Seeing Both Sides – Mississippi State

STARKVILLE – Darcel McBath‘s NFL career was over and he was trying to figure out his next step.

It was around six or seven years ago when McBath was first contemplating dipping his toes in the coaching waters. Around the same time, he reached out to his former college coach at Texas Tech who was then at Washington State – Mike Leach.

“I said, ‘Coach, I’m really thinking about coaching,'” McBath recalled. “He said, ‘If you’re serious about it, show me you’re serious about it.’ So, I did.”

You’re aware of how the story ends. McBath now serves as cornerbacks coach alongside Leach at Mississippi State. Leach has gone from McBath’s coach, to being his boss.

As a result, few people have gotten to know Leach as well as McBath has over the course of his playing and coaching career. Here are a few things he’s observed along the way.

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McBath is pretty sure he remembers when he first really caught Leach’s eye as one of his players. It was McBath’s freshman year at Texas Tech.

“I started on scout team, and if you ask [Leach], one of the most important things on his teams is how good your scout team is,” McBath said. “We took pride in it. I’d like to say we had one of the best scout teams to ever be assembled back then. We took pride in giving our guys great looks our freshman year. That’s when he really noticed us and noticed me, and the relationship blossomed from there.”

The relationship blossomed right along with McBath’s career. From 2005 through 2008, McBath racked up 224 total tackles and had 12 interceptions for the Red Raiders. He became one of the country’s top cornerbacks, in part, because of how he was able to thrive under Leach’s style of leadership.

“He’s a lot of fun to play for to be honest with you,” McBath said. “He’s a players’ coach, which I don’t know if a lot of people know that. He’s a players’ coach and my favorite thing about Coach Leach is he always lets his guys be themselves. You be you. I almost feel like the more different you are, the more he likes you. That’s always been his personality and playing for him, you always felt comfortable in yourself, which leads to a team being closer and tighter. Obviously, it leads to success because he’s had a ton of it.”

McBath indicates, as his coach, Leach always found the perfect balance of relating to him while still pushing him to…