Sources: Mississippi St. pirates Leach from Wazzu

1:29 PM ET

Washington State coach Mike Leach will be the new head coach at Mississippi State, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.

Washington State coaches were informed about Leach’s move on Thursday morning, a source told ESPN.

Leach had agreed in principle to a one-year contract extension through the 2024 season on Dec. 5, prior to the Cougars’ appearance in the Cheez-It Bowl.

Yahoo Sports was the first to report the hire.

Before accepting the job at Mississippi State, Leach talked to Arkansas about its opening, sources told ESPN’s Chris Low, and was close to landing the Tennessee job two years ago before John Currie was fired as the Volunteers’ athletic director.

Leach will succeed Joe Moorhead, who was fired Jan. 3 after going 14-12 in two seasons with the Bulldogs. His stint ended with a 38-28 loss to Louisville in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.

Sources said school officials were not only upset by the team’s performance in the Music City Bowl, but also with the situation involving starting quarterback Garrett Shrader, who missed the game with an eye injury reportedly sustained during a scuffle at practice.

Armed with his Air Raid offense, Leach went 55-47 in his eight seasons in Pullman and took the Cougars to a school-record five consecutive bowl games over the past five seasons. After a school-record 11-win season and a No. 10 national ranking in 2018, the Cougars went 6-7 in 2019, capped by a 31-21 loss to Air Force in the Cheez-It Bowl.

Prior to Leach’s arrival, Wazzu did not appear in a bowl game for eight straight seasons and had won just nine games in four years under previous coach Paul Wulff.

Leach’s 43 wins since 2015 marks the most for a Washington State coach during a five-year span. The Cougars have led the FBS in passing offense four times in the past seven seasons. In 10 seasons as the head coach at Texas Tech (2000-09), Leach guided the Red Raiders to a 84-43 record.

Among those to welcome Leach to his new job on social media was Lane Kiffin, the new coach for rival Ole Miss.

Welcome to the state old pirate and friend!! ⁦@Coach_Leach⁩ ⁦@SEC⁩ #swingursword #eggbowl https://t.co/4r4hUsOoC9
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) January 9, 2020