A pet raccoon and apartment theories: Remembering former WSU football coach Mike Leach
Former Washington State football coach Mike Leach died Monday night after complications related to a heart condition. Mississippi State University, where Leach has coached since 2020, confirmed his death at 61.
Mississippi State said in a statement on Sunday that Leach suffered a “personal health issue” at his home earlier that day before being transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson by ambulance.
Since the start of his career, Leach was known as a revolutionary offensive-minded coach, masterminding the spread offense known as the air raid system and improving teams wherever he went.
After 10 seasons with Texas Tech, where he became the most winning coach in program history, he joined Washington State in 2012 and recorded the third-most wins in school history until his departure in 2019.
During his time at Washington State, he posted a record of 55-47, most notably going 11-2 in 2018 and winning in the Alamo Bowl with a 28-26 victory over Iowa State. It was the first time Washington State won 11 games in a season in school history.
Leach won multiple coach of the year awards throughout his career, including Pac-12 Coach of the Year with Washington State in 2015 and 2018.
“Washington State University mourns the loss of Coach Mike Leach. We send our deepest condolences to Sharon (Leach) and the entire Leach Family,” Washington State athletic director Pat Chun said in a statement. “Needless to say, there will never be another Mike Leach ever to walk this earth. He was a husband, father, grandfather, friend, football coach, teacher, lifelong learner, innovator, conversationalist and a pirate.
“WSU will forever be indebted to Coach Leach for the legacy he left with us in Pullman,” Chun continued. “We were fortunate to have Coach Leach lead the WSU Football program for eight years. Mike will be forever loved, terribly missed and never forgotten.”
While much focus will be on Leach’s accomplishments as a football coach, there’s been just as much of an outpouring of affection for Leach as a person and the memories he’s left behind with people.
From iconic one-liners such as “it’s like Woodstock except everybody’s got their clothes on” after Washington State upset USC in 2017 to “there should be more sharks if you’re by an ocean,” Washington State football tweeted a video of some of his most personable moments as a Cougar.
Travis Green, sports director at KREM 2 News in Spokane, also compiled Leach’s best moments at Washington State. Some clips include Leach recounting having a pet raccoon and how he would die of boredom in a zombie apocalypse.
In 2016, Leach revealed to reporters why he named running back Jamal Morrow as a team captain as a redshirt sophomore: Morrow’s performance on The Price is Right.
Leach figured the only real purpose of a captain was to win the pregame coin toss, and in part to Morrow’s high energy and history of winning money on The Price is Right, it became an easy choice.
“He wins it almost all the time,” Leach said in the 2016 press conference. “I’m serious about this. I don’t know what his record is, but it’s something incredible.”
Detroit News journalist Angelique Chengelis recalled on Twitter a conversation she had with Leach during his final season at Washington State about the NCAA transfer portal.
As always, Leach was typically unfiltered and straightforward in his answer.
“A lot of these NCAA manuals and rules, they’re not written by lawyers, they’re written by people pretending to be lawyers,” Leach told Chengelis. “And the only thing more annoying than a lawyer is someone pretending to be a lawyer, and I’ve got a law degree, so I know something about it.”
Finally, Denver Gazette journalist George Stoia recalled a story dating back to 1999 when Stoia’s father offered Leach a ride home after a practice at the University of Oklahoma, where Leach was offensive coordinator for a season.
Leach explained for over an hour how apartment complexes are the best places to raise kids: “Tennis courts, a playground, a pool, other families,” Stoia recounts.
Twenty years later, Stoia was interviewing Leach for a story on then-Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley. After the interview, Leach told Stoia about how he once lived in an apartment complex in Norman, Oklahoma, and went on to tell Stoia the same theory he had told his father 20 years before.
According to Stoia, Leach said at the end of the conversation, “tell your dad thanks for the ride.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 10:54 AM.
