Look: Mississippi State tributes to Mike Leach will bring a tear to your eye

Mississippi State is playing its first game since the death of head coach Mike Leach, and the tributes are a testament to how much he meant to the entire game. 

College Football is going to look and sound a little different. Mike Leach is no longer here to inject his special an unique brand of coaching into the game, and the entire sport is lesser because of it.

It’s hard to articulate the impact Leach had on college football, and it’ll probably be a while before it truly settles in. His death earlier in December at the age of 61 prompted coaches and players who were lucky enough to be in his orbit, even for just a little while, to step forward and try to explain to the world just how much the man meant.

Mississippi State’s matchup with Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl marked its first game since Leach’s death and an opportunity to send its captain off with a proper farewell.

Tributes to Leach all over Raymond James Stadium, from helmet stickers, to changing its logo to a pirate flag, to a vigil for its fallen head coach in a place he’d likely appreciate more than any other gesture.

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It wasn’t just Mississippi State paying tribute to Leach today. The Pirate’s impact was — and will continue to be — felt all around the college game, so it’s no surprise that other schools in action throughout the country were paying tribute to coaching legend.

Why is Mike Leach called The Pirate?

It’s fitting that the first game Mississippi State is playing in after Leach’s death is at a stadium with a giant pirate ship. Leach was known, and will always be remembered, as The Pirate.

The nickname, which only a guy like Leach could pull off in the least sinister way, goes back to his days at Texas Tech and his fascination with swashbucklers of a bygone era. Leach was never shy about his interest in pirate history, pirate lore, and pirate culture. It was something that drove both a passion of his away from the sport of football, but also helped influence his coaching philosophy.

Leach had a famous quote he liked to deliver on why his fascination with pirates worked so well as a metaphor for how a football team could operate:

"Pirates function as a team. There were a lot of castes and classes in England at the time. But with pirates, it didn’t matter if you were black, white, rich or poor. The object was to get a treasure. If the captain did a bad job, you could just overthrow him."

Only Mike Leach could take something as historically sinister as piracy and turn it into something lovable and special. Pirates have existed for hundreds of years, but it took less than a handful of decades for Leach to change our perception and forever link himself with something he loved so dearly.

Kind of like what the legacy he left behind with all those who loved him and will miss him forever now that he’s gone.