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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Charles Goldman

Chiefs players pay tribute to Mike Leach: ‘True legend of the game’

Mike Leach, a longtime college football coach with Texas Tech, Washington State and most recently Mississippi State, died Monday night at 61 years old due to complications from a heart condition.

An affable character with a monumental impact on both college and professional football, Leach was an innovator of the Air Raid offense. Since his passing, there has been an outpouring of support from those who knew him and those who appreciated him from afar. A number of Kansas City Chiefs players took to Twitter to pay homage to Leach and pray for his family.

Patrick Mahomes

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Leach coached at Texas Tech from 2000-2009, actually coaching Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury, who was Patrick Mahomes’ head coach when he was with the Red Raiders. Texas Tech is also where Leach earned his nickname “Pirate.”

Chris Jones

Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Leach took over as the head coach at Mississippi State in 2020, which was after Chris Jones’ time with the Bulldogs. He still had an appreciation for Leach and what he had done for the Mississippi State program.

Trey Smith

AP Photo/Scott Audette

Many are flying the jolly roger in honor of Leach’s “Pirate” nickname, including Chiefs RG Trey Smith. Smith also retweeted the following video of Leach talking about offensive line play and coaching. I think it’s a safe bet that Smith shares this opinion.

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