Mike Leach Should Already Be in CFB Hall of Fame, Just a Bulldog Minute

In the latest Just a Bulldog Minute, Taylor Hodges talks about growing up in Texas while Mike Leach was at Texas Tech

Texas Tech Red Raiders Head Coach Sonny Cumbie shakes the hand of Mississippi State Bulldogs Head Coach Mike Leach after Tech's 34-7 win at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. / Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal / USA

Mike Leach's impact on college football is still felt throughout college football. Whether through his offensive innovations or unique persona, many football fans still have fond memories of the legendary coach.

For high school football players growing up in Texas in the mid-2000s, Mike Leach had an impact that won't be replicated unless Patrick Mahomes becomes the Red Raiders head coach after his NFL career. Following Cowbell Corner staff writer Jacob Bain's excellent column laying out the reasons for Leach's enshrinement, Taylor Hodges played high school football in Texas while Leach built Texas Tech into one of the nation's best teams and his reasons of his own for why Leach should already be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Watch the video below for today's Just a Bulldog Minute as Hodges recalls his memories and impact Leach had on him and countless other Texas football fans.

"Mike Leach (built Texas Tech into one of the state's most popular teams) when Texas was at its peak, TCU was a budding powerhouse, Oklahoma was competing for national championships and Texas A&M was riding the coattails of the 2002 Junction Boys movie," Hodges says in Just a Bulldog Minute. "He put a school from the middle of nowhere West Texas on the same playing field as the biggest schools in Texas. For folks in Mississippi, that would be like some coach coming to Southern Miss and turning it into a better team than State or Ole Miss. So, that’s why I strongly believe Mike Leach deserves to already be the in college football hall of fame."