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Why Mike Leach to SEC, Mississippi State is this year's most interesting coaching move

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New Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach rings the symbolic cowbell at a news conference Jan. 10 in Starkville, Miss. [AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis]

Driving through the Flint Hills of Kansas, the news came across the car radio.

Tennessee had fired its football coach.

It was a Sunday. Nov. 12, 2017. The day before, Scott Wright and I had covered Oklahoma State’s game at Iowa State, and as we headed home the next morning, we heard about Butch Jones' firing. Tennessee was a wreck, and Scott and I started talking about who might take over.