There was Mike Leach, the football genius, before we knew he was a first-ballot hall of fame interview.
The idea that anyone needed to be a genius to do something like coach football is laughable. His introduction to major college football at Oklahoma and his tenure at Texas Tech led to a revolution in the sport.
When Bob Stoops arrived in Norman in 1999, he brought a man who had been Hal Mumme's offensive assistant at Kentucky and had been frustrated by Stoops, who was Florida's defensive assistant. The results were immediate, with a national championship in 2000 a year after the departure of Leach.
The sport is dominated by the air show. It conquered the state of Texas and the Big 12. The Air Raid was a staple of high schools all over the country, and now the same offense is being used by a star quarterback in the National Football League.
"Mike had a bigger impact on football, whether pro football, high school football or college football, than anyone in my generation," said Sonny Dykes. The way people approach the game has changed thanks to him.
It's easy to forget how stark the transformation has been after all these years. Oklahoma scored 17 or fewer points in six of its 11 games in 1998. In 1998, the Sooners ranked last in the nation in passing. Texas and Kansas State were both in the top 50. In 1999, with an unheralded transfer quarterback, Josh Heupel, running a wide-open passing attack, there was a healthy dose of skepticism.
There was a time when Josh Heupel and I were the most wanted guys in Oklahoma. My suggestion was that you could throw the ball at Oklahoma. Josh Heupel was not able to run fast enough to play quarterback.
The Big 12 was put on notice by Stoops' decision to commit to the offense. There was a new era in college sports.
The run 'n' shoot offense presented problems that the former Texas A&M coach had never had to address. We were good on defense. He made us scratch our heads and me scratch my head more than any other coach. I admired him a lot.
Competition was forced to keep up with him. The Big 12 had five of the top 10 highest scoring offenses. People were curious about a new way of thinking about college football.
Lincoln Riley is a walk-on quarterback from Muleshoe, Texas.
He said that they captured the attention of everyone. I went to Texas Tech for that reason. I wanted to find a way to be involved in what they were doing.
The creator of the Air Raid, Mumme, will be the first to tell you that while he may have designed it and spread the word when he was at Kentucky, he didn't know that he would end up in Lubbock. The doors were thrown open while he was writing record books.
The simplicity of the offense made it hard for coaches to believe in it. They found a commitment to repetition and details as well as a determination to do what you do. Anyone would be told anything by the man.
Dykes said that a lot of coaches kept secrets. As a coach, Mike felt like he was teaching. A lot of people were offended by him. He thought it was a good idea for the game of football.
Leach liked to meet people from all walks of life. He prided himself in the popularity of his philosophy.
Lincoln Riley said that he's never been to a place where there were more coaches. There are a lot of people. You think of Texas high school coaches? I'm talking college and high school coaches from all over the country. We had people from abroad every year. Groups from England and Japan came every year.
The Air Raid took flight at places that previously weren't known for their liking for the forward pass.
When Kliff Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech, he once said that 75% of the high schools in Texas ran our offense.
He was respected by some of the game's greatest players.
Barry Switzer said last year that Mike Leach had won everywhere he'd been. He has won at Texas Tech and Washington State. He won everywhere he went.
In the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the SEC, the coach never won a conference title. He didn't get a chance at one of the sport's powers because people thought his style wouldn't work on the big stage, or because he said whatever he wanted.
"Moneyball" author Michael Lewis said in a New York Times magazine profile that he found himself in an uncertain social position. He has made a mistake by suggesting that there is more going on out there on the unlevel field of play than his competitors know.
His time at each place was rare.
Texas Tech had only been to the Cotton Bowl once before, in 1939. They went to two seasons in nine seasons. He left in 2010 and they haven't been back since. He has won 11 games at Washington State.
Mississippi State's 24-22 victory over Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl was the seventh win in the past three seasons over teams ranked in the AP poll. No other school has more than four unranked victories.
He gave us all the confidence that we could be ourselves. You can see the world differently and still be a successful college football coach.
A group of coaches who grew up watching Leach's stubbornness on spreading the field have forced schools like Alabama to bend to them. A generation responded affirmative to the question, "Is this what we want football to be?" The same wide-open concepts are being run by the same people.
Riley said it all boiled down to creativity and bravery. It's difficult to go against the status quo in football because of the way it's done. A lot of people have tried to break through and he did it. He is one of the few that has done it.
The opportunities he never had have been seized by his successors. It has been felt as strongly as it has in the past. The College Football Playoff crashed in the first year of the Frogs' existence. Riley took over a 4-8 USC team and went 11-2 in his first year. The brother of a former Tech quarterback is one of the runners-up. Hooker played for Heupel, who was the guy who started everything for Texas Tech.
The people that were lucky enough to work for him were the ones that were fortunate. All of them have had a lot of success. The way Mike teaches is empowering. He did better than everyone else. If he believed in him, he would take a 22-year-old kid and give him a lot of power.
The former assistants took that to heart as well, and ushered in a new wave of coaches who have different background, because the head coach didn't care. He played college baseball. Dave Aranda did not play college football. Holgorsen's hometown of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, is where he grew up and where he played at Iowa Wesleyan.
Riley, the walk-on, went 66-12 at Oklahoma and USC.
Riley said that the man didn't care where people came from. Are you smart? Is he going to learn something from you or have a good time? His greatest gift was that. He was very good at evaluating coaches. Right now, you can see his hand prints.
Football changed forever because of the offenses and personality of the two men. It's remarkable that the two of them ended up together. Two people applied for the offensive line coaching job. According to Mumme, one of the people who got the job was the one who graduated from law school.
He could have gone to L.A. and eaten lunch there and made $200,000 a year. He came to work for me and made a lot of money.
It was one of the most important careers in football history. He made sure that the show was worth the price of admission, which he felt was the point of the sport.
Mumme said that Mike has made football more enjoyable for people. You had a lot of fun watching Mike Leach.
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