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Leach took over as coach at Mississippi State in 2020 and led the team to a 19-17 record over three seasons. The team, currently ranked No. 22 in the country, finished 8-4 this season and is slated to face Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Florida, on Jan. 2.

He first rose to attention nationally at Texas Tech, where he coached from 2000 to 2009. He had an 84-43 record in 10 seasons. He was 5-4 in bowl games. He was voted the American Football Coaches Association national coach of the year in 2008.

\"PHOTO:
Matt Bush/USA TODAY Sports, FILE
PHOTO: Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach speaks with quarterback Will Rogers during the first quarter of the game against the Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Nov. 24, 2022.
>

Leach was famous for his love of pirates, even making a cameo on the TV show \"Friday Night Lights,\" telling Coach Eric Taylor to \"find his inner pirate.\"

After Texas Tech, Leach went to Washington State, where he was 55-47 in eight seasons. Ten years after his first coach of the year award, he won it again in 2018. The Cougars finished that season with an 11-2 record and a win in the Alamo Bowl. He finished at No. 10 that season, his highest end-of-year ranking in his career.

\"PHOTO:
Mike Fuentes/AP, FILE
PHOTO: Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach talks with his team in the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Texas A&M in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009.
>

Leach was known as an offensive innovator. He coached future NFL quarterbacks including Kliff Kingsbury, now the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, and Gardner Minshew. Other quarterbacks went on to have successful coaching careers, like Sunny Cumbie, the current head coach at Louisiana Tech, and Graham Harrell, West Virginia's offensive coordinator.

Leach was asked how he wanted to be remembered in his obituary in a 2018 interview with ESPN -- and delivered a perfect answer for the most eclectic of sports personalities.

\"Well, that's their problem, they're the ones writing the obituary,\" Leach told ESPN. \"I mean, what do I care? I'm dead.\"

ABC News' Alex Faul contributed to this report.

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