Social media reportedly helped Mike Leach land Mississippi State job

Mike Leach has long been popular with SEC football fans even when he coached in the Big 12 (Texas Tech) and Pac-12 (Washington State). That popularity with fans appears to have played a factor in bringing The Pirate to Starkville.

According to Banner Society’s Steven Godfrey, a third-party measured Bulldogs fans’ social reaction to the many rumored and leaked candidates to replace Joe Moorhead. Unsurprisingly, Leach scored “high/positive” on the firm’s metrics.

It certainly didn’t hurt that Leach himself is active and quite popular on social media. The new head Bulldog has over 261,000 followers on Twitter, many of those were following for his non-Washington State tweets, such as funny photos/videos/memes, Minshew Mania and links about Big Foot.

It’s safe to say the Mississippi State head coach is now a must follow for SEC fans.

My favorite part of Mississippi State’s hire: Multiple sources confirmed MSU (and some other P5 schools this cycle) was assisted by a third-party firm that measured social media reaction to rumored and leaked candidates. Leach scored high/positive. God bless CFB.

— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) January 9, 2020