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Eli Drinkwitz calls on College Football Hall of Fame to induct Mike Leach

Andrew Olson

By Andrew Olson

Published:

Eli Drinkwitz put his SEC Media Days platform to use Tuesday to advocate for more than his Mizzou program. During his televised speech from the podium, Drinkwitz called on the College Football Hall of Fame to induct the late Mike Leach.

The Hall has a stated requirement of a 60% winning percentage for a coach to qualify. Leach sits at 59.6% after passing before Mississippi State’s bowl game for the 2022 season. MSU would go on to win the game, with Zach Arnett coaching the game.

Drinkwitz tackled the winning-percentage issue head-on in his passionate plea for Steve Hatchell and the National Football Foundation to make an exception for Leach’s Hall of Fame eligibility.

“Yesterday in Commissioner Sankey’s remarks, he mentioned the new individuals that were going to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and what SEC schools they were affiliated with and that next summer we will be moving Media Days to Atlanta, and so it reminded me to call on CEO Steve Hatchell to do the right thing and to nominate Mike Leach for the College Football Hall of Fame. We need to put his name on the ballot,” Drinkwitz said.

“Coach Leach, in my mind, and I believe in most of the people in this room, is a no-doubt Hall-of-Famer. He impacted our game more in the last 50 years than a lot of other people, not only with his legacy, but also with his football acumen. His air raid offense is the dominate offense when you look at high school football, its elements in college football and all the way translating into the NFL game. We all know Y cross. We all know that six is four verticals. We all understand that rocket laser were tailback screens, rocket to the right, laser to the left.

“He won 158 career games, was the 2008 Big 12 Coach of the Year, two-time PAC-12 Coach of the Year, and in 2018 was the AFCA Football Coach of the Year. Won 11 games at Texas Tech and 11 games at Washington State.

“And I understand that his career winning percentage is .596, one win short of the 60 percent threshold, and I understand that standards are there for people to make decisions, but I also understand that Coach Leach would be a great value to the Hall of Fame, because of the legacy that he has, because of the impact that he made, because of the innovator that he was, because of the legacy of coaches that he left. And in my opinion, not only a winner, but a Hall-of-Famer.

“And I hope that Mr. Hatchell will recognize that as CEO he has the ability to utilize his discretion to make the obvious into reality, and that obvious is that the Hall of Fame is incomplete without Coach Mike Leach in it.”

In December 2022, days after Leach’s passing, college football reporter Ross Dellenger caught up with Hatchell about Leach’s Hall eligibility. Hatchell indicated he supported Leach’s induction:

“Where the difference comes in here is that Mike was a young man and he passed away,” Hatchell said to Dellenger. “The fact that he passed away brings a different perspective on this. Everybody would say he’d continue to coach and continue to win.

“I’m positive the NFF will do the right thing.”

Archie Manning, the NFF chairman, also voiced support for Leach being inducted in late 2022 to Dellenger.

“I think Mike will be in the Hall of Fame, but it’ll be up to the Honor’s Committee,” Manning said, per Dellenger.

Multiple classes later, however, Leach is still not a Hall of Fame member. The Hall announced the Class of 2025 ballot on May 30. Leach was not included on the ballot.

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Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.

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