Mike Leach Popular Books

Mike Leach Biography & Facts

Michael Charles Leach (March 9, 1961 – December 12, 2022) was an American college football coach who primarily coached at the NCAA Division I FBS level. He was a two-time national coach of the year, three-time conference coach of the year and the mastermind behind the NCAA record-setting air raid offense. He was the head coach at Texas Tech University from 2000 to 2009, where he became the winningest coach in school history. After Texas Tech, he coached at Washington State University from 2012 to 2019, where he recorded the third-most wins of any coach in school history. He then coached at Mississippi State University from 2020 until his death in 2022.Leach was known for directing offenses using lots of passing to several receivers, in a spread system known as the air raid, which Leach developed with Hal Mumme when Mumme was head coach and Leach was offensive coordinator at Iowa Wesleyan, Valdosta State, and Kentucky in the 1990s. Leach's offenses with Mumme, and later as a head coach himself, have broken numerous school and NCAA records. On eighteen occasions, Leach led his unranked team to victory over a team ranked in the AP poll, which is the most in the AP era. Early life and education Mike Leach was born to Frank and Sandra Leach in Susanville, California. His father Frank was a forester and the family moved around several times while Leach was growing up, before finally settling in Cody, Wyoming. Leach was raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While growing up in Cody, he joined Boy Scout Troop 58 and earned the rank of Eagle in 1975. Leach graduated from Cody High School in 1979; he played football there from 1975 to 1978 and was recruited to play at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. An ankle injury he sustained in high school ruled out playing college football, so he played rugby instead.Leach stayed close to the football program, occasionally sitting in on film room sessions. Led by head coach LaVell Edwards, offensive coordinator Norm Chow, and quarterbacks Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, and Steve Young, BYU played with a pass-heavy offense, which was uncommon in college football at that time. Leach graduated in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in American studies.In 1986, Leach earned a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California. He is also one of the most prominent graduates of the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, Alabama, from which he earned a Master of Sports Science in sports coaching in 1988. Coaching career Early coaching career Leach began his coaching career as an assistant at Cal Poly in 1987 before moving on to College of the Desert in 1988.In 1989, he served as head coach of the Pori Bears in the American Football Association of Finland.Also in 1989, he joined Hal Mumme's staff at Iowa Wesleyan University as offensive coordinator. The pair spent three seasons there before moving to Valdosta State (1992–1996) and then Kentucky (1997–1998). The partnership was known for the development of the air raid offense, which allowed their teams to rank highly in offensive statistics and set numerous records. Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch became a No. 1 overall NFL draft pick.For the 1999 season, Leach joined the Oklahoma staff under head coach Bob Stoops. Oklahoma's offense, which had ranked 11th in the Big 12 Conference in 1998, improved under Leach to first in the conference in 1999. Texas Tech After one year at Oklahoma, Leach was hired as head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, another Big 12 member.Under Leach, the Red Raiders' best finishes came with three nine-win seasons in 2002, 2005, and 2007 and an 11-win season in 2008. In 2002, Tech swept its in-state conference rivals Baylor, Texas, and Texas A&M for the first time since 1997 and then defeated Clemson, 55–15, in the Tangerine Bowl. It was the Red Raiders' first postseason win since 1995 when they beat the Air Force Falcons in the Copper Bowl. In 2005, the Red Raiders opened their season with a 6–0 record, their best start since 1998. Leach built a strong passing offense at Tech, where the Red Raiders led the NCAA in passing yardage for four years in a row.He inserted Kliff Kingsbury at quarterback for three years. Kingsbury broke the NCAA records for completions in a career. Kingsbury was succeeded at the position by B. J. Symons, who produced the most passing yards in a season in NCAA history. Sonny Cumbie followed, leading the Red Raiders to an upset of the then-4th ranked California in the 2004 Holiday Bowl. Cody Hodges succeeded Cumbie, and subsequently led the NCAA in passing. Graham Harrell, the first non-senior starting QB since Kingsbury, struggled early in the 2006 season. However, he showed steady improvement beginning with the game against Iowa State and ended the season with a record-setting comeback victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Harrell also set NCAA records for passes completed in a season and career amongst others. Texas Tech was known for its high-scoring offense and come-from-behind victories during Leach's tenure. A 70–35 win over TCU in 2004 began with TCU leading 21–0 with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter. Before Tech's scoring drives started, a TCU defensive back was caught mouthing into a TV camera, "They aren't going to score." Later in the season, Texas Tech beat Nebraska, 70–10, forcing the Cornhuskers to give up more points in a single game than they had before in their 114-year history. In 2005, the Red Raiders were losing to Kansas State, 13–10, late in the second quarter but won the game 59–20. Also in 2005, Tech had a halftime lead of 14–10 over Texas A&M. By the end of the game, they increased the margin to 56–17. It was the Aggies' worst loss to the Red Raiders in the 64-year-old series.Leach was chosen to coach the South team during the 2007 inaugural Inta Juice North–South All-Star Classic game.At the end of the 2008 season, Leach was 76–39 with the Red Raiders, including 7–2 against the Texas A&M Aggies and 2–7 against the Texas Longhorns. With a 5–4 record, he is the all-time winningest coach in postseason play in Tech football history. Leach was one of only sixteen active college football coaches who had never had a losing season after he left Texas Tech. This was followed by a 3–9 season in his seminal year with Washington State. Of those, he is among nine who have been a head coach for at least five seasons.In February 2009, Leach signed a three-year contract extension with Texas Tech that would have paid him at least $2.5 million per year if he had stayed through 2013. Leach's guaranteed compensation would have been $1.6 million in 2006, $1.65 million in 2007, $1.75 million in 2008, $1.85 million in 2009 and $2.15 million in 2010. 2007 Texas game controversy During his post-game press conference after the 2007 loss against Texas, Leach used most of his time to rail against the officiating crew for what he felt were bad calls. He sp.... Discover the Mike Leach popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Mike Leach books.

Best Seller Mike Leach Books of 2024

  • The Perfect Pass synopsis, comments

    The Perfect Pass

    S. C. Gwynne

    An “excellent sports history” (Publishers Weekly) in the tradition of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, awardwinning historian S.C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how two unknown co...

  • Geronimo synopsis, comments

    Geronimo

    Mike Leach & Buddy Levy

    “In the hands of Mike Leach and Buddy Levy, the story of this brilliant Apache leader comes into sharp focus, both in their narrative of his life and in spirited commentaries on it...

  • The View from the O-Line synopsis, comments

    The View from the O-Line

    Howard Mudd, Richard Lister, Dan Fouts & Andy Reid

    The View from the OLine is an NFL narrative that has yet to be told, about men who gamein and gameout take grueling physical punishment without the expectation of fame and media at...