Kirby Smart on Mike Leach's impact. His connection to UGA's Todd Monken & Stetson Bennett
Mike Leach was on staff at Valdosta State in the early 1990s when a defensive back from about 80 miles away in Bainbridge was on the school’s recruiting radar.
Kirby Smart went to Georgia where he became an All-SEC safety but Smart’s first coaching gig was at that NCAA Division II school in 2000 under Chris Hatcher, who was an All-American quarterback in Leach’s offense there.
Leach, 61, died Monday night in a hospital in Jackson from what the school said were complications from a heart condition. He was a college head coach for 21 seasons including 10 at Texas Tech, eight at Washington State and the last three at Mississippi State, going 158-107 at schools in far-flung small college towns without a long tradition of winning.
“His impact is wide and broad,” Smart said Wednesday at a press conference for the Dec. 31 Peach Bowl national semifinal game against Ohio State. “He traveled all over the country to coach even from the bottom right down at Valdosta State all the way up to Washington State and coached all over the country.”
Leach had a law degree from Pepperdine, a quirky personality comfortable talking about candy corn, weddings and pirates, and a penchant for passing, leading the FBS in 10 of his 21 seasons and throwing more times a game this season — 49.1 — than any other program.
“Does their offense resemble their head coach, a little bit different?” Georgia radio voice Scott Howard asked Smart on his radio show the week of the Mississippi State game last month.
“He’s definitely different,” Smart said with a laugh, “but I’ll tell you he’s sharp. He knows what he’s doing. He’s more experienced in his offense than you are defending it. It makes it unique.”
Leach’s coaching tree includes Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, Southern Cal’s Lincoln Riley and TCU’s Sonny Dykes.
Georgia’s offensive coordinator has 'Air Raid' in his background and Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett has a connection to Leach as well.
Todd Monken, in his third year running the Georgia offense, comes from the "Air Raid" coaching tree from his time running the spread offense during his two seasons at Oklahoma State in 2011 and 2012. Mike Gundy hired Monken to replace Dana Holgerson who was on staff with Leach at Valdosta State from 1993-95 and worked on his staff at Texas Tech from 2000-2007.
“I learned a little bit of the Air Raid with Dana Holgorsen that he had learned through Mike Leach, and that group from previously,” Monken said in 2020.
Bennett and Leach spoke on the field after the Georgia-Mississippi State game last month.
“I was talking to Coach Leach for a while so then I had to sprint back in the locker room,” Bennett told reporters without detailing what they talked about.
Bennett’s high school coach at Pierce County High, Sean Pender, played for Leach at Valdosta State when Hal Mumme was head coach, Leach was offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach and later offensive line coach. He followed Mumme from the Iowa Wesleyan staff.
“His impact is really felt more in the high school level,” Smart said Wednesday. “We see in the vision that he had in terms of passing the ball, throwing the ball in his young years with Coach Mumme all the way to now. What you don’t see is the trickle-down effects he’s had where we go watch a high school team play and the elements of his offensive system are pervasive. It’s like all over the place.”
Pender still holds the single season Valdosta reception record with 111 in 1995 and is No. 2 on the school’s all-time receptions list with 247 catches and 9th on the school’s all-time receiving list with 2,072 yards from 1992-96.
Smart’s Georgia team went up against Leach’s Mississippi State squad twice thanks to an SEC-only schedule in 2020 during the pandemic, winning 31-24 in Athens that season and 45-19 in Starkville less than five weeks ago.
“I enjoy being around him,” Smart said before the game last month. “I don't know him that well. Probably as well as I know some others because he was out west for a large time I've been coaching here … I know a lot about him and followed his career because of Coach Hatcher and because of the ‘Air Raid,’ kind of family.”
Smart Wednesday said Leach and the ‘Air Raid,’ “changed the game” on the high school level, “from years ago it was wishbone, triple option. You couldn’t watch a high school game without Wing-T, veer option, triple option, wishbone to now you actually see more ‘Air Raid’ elements than you do those. He had a large part to do with that. A special man and heartfelt feelings going out to his family, his wife and his kids.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Mike Leach's football connections included through Georgia's program
