Leach Opens Up On Coaching Staff, His Coaching Tree And More
January 31, 2022 | Football, Joel Coleman
State’s leader explains his recent staff restructuring and hits on several other topics.
STARKVILLE – With 150 career wins and bowl appearances in all but two of his 20 seasons as a head coach, Mississippi State's Mike Leach certainly knows more than most about how to assemble a successful staff.
So, when Leach announced Monday how he'll arrange his assistants in 2022 – featuring the promotion of Drew Hollingshead to inside receivers coach in addition to the changing of roles for several individuals – the shifts were calculated moves that Leach is confident will lead to the best possible product on the field for the Bulldogs going forward.
HailState.com recently caught up with Leach to chat about all that went into the organization of his 2022 staff (and multiple other topics). The conversation began centered on the new guy, who's really not new at all.
Hollingshead has been by Leach's side since 2016, first as an offensive graduate assistant, then later as a quality control coach. Hollingshead has been an offensive assistant for the Bulldogs ever since Leach arrived in Starkville.
So, Coach Leach, why exactly did you feel it was Hollingshead that was the best fit to fill the opening at inside receivers coach?
LEACH: "Well the biggest thing is that he's done so many things for a lot of years. He's put in a lot of time and part of having experience is time you've put into something. And Drew has worked directly with me for years. At least for what we're looking for, that's the most important experience. Then the other thing is he's an incredibly knowledgeable guy and handles so many other things on our staff, it'd be difficult to lose him. He knows all the responsibilities. He knows all the players. I think he'll do a tremendous job."
What Leach didn't mention originally was much of Hollingshead's previous experience has come helping develop quarterbacks. And not just run-of the-mill quarterbacks, but record-breaking quarterbacks.
You know how Will Rogers, in only two seasons, has become one of the country's top signal callers and has already rewritten the Mississippi State record book? Well one of the central figures behind that growth has been Hollingshead.
Hollingshead also helped coach now-Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Gardner Minshew II when Minshew was at Washington State. Minshew led all the FBS in passing yardage per game in the 2018 season.
Leach feels certain Hollingshead's knowledge of quarterback play will give him an advantage in his new role.
LEACH: "Well he does know what the quarterbacks are looking for and when. He has helped me coach quarterbacks for years so that's helpful that we're on the same page there. There's a lot there that's helpful to be familiar with."
Of course, in college coaching, the coaching itself is only part of the equation. A huge part – the lifeblood of a program many say – is the recruiting piece.
Leach's staff is currently putting together what, right now, stands as a Top 25 recruiting haul with the Class of 2022. Can Hollingshead jump in and help continue MSU's recruiting success?
LEACH: "I think he'll do good. He's a good evaluator. I think he's a persistent guy. I've always thought that, by far, the most important quality a recruiter can have is persistence. There's no replacing the most persistent guy. That's critical. That's the ultimate key is to be extremely persistent, but then he's also knowledgeable about what we do and our system and that type of thing. I think all that helps."
Again, if a coach has earned Leach's stamp of approval, that's not to be taken lightly. After all, the pirate has put together a coaching tree that is right up there with the most impressive trees of all-time.
Former Leach pupils have risen to be amongst the most well-known coaches in football. There's Kliff Kingsbury, leading the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. Lincoln Riley is the head coach at Southern California.
The list goes on and on. Just to name a few more, Sonny Dykes (TCU), Dana Holgorsen (Houston), Seth Littrell (North Texas), Sonny Cumbie (Louisiana Tech), Dave Aranda (Baylor) and Ken Wilson (Nevada) are all head coaches at the collegiate level.
Eric Morris (Washington State), Brandon Jones (Houston) and Robert Anae (Syracuse) all have offensive coordinator titles. Alex Grinch is Riley's defensive coordinator at USC.
Leach's fingerprints are everywhere. Why have his guys been able to move on, spread their wings and fly so high?
LEACH: "The biggest thing is [before you hire someone] you want to study a guy's body of work. In Drew's case, it's with me, so that was beneficial. Then with others, I try to judge everyone by their body of work, and then how good of a fit are they for our staff and what we're trying to get accomplished."
And Coach Leach, what do you think it says about you to have been able to grow all these coaching branches?
LEACH: "Well we have had quite a bunch and I think we've all kind of grown together. That's the thing, is you try to hire guys that know something that you don't. Like Bear Bryant said, if they don't know something that you don't, you don't need them. So, you try to hire guys that know something that you don't. I think all of those guys have made impacts and added some things, almost without exception positively. So, they learn from you, but you learn from them as well. I am very proud of them moving on and being able to elevate their careers."
One of your proudest achievements as a coach?
LEACH: "Yeah, I'd say it is. It's always impressive to see those guys go on and do great things."
From there, the conversation shifts back to Mississippi State's current staff. In addition to Hollingshead taking over his new on-field role, several of MSU's other assistants have added titles or changed responsibilities.
Offensive line coach Mason Miller is now also the running game coordinator, while outside receivers coach Steve Spurrier, Jr. becomes the passing game coordinator.
Matt Brock, who oversaw special teams last season in addition to coaching outside linebackers, will now coach all linebackers on a full-time basis.
Eric Mele will now coach State's special teams, shifting over from his previous role as running backs coach.
To fill Mele's old spot, Jason Washington will switch sides of the football and take it after previously guiding State's safeties.
MSU's safeties will now be overseen by defensive coordinator Zach Arnett.
So why all the moving and shaking?
LEACH: "Well we had the one opening so we hired Drew. So that was kind of a next-man-up thing. You try to be in that position to begin with so that you can go next man up. You want to kind of be training guys as you go along the way. Then Eric Mele of course, he's been my special teams coordinator before [while at Washington State] and done a nice job. Then Matt Brock, who does a tremendous job at coaching, wanted a more active role on defense. He's been on defense, but wanted a more active role, which is hard to do if you're the special teams coordinator. So, he's now got a more active role on defense and he's one of our better recruiters too. That gives him a little more flexibility that way. Eric's back at special teams, something that he's done before and been particularly good with kickers and punters. Then Jason Washington, in order to move Eric, I needed to be able to fill that spot. Jason's just a good overall coach and communicator and I think he'll do a tremendous job in that room with the running backs."
As for Miller and Spurrier, Jr., Leach said their responsibilities will largely remain the same even though their job titles did get a little longer.
LEACH: [Miller] has just grown at what he does and steadily improved and gotten better and better…[Spurrier, Jr.] is the guy I talk to in the box, so he's a very logical passing game coordinator."
Of course, three of the changes are what really stand out as they are a total changing of duties. As Leach mentioned though, Mele's new role is actually a return. He has an abundance of special teams coordinator experience, including five years at Wingate and four years under Leach at Washington State.
Then there's Arnett, who moves back a level on the defense, from linebackers to safeties.
LEACH: "Zach was very active at linebacker, but now he'll coach safeties. I think [the new duties are] pretty good spots for [both Brock and Arnett] and they're very much on the same page when it comes to everything from scheme to coaching and what they do. I think it kind of gives us the best of both worlds in a lot of ways."
But what about Washington? He's spent the entirety of his coaching career on the defensive side of the football. Will it be a huge adjustment for him to now coach running backs?
LEACH: "I don't think it'll be a lot. First of all, he's already been a great coach on defense so now he'll just need to do the same on the opposite side. I think he's a great communicator and a great coach, plus he has the offensive line guys in front of him helping out. Us quarterback and receiver guys will help him out. So, he'll have good people around him, and I think it'll be a pretty easy adjustment."
On a base level, Leach believes coaching is coaching. If you know the game and can communicate, you can be an effective coach. He says he believes the changing of coaching duties isn't as big of a culture shock for coaches as what those on the outside might believe. And, he says there's a benefit some don't really think about.
LEACH: "I think sometimes it just kind of freshens things up a little bit, too."
Speaking of fresh (and shifting gears a bit), there are several fresh faces now on the Mississippi State roster. In recent days, the Bulldogs have added several players from the transfer portal including offensive lineman Stephen Losoya, safety Jackie Matthews, wide receiver Justin Robinson, wide receiver Jordan Mosley, defensive back Marcus Banks and kicker Massimo Biscardi.
Before the chat with Leach wrapped up, he addressed his additions in general terms.
LEACH: "Well we're really excited about those guys and looking forward to getting to work with them. We've been on the road recruiting and recruiting is fun, but we all got into this to coach football so the quicker we can get front and center on that the more excited we'll be…But I think we've helped ourselves. We've still got a ways to go and still have to keep getting better."
Getting better. Perhaps no two words have been spoken more by Leach since he took over the Mississippi State program. It might sometimes get overlooked when judged by his poker face on the sideline on Saturdays in the fall, but Leach is a man that never settles. He never has. He never will.
It's inarguable MSU has made tremendous strides under Leach in two years. The Bulldogs nearly doubled their win total from year one to year two. And these weren't just forgettable victories either. Three of State's seven triumphs in 2021 came over teams ranked inside the final College Football Playoff Top 25.
The Air Raid started to take off. MSU averaged more than 100 yards per game better in 2021 than in 2020. From an average points per game standpoint, in a year's time, the Bulldogs improved by more than a touchdown.
Mississippi State is absolutely elevating. But from shuffling the coaching staff to adding new talent, it's evident the Bulldogs aren't settling. It's just not the Mike Leach way.
LEACH: "I feel like we've got some momentum. You always want more, and you always want to improve, but I do think we're improving and we're getting better."
