Nice Mike Leach story for MSU week!

Rick Karle, a sportscaster in Birmingham posted this so I thought I would share it since we play State this week.

I've been thinking of Coach Mike Leach this morning.
Thinking of how I miss him.
Thinking about the Crimson Tide heading to Starkville this weekend and Coach Saban not chatting with Coach Leach before the game.

I thought over the next few days I would share some heartwarming stories that Coach Leach fans have sent my way.

Jeff Tyler of Wetumpka, AL contacted me to tell me a great story.
It’s a story that reminds us of Coach Leach’s patience, his keen memory and his interest in others.
I think you will enjoy this tale!

“Three years ago, I took my 11-year-old son to a Mississippi State game.
Jackson wanted to see pre-game warm-ups, so we were practically the first fans in the stadium.
We took our upper level seats, and my son asked if he could walk down to the field level seats to watch warm-ups, and I let him.
Well, this kid somehow managed to convince a security guard that he was supposed to be on the field.
The next thing I saw was my son walking up to Coach Leach and fist bumping him.

“The two started talking, and a few minutes later Coach Leach was calling over a couple of his players.
Now, my son was a center on his YMCA team- Coach Leach had his centers showing my son how to snap the ball!
I was in the upper deck, totally dumbfounded that an SEC coach just spent time in pre-game showing some kid he’d never met how to snap a football.
My kid comes back to our upper deck seats beaming with pride- I saw it as a memory of a lifetime.

“Two years later we went to another game- my son was again in the front row watching warm-ups.
A graduate assistant ran over and yelled, Are you Jackson?’ and my son said, ‘Yes!’
The graduate assistant said, ‘Coach Leach wants to see you,’ and he took my son out on the field.

“Coach Leach asked my son if he’d been practicing, and then made him do several snaps.
Coach told him to keep working on it, gave him a football and sent him on his way.
I was in the stands dumbfounded that a coach remembered my son’s name, remembered that day, and knew what spending five minutes of his time with a kid could mean.”

Thanks, Jeff, for this wonderful story.

If anyone wonders why Mike Leach was and is so loved, they need only listen to the story of the coach and 11-year-old Jackson Tyler.

Then we will all understand…

In a snap.

*Picture courtesy Justin Ford/Getty Images
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