Mike Leach of Mississippi calls the bowl game opt-out ‘one of the biggest absurdities I’ve ever seen’
Mississippi State coach Mike Leach doesn’t like the recent trend of NFL Draft-eligible players opting out of their team’s flops in preparation for the draft process.
The Bulldogs sophomore coach made that clear to reporters during his Saturday media appearance, when he called opting out of bowling “one of the things that biggest absurdity I’ve seen.”
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“You have an obligation to the place that helped build and grow you and complete it in the bowl,” said Leach, via Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.). “That’s part of it. You owe it to your team, you owe it to the fans, you owe it to your coach and that’s the weirdest thing in the world for me.”
“Someone said, ‘Well, I can’t play another game,’” Leach said. “They think they’re going to have 10 years of solid NFL careers, and then they can’t play another college game. Well, that’s ridiculous. I mean, the boys are going to the NFL, they’re going to be. going to be the Pro Bowl and then they’re going to play in the Pro Bowl. That’s one of the biggest absurdities I’ve ever seen, and it’s also selfish.”
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It should be noted that Leach, who has made stops at Texas Tech and Washington State as well as Mississippi State, had never left a team before their botched game. He was fired at Texas Tech in 2009 after the 8-4 season following allegations of player abuse. He also coached the Cougars at the 2019 Cheez-It Bowl before accepting the position of Bulldogs head coach. However, he left his position as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator before the 1999 Independence Award (lost to Ole Miss 27-25).
Two of Leach’s players – attacking forward Charles Cross and full-back Martin Emerson, both of whom have just announced their participation in the draft – could miss the Bulldogs’ Liberty Bowl against Texas Tech.
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Leach’s position reflects an older mentality in coaches. In contrast, some coaches left their teams ahead of a bad season. Three big examples of that in the 2021 training carousel are Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, Notre Dame Cathedral Brian Kelly and Mario Cristobal of Oregon, who left those green-blooded programs for USC, LSU, and Miami (Fla.), respectively.
The Sooners will play the Duck in the Alamo Bowl. Fighting Irish will play Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. Without Riley, Kelly or Cristobal will coach in their former team’s woeful match.
