Cougs fly pirate flag to honor Leach at LA Bowl

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — As the Washington State football team flooded onto the field at SoFi Stadium, led by mascot Butch T. Cougar waiving the Ol’ Crimson flag, there was another flag making its way out of the tunnel behind it.

Senior receiver Renard Bell carried a classic pirate flag, white skull and crossbones on a black background, all the way to the end zone, where he knelt down surrounded by teammates ahead of Saturday’s LA Bowl game against Fresno State.

The gesture was an ode to the late coach Mike Leach, who died Monday from a sudden heart condition. The legendary former Cougar coach was known as “the Pirate” and his most famous motto was “Swing Your Sword.”

“He came to Washington State not just to reenergize his career but he reenergized the whole Cougar football program and he laid a foundation to just letting Cougs know we could win again,” WSU coach Jake Dickert said after the game, a 29-6 loss to the Bulldogs. “He started a bowl streak we have continued and we’re excited to do that.”

Leach led the Cougars from 2012-19 before taking the same position at Mississippi State. In that span, he led the Cougars to six bowl games and a 55-47 record, including a program-best 11 wins and a No. 7 ranking in the AP poll in 2018.

Leach recruited many of the players still on the WSU roster, including Bell and star edge Brennan Jackson.

The players wore stickers with the initials “ML” on their helmets to honor the former coach.

Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford, who knew Leach personally from his time coaching at Cal, called him “the best storyteller there ever was.”

The two had several encounters at coaches meetings through the years and Leach was “was the first guy up every single morning … always going out and doing something historical, finding something new to learn. He was such a deep guy.”

Tedford called Leach an “innovator in football without a doubt.” Tedford joked he was doing something wrong because he had a pizza box-sized play chart while Leach famously called all his innovative Air Raid plays on a tiny folded piece of paper.

“We’re going to miss him,” Tedford said.

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.