Per ESPN: Mississippi State coach Mike Leach dies after hospitalization
Sad day for college football, the Pirate King is dead.
December 13th, 2022 at 11:51 AM ^
It is, it is a glorious thing to be a pirate king!
December 13th, 2022 at 10:31 AM ^
Terrible news. Did he have an ongoing illness? This seems so unexpected and sudden. Just another reminder of how fragile life is and that each of us should make the most of every minute that we have on this planet.
December 13th, 2022 at 10:46 AM ^
60+, not in great health or shape, hyper stressful job. It's awful, but at the same time it's not completely random.
I think given how football coaches live it's somewhat surprising that not more of them keel over actually.
December 13th, 2022 at 3:20 PM ^
I had the same thought, but I would guess that the reason that more of them do not have incidents is because most are in relatively decent shape (please, no pictures of BERT or Charlie Weis). Many are former athletes and keep in relatively decent shape for their respective ages.
December 13th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
I believe it was reported, and disclosed by Coach Leach, that he was dealing with a bout of pneumonia this fall. I didn’t see any additional information - so, nothing regarding prior heart conditions, blood pressure, etc.
Whatever happened - heart attack or stroke - it obviously, was quite severe, and probably quite sudden.
Wishing peace for Coach, the entire Leach family, and all those close to him.
December 13th, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
A truly sad day for college football fans.
RIP Coach Leach and condolences to your family 🙏
December 13th, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
Just sad, especially this time of year
December 13th, 2022 at 11:12 AM ^
I think its interesting how everyone is forgetting how he treated concussion protocols.
RIP to a unique individual and self made college football coach.
December 13th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
eh I think it's just common decency. People are all flawed. Leach was one of them. But he added many positives to the world. Let us remember that today, and discuss his flaws later.
December 13th, 2022 at 11:13 AM ^
A great coach. I got to see a Leach team once, 20 years ago now, back when Kliff Kingsbury was his QB. The game was as wild as you could imagine. His Tech teams were something else, and that Tech win over Texas, which I saw from the hospital office in LA that I was working in at the time, was legendary. Changed the game, one of the highest compliments a coach can receive.
Life is short. You don't know how long you have.
December 13th, 2022 at 11:34 AM ^
RIP Coach Leach. Flags to half staff.
December 13th, 2022 at 5:49 PM ^
Coach Leach might have been a perfect cast member in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series.
December 13th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
Condolences to his family. The world of college football is less rich today without Leach.
December 13th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
Wow that was fast.
God bless his family and his program.
Selfishly, I just hope they make a movie or a TV show about him someday. He’d make a great sitcom character; Will Ferrell?
December 13th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
Will Ferrell as Mike Leach would be epic. +1
December 13th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
Will Ferrell? The guy's whole shtick is to be the dumbest person on the screen, and you want him to play Mike Leach.
December 13th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
Loved this guy. Sad to hear.
December 13th, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
The world of sports coaches is full of sterile, anodyne pressers and forgettable personalities. It needs characters to inject some life and fun into the whole enterprise. He was certainly that.
December 13th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
That sucks. Leach was an original. The world needs more originals.
December 13th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
The world lost a good one. RIP coach
December 13th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
Awful news. I'm glad we got to experience him for as long as we did.
December 13th, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
Sad day on the Mississippi State University campus today. Coach is being honored on the jumbotron. Somehow it seems fitting that we are expecting severe weather tonight. Godspeed Coach Leach, you will be missed!
December 13th, 2022 at 3:44 PM ^
Have any of you people who are so cravenly saying RIP or wishing his family peace considered how his passing makes a disabled Jewish person who needs to log off the Internet badly feel? For shame.
December 13th, 2022 at 4:52 PM ^
I love his story. I love that he played rugby in college and not football because of an ankle injury (how is rugby different from football in regards to that type of injury?), and pursued other things (law school) but that his passion was football and he figured out a way to turn that into his profession. So few people get to do that, either because of pure lack of opportunity or just aren't motivated enough to figure out a way. He didn't waste time figuring out what he wanted to do; he got right to the meat of it and did it.
December 15th, 2022 at 10:43 AM ^
Having played rugby -- (and soccer where I had more surgeries from that sport than rugby) my guess would be technique.
Because rugby players aren't all armored up in pads a la football, technique matters a lot to avoid getting hurt.
December 13th, 2022 at 5:03 PM ^
Loved him. Terrible to have him no more.
December 13th, 2022 at 5:08 PM ^
Here’s a link to the Audible Podcast on the Athletic by Bruce Feldman (who wrote Swing Your Sword with Mike Leach) and Stewart Mandel: Remembering Mike Leach Podcast
Probably available through your favorite podcasting App as well.
December 13th, 2022 at 5:37 PM ^
Joel Klatt did a nice memorial today on his show.
December 13th, 2022 at 7:46 PM ^
Want a sample of Leach's wisdom? Watch the YouTube video of Leach talking about the absurdity of Deflategate. Simple brilliance.
December 14th, 2022 at 1:58 AM ^
It's hard to pick a favorite Mike Leach clip, but this is definitely one of the best.
December 14th, 2022 at 2:55 AM ^
Wonder if the pneumonia was related to COVID.
Lots of heart attacks in men post-COVID infection.
December 14th, 2022 at 9:17 AM ^
I see Ace is making some from friends on twitter after bad mouthing Mike Leach over his trump support.