Mississippi State University Head Football Coach Mike Leach, 61, died Monday night at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the university announced in a statement that included remarks from his family.
“Mike was a giving and attentive husband, father and grandfather. He was able to participate in organ donation at UMMC as a final act of charity,” the Leach family said. “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.”
MSU first announced that Leach had been hospitalized after suffering “a personal health issue at his home” in Starkville on Sunday, and said in an update Monday that the coach was in “critical condition.” The university issued the statement announcing his death on social media just before 8 this morning.
“Coach Mike Leach cast a tremendous shadow not just over Mississippi State University, but over the entire college football landscape. His innovative ‘Air Raid’ offense changed the game,” Mississippi State President Mark E. Keenum said in the statement. “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’s death also underscores the fragility and uncertainty of our lives. Three weeks ago, Mike and I were together in the locker room celebrating a hard-fought victory in Oxford. Mike Leach truly embraced life and lived in such a manner as to leave no regrets. 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.”
Leach became Mississippi State’s 34th head football coach on Jan. 9, 2020. Before taking the head coach job at MSU in 2020, Mike Leach served as head coach for Texas Tech from 2000 to 2009 and at Washington State