CFB world pays tribute to Late Mississippi State HC Mike Leach:  “A truly golden treasure taken way too soon”  

It has been a year since the quirky and lovable former Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach, Mike Leach, died due to complications after suffering a massive heart attack.

The coach was beloved within the CFB fraternity and was well known for his funny press conferences and for being the brains behind the air-raid offense that sprouted so many college football coaches' careers.

CFB fans took to X to commemorate a year of his passing.

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Swing your sword, a Mike Leach special

Mike Leach was known as 'The Pirate' within the CFB fraternity, a moniker that he acquired during his time as coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders between 2000-2009, where he once brought a pirate's sword to use as a prop during a team meeting.

He also coined the phrase "swing your sword" and used it as a motivator for his players, which eventually became the name of his autobiography.

Football fans from all over the country used to send Leach a deluge of flags and swords to pay tribute to his pirate act and he hung the pirate-themed artwork in his office.

Mike Leach was known for his often amusing press conferences and for being one of the most intriguing characters in the CFB world.

One such press conference happened when he was the Texas Tech coach and he questioned his player's motivations after a loss.

"As coaches, we fail to get through to them. As coaches, we fail to make our coaching points and our points more compelling than their fat little girlfriends. Their fat little girlfriends have some obvious advantages. For one thing, their fat little girlfriends are telling them what they want to hear, which is how great you are," Leach said.

"As coaches, we have to solve our failure on reaching them and the players have to listen. And I'm going to go to fairly amazing lengths to try to make that happen. I don't know if I'll be successful this week or not... I am going to try and there may be some people inconvenienced and if it happens to be their fat little girlfriends, too bad," he added.

Before his demise, he once talked about the powers that various Pac-12 mascots would have if they fought against one another, showing why his press conferences were a must-watch.

Mike Leach will always have a place in the annals of college football due to his unique personality, obvious rapport with the players, and wicked sense of humor that made him a household name even outside college football.