As originally presented on the Rochester Press Box
Here’s some of what we knew about Mike Leach. He grew up with a pet raccoon named Bilbo Baggins, from The Hobbit. Hated candy corn and fruitcake. And hot dogs. Liked thin crust pizza.
Believed in aliens but not Big Foot. Thought disco was a dark time in our country. Jimmy Buffet was his favorite musician. Talladega Nights was his favorite film. He owned a gun but kept a Viking axe by his bed.
He attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah because, “The place is like Disneyland. Only without the rides and merchandising.” He didn’t play football there. Rugby was his game. That was Mike Leach.
Yes, there’s the usual stuff. College football coach. Genius. Innovative. Great motivator. Turned programs at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State, into winners, when they really had no business being that. But he was so quirky. I mean, how many other football coaches take the time to expound on the things he liked to talk about. Do you know Sean McDermott’s stance on Big Foot?
I remember hearing him interviewed on a national radio show. And he left me with something I’ve repeated many times. Leach had a law degree, but he never used it. Asked why he chose coaching over law, he answered, ‘Because it’s the thing I think about in the shower.’ When he was totally alone with his thoughts, he was drawing up football plays. So that’s what he decided he had to do. Degree be damned.
Mike Leach died Monday of a heart attack at the age of 61, while in the midst of preparing his football team for a bowl game. Doing exactly what he knew he should be doing. He leaves the stage beloved. All because he listened to the voice he heard in the shower.
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