The Conch Republic Is The Place To Capture A Pirate
In one of the most entertaining coaching searches ever conducted, Mississippi State Athletic Director John Cohen went to Key West – yes, the Conch Republic – to land his next coach, Mike Leach.
Cohen followed that up with a creative Tweet on Twitter, a brief video showing a pirate and followed by cheerleaders running a Mississippi State flag onto the field. It had nearly 250,000 views within a few hours of its posting.
— John Cohen (@JohnCohenAD) January 9, 2020
After striking out on other candidates, Cohen struck it big, at least in a marketing and PR sense, by landing Leach, a self-proclaimed pirate who spends a lot of his free time in Key West.
This is “argggg”-uably the most fun location any AD has gone to find a football coach. What AD goes to Key West to hire a major college football coach!? Where did they meet – Captain Tony’s Saloon? Did they shake hands on the deal in Sloppy Joe’s, go celebrate by watching the sunset at Mallory Square?
Why, shiver me timbers.
Now Leach may wind up walking the plank at Mississippi State and take Cohen wiht him, considering the Mississippi State is in the notoriously-difficult SEC West. Not only do the State Dogs have to play Alabama, Auburn and LSU every year but Leach has got to build a program in the same half of the league as other schools seeking success: Texas A&M and Mississippi, the latter of which just hired Lane Kiffin.
Oh yes, and there’s Arkansas, too.
But like a bold skipper on the high seas, Cohen said “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” and nabbed a pirate. Together, they hope to capture the booty in the difficult SEC but this move has already accomplished on goal: it’s made a big splash in the college football world.
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