedy of his untimely dying is just how quite a few coaches and players he positively impacted about head coaching stops at Texas Tech, Washington Point out and Mississippi State.
Leach was lucky to have coached with many of these elite coaches and players but a lot of of them are also very fortuitous to cross paths with Leach, who adjusted their lives for good.
Much more: Mississippi Condition mentor Mike Leach dies at 61
The outpouring of assist from coaches at any time considering that the news broke that Leach suffered a coronary heart attack Sunday and considering that his demise was introduced early Tuesday has occur from across the school football landscape, many of whom have been on Leach’s staffs around the decades and now operate their personal systems.
The staff members Leach place collectively at Texas Tech was incredibly deep and crammed with latest head coaches like TCU’s Sonny Dykes, who is primary the Horned Frogs into the School Soccer Playoff this year. Dykes coached extensive receivers in Lubbock.
Houston mentor Dana Holgorsen coached inside of receivers and was the offensive coordinator under Leach. USC mentor Lincoln Riley was a university student assistant and then a graduate assistant for the Crimson Raiders just before coaching receivers. Art Briles coached working backs at Texas Tech right before having the Houston career.
His coaching tree at Texas Tech will go down in historical past as one of the best at any time. These were being some of the massive names there but there were other people, as Baylor coach Dave Aranda was a graduate assistant in Lubbock and then Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Cumbie performed and was a GA for Leach there as well.
Nevada mentor Ken Wilson was one of the largest names who worked with Leach through his time at Washington Condition. Interim Mississippi Point out coach Zach Arnett, the defensive coordinator, has been tied to other positions and is completely a single of the up-and-coming assistants nationally.
Those ended up a lot of of the major coaches who ended up with Leach in the course of his coaching career. He also coached a bunch of players who finished up receiving into the coaching occupation and are still building a large impression.
Texas Tech legend Kliff Kingsbury was a star quarterback in the early several years for Leach in Lubbock right before he himself coached the Red Raiders for 6 seasons and eventually landed the Arizona Cardinals work.
West Virginia mentor Neal Brown, former North Texas coach Seth Littrell, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, Cumbie and Washington Condition offensive coordinator Eric Morris had been some other huge-timers.
The effect and impact Leach experienced on players around the several years at all 3 head coaching stops is immeasurable. So numerous quarterbacks manufactured their occupations in his Air Raid offense, other people went from no-names to NFL Draft picks and so several of them posted record-breaking quantities together the way.
Here’s a look at some of the greatest-profile gamers:
In Leach’s early years at Texas Tech, ahead of he was a significant-time mentor, Kingsbury experienced three substantial seasons at Texas Tech. He concluded his vocation as a single of only 3 gamers to throw for more than 10,000 yards, gain additional than 10,000 yards in total offense and complete additional than 1,000 passes.
What speaks to Leach’s genius was that right after Kingsbury, BJ Symons turned the starter and in a single period experienced much better numbers than Kingsbury at any time had. Symons, who would be a seventh-spherical choose just after Kingsbury was a sixth-rounder the yr prior to, threw for 5,833 yards with 52 touchdowns and 22 interceptions for the Purple Raiders.
It helped that Kingsbury and Symons were throwing to future NFL star receiver Wes Welker (who incredibly went undrafted) as he had 86 catches for 1,054 yards and seven touchdowns in 2002 and then posted even greater figures in 2003 with Symons. That period, Texas Tech had a few receivers with additional than 1,000 getting yards and a fourth was only 25 receiving yards absent.
Cumbie, the Louisiana Tech coach, would commence for Leach in 2004 and threw for a lot more than 4,700 yards just before star Graham Harrell, currently the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at West Virginia, took above in 2006.
Harrell, receiver Joel Filani and stud WR Michael Crabtree place alongside one another some of Leach’s finest several years in Lubbock. In 2007, Harrell accomplished a head-boggling 512 passes. In comparison, Leach’s QB this time at Mississippi Condition, Will Rogers, led the NCAA with 386 completions.
Crabtree was a superstar for the reason that of Leach’s pass-joyful offense and had practically 2,000 receiving yards in 2007 and then 1,135 yards and 18 TDs the following time.
Leach was so forward of his time in terms of passing offenses – and then he took it to Washington State. In the calendar year ahead of Leach acquired to Pullman, the Cougars’ quarterback threw 19 landing passes. Two seasons afterwards, Connor Halliday threw for 4,597 yards with 34 TDs. The pursuing year Halliday experienced 32 TDs and receiver Vince Mayle, who struggled to catch on elsewhere, experienced 106 catches for 1,483 yards and nine touchdowns prior to starting to be a fourth-round NFL Draft select.
Then Luke Falk, who committed to Cornell but backed off that pledge to wander on at Washington State, took more than and threw for all around 4,500 in each and every of his very first two seasons in Pullman with 38 TDs in every campaign. He then had a great 2017 season before starting to be a sixth-spherical pick.
The 2018 year was specially memorable simply because it was Minshew Mania as Gardner Minshew, one more quarterback who didn’t have a ton likely on, revitalized his vocation in a person year with Leach. Right after playing at Northwest Mississippi Neighborhood Higher education and then East Carolina, Minshew transferred to Washington State for a person season exactly where he threw for 4,779 yards with 38 touchdowns and 9 picks ahead of turning into a sixth-spherical select. Minshew is nonetheless in the NFL.
That is the period Leach wore a faux mustache so terribly misplaced in the course of a put up-game interview (to honor Minshew’s time) that all people had to laugh. It was so Leach.
What Leach did with Will Rogers is not only yet another example of the extraordinary good results he’s had establishing quarterbacks and creating them see his offensive eyesight but also using a person and earning them have much more NFL probable than at any time possible.
A superior 3-star with only a single other Power 5 supply (Washington Point out), Rogers split time with Stanford transfer KJ Costello in his 1st time, throwing for just 1,976 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Then Rogers totally took off in Leach’s offense with 4,739 yards, 36 TDs and nine picks the following year and then 3,713 yards with 34 and six this time.
Leach was humorous, quirky, outstanding, thoughtful, peculiar in his personal particular way with exclusive interests. He was human.
And he was a single hell of a mentor and mentor, one of the ideal in current memory. The quantities – and the persons he aided alongside the way – spell that out.
Long gone, but cannot be overlooked.
