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Mississippi State's Mike Leach Surprises Elementary School Teachers on Zoom Call

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured ColumnistMay 12, 2020

New Mississippi State NCAA college football coach Mike Leach, speaks before reporters and school supporters, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020, at the Starkville, Miss., based university, after being officially introduced as the head coach. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach surprised Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School teachers by hopping into their Zooom call during a faculty meeting. 

"I seriously think my jaw just dropped," music teacher Amber Sims told Tyler Horka of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. "I was like, 'What? Oh my goodness. Mike Leach is on our Zoom call.'"

Leach was there in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4-8). One of the school's teachers is married to Ben Rodriguez, who works in the Mississippi State athletic department and arranged the Zoom cameo. The Bulldogs head coach said that teaching was "one of the most commendable professions that exists, if not the most commendable."

He also recounted memories of his childhood teachers.

"I have a number of teachers that I remember," he said. "I have one or two that I'd like to forget, but for the most part I had fantastic teachers, I had great teachers. Teachers were those that first gave me the confidence to do things when I wasn't sure I could do them." 

Leach, a former substitute and junior college teacher himself, was announced as the Bulldogs' new head coach on January 9 after spending eight seasons at the helm for Washington State.