Pictured: Mike Leach walking into Tyler Hilinski’s funeral at Damien High School w/his Washington State University football players and coaches in 2018.

Football:

By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

Mike Leach, one of college football’s most colorful, controversial and innovative coaches died Monday night at UMCC in Jackson, Mississippi.

He was just 61 years of age.

Leach had a ‘massive’ heart attack on Sunday at his Starkville home, and the paramedics had to use a defibrillator when they arrived and found the former Texas Tech and Washington State coach unconscious.

After being tended to locally, Leach was airlifted 125 miles away to UMMC.

According to reports, Leach never regained consciousness, and local Mississippi sports writers said he would need a ‘miracle’ to survive.

I had the honor & heartbreak of covering Tyler Hilinski’s funeral (Upland HS/Washington State quarterback) on 1/27/18 at Damien for a site called CougFan.com.

I know Leach can be abrasive & politically incorrect at times (as can we all), but I got to see the side of ‘dad’ that day, as he led the WSU football team in and out of the Damien gymnasium to show their love for a fallen brother and teammate.

They were also there to mourn with the Hilinski family and friends some 1,100 miles from campus.

My other experience was covering a Cougars game a few years back at Arizona State University.

And despite doing this type of work since 2000, I can still remember being intimidated as he walked by me on the field.

Leach had a muscular and armed member of law enforcement shadowing him to and from the field anytime he left the locker room.

WSU narrowly lost that hot October afternoon, so what kind of Mike Leach would we see in the media room?

Instead of blowing up about the loss or tough questions, he answered everything directed his way in depth and without a scintilla of evasiveness.

I’m sure you’ve all seen highlights of his postgame rants where he can be profane and brutally honest.

But what many of us outside of Leach’s compass don’t often get to see until this tragedy is the love his current/former players and coaches have for a man who showed each of them the toughest of tough love.

He wasn’t necessarily the warm and cuddly type, but he absolutely prepared his boys for the unflinching challenges and coldness that life can dish out.

And the student-athletes at Mississippi State, Texas Tech and Washington State will be better fathers, husbands and men because of their time with Mike Leach.

I think it’s safe to say that we all send our best to the Leach family in their time of grief.