Mike Leach has arrived in Starkville, Miss.

It didn’t take long for the new Mississippi State head coach to arrive on campus. On Thursday, the same day he was hired to lead the Bulldogs, Leach landed in Starkville to a hero’s welcome.

As soon as Leach stepped off his plane, a maroon carpet, a long line of cheerleaders and the marching band greeted him. And of course, the new Bulldogs coach had a cowbell in hand, waving it in the air as he walked down the line of students.

Here’s a clip of Leach’s arrival, courtesy of Logan Lowery of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal:

This will be the first time that Leach will be a head coach in the SEC. His only prior experience in the conference came when he was an offensive assistant at Kentucky from 1997-98. He has plenty of head-coaching experience, though, as he led Texas Tech from 2000-09 and Washington State from 2012-19.

It was a bit of a surprising development that the Mississippi State job became open, as it seemed Joe Moorhead would remain the Bulldogs’ head coach. However, after Mississippi State’s Music City Bowl loss to Louisville, the school reversed course and opted to make a change.

Now, Leach will lead the Bulldogs into the new decade. And based on his welcome, it appears that the school is excited about the change.