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Mike Leach, the philosophical college football coach whose pioneering Air Raid offenses lit up scoreboards and unconventional demeanor drew legions of admirers, has died. He was 61.

On Tuesday morning, Mississippi State announced the head coach had died due to a heart condition.

"MSU Bulldog family, college football community mourns the death of Coach Mike Leach," Mississippi State Football wrote on Twitter.

On Sunday, Leach was hospitalized in critical condition after experiencing a "personal health issue" at his home in Starkville, according to the Associated Press.

He was airlifted about 125 miles to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, after initially being treated at the county hospital near his home, per the outlet.

In the past few weeks, Leach's post-game press conferences, which were notorious for their "wacky" digressions, were marred by coughing fits by the head coach, who said he had been previously diagnosed with pneumonia.

Over 21 seasons at Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State, the two-time National Coach of the Year earned a reputation for "pass-happy offenses" and an obsessive attention to detail, which extended to personal interests that ranged from pirates to the artist Jackson Pollock to history books. (He wrote a book about Geronimo, the Native American leader.)

Leach, who sustained an ankle injury that negated a promising college football career at BYU, earned a bachelor's degree there and went on to get a law degree at Pepperdine, as well as a master's degree in sports science.

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Leach's colleagues and those throughout the sports world and beyond offered condolences on Tuesday.

"Prayers to the Leach family! True legend of the game!" former Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes wrote on Twitter.

"Condolences to Mike Leach's family," ESPN College Gameday host Rece Davis wrote. "I'll never forget ⁦@CollegeGameDay⁩ trip to Pullman. He asked me to be on his coach's show. We might've talked ball. Gave me my first sip of Cuban coffee. Expounded on Geronimo as a leader. Fine man. Influential coach. We will miss him."

And from marriage to even death, Leach had a playbook of opinions.

When ESPN's Jeremy Schaap asked him in 2019 how he'd like to be remembered when reporters write his obituary, the coach had a ready response.

"Well that's their problem, they're the one writing the obituary," he said. "I mean, what do I care? I'm dead."

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