Big 12 Football Coaches React to Mike Leach’s Death
On Tuesday it was announced that Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach died at 61 years old after suffering a heart attack over the weekend.
Leach was most recently with the Bulldogs, but his coaching history and his coaching tree has deep ties across the Big 12 Conference, where he was most notably the coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders from 2000 to 2009.
So while the reaction across the college football world has been widespread, many of that has come from within the Big 12 Conference.
Here’s what has currently been posted to social media from Big 12 coaches.
Leach built arguably the greatest coaching tree in college football, giving countless coaches their start in the profession. As Mississippi State noted in its press release, his historic tree includes former and current head coaches Lincoln Riley, Dave Aranda, Sonny Cumbie, Dana Holgorsen, Seth Littrell, Art Briles, Ken Wilson, Neal Brown, Josh Heupel, Eric Morris, Sonny Dykes, Kliff Kingsbury, Ruffin McNeill and assistant coaches Wes Welker, Bill Bedenbaugh, Robert Anae, Alex Grinch, Brandon Jones, and more.
Over his 21 years as a head coach, Leach compiled a 158-107 (.596) record, guided his squads to 19 bowl games, produced seven seasons of at least nine victories, captured two conference division titles, became the winningest coach in Texas Tech history and set school records for bowl appearances at both Texas Tech (10) and Washington State (6). During 10 of those 21 seasons, Leach’s passing attack led the FBS – six at Texas Tech and four at Washington State.
Rest in Peace, Mike Leach.
