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Joey McGuire 'excited' Mike Leach now eligible for College Football Hall of Fame

IMG_6598by: Nick Kosko07/08/25nickkosko59
USATSI_26041288 (1)
Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire was quite pleased to see Mike Leach eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. Previously, due to winning percentage criteria, Leach was a hair away from being eligible for the elite class of college football figureheads.

McGuire essentially said it wouldn’t be a Hall of Fame without Leach honored within its walls. The required winning percentage will drop from 60% to 59.5% in 2027 and it’ll make the late coach eligible for induction.

At that point, Leach is probably a shoe in. Due to him revolutionizing the game offensively, to go along with some highly successful seasons at multiple stops, Leach is a bonafide Hall of Famer.

“There are very few coaches that have changed the game,” McGuire said, via ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “I’m so excited that Mike Leach is now eligible for the Hall of Fame because you start questioning a Hall of Fame if Mike Leach is not in it, because Mike Leach changed the game of football.”

Leach, who passed in December of 2022, was the head coach of Texas Tech (2000-09), Washington State (2012-19) and Mississippi State (2020-22) this quarter century. His overall record stands at 158-107 (59.6% winning percentage).

McGuire wasn’t the only head coach to campaign for Leach’s inclusion, either. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz also joined the chorus last year after realizing SEC Media Days would be headed to the College Football Hall of Fame in the near future.

“It reminded me to call on CEO Steve Hatchell to do the right thing and to nominate Mike Leach for the College Football Hall of Fame,” Drinkwitz said at the 2024 SEC Media Days. “We need to put his name on the ballot.

“Coach Leach, in my mind, and I believe in most of the people in this room’s mind, is a no-doubt Hall of Famer. He impacted our game more in the last 50 years than a lot of other people. Not only with his legacy but also with his football acumen. His air raid offense is the dominant offense when you look at high school football, its elements in college football, and all the way translating into the NFL. We all know Y-cross, we all know that six is four verticals. We all understand that rocket laser where tailback screens rocket to the right, laser to the left.”