Mike Leach, Mississippi State Football Coach, Dies at 61
Mississippi State’s head football coach Mike Leach died Monday night after suffering complications from a heart condition, the school announced Tuesday. He was 61.
Leach had what the university initially described as a “personal health issue” at his home in Starkville on Sunday, after which he was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where he died on Monday.
“Mike was a giving and attentive husband, father and grandfather,” his family said in a statement released by Mississippi State on Tuesday. “He was able to participate in organ donation at UMMC as a final act of charity. We are supported and uplifted by the outpouring of love and prayers from family, friends, Mississippi State University, the hospital staff, and football fans around the world. Thank you for sharing in the joy of our beloved husband and father’s life.”
Leach had been in his third season as the school’s head coach following his arrival at Mississippi State in 2020. At the end of the regular season, Leach told ESPN that he had been struggling with pneumonia during the season but that he was feeling better.
“Coach Mike Leach cast a tremendous shadow not just over Mississippi State University, but over the entire college football landscape,” Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum said in a statement. “His innovative ‘Air Raid’ offense changed the game. Mike’s keen intellect and unvarnished candor made him one of the nation’s true coaching legends. His passing brings great sadness to our university, to the Southeastern Conference, and to all who loved college football. I will miss Mike’s profound curiosity, his honesty, and his wide-open approach to pursuing excellence in all things.”
“Mike Leach truly embraced life and lived in such a manner as to leave no regrets,” Keenum added. That’s a worthy legacy. May God bless the Leach family during these days and hours. The prayers of the Bulldog family go with them.”
Before joining Mississippi State, Leach worked at Washington State between 2012 and 2019 and Texas Tech between 2000 and 2009. In 2018, he was named the AFCA national coach of the year at Washington State.
He held a 19-17 record for the Bulldogs and was 8-4 this season. His offense led the SEC passing in both of the last two seasons and he led the school to its biggest comebacks in the program’s history in 2021.
Leach is survived by his wife, their four children, and three grandchildren.
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