Beloved College Football Coach Mike Leach Dies After Massive Heart Attack

Mike Leach, the Mississippi State football coach as well known for his homespun wit as his gridiron success, has died after suffering a massive heart attack.

Leach, who was 61 and in his third year as Mississippi State’s coach, suffered what the university initially described as a “personal health issue” at his home in Starkville on Sunday. He was flown to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where he died.

“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,” Leach’s family said in a statement. “Thank you for sharing in the joy of our beloved husband and father’s life.”

Leach, who pioneered the “Air Raid” offense while coaching at Texas Tech from 2000-2009, also had a successful stint at Washington State from 2012-2019 before taking on what would become his last job. Under Leach, Mississippi State posted a 19-17 record, including an 8-4 ledger this year.

Leach was known as much for his entertaining post-game press conferences as his offensive creativity. He would engage with reporters about history, politics, and popular culture

He was also known for his quirky personality, dry wit and penchant for talking about history, business and politics (and, really, just about anything else) as comfortably as he did quarterbacks making the right reads and receivers running the right routes.

“I miss streakers,” he once said after a fan ran onto the field and pulled down his pants during a 2017 Washington State win over Stanford in 2017. After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, Leach jokingly offered to become his “Secretary of Offense.”