News & Updates

The Sword Continues to Swing; Mike Leach is Saving    Lives Through Organ Donation

December 15, 2022

Mike Leach, the iconic college football coach that died due to heart complications on Monday, is giving the gift of life, even at his death.

Leach’s passion for organ donation wasn’t new. It dated back to at least August 2008 when he filmed a public service announcement with a young liver transplant recipient near Jones AT&T Stadium.

The August 2008 public service announcement said in part:

“Thanks to organ donors, thousands of men, women and children are alive today,” Leach said. “Peter Griffith is one of them.”

“I got my new liver just in time,” Griffith said. “Others aren’t that lucky.”

University Transplant at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), where Leach’s family said he donated his organs, is the state’s only transplant program.

“This was a cause that was close to the coach’s heart and a mission that he fully supported,” said Lauren Quinn, vice president of external relations at LifeGift. “The fact that he was able to pass his own organs on, I think is really meaningful to his family.”

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