Tag: Mike Leach

82 days till the Cardinals’ season opener against the Bills

WR Andre Baccellia is the current No. 82 but long snapper Mike Leach was the last impactful No. 82 the Cardinals have had.

The countdown continues on this fine Tuesday. As of today, the Arizona Cardinals’ season opener on the road against the Buffalo Bills on September 8 is 82 days away.

In 82 days, the Cardinals will face Josh Allen and a Bills team believed to be a Super Bowl contender.

No. 82 on the Cardinals now is receiver Andre Baccellia, a small, fast receiver who has been with the team since 2021. He was a practice squad guy in 2021 under head coach Kliff Kingsbury, bounced between the practice squad and active roster in 2022 and also in 2023, but last year with head coach Jonathan Gannon.

So far, he has seven NFL receptions and is a longshot to make the roster this year.

But the most recent impactful No. 82 was long snapper Mike Leach.

Leach handled long snapping duties for the Cardinals from 2009-2015, never missing a game. he had a 16-year NFL career before retiring.

He made plays on special teams and, on social media, sharing a name with a famous college football coach (the late Mike Leach), he had fun with users who would reply to him thinking he was the head coach.

He might have been the best No. 82 the Cardinals have had since the team moved from St. Louis.

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Lincoln Riley says Mike Leach should be in College Football Hall of Fame

Lincoln Riley says what every rational person thinks and knows: Mike Leach should be in the Hall.

Lincoln Riley could not have said it any more clearly. The USC football coach thinks the late Mike Leach, who coached Riley at Texas Tech and was one of his foremost mentors in the football industry, should be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Why is Leach, one of the foremost innovators in college football since the late 1990s, not in the Hall of Fame? The College Football Hall of Fame has specific requirements which, many people agree, are far too rigid and need to be modified or at least given some degree of elasticity. If coaches don’t have a .600 winning percentage and have not coached for at least 10 seasons, they’re not eligible. Leach coached long enough, but his winning percentage is slightly below .600. The point to make with Leach and other coaches in terms of winning percentage is that they took on less-than-elite coaching jobs at places where it is harder to win. They shouldn’t be penalized for that, but they are.

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Bob Stoops, others supportive of Mike Leach to the College Football Hall of Fame

Mike Leach may not meet the criteria for consideration into the College Football Hall of Fame, but Bob Stoops believes he’s more than deserving.

Few coaches have had as much influence on the game of football as former Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator and long-time college football head coach [autotag]Mike Leach[/autotag]. His deployment of the Air-Raid first with OU as the coordinator and then as the head coach at Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State revolutionized offense at every level of the sport.

His passing in December of 2022 was felt by coaches, players, and fans around the sporting world. He was beloved for his personality and for the way he supported his players over the years.

After the most recent group of nominees for the College Football Hall of Fame was released, support for Leach has come from all corners of college football. Fans of teams he coached and those of rival programs took to social media to critique the Hall of Fame’s criteria for induction.

According to the College Football Hall of Fame’s website

A coach becomes eligible three full seasons after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years old. Active coaches become eligible at 75 years of age. He must have been a head football coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage.

Leach’s career-winning percentage is just shy of the .600 threshold. But that didn’t stop Hall of Fame coach and former colleague [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag] from throwing his support behind Leach for the Hall of Fame. Oklahoma’s former head coach argued his winning percentage of .596 rounds up to .600.

Stoops said on X, “Mike is deserving of the College HOF! His influence in football is as strong as any Coach I can think of. RIP Mike.”

Josh Pate of the Late Kick Show also lobbied for Leach to receive consideration because of his influence on the sport back in 2022, but reiterated that support this week.

Social media account Blinkin Riley had an idea for both Texas and Oklahoma to vacate a win over Leach’s Red Raiders to help get him into the hall.

Leach is one of the sport’s legends, and his influence extends beyond his coaching record. At some point, that influence needs to be recognized and enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Or, as College Sports Wire Regional Editor Patrick Conn put it:

Despite the fact that he has under a 60% winning percentage, despite the fact that he hasn’t won a national championship, I would say that Mike Leach is definitely one of those cases I would make to either change the criteria or have a way to say this guy deserves it… the fact that he changed the game of college football is why I would say he deserves to be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.

WATCH: Gardner Minshew appears on Maxx Crosby’s show and he is as advertised and more

WATCH: Gardner Minshew appears on Maxx Crosby’s show and he is THAT DUDE

Gardner Minshew just might be the most likeable guy in sports. Don’t believe me? Just watch his appearance on Maxx Crosby’s show The Rush. I defy you to not want to hang out with him. I found myself unable to stop watching this interview as he is absolute.y fascinating, genuine, and so much THAT DUDE that it’s almost beyond belief.

If you ever looked at Gardner Minshew and said “that dude looks and sounds like he lives in a van on the beach” then you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Like LITERALLY he owns a van and lived on the beach when he played in Jacksonville. And since then he has traveled around in it, goes camping, hiking, and just generally chills in. Even though he has an actual house, he’ll just go out and sleep in his van sometimes.

And of course he loves Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused, because of course. And he seems to be an endless font of great stories, probably because fun people just want to chill with him. This interview lasted an hour, and I could have watched several more hours easily just to hear all the stories.

I loved when he was asked about people on social media saying he was a “poor man’s Baker Mayfield.” And he said doesn’t do social media, so unless someone literally came up to him in the street and said “You’re a poor man’s Baker Mayfield!” he wouldn’t hear about it. I mean, no wonder he seems so happy. Social media is pure, uncut toxicity.

Best thing though is how many times you just find yourself thinking, man that is just so wholesome. Like when he was fanboying at the thought that Lebron James would even know who he is. Keep in mind, he has started 37 games in the NFL over four seasons and went to the Pro Bowl last year. Why wouldn’t Lebron know who he is? You just gotta love that such a thing would surprise him.

Maxx Crosby is the leader of this team. And he can’t say enough good things about Gardner. No question he is going to make the already strong vibe in the Raiders locker room even stronger.

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Kliff Kingsbury’s addition doesn’t mean Commanders will go all-in on Caleb Williams

Kliff Kingsbury’s connection to another one of the top three 2024 QB prospects.

When the Washington Commanders hired Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator last week, the natural assumption was this move was made to make a play for Caleb Williams.

Williams, the USC quarterback and presumed No. 1 overall pick, has a close relationship with Kingsbury. Once the news broke of Kingsbury’s hiring, Williams congratulated him on Instagram. Their relationship began after Kingsbury was fired by the Cardinals and took on the position of senior offensive analyst at USC for his good friend, Lincoln Riley.

Here’s the problem with the Kingsbury/Williams theory: The Commanders have no control over whether they can pair Kingsbury with Williams. The Chicago Bears hold the No. 1 overall pick. They are likely to select Williams, leaving the Commanders to choose between quarterbacks Drake Maye (North Carolina) and Jayden Daniels (LSU) — both phenomenal prospects, too.

So, while it makes for good podcast chatter, so much must happen for it to become a reality. In all likelihood, new Washington coach Dan Quinn wanted to hire the best offensive mind possible to develop a young quarterback, and Kingsbury’s reputation with quarterbacks is outstanding.

After Washington hired Kingsbury, it also added former Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson to a prominent role on staff. The Commanders also retained quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard, giving their young quarterbacks (a rookie and Sam Howell) multiple voices in 2024.

While Kingsbury doesn’t have a direct connection to Daniels — the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner — he does have one with Maye.

During Maye’s first two seasons at North Carolina, his offensive coordinator was Phil Longo — also Howell’s college offensive coordinator at UNC. Maye started two seasons, as he was Howell’s backup in 2021, and his best season was in 2022. That was Longo’s final season at North Carolina, as he left last offseason to be Luke Fickell’s new offensive coordinator at Wisconsin.

How does Longo figure into the mix with Kingsbury?

Longo was a high school coach in 1996 when he became fascinated with the Air Raid offense. So, one summer, he packed his bags and drove to Texas to learn from the offense from the great Mike Leach.

That was the start of a mentorship between Leach and Longo that lasted until Leach’s death in Dec. 2022.

Leach was also Kingsbury’s mentor, coaching him for three seasons at Texas Tech. Kingsbury broke numerous school and NCAA records while playing for Leach. It was during those trips to see Leach that Longo met Kingsbury.

In a story from Jesse Simonton for On3, he detailed Longo taking over as Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator last year. Longo talked about how he would talk offensive football and the Air Raid with Leach, Kingsbury and current Purdue offensive coordinator Graham Harrell every offseason until Leach passed away.

Around that same time, Kingsbury was fired as Arizona’s head coach.

“And then Kliff Kingsbury is the other one I love talking Xs and Os with and he’s was out galavanting around in Taiwan and overseas for a while,” Longo said last spring. “Neither one of them had been around as much at all, and it’s been a very quiet spring for me. It’s been so strange.”

Don’t you think Longo can offer Kingsbury some details on Maye — and Howell? Both have played in Longo’s version of the Air Raid.

This also doesn’t mean the Commanders will sell select Maye, either. But Kingsbury will have some inside intel on two of the top three quarterback prospects, and general manager Adam Peters will lean into Kingsbury’s evaluation of Daniels, too.

So, there are plenty of connections here. Right now, they mean nothing. If Washington somehow trades up for the No. 1 pick, then we have a different story.

 

Former Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury a ‘strong candidate’ to be Commanders offensive coordinator

Kingsbury spent the 2023 season at USC, working with presumed No. 1 pick Caleb Williams.

Two days after the Commanders picked Dan Quinn to be their head coach, we’ve begun to learn some of the names in contention to be his first offensive coordinator.

On Saturday, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Kliff Kingsbury recently interviewed with Washington and is considered a “strong candidate” for the job.

Kingsbury, 44, was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for four seasons and had a record of 28-37-1. Before becoming an NFL coach, Kingsbury was head coach at his alma mater — Texas Tech — for six seasons, and he was Patrick Mahomes’ college coach.

Kingsbury is a protege of the late Mike Leach, who he played quarterback for at Texas Tech from 1998-2002.

Like Leach, Kingsbury runs a version of the “Air Raid” offense. However, during his time with the Cardinals, he modified his scheme to adapt to the NFL.

Kingsbury spent the 2023 season as an analyst for the USC Trojans under Lincoln Riley. It was during the last year he developed a close relationship with the presumed No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, Caleb Williams.

The Commanders hold the No. 2 overall pick in the upcoming draft and are expected to select a quarterback.

 

It’s time to watch Mike Leach determine which Pac-12 mascot would win a mascot fight

As the Pac-12 conference comes to an end, it’s time to watch legendary coach Mike Leach break down which mascot would win a battle royale.

Legendary college coach Mike Leach, who put together a 158-107 record over 21 years for Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State, was one of the most original offensive thinkers — and thinkers overall — of his era. Leach, who passed away on December 12, 2022, could go off-subject at any time and with the slightest provocation with the media, and as the Pac-12 conference will come to an end after Friday’s Pac-12 Championship game between Oregon and Washington, it’s a good time to take a trip in the wayback machine to a time when Leach broke down in great detail which conference mascot would win a mascot fight.

His answer was legendary.

R.I.P., Pac-12, and R.I.P., Coach Leach.

Alabama vs. Mississippi State: All-time series history, facts

Check out the all-time series history and a few facts about the SEC West rivalry that ends this Saturday.

Alabama and Mississippi State face off for the final time in the foreseeable future, as the SEC alters its scheduling thanks to the addition of Oklahoma and Texas. These two teams have a historic rivalry, but it’s very lopsided.

Saban and the Crimson Tide will travel to Starkville for an SEC West matchup that could be one of the most underrated games of the Week 5 slate.

Mississippi State looks to avoid going 0-3 in conference play and 2-3 overall in Zach Arnett’s first season as the Bulldogs’ head coach.

Scroll below for the all-time series history, facts and important games from the meetings between Alabama and Mississippi State.

Even Oklahoma fans will love one thing Lincoln Riley just did at USC

Even Lincoln Riley’s fiercest critics can’t hate one thing the coach just did. Kudos to Riley for thinking about workplace health.

We interrupt this college football season to offer a story everyone can view as a positive development.

We will soon have preseason polls, a reminder that it’s near the time when fans across the country argue about which college football teams are overrated or underrated. Fans will soon get into spirited debates about fraudulent coaches and hot seats and everything else. Oklahoma fans are itching to see USC football suffer, much as Notre Dame fans yearn for Brian Kelly to stumble at LSU.

However, in the midst of the tumult and pressure attached to every college football season, we need to remind ourselves that real human beings — human lives — are attached to these games we watch on Saturdays in the fall. We are critical of the men who coach college football, but purely as a professional critique and not as a verdict on their character or self-worth.

We lost Mike Leach last season. Coaches sometimes don’t pay close-enough attention to their overall health and wellness.

USC assistant coach Dave Nichol, newly hired by Riley when he took the USC job, died in March of 2022 at age 45. The death hit Riley hard, given that Nichol was a central figure in helping Riley to establish his coaching career.

Riley has been affected by Nichol’s death and then Leach’s passing as well.

Guess what? Riley has decided to do something about that:

One would think other college football programs will follow Riley’s — and USC’s — lead in this regard. Kudos to Lincoln Riley for looking at the big picture beyond wins and losses (even though we will soon resume evaluating his coaching performance on that very metric).

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Lincoln Riley reflects on how Mike Leach shaped him as a coach

Riley told John Canzano that Mike Leach “is one of the greatest hirers our sport has ever had.” The explanation is noteworthy. #USC

Lincoln Riley offered public remarks to the full gathering of media members at Pac-12 media day on Friday in Las Vegas. He also made the rounds with individual journalists and talk-show hosts such as John Canzano.

In his discussion with Canzano, Riley talked about Mike Leach’s enormous influence on his coaching career and on his thought process when making decisions. Leach has left a very large imprint on college football in many ways, one of which — according to Riley — has been mentioned less than it should be.

“The one thing I take from him the most professionally,” Riley told Canzano, “he didn’t care what other people thought. He is one of the greatest hirers that our sport has ever had. You look at some guys’ coaching trees, they hired obvious guys that were already pretty good. You look at Mike, Mike hired a bunch of guys nobody ever heard of. He didn’t give a damn what people thought about a hire… he just hired who he thought would do the best job. Stay focused on the things that matter.”

This is a very revealing insight into Riley. We will certainly have more to say about this in the coming weeks and months.

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