Getty Image / Kirby Lee
The late great Mike Leach passed away in December 2022 and will forever hold a special place in the heart of College Football fans. He was a force to be reckoned with at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State where he was head coach. Leach was a 2-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year, 2008 Big 12 Coach of the year, but he is ineligible for the College Football Hall of Fame because of one rule.
College Football Hall of Fame eligibility for coaches stipulates they must coach for at least 10 seasons (he did) and have a career winning percentage of at least .600 (he doesn’t). Mike Leach‘s career winning percentage is just a hair shy of eligibility at .596.
He won 158 games over 21 years but came up just .04% shy of the necessary .600 winning percentage and this has NOT sat well with College Football fans in recent days after the president of the National Football Foundation, Steve Hatchell, told Hotline that HoF’s rules will not be flexed for Mike Leach.
The National Football Foundation runs the Hall of Fame, and its president Steve Hatchell told Hotline “If you don’t qualify under one of the criteria, it’s tough. We’ve heard every reason why we should look beyond why someone is not in the Hall of Fame. But at some point, you have to say, ‘These are the rules.”
An article on Mercury News says there are two caveats that could get Mike Leach in but not through traditional eligibility. The first is because Mike Leach was still coaching at the time of his death, a new rule could be created. The second is Leach could potentially enter the College Football Hall of Fame as an ‘Outstanding Contributor’ but not as a coach.
All of this has not sat well with College Football fans. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports made his thoughts clear on X (formerly Twitter), saying “Mike Leach deserves to be in the College Football Hall of Fame by any measure.”
Mississippi State’s Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications and Creative, Brandon Langlois, wrote on X saying “Enthusiastically agree with @LateKickJosh, @Andy_Staples, @BruceFeldmanCFB, @dennisdoddcbs and so many others that Mike Leach deserves to be in the College Football Hall of Fame. For nearly four decades, Coach Leach had an unmatched impact on the game of football including thousands of players coaches and staff.”
It does feel as if the College Football Hall of Fame will find a way to honor Mike Leach but as things stand, he is ineligible to enter as a coach due to the .600 career winning percentage requirement.