The Most Interesting Man in Football History (Documentary)

This is a short documentary I spent the past few months piecing together about the legendary Mike Leach. Thank you to all the external source footage that made creating this possible, there’s a lot of good interviews on YouTube to check out. Mike Leach was our episode 1 on this channel, we tell some more stories about him in that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUXX_nOMtzI

Sources:
Bob Stoops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WtxOQotxI4
Joel Klatt Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0yBzJmUe64
Spirit Media Network: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kyZFz7iqyE
Portraits by Origin Sports https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyxuEb-N4uA
Pardon My Take: @PardonMyTakePodcast
CBS 60 Minutes: @CBSNews
Always College Football with Greg McIlroy: @espncfb
ESPN: @espn
Washington State Athletics: @WSUCougarAthletics
Mississippi State Football: @hailstate
Locked On SEC Podcast: @LockedOnSEC
Late Kick With Josh Pate: @LateKickwithJoshPate
SEC Network
AFCA
Pac 12 Network
Sellout Crowd

0:00 “Why Not?”
9:11 The Coach
24:22 The Controversy
33:15 Mike Leach Isn’t Dead

#mikeleach #collegefootball #ncaafootball

Audio background tracks licensed via Musicbed and Soundstripe

He was easily one of the quirkiest most  reverent people that you’ve ever met one   of the best characters that football’s ever had  nobody can appreciate the number of lives he’s  

Affected you know he was a genius uh I mean he  was he was a he was a mad genius but but he was a   genius nevertheless you can’t do what Mike Leech  did to our son and get away with it not in the  

United States of America why not the coach the  controversy my clees [Music] my fighting friend   football coach of all time even though he’s 60th  on the list of alltime wins and doesn’t have any   national champion ship track to Raccoon one time  in the snow some of the biggest Pricks on Earth  

They work in a student loan collection first of  all what kind of mythical powers does a Sun Devil   have we got to consider that he’s the person  that makes college football fun he’s a oneoff   you could travel far and wide and you couldn’t  possibly find anyone even remotely like him which  

Is one of the most compelling things about him  Mike was completely unafraid to be himself a lot   of people may use that term a little Loosely he’s  his own man or he’s one of a kind That’s Mike he  

One of a kind and he was his own man period And  if you don’t like the way he does it he doesn’t   care there’s a confidence that came was just  like being around Coach Lee you never really  

Felt like an underdog with him part confidence  part just really not giving a [ __ ] what people   thought you know like but it was awesome man it  was contagious he liked to kind of play koi and  

And say things that made you think what in the  heck is this guy doing what what’s he saying   meanwhile he’s the smartest guy in the room just  just an independent thinker leech is fascinated   by the world around him but indifferent to how the  world sees him he’s disheveled tends to mumble and  

Talks in circles that only add to his mystery you  know she was an harist to a big Corporation and so   I’m not sure that that didn’t bother him a little  more than than the breakup itself I’ve always got  

An Onex circle of books to read which uh it it  gets harder and harder to read them cuz you know   nowadays there’s an awful lot of good stuff on TV  like crazy good stuff like uh well the Hemingway  

Things on right now PBS has a three-part deal on  Earnest Hemingway which you know that’s required   viewing he would he was a great student of history  in fact he taught a class at at Washington State  

Uh they he was concerned they they’d get a 100  people that would sign up for it they ended up   getting 50,000 requests he’s wrote about jono  uh he’s wrote about football uh he’s talked   about you know chasing raccoons how does it I  don’t know how he knows this stuff you know I  

Was in a neighborhood and I was just curious where  this raccoon lived you know and you know there’s   fresh raccoon tracks and he’d been digging in  somebody’s garbage so I I followed the tracks and  

I don’t even know if these people know it but he  lives right in the back of their house in a bunch   of brush and trees you know as somebody said it’s  like tapping a balloon you know talking to him he  

Drifts whatever you say he’ll drift into another  subject he he seems sometimes bored talking about   college football whenever we would interview him  you just didn’t know where it was going to go in   recruiting he didn’t talk about any football you  know I remember went back with him and all we did  

Was magic tricks he did like a card trick and then  a phone trick and then he’s like well looks like   you’re ready to play football here and I’m like  well we haven’t talked about football so he should   come as no major surprise that coach leech takes  a somewhat unconventional method of transportation  

To work every day he walks from his home here in  Pullman to his office on campus nearly four miles   both directions the best ways to go straight over  this field what is this are these gar yeah you can  

Eat them if you want these you do you know who  own this land are they okay with you yeah yeah   he’s a good fell you always got coach you know um  wasn’t watered down definitely wasn’t politically   correct um as coaches we failed uh to make our  coaching points and our points more compelling  

Than their fat little girlfriends now their fat  little girlfriends have some obvious advantages   for one thing their fat little girlfriends are  telling them what they want to hear which is how   great you are and how how easy it’s going to be  I mean that defies every level of uh work ethic  

That exists with regard to football I just always  marveled the leader he was and even though he was   a little bit he wasn’t your your conventional  type but he was a leader and he was demanding  

And he’s a hell of a football coach the biggest  thing I want you to take away from this game is   nothing is really really really fun unless it’s  hard okay nothing is really fun unless it’s hard  

And we’ve got to embrace that things are going  to be hard and we got to embrace and be excited   when things are hard because then and you guys  will remember this game the rest of your life   and now there’s plenty of games you’ll forget  but you’ll remember this one the rest of your

[Applause] [Music] life [Music] in LC Texas imagine your favorite team bracing  for the biggest showdown in school history   against a hated instate rival just after  Sundown the Red Raider nation has never   been larger there are a lot of people  at Texas I like but this isn’t the time  

For that I mean I uh right I mean I I deeply  hope we beat their ass today [Applause] all right gets the call in zone touchdown an extra  point away from coming back in dramatic fashion   you were forgive me for this about to lose  to the number one team in the nation what’s  

Leech’s demeanor in that moment when he’s  sending you back out there he just turned   to me and he said all right let’s go score  pretty much in that tone pretty good advice   in that in that in that POS you going to say  you know walls going to take it out straight  

Up the field the 15 20 25 oh maybe not 30 35  and Out of Bounds at the 37 Harold ready to   go he’s got the football pressure coming throws  it short and it’s caught one low snap Harold’s  

Got it back to throw time throws left sideline  it’s caught so Harold in the shotgun from the 28 Lincoln Riley shared with me a story about  the great Texas Tech Team in 2008 middle of the   season one practice Mike decides that they  haven’t been throwing the go ball very well  

And so he decides that in that practice that’s  all they’re going to do and the quarterbacks   obviously are going to throw gr go routes all  day but the wide receivers are going to run go   routes all day long well these wide receivers  end up running go routes all day to the tune  

Of probably l said 3 four miles of go routes  you know that that’s all they’re doing and and   some of the other coaches started getting  uh worried about like the the number of go   routes that they were running and and the the  freshness of the wide receivers and their legs  

And some of them said to Mike we can’t do this  and Mike said why not do you remember what the   situation was Texas is number one in the country  both of these teams are 8-0 it’s early November  

There is no time left on the clock it’s 33 to 32  Texas until it wasn’t 8 seconds do you know what   route was called on that iconic play against Texas  that was all go that was four verticals it was go routes the throw goes to the  right side for Crabtree it’s

Caught unable and the Red Raiders led by  Mike Leech walk it off stun silence on the   long hord sideline we don’t have a 12 team  playoff here Texas was out that was it Colt   McCoy looks devastated because he is and  it didn’t matter what coverage Texas was  

Going to run Graham harell and Michael  Crabtree knew because of days like the   only go route day in practice that they  could execute it and it was because of   Mike Le and his his willingness and his  fortitude to just say why [Music] not why

Not one sports writer called you a football madman  directing a sideshow yeah well I don’t know I mean   uh uh I I I don’t have any disagreement with  it really [Music] you are one of only six head   coaches in college football who didn’t play  in college football and you also have degrees  

That uh surpass many of the head coaches so what  does it feel like being a nerd you know it works   out all right cuz I’ve got more experience with  that to be perfectly honest than than I do being  

One of the cool kids he’s known as a football  intellectual but but his eyes really light up   when he talks about the simple brutal Collision  of the offensive and defensive line you know when   o line dline go oneon-one and you know just get  incredibly violent I mean that’s what it’s all  

About you get to see those guys just go to  war you know and uh and it’s got all things   in football and Tails there’s shouting there’s  there’s blood there’s boogers there’s a whole   thing I mean and there’s there’s there’s spitting  there’s fighting there’s ripped jerseys there’s  

Uh somebody grab having somebody’s thr I mean  it’s why you have football otherwise it’s just   some form of uh basketball or soccer which  there’s nothing wrong with those things but   they’re still on football Mike Leech got bitten  by the coaching bug at a fairly young age he was  

Only 15 years old when he was head coach of  a little league baseball team you know I was   fairly consumed with you know the moving parts  and being the best baseball coach that I could  

You know I looked out there and I thought well  you know I can do that and I can do that better   than these guys the sounds insignificant but it  certainly it certainly wasn’t to me and it’s and  

It’s why I’m uh coaching college football right  now because I never really got that out of my   system but he wasn’t always set on a path into  professional coaching he went off to college   at BYU and then immediately on to Pepperdine for  law school what kind of lawyer did you think you  

Were going to be uh I wanted to do at the end I  wanted to do like products liability as in uh you   know if that camera explodes all over that guy  we’d sue the camera company and their insurance  

Company to say but for all intensive purposes he  just really couldn’t shake this call to coaching   he was worried it would be increasingly difficult  to turn back to try coaching if he went ahead and   started practicing law I went through this thing  in law school where I’m thinking okay do I having  

Great law practice coaching my spare time or coach  when I retire I mean I knew that that wasn’t going   to quite cut it because you know spare time I knew  that there times there wouldn’t be spare time so  

He he decided to never start practicing law in the  first place so I figured well I’m going to coach   for you know two years three at the most get it  out of my system then go practice law and so that  

Was more appealing except for when I graduated  from law school and we informed uh uh my parents   and um my wife’s parents that I was going to go  pursue coaching for a while how’d that go after  

They decided realize that was I wasn’t joking  but no they were pissed I mean I mean three of   them were pissed except my dad he just walked  off laughing shaking his head so instead of   taking a high salary job as an attorney he went  back to school racked up even more student debt  

And got a master’s in coaching would I spend  a week in jail to get rid of my student loans   I would have spent three months in jail to get  rid of my student loans and I would have done  

It happily and eventually before it was all said  and done I’d be le I’d be leaving leading prison   calisthenics and stuff like that I I mean I I  would have been I would have been like that uh  

Leprechaun on the damn Lucky Charms if they said  okay one week all your student loans are raised   in his first few years coaching he’d only make  like $10,000 a year but it was what he felt more  

Called to do so he began Gathering experience in  assistant coaching roles and after a few years he   landed a job as offensive coordinator Under head  coach Hal Mummy at an niia School Iowa Wesleyan   I was a recruiting coordinator I was the video  guy I was the equipment guy I was the offensive  

Coordinator I was the offensive line coach and  I was the sports information director I hir Mike   in 1989 when I got that job mainly because nobody  else wanted it Iowa Wesleyan had been winless the  

Year before in 1988 so when leech and mummy got in  there they knew they had work to do and basically   they got to work on Reinventing football offense  itself we we had driven around all these places  

In a 1984 Ford Taurus trying to find all these  ideas to put into our offense put into what we   were doing and together we constantly divis think  about Tinker copy how do we want to move the ball  

What do we want our offense to be like because at  the time you know there there was really only one   or two ways that that would be accepted to move  the ball down the field we would go anywhere and  

Everywhere and study uh what other people were  doing I mean we drive to a high school if they   had some neat little play or something like  that we’d drive up to the Green Bay Packers   we would drive to any college Under the Sun and  and uh and blizzards as we’re driving across  

Iowa and in the course of that I was fortunate  to develop a a pretty good knowledge base and   certainly a diverse one philosophy wise we want  to maximize space we want to attack the entire   field how do you build an offense that attacks  via the air but is not totally reliant on just  

A great wide receiver and you can have four  or five guys produce and they built the Air   Raid Offense it’s funny if you look at the way  he runs his offense it looks a little bit more   like a basketball offense than a football offense  it’s all about spacing it’s all about stretching  

The defense out even his line is stretched all the  way across the field sometimes it’s hard to tell   they’re in offensive line there’s so much space  in between them we were in Iowa westle for 3 years  

Won a bunch of games went to valasta state for 5  years woron a bunch of games and then from there   as one of the biggest leaps in the history of  college football uh Hal got hired to be the head  

Coach at the University of Kentucky went from uh  valasta state to the University of Kentucky have [Music] that walked into his office introduced  myself to him and the first thing he said to   me was two things you’re the starter and we throw  it 50 times a game greatest time of possession in  

The world a touchdown the beauty of Mike’s offense  and and how mummy the two of them designed this is   they’re going to do what they can do period it’s  better than you can defend it it’s a high-speed  

Aerial assault most teams run 70 plays in a game  Tech will run 90 I don’t know if I’d risk dropping   back and throwing it but he’s going to M here and  they’re taking a shot and it’s caught by Patman  

First down he was like I don’t call run plays and  I was like wa wait you what and he says I don’t   call run plays he he said every time we hand the  ball off that’s the quarterback checking to a run  

And I and I stopped and I and I was like hold on  a second you mean to tell me you do not call run   plays and he said absolutely not it’s as if when  he walks into a football program and grabs the  

Quarterback he he he sprinkles fairy dust on him  because the quarterback becomes a different human   being when I called Mike Leech to tell him that I  was going to decommit from Texas Tech uh and that  

I was going to be going to Alabama he he responded  quickly like he can do that he’s so quick witted   he responded by saying oh that’ll be good you’ll  you’ll throw five times a game they said well  

We’re going to at least know that we’re going to  throw it more on the first drive than you will   in the game and I was like so do you care about  balance at all and he started howling balance  

He’s like I can call for balance or I can call for  production one of the two what do you want we’re   going to throw it that’s how we run our offense  and it’s your job to stop it and and the thing  

That stood out to me in this day and age where  you see the Shawn Payton that have the the Denny’s   menu of plays and all this Mike Leech had the one  little thing that fit in the palm of his hand the  

Biggest problem hasn’t been having enough plays  it’s been having too many not making up your mind   on um what you were going to do and and um you  know what was what you were going to hang your hat  

On offensively we were really the only team that  said you know what we’re not running it at all   we’re throw at 50 6 times it was an exciting brand  of football to watch I felt like he was having fun  

When he was coaching and you can’t say that for a  lot of good coaches like I don’t think Nick Sabin   has fun I don’t think Kirby Smart is having fun  Mike Leech had fun one of the most fun stories  

From leech’s onfield career came in 1999 when he  was the offensive coordinator at [Music] Oklahoma   so in this 1999 game against Texas Mike Leach came  up with the idea to create a decoy call sheet just   trying to get any little Advantage they could  and maybe the craziest thing about it is that it  

Actually worked at least to start out we wanted  to just see how honest Texas was so we decided   to to write up a script a dummy script so he he  had up drawn up U you know OU game plan you know  

Texas and he had the first 15 20 plays that were  were going to call the challenge wasn’t just to   create random plays to throw him off he wanted to  create complimentary plays to get the defense the  

Most out of position as possible and you know ones  On’s a reverse and it wasn’t a reverse or one this   and it wasn’t that and the other challenge was  finding a way to have Texas Discover it so that  

They thought it was real so he had one of his  players pretend to accidentally drop it and he   gave it to I guess it to Trent Smith our tight end  and and he had Trent run by like he was tucking it  

In his belt and intentionally let it slip out  and fall on the ground he’s like I want you to   run past their sideline and as you’re running up  the tunnel I want you to take the script and act  

Like you’re putting it in your belt loop let it  fall out onto the ground it was kind of the first   first real like uh Espionage I’d ever been a part  of and somebody else was baiting was over there  

Watching to see if any of them picked it up one of  their G is wandering by and oh what’s this a piece   of paper he looks at it and his eyes get kind of  big and he sort of hides it and looks around to  

See if anybody saw him get it and sure enough  one of the Texas Personnel grad assistant or   manager whoever picks it up and looks at it looks  around like is anyone looking at me and then he  

Scurried up up to their locker room with the with  the fake sheet we all thought it was real because   we thought that the alternative would would be  just so far-fetched uh that that somebody would  

Go through the trouble to create a fake call sheet  and actually leave it and drop it you know where   we would find it I didn’t know this was happening  they they I found out about it like at the end of  

The next week and I’m like you got to be kidding  me you guys did what Paul ree takes it up to the   Press Box he starts studying the script trying  to figure out what defense they’re going to call  

To match up the script and on the second play of  the game The Script says double reverse pass we   were trying to get them over there to the left  we hit Savage and everybody was over to the left  

And Savage was to the right on first down Hy wide  opening the fresh with Savage touchdown Oklahoma   it’s very hard in the course of a football game  to go back and see a wide receiver at any level of  

Football ball F wide open we came out and I mean  we go up first quarter we’re up 17 nothing but   eventually Texas caught on and ended up winning 38  to 28 no that was that was Mike to a te don’t ever  

Try to pick up my scripts or steal my signals cuz  you don’t know what may be in store for you but   trickery aside leech’s offense at Oklahoma was  just producing and he was getting noticed for   head coaching positions I told him literally  I said you come here two 3 four years we do  

Well you’ll have a head coaching job it took nine  months one year so uh and then he did a great job   at Texas Tech and an unbelievable job he wasn’t  coaching Blue Bloods he was coaching teams that no  

One else wanted to coach and he made them really  really good when you’re a superstar High School   football player in that region you don’t think  oh I’m going to go to Texas Tech you go to Texas  

Tech after Texas and Oklahoma and Nebraska and  even Texas A&M have have have passed on you and   not offered you a scholarship so uh this coach  was taking athletes that had been kind of the  

Rejects of the big schools and using them to beat  the big schools in the last four years they almost   lead the conference in victories with a class that  has been on average as recruiting classes and then  

Towards the bottom of the class the Real Genius of  leech as a leader isn’t necessarily the scheme or   the strategy it’s the institution that he’s built  here the repetition you know bear Bryan always   said don’t hire anybody unless he knows something  but you don’t cuz if he doesn’t know something you  

Don’t you don’t need bringing on good coaches  and delegating to them you know choosing a   small Playbook that they rep rather than a big  Playbook and they try to out schem people there’s   just really a lot of good management lessons in  terms of how he approaches things you know think  

About he was at Texas Tech in the Big 12 and he  averaged over eight wins a year in lobik which is   tough to do and then at Washington State in eight  seasons at Washington State he had 55 wins in the  

Eight seasons prior Washington state had 29 wins  he doubled it and then he also has the only 11-   win team in Washington State History in 2018 not  only did he like take those schools and turn them  

Around but he actually changed the entire sport of  football if you look at a Big 12 Football game now   uh vers 10 years ago it’s a completely different  event it’s because everybody’s watching mik Le’s   offense you look around Lincoln Riley has produced  three of the last six Heisman winners but you what  

You don’t see is the trickle down effect that  he’s had where we go watch watch a high school   team play and the elements of his offensive system  are pervasive when he went to Tech it spread all   through the high schools out throughout Texas that  offense did and now it’s even infiltrated up into  

The NFL he’s one of those guys where you’re going  to you’re going to be you’ll remember what he   brought to this game forever you will but you know  I miss everywhere that I’ve been to and coached at  

For different reasons the biggest thing generally  of people cuz people are pretty good PE uh people   everywhere I mean well I guess in in Leck there  were four bad apples that were determined to cheat  

Me out of my salary I mean we know about that but  uh and the other four years on my contract and   and then continue to uh to hide uh the documents  illegally but uh short of that I mean I thought  

Everybody was great you know Texas Tech has  fired football coach Mike Leech the school   handed leech’s attorney Ted liot a a termination  letter Wednesday the letter says leech is quote   terminated with cause effective immediately all we  want is answers we know coach leech isn’t coming  

Back but we want answers to why it happened the  way it did what really happened behind the closed   doors Gerald Meyers k h guy Bailey we’re right  on your doorstep I am a proud alumni although   I thought about walking in Ken hans’s office and  burning my diploma but that would probably set off  

The fire alarm so I better not do that you can’t  do what Mike Leech did to our son and get away   with it not in the United States of America Craig  James would like to see me screw over some kid  

That doesn’t have a mom or a dad or something  like that to play his son because he’s rich   and he’s got influence and he thinks he can push  people around because he’s on ESPN and all thing’s

Ridiculous Mike I want to start with uh your uh  your description of the attit ude of Adam James   while he was a player for you oh L I think he  well the biggest thing is I think he’s lazy I  

Think that uh there’s a sense of entitlement  you know really a guy that we could never get   to work hard and uh wanted to fall back uh on  his father anytime uh he wasn’t playing and so  

Uh you know you had Craig meddling and things  all the time anybody who thinks that we asked   to go through this think again this is not what  we were hoping for at all with Adam’s career at  

Texas Tech you said that Craig James was medling  how do you define meddling well I would say when   you when you call coaches uh when you call me  you call uh his position coaches both of them   uh you call other administrators on campus you  were portrayed today on outside the lines as a  

Helicopter dad meaning that you’re always  hovering around these were the words from   the attorney from Mike Leech and also that your  son was a disgruntled player not getting enough   playing time what would be your reaction to  those statements it is absolutely not true  

Craig James required more time than all of  the other parents combined we didn’t ask to   go through this I promise you and the funny  thing is he used to call me from different   numbers so it got to where I recognized his  number you know cuz he thinks his son’s going  

To the NFL which of course is ridiculous this  is all about Adam sustaining a concussion and   the actions that took place against Adam after  those after the concussion was diagnosed has   nothing to do with any of those other things  that is has nothing to do with what we’re doing

[Music] here uh he came out on the field he  was not uh Dressed in school gear like the   other players and everybody else involved uh  had a hat on backwards had his sunglasses on   and I said why does he have sunglass on  they said well he’s sensitive to light  

Cuz he had a concussion I said well put  him somewhere out of the light leech was   suspended by the university on Monday while  the school investigated allegations that he   mistreated an injured player receiver Adam  James alleges leech twice confined him to  

Small dark spaces including this equipment shed  during practices after the player was diagnosed   with a concussion so then he went to a garage  that’s got the door open at no point was was   the garage locked it holds uh two vehicles  it’s got an ice machine it’s got a fan and  

While we’re on the subject the offensive line  during uh um special teams will go to the shed   especially on a hot day because it’s shady and  and second of all because there’s an ice machine There uh it’s it’s none of this stuff that’s been  portrayed none of this cool hand Luke Brew Baker   stuff that uh is so popular to sensationalize  and and quite quite honestly I think there’s   been some irresponsible journalism on that  because there’s been an overwhelming amount  

Of evidence to the contrary I with regard to  Adam the entire things about playing time I   have a uh I I have a statement by uh Dr Michael  fi who’s the uh who’s the doctor that treated   Adam James and diagnosed him with a concussion  and the most important line on this statement  

Says according to the information given to  me no additional risks or harm were imposed   on Adam by what he was asked to do uh someone  said well it didn’t hurt the kid well you know  

That’s not the question uh do we have to wait  and take action after someone is hurt uh do we   have to wait until a kid is uh injured or or dead  or something like that before we take action how  

Many people need to get hurt before we learn a  valuable lesson 1 2 3 four Dwight no no hear me   out five six right seven can I finish please  okay eight cig without getting into specifics   you know there’s a lot of arguments how big  the room was air conditioned dark Etc from  

Everything you have heard in all your years in  football in college in the NFL have you heard   of teammates or other players in any other  leagues being treated in in a similar fashion Steve it’s uh it’s unheard of it’s a very  serious matter uh and they are continuing  

Their uh investigation into the situation what  pressure did you find that Mike Leech had put on   trainers Andor players to return to the practice  field or two games when they’ve been injured well  

I’m not a liberty to go in to that at this time  and uh we you know that will uh that will be an   issue that will uh come out later talk about  they had some investigation or something they  

Never had an investigation they lied about having  an investigation and then they won’t produce the   documents to prove that investigation let’s go  ahead and see it and then of course it’s going   to illustrate they lied to the fans and everybody  else well it just goes to show you how K hands  

And some of his little cronies how sleazy those  guys are why do you think they fired you Mike I   honestly don’t know I think it’s uh probably has  something to do with power and control and I’ll  

Tell you the other thing I think it has to do with  is I just don’t I think they don’t want to pay the Money do you think this book and lawsuits are  hurting your chances of getting a head coaching   job well it’s had a chilling effect I mean  they smeared me for you know the better part   of a year and so this is an opportunity to  set the record straight I mean on one hand I  

Get well uh if you upset ESPN well ESPN threw  out a bunch of lies about me uh for a period   of time and so I definitely have an interest  in setting the record straight and the crazy   thing is we haven’t heard from Craig James  since basically he R he ran for Senator and  

He got smoke I I’ve got support all over the  I have a lot of friends out here and uh and   and I’ve been out here several times and so it’s  you know it’s a fun place for me to come uh there  

Are a lot of good candidates in this race and  and so we’ll see how it shakes out on Election night did you consider running against them  for Senator just so you could debate well I   I would have withdrawn after I had a couple  debates because I’d love to debate James on  

Any subject I’d be fully prepared to debate  Craig James on whether the you know I could I   would take the side that the Earth is flat and  he could take the side that it’s round and I’m  

Fully prepared to debate him on that you can rest  assured of this that if I see wrong I’m going to   I’m going to stand up against it I will never  let something go by that is a bully or someone  

Who’s done something wrong and then well the F the  funny thing is in the Dallas Morning News Dallas   Morning News had this thing and I hadn’t given  any speeches I wasn’t running for Senator none   of that who would you vote for for Senator  Mike Leech or Craig James I got 96% of the

[Music] vote Today we’re hearing so so many amazing Mike  Leach stories I can only imagine how many you   have in the vault but can you share a favorite  story with us is remember one time we were on  

Safari in in Tanzania and uh and we had all  gone to bed and and kind of on these trips a   lot of times you had to to kind of keep track  of Mike i’ I’d bring a friend or somebody that  

Would would because Mike’s very intellectually  curious and sometimes he just kind of literally   wanders off so late that night in Tanzania  I got up and thought I should go check on on   Mike and it was we in the hours of the morning  and he had stayed up all night uh with a local  

Tanzanian bartender uh trading stories and Mike  was very intellectually curious about people and   they had shared stories about his culture and  his family and Mike sharing stories about his   culture and his family and the the the fell  was very interested in Cowboys and Mike was  

Very interested in in what it was like to get  married in Tanzania and I remember that they   developed that friendship and after that when we  got home Mike was adamant that I had to to figure  

Help him find out uh where that fell lived and  so he could mail him a cowboy hat there was no   no facade ego or FR it was all just him man and  that didn’t matter who you were who was around  

What the setting was the extreme authenticity in  which he lived his life and he brings that out in   others and that’s just so special conversations  that would take crazy turns in a delightful way   and you’d always learn something and you  always felt like he was humble enough to  

Feel like he could learn something from you uh  he was interested in your stories he would ask   lots of questions and he always felt like wasn’t  going through the motions he actually wanted to  

Know about you because as much as he knew as wise  as he was he always felt like he could learn from   other people it didn’t matter if you were a  billionaire living next to him in Key West or  

A guy that he would see at little dewis there in  Starkville Mississippi he could find common ground   with you he could engage with you and in some  ways you’d find yourself looking at the clock  

Saying coach I got to go because he is so engaged  and so willing to talk to anybody and I failed to   mention this at the beginning of the story Bill  Stevens who is the Sid at uh Washington State  

He he said at the time coach only has 15 minutes  like that’s it like that’s all that’s all we got   today because it was busy it was Thanksgiving  week and I thought okay yeah that’s fine I’ll  

Take as much time as as you’re willing to give we  sat there for 45 minutes talking football couple   of times I said coach do you need to go and  he says no I love this um I’ll always remember That so between that and just his pure stature  I mean this is a college football legend who   revolutionized the game of football on  all levels and so just to have the time   that one time and then to have developed this  is something I’ll forever be grateful [Music]

For everyone knows anyone who knew Mike he had  time for anyone and everyone and he also had very   little concept of time cuz if he gets like hooked  on a story we’re going to be 30 minutes late to  

Practice like that happened multiple times like  the whole team would be out on the field waiting   for us to practice and he’d be in there telling  us about the best pizza place in Portland all of  

Us guys who knew him well you knew if you picked  up the phone when he’s calling you at midnight   or 12:30 in the morning you’re like well if  I answer I won’t be on the phone till about  

2:00 in the morning cuz there weren’t no there no  short conversations with Mike which was great my   last text from him was at 3:00 a.m. just saying  you’re a stud no context nothing about it and  

We talked for an hour and a half or 2 hours and  football would never come up when you know when   you call and talk to ex players you’re not talking  about some touchdown somebody through occasionally   you’re talking about somebody getting smoked by a  defender or something like that because it’s funny  

To watch the expression on their face or to see  them get laid out but you know usually what you   talk about is you know the one time somebody said  this and the other guy said that and then this guy  

Tripped and then something fell on somebody or  you know I mean or the dialogue or the stories   I mean that that that that’s what you end up  talking about I mean for decades every coach the   reason you saw the outpouring of of thoughts and  concerns and prayers on social media is because  

Even people that competed against him had a a  special place in their heart for Him you know   I think people look at why you coach you you know  you look and you can say Hey you coach because you  

Like the fun and the competitiveness of Saturday  that’s part of it uh you coach because you you   like to think outside the box like Mike did and  be an innovator but really you coach because you   can make positive impact on young people’s lives  people are drawn to you and people are drawn to  

You not just to take pictures they like hearing  your take on things they like hearing your advice   and it sure seems like you like to give it  you like people and and you like to say it  

Like it is it seems he went out of his way to to  care for people to um you know if there was a a   person who was sick going through a hard time he  would call them um he would invite people out to  

Practice and spend time with them if they’re  you know down in their luck or going through   a rough patch he didn’t believe those really  overachievers if you could achieve it you know   that was your 100% but he had a gift of getting  you closer to that 100% um than you ever thought  

Was possible and that’s a hell of a gift he was  My Philosophy teacher in terms of what it meant   to be a man you know so often coaches do things  only because they don’t want to stand out from  

The crowd even if you are different even if you  see things differently even if you have maybe a   different approach to something that everyone  seems to know you don’t have to necessarily do   it that way you can do it the way that works  for you authenticity of self Freedom From Fear  

And judgment to always be there and make time  for your friends I’ll take these lessons with   me throughout the rest of my life a way of living  that I strive toward every day he said but there  

Was something there was a twinkle in this kid’s  eye and he always made me believe that and feel   that I was special and I could succeed and man  like that means so much to me and I I’ll always  

Be grateful for him for that let’s take comfort in  knowing Mike lived a big life and though too short   a full life and we were blessed enough to have  shared in it with him we miss the true Originals  

Uh who make makes Sports and life interesting cuz  he was totally unafraid to do things his way he’s   not going to bun the ball down the field you  know that’s not his not his way to do it one  

Of the most consistent men that I’ve ever met he  would not deviate from what he believed he wanted   to believe that anything was possible he was going  to live his life like anything was possible one of   the truly Irreplaceable things in history nobody  can appreciate the number of lives he’s affected  

One of the best characters that football’s ever  because he made us all better and it was better   than we were so you get an original fer like Mike  Le they have a legacy to goes way beyond their   own lifetime because of the ones they influence  the ones they encourage also in why [Applause]

Not [Music] you ever heard swing your sword you’re supposed  to swing your sword like this you’re swinging   yours like this I mean uh you’ve got to find  your inner pirate a lot of times things just  

Happen for a reason we don’t know why God wants  it that way but you can’t make the best out of it   until you get back your inner pirate you might  be the luckiest man alive and not even know it

When people write the Mike Leech obituary  that’s many years from now many many years   from now how do you want to be remembered  well that’s their problem they’re the one   wri in the obituary I mean what do I care  I’m dead you know I got a team I got a team  

Ain’t no between yeah you know I got a team  you know I got a team ain’t No Getting in   between yeah you know I got a team you know I  got a team ain’t No Getting in between you got