Rule Change Makes Mike Leach Eligible For College Football Hall Of Fame: SEC Daily, May 29, 2025

A rule change from the National Football Foundation has lowered the win percentage necessary for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame from .600 to .595, paving the way for Mike Leach to be voted into the halls of Atlanta.

One would be hard-pressed to find a coach as universally loved as the late Leach. "The Pirate" left a profound impact on the sport of football as we know it, popularizing the Air Raid offense during his time with Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State. The two-time National Coach of the Year tragically passed in December 2022, just weeks before his 8-4 Bulldogs' ReliaQuest Bowl matchup with Illinois.

Leach held a record of 158-107 at the time of his passing, a win percentage of .596, just 0.04 points off of the necessary .600. He never got a job at a powerhouse, instead bringing three programs that have historically struggled to some of their highest heights. He is the winningest coach in Texas Tech history, the only man to lead Washington State to an 11-win season, and his nine wins in 2022 in Starkville are more than the Bulldogs have managed in the two seasons since his passing combined.

“The NFF is committed to preserving the integrity and prestige of the NFF College Football Hall of Fame,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “This adjustment reflects thoughtful dialogue with leaders across the sport and allows us to better recognize coaches whose contributions to the game extend beyond a narrow statistical threshold.”

The Air Raid, a pass-heavy, aggressive style of play, was the hallmark of Leach's teams throughout his career. His teams almost always ranked in the top 10 nationally in passing yards, and at the time of his passing, four of the top nine highest single-season passing yardage totals in FBS history came from Leach's quarterbacks. His coaching tree includes Lincoln Riley, Josh Heupel, Sonny Dykes, and Kliff Kingsbury — all of whom have seen great success with the Air Raid offense.

Leach was an enigma in every sense of the word. He taught a class called "Insurgent Warfare and Football Strategy" at both Washington State and Mississippi State, frequently expressed his love for pirates, and is responsible for some of the greatest press conference clips of all time. Thanks to intervention from the committee, he is now in position to be immortalized alongside the other all-time greats of the sport.