Football community mourns loss of dedicated coach
‘He was all about the kids and what he could do to help them,’ says friend
Mike Leach could be a tough, demanding coach on the sideline of a football field.
He wanted his players to be the best but that burning desire also extended well beyond the game.
“He was a very caring coach. He cared about any issues with a kid whether it was football related or not,” said friend and fellow coach Chris Fields.
A former standout quarterback for Herman and the AKO Fratmen, Leach died suddenly of a suspected heart attack Tuesday at his Ohio home. He was 47 years old. Fields first got to know Leach about 10 years ago, when both were coaching in the Windsor Minor Football Association.
“He was all about the kids and what he could do to help them,” Fields said.
As hard as he pushed them to excel on the field, he had a fun-loving side. Fields chuckled as he recalled a video of Leach dancing playfully to music along with about eight or nine players.
“He was always happy, always joking around,” Fields said.
For many years, Leach served as president of Windsor Minor Football and coached his son Brandon through the ranks.
“He did a great job with Windsor Minor,” said Glen Mills, president of the Essex Ravens’ football organization.
“He was completely and totally devoted and dedicated to helping the kids.”
Leach and his wife Renay were both deeply involved in the league.
“This family has tirelessly committed so much time to football in this community it truly, truly breaks my heart,” read one of countless tributes on Facebook.
Another read “so shocked and heartbroken. Tremendous coach, leader and role model for all the kids in the WMFA.”
Current WMFA president Paul Horoky credits Leach for keeping the league viable.
“I am trying to follow his leadership example,” Horoky said.
“I believe that without his leadership and dedication to this league, it would not exist today.”
Fields said it was not uncommon for Mike and Renay to sit around for hours after a board meeting or a registration event to talk about ways to improve the league.
“It was nothing for Mike to stay up until five in the morning to make sure stuff got done for the next day,” Fields said.
Leach was a two-time high school all-star for Harry Lumley’s powerhouse Herman Green Griffins.
“He had a cannon for an arm,” Lumley recalled.
“He led us to one championship and to another final where we lost to Massey. He was a real leader. I’m not looking forward to seeing his son. He’ll be devastated. They went everywhere together.”
Brandon Leach has the same powerful throwing arm as his father but on an impressive six-foot-seven frame.
He guided the junior Green Griffins to a city championship in Grade 9 and then moved to Michigan to live with relatives and play football on a bigger high school stage.
Mike and Renay moved to the U.S. a year ago to be with their only child, now the starting senior quarterback for Sylvania Northview in Ohio.
“They spent every waking minute together,” Fields said of Mike and Brandon. “They must have put 50,000 miles on the truck this year going to football camps all over the place. It chokes me up thinking about the two of them.”
Fields said at Leach’s request, there will be no funeral service.