Mississippi State coach Mike Leach’s sudden death brought an outpouring of grief from across the college football world, with countless stories underlining his insatiable curiosity and unique wit.
However, the longtime Bulldogs coach was also remembered as an innovator and consummate winner. His Air Raid offense brought him success at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State. His coaching tree includes a slew of FBS head coaches past and present.
The logical endpoint of Leach’s illustrious career would be a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. However, as Fox’s RJ Young pointed out Tuesday morning, a quirk of the National Football Foundation's rules as currently constituted would make Leach ineligible for the honor.
The NFF’s policy for coaches, outlined on its website, is that “a coach becomes eligible three years after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years of age. Active coaches become eligible at 75 years of age.”
More germane to Leach, who died at the age of 61, is a rule that stipulates one “must have been a head coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage.”
Leach’s career record was 158-107—a .596 winning percentage.
With his contributions to college football and the historical status of the programs he coached—he led the Red Raiders to their highest AP ranking ever (No. 2) in 2008, and the Cougars to No. 7 in ’18—a waiver for Leach to enter the Hall seems like a no-brainer. Whether the NFF is willing to make the decision will be a storyline to watch.
