Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach has never been one to hold his tongue. The salty pirate has always made his feelings clear, whether it’s on mascot fights, conspiracy theories, weddings, candy corn, the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the topic, he can swing from folksy and charming to spiteful and harmful with relative ease.
One thing Leach has never had any issue doing is calling out student-athletes over their decisions, including the ones that play for his football team. He’s gotten himself in hot water from time to time over it and he might find himself there again after publicly calling out any football player who opts out of a bowl game when they decide to go to the NFL.
Leach told reporters that he thinks players have an “obligation” to finish the season with their college team, regardless of intentions.
“You’ve got an obligation to the place that helped build and develop you and finish it out in the bowl,” Leach said. “That’s part of it. You owe it to your team, you owe it to your fans, you owe it to your coaches and it’s the most bizarre thing in the world to me.
