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Mike Leach to be honored with helmet sticker tribute in Washington State-Texas Tech game
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Mike Leach will be recognized on Saturday night as 2 of his former teams face off in a west coast showdown.
Washington State and Texas Tech will both don pirate-themed helmet stickers for their Week 2 matchup in Pullman. Leach was often referred to as “The Pirate” during his coaching career.
He led both Texas Tech and Mississippi State to near-unprecedented heights for those programs during his tenure in Lubbock and Pullman.
At Texas Tech, Leach helped bring the air-raid offense further into the mainstream by turning the Red Raiders into a contender in the Big 12. His peak in Lubbock came in 2008 when he led the program to an 11-win season — including a famous victory over Texas late in the year. Leach won 8 games in 8 different seasons with Texas Tech, which is by far the most in program history.
Here’s what Texas Tech’s helmet will look like on Saturday night:
https://twitter.com/TexasTechFB/status/1832547667257487615
Leach took over at Wazzu ahead of the 2012 season. He made steady progress in Pullman before peaking with a school-record 11 wins in 2018. That campaign included ranked wins over Oregon, Stanford and Iowa State.
Here’s Washington State’s tribute to Leach:
https://twitter.com/WSUCougarFB/status/1832448638037237771
Leach moved to Mississippi State ahead of the 2020 season and was the head coach in Starkville for 3 seasons before his passing on Dec. 12, 2022.
Kickoff of Texas Tech-Washington State is set for 10 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
