Sharon Leach blames herself. College football coaches’ wives are sainted about the time they say, “I do.” Family duties that normally would be shared by a couple quickly tilt to one side of the marital dynamic as the husband/coach logs countless hours away from home.
Sharon Leach is one of those saints, in part because she still blames herself for the only college football game her husband Mike Leach ever missed as a coach.
“Why, why would I ever have a baby during a football season?” Sharon Leach told CBS Sports. “That was very bad timing. Not smart.”
Sharon is clearly aware of pregnancy’s unpredictability. Nonetheless, Kimberly Leach was born on a football Saturday — Nov. 4, 1989, a night during which her father’s Iowa Wesleyan Tigers won a football game without their offensive coordinator.
“He never took a day off, [never] a sick day. His whole life in coaching, he would drag himself,” Sharon Leach said of her celebrated spouse. “The only time he missed a game was when I was in labor. They ended up giving him the game ball.
“He went [to work] no matter what. He put a lot of time and a lot of life into football and never got to really reap the rewards after.”
Her voice catches with emotion at the end of that last sentence. That’s understandable. It’s only been a year and a half since her husband died. Mike Leach’s shine on the college game as one of the sport’s great coaches, minds and rogues has barely dimmed.
When Leach died suddenly in December 2022 at the age of 61, he left a loving wife, four children and a portion of his legacy that sooner or later must be dealt with: By almost any measure, Leach is a College Football Hall of Fame coach. But as things stand right now, he can never be in that hall of fame.
When the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame ballot was announced last week, Leach’s omission was noticeable. Nick Saban, eligible immediately at age 72, got on the ballot five months after his retirement. Urban Meyer made it in the minimum three years after his last coaching job.
Less than two years after his untimely death, Leach still does not qualify for his profession’s highest honor. A career minimum .600 winning percentage is required to be considered for induction. That’s been the case since the hall was founded in 1951, according to National Football Foundation president and CEO Steve Hatchell.
That threshold has not been enforced…
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