Mike Leach will be top of mind for the Georgia football team during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
As Georgia looks to repeat as national champions in college football, they’ll honor the life of former Mississippi State coach Mike Leach throughout the process, starting with the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Coach Leach passed away tragically at the age of 61 earlier this month. Earlier in the season, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs went to Starkville and beat the Leach Bulldogs to stay perfect. Who would have guessed this would be the last time these two Valdosta State teams would shake hands on the field? Not only was Leach an innovator, but he was also an innovator when it came to his own unique personality.
Georgia will honor the Buccaneer with a Mike Cowbell badge on the back of their red helmets.
The Georgia Bulldogs will honor Mike Leach during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
It is hard to describe the respect Coach Leach has from his colleagues. He may have been one of the creators of the air raid crime, but it was the way he treated people and how unapologetically himself he was the whole time. This is why he is fondly remembered. Leach and Smart share Valdosta’s coaching roots, as well as being SEC coaches at the same time, but that means more.
Georgia is the only SEC program still in contention for a national championship. Leach may also have coached at Texas Tech and Washington State, but he hit it big in only his third season in Starkville. Not to say Mississippi State would have ever achieved what Smart is going through as he leads his alma mater, but not all jobs are created equal. His band was different.
With two possible games left to play this season, it will be up to Georgia to swing its sword as best it can against Ohio State and then perhaps against Michigan or TCU in their quest for a repeat. While we may not hear the SEC cheers like we have in years, Georgia is playing for a championship, hoping to prove once again that its conference is the best. Leach was a part of it.
We must forever preserve the pirate spirit within us so that the Lich’s legacy can live on.
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