Mike Leach, one of the most innovative and interesting personas to ever walk the sidelines of a football field, is now eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. The National Football Foundation (NFF) announced that it has revised the minimum career winning percentage for coaching eligibility (from .600 to .595), opening the door for Leach to be inducted beginning with the 2027 class.
Leach’s career winning percentage sits at .598 with a career record of 158-106. Leach won 18 games against AP-ranked teams while his own team was unranked, the most since the AP Top 25 Poll began in 1936.
“The NFF is committed to preserving the integrity and prestige of the NFF College Football Hall of Fame,” NFF resident & CEO Steve Hatchell said in a statement. “This adjustment reflects thoughtful dialogue with leaders across the sport and allows us to better recognize coaches whose contributions to the game extend beyond a narrow statistical threshold.”
Leach is considered one of the greatest coaches to previously not be eligible for induction. A law school graduate, he broke into coaching in 1987 as the offensive line coach at Cal Poly. He earned his first offensive coordinator appointment with Iowa Wesleyan in 1989 where he studied under Hal Mumme, who developed a pass-oriented offense built around short routes and completions out of the backfield.
Together, Mumme and Leach developed what is now known as an Air Raid offense. The two coached together at Valdosta State from 1992-96 and then at Kentucky from 1997-98 before Leach was hired as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator in 1999. The Sooners led the Big 12 in total offense in Leach’s first year on staff. He parlayed that success into his first job at Texas Tech in 2000.
The Air Raid…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/mike-leach-finally-eligible-for-college-football-hall-of-fame-after-nff-revises-necessary-criteria/
Author : Will Backus
Publish date : 2025-05-29 15:55:00
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