Former WSU head football coach Mike Leach will now be eligible for posthumous induction into the College Football Hall of Fame after the National Football Foundation announced it would be lowering the winning percentage threshold by 0.5%.
Previously, coaches needed to have a winning percentage of at least 60% across at least ten years of coaching to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Mike Leach, the former coach for WSU, Texas Tech and Mississippi State, had a career winning percentage of 59.6%.
The NFF announced that in 2027, the winning percentage threshold will be lowered from 60% to 59.5%.
The change will make three former coaches eligible. In addition to Leach, Les Miles (59.7% winning percentage at Kansas, Louisiana State and Oklahoma State) and Jackie Sherrill (59.5% winning percentage at Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and Mississippi State) are also now eligible for induction.
Leach, who is known for being the mastermind of the Air Raid offense, died in 2022 after a 21-year head coaching career. He spent ten years at Texas Tech, eight years at WSU and three at Mississippi State. He finished with a career record of 158-107, going 8-9 in bowl games. He finished with a winning record in 17 of 21 seasons as a head coach. If not for a pair of 3-9 seasons in his first and third years at WSU, while he was still rebuilding the Cougars’ football program from the ashes, Leach would have easily met the 60% threshold.
