Longtime head coach and former OU offensive coordinator Mike Leach dies at 61
Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach died Monday night from heart condition complications, the university announced.
Leach, 61, leaves behind a storied coaching legacy that spans 35 seasons and includes stops at 11 programs. Among that list is a one-year stint as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 1999 under then-head coach Bob Stoops.
Leach inherited an OU offense that ranked last in the Big 12 in points per game the previous season (16.7). The Sooners ranked second in the conference with an average of 35.8 points per contest under Leach.
Leach found success with his "Air Raid" offense, which consists of a shotgun formation with four wide receivers and one running back. The aggressive passing attack helped revolutionize college football and launch the career of Leach, who went 158-107 during his 21 years as a head coach.
But most importantly, Leach's legend grew due to his personality. The Susanville, California, native was eccentric about the game of football, and he influenced many people throughout his time in the sport.
Here are more stories from those whose lives were impacted by Leach. This article will be updated.
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Mark Mangino, OU offensive line coach/offensive coordinator (1999-2001)
Mark Mangino was glad when Leach moved away from the West Coast.
After concluding a lengthy coaching career in 2015, Mangino moved to Naples, Florida. It’s a quiet town for those who want to spend their retirement in relaxation, but that wasn’t always the case for Mangino. He would sometimes receive a phone call as late as 2 a.m. from Leach, who served as OU’s offensive coordinator in 1999 while Mangino was the team’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Leach had become the head coach at Washington State, which is three time zones behind Naples.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Leach would usually start.
“Uh, sleeping,” Mangino would reply.
“Oh, that’s right,” Leach would always respond. “We’ve got a time difference.”
Mangino would still end up talking with Leach for an hour or so, and it was always about something that had nothing to do with football.
Mangino will miss those late-night conversations now that Leach has passed away.
“I just can’t believe that Mike’s passed,” Mangino said. “We had so much fun in the past. We stayed in touch over the years, texting and calling.”
Every conversation with Leach was an interesting one. He was inquisitive. He loved to talk about history, politics, archeology and everything else in between.
And he loved other peoples’ stories. Mangino and his wife went on a trip to Cuba about five years ago, and Leach was fascinated by their experience. Mangino had two phone calls, each over an hour long, with Leach about the Cuba trip.
“He’s just not a football coach who buries himself in the office all day, worrying about concepts,” Mangino said. “He lived life.”
Leach only served on OU’s staff with Mangino for one season. Leach accepted the head coaching position at Texas Tech in 2000, while Mangino took over as the Sooners’ offensive coordinator.
Still, the two coaches’ bond remained strong. And after telling Leach stories over the phone in the dead of night for years, it’s those phone calls Mangino will now cherish.
“Mike is a good guy,” Mangino said. “He likes to laugh and joke and things like that. … I’ve been on the phone for an hour with him and he’s talking about something that has nothing to do with his team or anything, but that’s what made him unique. That’s what made Mike Mike.”
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Bubba Burcham, OU offensive lineman (1996-2000)
OU’s offense experienced a series of changes when Leach arrived in 1999. Among them was the installation of wide receiver screens, which required the Sooners’ offensive linemen to run out and block someone.
It was a new assignment for Bubba Burcham, who played center for OU from 1996-2000, but Leach used the perfect phrase to instill confidence in him.
“You’re a bus and they’re a fly,” Leach would tell Burcham about the opposing defense. “They’re either gonna get splat or get out of the way.”
Most defenses made the wise decision to just get out of the way.
OU averaged 321.7 passing yards per game in Leach’s lone season as its offensive coordinator. The team averaged just 109.9 passing yards the previous season.
After running the wishbone formation for decades, the Sooners instantly became one of the most forward-thinking offenses in the nation thanks in part to Leach.
“He used the words organized confusion, which is a classic Leach oxymoron term, ” Burcham said.
But there was no confusion about Leach’s impact during his short time in Norman.
That impact became even clearer to Burcham once he began his coaching career. Burcham coached for nine seasons, including eight as the head coach of Coweta High School. Even at the high school level, Burcham saw adoptions of Leach's "Air Raid" offense.
“What people don’t realize is how much he changed the state of Oklahoma high school football,” Burcham said. “Just by high school coaches watching how he ran practice, it was so different from what was done in the past that it got peoples’ attention.”
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Trent Smith, OU tight end (1999-2002)
Trent Smith didn’t think he’d have much of a role during OU’s rivalry game against Texas on Oct. 9, 1999.
The redshirt freshman tight end wasn’t a starter at the time. But Leach still had an important, albeit unconventional, job for Smith.
“Hey Trent, come over here,” Leach hollered prior to kickoff.
The OU offensive coordinator handed Smith what looked to be an ordinary playbook, but it was far from it. The book contained a series of fake plays, and Leach instructed Smith to leave it on the field in hopes of a Texas staff member finding it.
“It’s gonna be hilarious,” Smith recalls Leach saying. “I hope they believe it.”
The task wasn’t what Smith had in mind for a role in that day’s rivalry game, but he was just as excited as Leach.
“I'm just thinking to myself, ‘This will be remembered forever,'” Smith said. “And he asked me, some redshirt freshman that wasn’t even a starter. It meant a lot. It meant an awful lot.”
Smith laid the bait by leaving the playbook on the field, and it wasn’t long before one of the Longhorns’ student assistants bit.
The playbook eventually made its way to then-Texas defensive coordinator Carl Reese, who thought he’d struck gold.
In reality, he struck out swinging on just about every play call in the first quarter.
OU jumped out to a 17-0 lead before Reese and the Longhorns eventually scrapped the playbook. And although Texas ultimately earned a 38-28 win, Leach’s prank will be remembered just as much as the final score.
Smith went on to become an All-Big 12 first-team tight end in 2002 before getting selected in the seventh round of the NFL Draft.
He found himself in the center of numerous high-profile games, but his role in Leach’s rivalry ruse remains one of his favorites.
“For him to include me in that, it was incredibly humbling,” Smith said.
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Jason White, OU quarterback (1999-2004)
Jason White still remembers what Leach told him one day after practice in 1999.
White went on to become a Heisman Trophy winner in 2003, but his game was far from polished during OU's 1999 campaign. The then-freshman quarterback had a habit of scrambling before making all of his reads, and that frustrated Leach.
“Jason, you’ll never play quarterback for me if you don’t stop running the ball,” Leach told White one day.
Leach’s message bothered White, and it was on his mind four years later when OU traveled for a road game at Texas Tech. Leach was the head coach of the Red Raiders, and White was the Sooners’ starting quarterback.
White erupted for 394 passing yards and four touchdowns as he continuously used his feet to escape the pocket. He led OU to a dominant 56-25 win, and Leach was quick to find White after the final horn sounded.
“He was the first person to run to me and tell me that he was wrong,” White said. “He said he really enjoyed watching me evolve as a quarterback the way that I had.”
That was Leach.
The longtime coach is credited with helping revolutionize college football’s passing game, but he didn’t shy away from admitting his mistakes.
“I think a lot of people overlook the impact he had on just people,” White said. “Sometimes, yeah, he was a tough guy to play for. … I still think at the end of the day he meant well, and he always had a reason for everything he did.
“It’s sad he’s gone.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football: Former Sooners offensive coordinator Mike Leach dies at 61
