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Lane Kiffin sends heartfelt message about Mike Leach before SEC meetings

Stephen Samraby: Steve Samra02/09/23SamraSource

Lane Kiffin had nothing but love for Mike Leach. Since the former Mississippi State leader’s passing, the Ole Miss coach has missed him every day.

Ahead of heading to the SEC head coach meetings, Kiffin took to Twitter to point out that something is missing — his friend, Leach. Check out the heartfelt message the Rebels coach sent to Twitter, where he was candid with his thoughts.

“Heading to @SEC head coach meetings this morning. Reminder again how much I miss my friend (pirate flag emoji) @HailStateFB He was sitting right next to me one year ago cracking me up the whole day,” tweeted Kiffin. “Love and miss you (heart emoji) #NeverAPhony #AlwaysReal“

They may have coached rival squads, but Kiffin and Leach were friends above everything. It’s going to take some getting used to seeing a season of college football without one of it’s most unique figures, but Kiffin and many others will keep him in their hearts.

Lane Kiffin on the loss of Mike Leach: ‘You feel it everywhere’

At the time of Leach’s passing, ESPN’s Matt Barrie asked Kiffin to gauge the reaction around the state to Leach’s death at the age of 61. The Rebels skipper is in the midst of the sprint leading up to early signing day but he said the support for Leach was felt around the state as he was on the trail in Mississippi on Monday.

“I was in the state recruiting yesterday and tried to go by Jackson but obviously not good timing,” Kiffin said, back when the news broke. “You feel it everywhere. I don’t know, maybe this is something for fans that Coach Leach and I brought here, that there doesn’t have to be hatred… You can have great rivalries and passion and still love each other. I loved him. I kept hearing that it was so unique, ‘You’re not supposed to do that here,’ he would say the same thing. 

“We’d hug after every event and say, ‘See you next time, buddy.’ I can’t believe that’s not going to happen again.”

One of the few rare Division-I head coaches who never played the game at a high level himself, Leach accumulated a record of 158-107 over his 21 seasons at the helm of Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State.

On3’s Nikki Chavanelle contributed to this article.