Mike Leach died Monday night. He was just sixty-one years old. If you are not a college football fan, then you might not be familiar with him. For that, I feel badly - for you.
Coach Leach never coached my beloved Alma mater. He did, though, coach against the Buffaloes. First, when he was the head coach at Texas Tech, Colorado still played in the Big XII Conference, and he led the Red Raiders to then-unreached and presumptively unreachable heights. Thereafter, he coached Washington State in the PAC-12 and under his guidance, the Cougars became consistent winners. At the time of his death, he had completed his third season coaching the Mississippi State Bulldogs and was preparing his team for its January 2, 2023 bowl matchup against Illinois, a game his Bulldogs will play in honor of their coach.
Way back when, before he became a football coach, Mike Leach grew up a forester's son in Cody, Wyoming. He went to and graduated from BYU but did not play football for the Cougars. He played rugby. After college, he earned his J.D. at Pepperdine University College School of Law, which shortly thereafter he parlayed...into a gig as the Head Coach of the Pori Bears in the American Football Association of Finland.
Mike Leach was a unique, exquisitely interesting man. His press conferences were not to be missed as he was capable of holding court on a variety of subjects, whether related to football or not. In 2018, while he was the Head Coach at Wazzu, a reporter asked him for his opinion as to how the various mascots in the PAC-12 would fare against one another if they tussled. His answer elevated him to perpetual favorite son status at CU.
He shall long be remembered. He shall forever be missed.
-AK
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