Did Mike Leach play with a serial killer? CFB journalist recalls bizarre interaction with late Mississippi State HC
The late Mike Leach was an offensive innovator in college football, and he was also known for his quirky personality. Journalists and reporters often have stories of Leach going on a tangent or monologuing his stream of consciousness. So it should not come as a surprise that the head coach might have interacted with a potential serial killer.
RIP Mike Leach.
Quick story: I texted him once asking about the best prank he had ever seen in CFB. He immediately calls me. “I’m glad you asked. So, um, ah, this one time …” He shares a couple stories and after like 15 minutes, I hear the distinct sound of a whistle.
In a recent Twitter thread, ESPN reporter Kyle Bonagura recalled a time when he interviewed Leach when he was the head coach at Washington State. Leach told a story about when he was attending Pepperdine Law School and participated in a weekly touch football game.
According to the head coach, one player stopped showing up to the games, and then he allegedly started to see murder suspect sketches in the newspaper. Leach believed it looked a lot like the guy from their football games.
The guy would be arrested--allegedly being the person Leach knew was a serial killer.
I don’t remember what the timeline was – or if Leach even told us that part – but eventually, a picture of the man from the pickup football game showed up in the newspaper. He had been arrested. He was a serial killer.
(And Leach had to be dragged away to his next interview)
Bonagura followed up his story with a Wikipedia entry describing the player Leach referred to. The suspected serial killer was known as "The Night Stalker."
The serial killer Leach was talking about is almost certainly Richard Ramirez aka The Night Stalker.
All the details and the timeline line up perfectly.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_R…
After Mike Leach's death on December 12, 2022, many stories and anecdotes have surfaced from people who knew or spoke to the eccentric college football coach.
Mike Leach's most successful year came in 2008 at Texas Tech
Mike Leach was an accomplished college football coach. He first gained notoriety as the offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners in 1999. After a season where he improved the Sooners' offense from 11th to 1st in the Big 12 conference, he took the head coaching job at Texas Tech University in 2000.
Leach would go on to build the "Air Raid" offense that would take the conference (and nation) by storm. The spread offense (pass-heavy) was innovative at the time because every school in the Big 12 ran a run-heavy offense paired with a strong defense.
Leach molded the Red Raiders into an exciting and entertaining team with a high-scoring offense that often went for it on fourth down.
Always remember Mike leach making Michael Crabtree look like prime Jerry rice in the air raid at Texas tech https://t.co/30OuuFo2I2
In 2008, Texas Tech would go 11-2 and was ranked as high as number two in the AP Poll. The Red Raiders and Mike Leach's trademark win would be the epic game between Texas Tech (ranked Number 6) and Texas (ranked Number 1). The Red Raiders upset the Longhorns on a game-winning touchdown catch by Michael Crabtree from Graham Harrell.