Mississippi State’s Arnett promotes Brock to DC, hires 2 others

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
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STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State coach Zach Arnett has promoted Matt Brock to Bulldogs defensive coordinator and hired Chad Bumphis and Brad Peterson to his staff.

Brock called defensive plays in No. 24 MSU’s 19-10 ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Illinois after serving this season as linebackers coach. The Bulldogs held the Illini to 22 yards rushing and recorded 10 tackles for loss with a season-high seven sacks that set a school bowl record. He arrived at MSU in 2020 as special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach.

Bumphis returns to his alma mater as wide receivers coach after two seasons at Utah, where he helped the Utes earn their second consecutive Pac-12 Conference championship and Rose Bowl berth and rank in top-five in the league in scoring (38.6 points per game) and total offense (466.9 yards). The Tupelo, Mississippi, native is MSU’s career leader with 24 touchdowns receiving and ranks second with 2,270 yards and 159 receptions. Bumphis also coached at Austin Peay, Buffalo and Iowa Wesleyan.

Peterson returns to MSU as associate athletic director for football administration. He previously was the Bulldogs’ director of high school relations from 2016-20 after going 148-70-1 over 17 years as a high school coach in the state. Peterson was named coach of the year three times in two divisions by the Mississippi Association of Coaches.

Arnett became MSU’s head coach on Dec. 15 following the death of Mike Leach days earlier from a heart condition. He had been Leach’s defensive coordinator for three seasons.

Mississippi State rallies to win ReliaQuest Bowl, honors Mike Leach

ReliaQuest Bowl
Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports
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TAMPA, Fla. — Massimo Biscardi made a 27-yard tiebreaking field goal with four seconds left, Marcus Banks returned a fumble 60 yards for a touchdown on the game’s last play and No. 24 Mississippi State rallied to beat Illinois 19-10 in the ReliaQuest Bowl in the Bulldogs’ first game since coach Mike Leach‘s death.

Banks’ score came on Illinois’ fifth lateral following a completed pass after the Fighting Ilini got the ball at their own 29. There was a scrum on the field as the game ended, but order was restored after a couple of minutes.

Will Rogers was 29 of 44 yards for 261 yards and one touchdown for Mississippi State (9-4, No. 22 CFP).

Tommy DeVito completed 23 of 34 passes for 253 yards for Illinois (8-5).

Reggie Love III rushed for 53 yards on 12 carries for Illinois. Fighting Illini running back Chase Brown, the nation’s second-leading rusher in the regular season with 1,643 yards, sat out to prepare for the NFL draft.

Mississippi State was held without a touchdown until the first play of the fourth quarter, when Rogers connected on an eight-yard throw to Justin Robinson that tied the game at 10.

The Bulldogs averaged 32.7 points during the regular season.

Illinois, which entered allowing 12.3 points and held six opponents to under 10 points, played without defensive backs Devon Witherspoon and Sydney Brown. Both opted out ahead of the NFL draft.

DeVito put Illinois up 7-0 on a two-yard run with 2:49 left in the second quarter.

Mississippi State responded with a 38-yard field goal by Biscardi with nine seconds to go in the first half.

IIlinois went up 10-3 on a 52-yard field goal by Caleb Griffin midway through the third.

Mississippi State was limited to 50 yards on its first three possessions, while the next two ended on interceptions by Matthew Bailey and Kendall Smith.

Illinois tops the nation with 24 interceptions.

HONORING MIKE

Among the tributes to Leach, who died on Dec. 12 due to complications from a heart condition, was “MIKE” with a pirate logo as part of the “I” painted between the 20 and 30 on one segment of the field.

The Mississippi State band spelled out “LEACH” before a moment of silence was held before the game.

The Bulldogs had a pirate flag instead of the school logo on their helmets. Illinois’ helmet had a logo similar to what was painted on the field.

Leach’s nickname was “The Pirate.”

UP NEXT

Mississippi State: Opens the 2023 regular-season on Sept. 2 against Southeastern Louisiana.

Illinois: Hosts Toledo on Sept. 2.

Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach dies at 61

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Gruff, pioneering and unfiltered, Mike Leach was one of the most influential football coaches of this or any generation. His boundless curiosity and fascination for people, places and things made him famous beyond the field, a unique character in sports.

Leach, who was in his third year at Mississippi State after helping revolutionize the game of football from high school to the NFL with the Air Raid offense, died following complications from a heart condition, the school said. He was 61.

Leach fell ill at his home in Starkville, Mississippi, near the university. He was treated at a local hospital before being airlifted to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) away.

“Mike was a giving and attentive husband, father and grandfather. He was able to participate in organ donation at UMMC as a final act of charity,” the family said in a statement issued by Mississippi State. “We are supported and uplifted by the outpouring of love and prayers from family, friends, Mississippi State University, the hospital staff, and football fans around the world. Thank you for sharing in the joy of our beloved husband and father’s life.”

In 21 seasons as a head coach at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State, Leach went 158-107. Mississippi State was his third head coaching stop on an unusual path in the profession.

Leach fought through a bout with pneumonia late in this season, coughing uncontrollably at times during news conferences, but seemed to be improving, according to those who worked with him.

News of him falling gravely ill swept through college football the past few days and left many who knew him stunned, hoping and praying for a recovery.

“It’s hard to put into words the impact that Mike Leach had on the players he coached, the game of football and me personally,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes posted on Twitter. “He was a unique personality and independent thinker and a great friend. No one had a greater influence on my life other than my father.”

In Starkville, under gray skies, the videoboard at Davis Wade Stadium showed an image of a smiling Leach and the message: “In loving memory.” Black ribbons were tied to the stadium gates and flowers were left there to honor the coach.

“Mike’s keen intellect and unvarnished candor made him one of the nation’s true coaching legends,” Mississippi State President Mark Keenum said. “His passing brings great sadness to our university, to the Southeastern Conference, and to all who loved college football. I will miss Mike’s profound curiosity, his honesty and his wide-open approach to pursuing excellence in all things.”

At Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington, a similar tribute was on the videoboard above a snow covered field.

Leach was known for his pass-happy offense, wide-ranging interests – he wrote a book about Native American leader Geronimo, had a passion for pirates and taught a class about insurgent warfare – and rambling, off-the-cuff news conferences.

An interview with Leach was as likely to veer into politics, wedding planning or hypothetical mascot fights as it was to stick to football. He considered Donald Trump a friend before the billionaire businessman ran for president and then campaigned for him in 2016.

He traveled all over the world and most appreciated those who stepped outside of their expertise.

“One of the biggest things I admire about Michael Jordan, he got condemned a lot for playing baseball. I completely admired that,” Leach told The Associated Press last spring. “I mean, you’re gonna be dead in 100 years anyway. You’ve mastered basketball and you’re gonna go try to master something else, and stick your neck out and you’re not afraid to do it, and know that a lot of people are gonna be watching you while you do it. I thought it was awesome.”

Leach’s teams were consistent winners at programs where success did not come easy. His quarterbacks put up massive passing statistics, running a relatively simple offense called the Air Raid that he did not invent but certainly mastered.

Six of the 20 best passing seasons in major college football history were by quarterbacks who played for Leach, including four of the top six.

Calling plays from a folded piece of paper smaller than an index card, Leach turned passers such as B.J. Symons (448.7 yards per game), Graham Harrell (438.8), Connor Halliday (430.3) and Anthony Gordon (429.2) into record-setters and Heisman Trophy contenders.

“You have to make choices and limit what you’re going to teach and what you’re going to do. That’s the hard part,” Leach told the AP about the Air Raid’s economical playbook.

Leach also had a penchant for butting heads with authority, and he wasn’t shy about criticizing players he felt were not playing with enough toughness.

A convergence of those traits cost Leach his first head coaching job. He went 84-43 with the Red Raiders, never having a losing season at the Big 12 school and reaching No. 2 in the country in 2008 with a team that went 11-2 and matched a school record for victories.

He was fired by Texas Tech in December 2009 after being accused of mistreating a player, Adam James, who had suffered a concussion.

He refused to apologize for the conflict, and eventually sued Texas Tech for wrongful termination. The school was protected by state law, but Leach never stopped trying to fight that case.

While out of coaching for two seasons, Leach and his wife, Sharon, retreated to their home in Key West, Florida, where he rode his bike around town and knocked back drinks at the bars.

He returned to coaching in the Pac-12, but never gave up that beloved home in the Keys.

Leach landed at Washington State in 2012. After three losing seasons, the Cougars soon looked very much like his Texas Tech teams. In 2018, Washington State went 11-2, setting a school record for victories, and was ranked as high as No. 7 in the country.

Leach moved to the SEC in 2020, taking over at Mississippi State. After years of questions about whether Leach’s spread offense could be successful in the nation’s most talented football conference, the Bulldogs set an SEC record for yards passing in his very first game against defending national champion LSU.

Born March 9, 1961, in tiny Susanville, California, Leach grew up in even smaller Cody, Wyoming. Raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he attended BYU and got a law degree from Pepperdine.

Leach didn’t play college football – rugby was his sport – but watching the innovative passing attack used by then-BYU coach LaVell Edwards at a time when most teams were still run-heavy piqued his interest in drawing up plays.

In 1987, he broke into college coaching at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and spent a year coaching football in Finland, but it was at Iowa Wesleyan where he found his muse. Head coach Hal Mumme had invented the Air Raid while coaching high school in Texas. At Iowa Wesleyan, with Leach as offensive coordinator, it began to take hold and fundamentally change the way football was played.

Leach followed Mumme to Valdosta State and then to the SEC at Kentucky, smashing passing records along the way. He spent one season as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator in 1999 before getting his own program at Texas Tech.

From there, the Air Raid spread like wild and became the predominant way offense was run in the Big 12 and beyond.

Leach’s extensive coaching tree includes USC’s Lincoln Riley, Dykes, Houston’s Dana Holgorsen and Kliff Kingsbury of the Arizona Cardinals.

“Coach – You will certainly be missed, but your impact on so many will live on – Thankful for every moment. You changed my life and so many others,” Riley posted on Twitter.

This past season, Leach’s Mississippi State team finished 8-4, including a 24-22 victory Thanksgiving night over Mississippi in the intense rivalry known as the Egg Bowl. It was his final game.

Leach is survived by his wife and four children, Janeen, Kimberly, Cody and Kiersten.