Mike Leach

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Mike Leach
Date of birth March 9, 1961
Place of birth Susanville, California
Sport Football
College Texas Tech
Title Head coach
Record with Team 55-33, 31-25
Overall Record 55-33, 31-25
Coaching Stats College Football DataWarehouse
Schools as a coach
2000-Present Texas Tech
This is the article about the football coach. For the Denver Broncos football player, see Mike Leach (American football). For the former American pro player see Mike Leach (tennis).

Mike Leach (b. March 9, 1961 in Susanville, California) is the current head coach of the Texas Tech football team. Leach has had a winning season every year since his tenure began at Tech.

Leach is a 1983 graduate of Brigham Young University, with a B.S. in American Studies. He is atypical among NCAA Division I head football coaches, as he did not play football at the college level. Leach is one of only five such coaches, with Mark Mangino of the University of Kansas, Paul Johnson of the United States Naval Academy, Dennis Franchione of Texas A&M University, and Charlie Weis of the University of Notre Dame. In 1986 Leach earned a law degree from Pepperdine University. Leach is also one of the most prominent graduates of the United States Sports Academy, from which he earned a Master's of Sports Science/Coaching in 1988.

Leach is known for building some very potent offenses, specifically directing some very prolific passing games that has broken school and NCAA records at Valdosta State University, University of Kentucky, University of Oklahoma and Texas Tech. He has never had losing season so far. The Leach-coached Red Raiders' best finish came in 2002 and 2005, having 9-win seasons. In 2002, Tech swept its in-state conference rivals Baylor, Texas, and Texas A&M first time since 1997 and defeated Clemson by 55-15 in the Tangerine Bowl. It was the Red Raiders' first postseason win since 1995 when they beated the Falcons of the US Air Force Academy in the Copper Bowl. In 2005, the Raiders opened their season 6-0, the best start since 1998, and defeated Oklahoma first time under Leach's tenure.

During the 2005 game against Texas A&M, Fox Sports Net featured a segment that focused on Leach's odd affinity for pirates.

Under Leach, the Red Raiders have built a strong passing offense. It has won the NCAA passing Title 4 years in a row now. Leach might be more known for plugging new quarterbacks into his spread/pass-oriented offense and having them reel off NCAA records. At Kentucky he turned Tim Couch from a weak-armed (though highly regarded) recruit into a No.1 NFL Draft Pick. At Oklahoma, Josh Heupel became an NFL draft pick following a year under Leach's tutelege. At Tech, he inserted Kliff Kingsburry for three years, who broke the NCAA records for completions in a career. Following Kingsburry, BJ Symons stepped in producing the most passing yards in a season in NCAA history. Sonny Cumbie jumped up leading the Red Raiders to an upset of nationally ranked California in the Holiday Bowl. Cody Hodges got called to duty, leading the NCAA in passing. Graham Harrell has had a rough time as he had struggled earlier in the season, but improved since the Iowa State game.

"One of the side effects of Leach's tinkering with the accepted rules of offensive conduct is to upset the ordinary rhythms of a football game. In the five full years Leach has coached Tech, four or five times each season the team has flopped around ineffectually for the first third of a game before racing off to score touchdowns at a rate unheard of in organized tackle football. In 2005, Tech was losing to Kansas State, 13-10, late in the second quarter, and won the game 59-20. In 2004, against TCU, was even odder: TCU, heavily favored, had shut out SMU the week before, 44-0. With 8 minutes left in the second quarter, TCU scored its third touchdown, for a 21-0 lead, and a TCU defensive back was caught mouthing into TV cameras, "They aren't going to score." In the last six minutes of the half, Tech scored three quick touchdowns; after the break, Leach's Red Raiders came out and scored another seven and won the game, 70-35. A few games later, the Texas Tech offense scored the most points Nebraska had ever given up in its 114-year-old history. In that game, Texas Tech had been ahead, 14-3, with 2 minutes left in the first half. It won 70-10."* The similar trend happened in the game against Texas A&M in 2005. Tech only led the Aggies by 14-10 at the halftime, but came out strong in the second half and knotched up a 56-17 victory. It was the A&M's worst loss to the Red Raiders in the 64-year-old series.

The American Football Quarterly Magazine has also named him the Division II offensive coordinator of the year in 1996.

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Joe Dickinson		 Oklahoma Offensive Coordinator
1999		 Succeeded by:
Mark Mangino
Preceded by:
Spike Dykes		 Texas Tech Head Football Coach
2000-present		 Succeeded by:
(current)


Texas Tech Red Raiders Head Football Coaches
Freeland • Higgenbotham • Cawthon • Morgan • Weaver •King • Carlen • Sloan • Dockery • Moore • McWilliams • Dykes • Leach


Big 12 Conference Head Football Coaches
North Division: Dan Hawkins (Colorado) • Gene Chizik (Iowa State) • Mark Mangino (Kansas) • Ron Prince (Kansas State) • Gary Pinkel (Missouri) • Bill Callahan (Nebraska)
South Division: Guy Morriss (Baylor) • Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) • Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State) • Mack Brown (Texas) • Dennis Franchione (Texas A&M) • Mike Leach (Texas Tech)


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