Mike Leach arrived in Starkville on Thursday as the new head football coach at Mississippi State. Earlier in the week, he was reported to be a candidate, along with Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
The process that led to Mississippi State choosing Leach has not been made clear yet, but one factor that may have contributed to the hire was the positive social media reaction to the rumor associated with the former Washington State head coach.
Steven Godfrey reported on Thursday that Mississippi State and other Power 5 schools used a firm this hiring season that monitored the social media reactions to leaked candidates. Godfrey says Leach received favorable reactions.
My favorite part of Mississippi State's hire: Multiple sources confirmed MSU (and some other P5 schools this cycle) was assisted by a third-party firm that measured social media reaction to rumored and leaked candidates. Leach scored high/positive. God bless CFB.
— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) January 9, 2020
Leach scoring high is no surprise considering he’s an accomplished head coach who has won at difficult Power 5 schools Texas Tech and Washington State. He’s also a funny guy, which definitely helps the public perception of him.
But this nugget shows us a few things. One, when the names of candidates are leaked, it’s not necessarily because someone can’t keep his/her mouth shut. It can also be intentional to test public reaction. Two, schools don’t want a repeat of the Greg Schiano fiasco and may be taking steps to help ensure that doesn’t happen to them.
