Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach will be inducted into the school’s Hall of Honor.
Tech announced Wednesday that Leach would be enshrined on Sept. 29 along with former Texas Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury and six other former Tech athletes who will become members of Texas Tech’s Hall of Fame. Leach died at the age of 61 on Dec. 12 after complications from a heart issue.
Texas Tech was Leach’s first head coaching job at the top level of college football after serving as an assistant at Kentucky and Oklahoma. Leach’s Red Raiders offense helped revolutionize football at all levels with its pass-first tendencies, and Tech finished above .500 in each of his 10 years with the school as he became the winningest coach in Tech history.
Leach’s time with the school ended acrimoniously in 2009, however. Texas Tech went 8-4 that season but Leach was suspended in December after allegations he mistreated Adam James, the son of former SMU running back Craig James, after James had suffered a concussion in practice.
Leach sought to coach the team in the Alamo Bowl and even went so far as to file for an injunction. Tech fired Leach two days after it suspended him for what it said was a “defiant act of insubordination” for not apologizing to Adam James. Leach was fired a day before he was set to get a bonus and trigger a contract guarantee for over $1.5 million.
Tech’s refusal to pay Leach the money he believed the school owed him became a longstanding point of contention for the eccentric coach. He frequently brought up how Tech hadn’t paid him the money after his breach of contract lawsuit was denied by a Texas court.
Leach spent the 2010 and 2011 seasons out of college football before he was hired at Washington State in 2012. He coached the Cougars for eight seasons before he was hired by Mississippi State ahead of the 2020 season. MSU went 4-7 in Leach’s first season but won seven games in 2021 and went 8-4 before Leach’s death and ahead of its bowl game win over Illinois.
Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett took over for Leach for the bowl game and was named Leach’s permanent successor.
Kingsbury was a three-year starter for Leach from 2000-02 and was the first of many prolific quarterbacks who played in Leach’s Air Raid system for the Red Raiders. Kingsbury completed nearly two-thirds of his 1,883 career pass attempts for 12,429 yards and 95 TDs to just 40 interceptions. He threw for 5,017 yards and 45 TDs as a senior and finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
After serving as an assistant with Houston and Texas Tech, Kingsbury was named Texas Tech’s head coach in December 2012 after Tommy Tuberville’s brief tenure after Leach. Kingsbury was Tech’s coach for six seasons before he was fired by the school after a 5-7 season. Months later, Kingsbury was hired by the Arizona Cardinals to be the team’s head coach. He spent four seasons with the Cardinals before his firing at the end of the 2022 season.
