STARKVILLE — Steven Greek looked on in awe.
Attending the 1999 Texas High School Coaches Association Conference, Greek reached the edge of his seat when hotshot Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach took the podium.
Schooling the gathered crowd on his high-flying air raid offense that had helped the Sooners to a 7-5 record and an Independence Bowl meeting with Ole Miss, Leach enamored onlookers with his progressive pass-heavy attack.
“As a young 20-something-year-old coach, I sat in that chair and made a decision that I don’t know a whole lot, but that is the style of offense that I want to run and to teach my kids to play in,” Greek recounted.
Now just over two decades on from that coaching convention, it’s Greek’s son, Daniel, who will reap the benefits of Leach’s ballyhooed system. A three-star quarterback in the Class of 2021, the younger Greek announced his commitment to Mississippi State on Feb. 2 following an unofficial visit to Starkville.
And while the Bulldogs are expected to add another signal caller in next year’s class, Greek’s familiarity with Leach’s offensive system should give him a leg up once he enrolls next January.
Taking what he learned at the 1999 convention along with stops at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, Bishop High School near Corpus Christi and Harlingen High School just north of Brownsville, Steven has long been a disciple of the pass-heavy scheme that made Leach’s Texas Tech and Washington State so dynamic.
As the head coach at Liberty Christian School in Argyle, Texas, he’s indoctrinated Daniel and his younger boys Nathan and Joshua — the former of whom just completed his freshman season as a quarterback, defensive lineman and tight end on the Liberty Christian football team.
More recently, Steven looked on from the sidelines as Daniel completed 175 of 322 passes for 1900 yards and 19 touchdowns despite missing three games due to injury.
“When I went to go visit, I already knew I loved Coach Leach’s air raid,” Daniel told The Dispatch. “I’ve run that since I was very young.”
While Greek is well-schooled in Leach’s offensive system, this past weekend offered a chance to further that knowledge. Following a roughly eight-hour drive from the Dallas suburbs to Starkville, a meeting with MSU staffers in the recruiting lounge in the underbelly of Davis Wade Stadium, a trip to the men’s basketball game against Tennessee and a tour of campus, MSU’s latest commit split off with quarterbacks coach Drew Hollingshead for a one-on-one film session.
Having notified Leach of his pledge, Greek and Hollingshead spent two hours going over install of the Bulldogs’ new offense.
“It was amazing,” Greek said. “Everything they went over, we’ve already run. It’s great to be able to run that offense, and it definitely boosts your confidence knowing that going in I’ve already done this for many years, and I have the confidence and ability to make these plays and help our team.”
Beyond Leach’s offense, the Greeks are also connected to the new staff at MSU. Previously a staff assistant at Baylor in addition to stops at Texas Tech, East Carolina and Washington State among others, Bulldogs inside receivers coach Dave Nichol had worked with Steven during his time in Waco.
The elder Greek also spent time visiting with Scott Frost and Chip Kelly at Oregon in 2011 and Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech in 2014 as he opened himself up to more and more spread and air raid concepts. But with Daniel on campus in Starkville last week, the longtime Texas high school coach finally met Leach himself.
“Yesterday was the first time I ever got to see him in person,” Steven said. “But I feel like I’ve known him for 20 years.”
Making the trek back to the greater Dallas area following his commitment, father and son reminisced on the weekend and Daniel’s decision to pledge to the Bulldogs. Twenty-one years after learning from “the Jedi master,” as Steven referred to Leach, Daniel is just 10 months away from the beginning of another four years in an offense he’s lived and breathed since his youth.
“While Daniel knows the air raid, to be mentored and coached hard and challenged on a daily basis by Coach Leach, it’s going to make him better,” Steven said. “It’s going to challenge him and it’s going to bring out the best in him and all the guys in the locker room.
“This offense is a lot of fun to play in, so anyone in Texas or Georgia or Louisiana or Mississippi or Florida, if they’re a dude that likes to score, they’re going to want to play for Coach Leach,” he continued. “That’s just the reality. There’s a 20-year track record of this offense doing great things already in the SEC and beyond, and it’s just exciting to see it come back to the SEC.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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