Mike Leach Discusses Unique Offseason, “Enchanting” Bulldogs, State Flags and Crashing Parties with Bill Murray
One of my favorite, non-Lubbock, radio hosts happened to snag an interview with Mike Leach earlier this week.
The new head coach for the Mississippi State Bulldogs spoke for about a half-hour with Trey Elling on 104.9 The Horn in Austin.
As you would expect Leach had some interesting comments about his new school, state flags, plus a celebrity he could crash a party with.
Concerning the mascot for Mississippi State, Leach said about the Bulldogs, "They're enchanting to look at, there's no question about that. You have to be pretty boring guy to take a look at a bulldog and not take an interest." Leach continued, "It is a great mascot. It's such a great mascot in this conference [the SEC] we have two of them."
Leach noted he was given his first MSU cowbell when flying on the airplane to Starkville for the first time. He said that school tradition dictates that you can't buy your cowbell, it has to be given to you.
When the discussion later shifted to state flags, Leach said, "A really good state flag is one you can see from a long ways away and you know right away what the logo is."
Briefly commenting on the upcoming design change of the Mississippi state flag, Leach said, "I've been to countries in Europe and have seen people with the Texas state flag. I want the State of Mississippi to come up with a flag that we can proudly wave as obnoxiously as Texans wave theirs."
In no particular order, Leach gave his list of "Best State Flags in America": Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, California, Arizona and Tennessee.
Toward the end of the interview, Bill Murray and his penchant for crashing parties was mentioned. That jogged Leach's memory about the time he crashed a Christmas party in Pullman, when he was head coach of the Washington State Cougars, "There was a Christmas party in Pullman my neighbor had; I'd been working because of bowl prep, stuff like that, and recruiting. I'd walk home in the snow.
"I had my gear on and look like I had been hunting. My one neighbor would say 'Hey, they're having a Christmas party', I'd been to three of them [at this house]. And I'd just walk in, knock on the door, (they) let me in, I'd hang out, meet all the nice people, and I knew probably about a third of them. Sorta crash it, and it was understood that I was going to crash the party at one point," Leach said.
Leach then mentioned, "I'd like to meet Bill Murray, I've never met him." He concluded the interview by telling Elling, "Well set it up, and we'll go meet Bill Murray, he's crashing parties and we'll go crash his."
Mike Leach and his eccentricity. It will never change.
Leach is in first season of coaching at Mississippi State. He coached at Washington State from 2012-2019 and at Texas Tech from 2000-2009.