FORT WORTH, Texas — Mike Leach stopping to coach a 6-man football team on his way to the airport is about the most Mike Leach thing ever.
Of course he did.
On Tuesday a memorial service for the former Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State head football coach was held in Starkville, Miss.
Leach died on Dec. 12 in Mississippi after suffering a massive heart attack.
Since he died, stories about Leach have poured out from every part of the country detailing the man’s conviction to his own personality.
This includes a story from former Mineral Wells Community Christian head football coach Brian Horton.
A graduate of Texas Tech in 2002, Horton was a fan of The Pirate and coached the school’s 6-man team from 2008 to 2021.
Horton had met Leach a few times before, but not so much that Leach would remember.
Leach created a lifelong impression on Horton after he had heard the Texas Tech coach scold his assistant coaches once.
“The assistants were talking about the players and saying, ‘We can’t get them to do it,’” Horton said. “Leach says, ‘Well then I have to get new coaches because this is who we have and we have to figure out how to get them to do it.’
“That’s what coaching is.”
In the fall of 2010, Leach was doing TV work with CBS Sports. He had been fired by Texas Tech the previous year.
A friend of Leach invited him to serve as the keynote speaker at a Fort Worth Business Press attorney luncheon.
The friend knew Horton. Horton asked his friend if Leach could possibly spare five to 15 minutes to come by his 6-man football practice. Just to say a few words on some impressionable teens and be on his way.
It’s Mike Leach. Of course he said yes.
To make it easier, Horton held a practice at Pennington Field in Bedford so Leach could stop there on his way to the DFW airport.
Horton hoped Leach would stay for 15 minutes.
“He stayed at least an hour,” Horton said.
The team was preparing to play its last district game, for what essentially amounted to the district championship.
The players were practicing when Leach walked on to the field. They all recognized him.
Horton shook hands with Leach who said, “You brought me here to coach practice.”
Horton tossed Leach his whistle, and he hung it over his neck. The players huddled around Leach, who proceeded to coach a 6-man football practice.
Leach’s familiarity coaching 6-man football was zero. He knew it existed. He was unaware of the particulars.
The team ran a few plays, and then they huddled up again around Leach.
“He looks at me and he has this big grin and said, ‘So anyone can catch a pass?’ ” Horton said. “You could see this gleam in his eye. It was like, ‘If I could get all 11 guys eligible to catch a pass.’ He couldn’t believe anyone can catch the ball.”
The possibilities were endless.
Leach proceeded to create a play out of mid air. He started moving his hands around like a local weatherman.
He drew up a play that they immediately called, “The Pirate.”
“In 6-man guys line up close to the center, and it’s more like 11-man,” Horton said. “The other option is to spread everyone out. We spread the field out. The downside in that spread is the closer you get to the end zone makes it harder.
“So he designed a play for us to run 15 yards and in.”
The play featured crossing routes, with the idea that the defense would shift towards the left side as the running back comes out of the backfield late in the design as the intended receiver on the right.
They practiced it, and after about an hour Leach departed to catch his flight.
In the Warriors’ next game, they ran “The Pirate.” It worked for a touchdown in a win.
Horton sent video of the play to CBS Sports, and the production crew aired the score during Leach’s next telecast.
“I never talked to him again,” Horton said.
Since learning that Leach died, Horton is like so many people all over the country who are so sad that he’s gone, but so glad he had some time with The Pirate.
“One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most over the last few days is hearing how many regular people like me, whether they’re from Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Washington State or Mississippi State, have a Mike Leach story, and they’re all so similar,” Horton said. “It was, ‘He dropped everything to give you an hour.’
“When he worked with our team, he had things to do. He had somewhere to be. But he was like, ‘This is where I’m at, and I’m going to do this 100 percent and enjoy it.’ ”
For Mike Leach, coaching a 6-man football team for an hour on the way to the airport is just another Mike Leach story.
