Nick Saban Reflects on His Relationship with Mike Leach

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — College football lost won of its unique and fun coaches when Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach died in December before the Bulldogs' bowl game.

Leach spent over three decades in college coaching, but the last three seasons in the SEC at Mississippi State. Even though the rivalry is soon changing with conference realignment, Leach and the Bulldogs played Alabama each of his three seasons with the program.

Ahead of the Crimson Tide's matchup at Mississippi State this weekend, Alabama head coach Nick Saban reflected on his relationship with Leach.

"I loved Mike Leach," Saban said Monday. "He was different, but in a good way. He had a great sense of humor. Obviously presented an offensive system and scheme that was unique and very challenging, but he believed in it and did it his way. I always had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a coach, but really liked him as a person.”

The Bulldogs are now led by Zach Arnett, who served as a defensive assitant under Leach at Mississippi State since 2020. He took over as the interim coach initially and was named the active head coach on Dec. 15.

Mississippi State is 3-2 overall under Arnett (2-2 this season), and Saban was very complimentary of the job Arnett has done so far.

"This is actually a bigger challenge for us than the last two games in my opinion, in terms of this team is very physical, very aggressive on defense, create a lot of negative plays, got a lot of starters back," Saban said. "They know their system. They know their scheme. They play very, very well. Zach Arnett, it's his system, he's a very good defensive coach. As the head coach he's done a really good job there."

Alabama will play its first SEC road game this Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPN at Mississippi State.

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