More Than A Handshake
September 13, 2022 | Football, Joel Coleman
Mike Leach looks his guys in the eyes before every game.
STARKVILLE – Richard J. Daley – a former mayor of Chicago – once said that if a man's handshake is no good, all the legal paper in the world won't make it good.
Handshakes can mean a multitude of things. They can say hello. They can signify an agreement. They can seal a deal.
In the case of Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach, he uses a handshake as an evaluation tool.
Moments before the Bulldogs hit the field each Saturday, Leach has a routine. He goes around to every single player on the team and shakes their hand. Every Dawg gets a brief meeting with their head coach before they compete.
"I just try to read and see if they're ready to go," Leach said of the practice. "I see if they're locked in and ready to go and focused on going out and playing to the best of their ability."
Leach is known for his Air Raid offense, so he's logically oftentimes tied to his quarterbacks, receivers and the like. But for these handshakes, it doesn't matter what position you play. Offensive guys, defensive guys and special teams guys all are getting a one-on-one gameday visit with Leach.
"I think that's just his way of saying, 'Come on guys. We need you,'' linebacker Nathaniel Watson said. "He shakes everybody's hands. It helps to get the whole locker room together as one."
This isn't some recent development for Leach. He's long had a habit of making a locker room loop.
"It started back when I was an offensive coordinator," Leach explained. "I'd say it started when I was at Iowa Wesleyan. It just became part of the routine."
Leach was at Iowa Wesleyan from 1989 through 1991. From there, he made stops at Valdosta State, Kentucky and Oklahoma as a coordinator before his head coaching career began in 2000 at Texas Tech. He spent 10 years in Lubbock, then later was the head man at Washington State from 2012 through 2019 ahead of arriving in Starkville in 2020.
Do the math and that's more than three decades' worth of pregame hand shaking. Years have passed, but the messages and meaning behind the habit have remained steady.
It's short and sweet, but it's certainly impactful.
"It's like a handshake, and he'll say things like, 'Let's go Bookie. Let's have a good game,'" Watson shared. "It's just quick words, but it really means a lot to us all."
On Saturday down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, just before the Bulldogs head out of the tunnel to battle the LSU Tigers in Death Valley, Leach will again be making his rounds. It might seem like a small part of game day, but it's so much more for the guys whose hands Leach is shaking.
"It really gets everybody going and helps us lock in for the game," Watson said.
