From Coach’s Kid to Play Caller: Mack Leftwich’s Rise and Why Lindsay Scott Jr. Has Been There Along the Way
Before helping lead the offense at one of college football’s most talked-about programs in Texas Tech, Mack Leftwich was simply a coach’s kid in a toy football uniform who never wanted to do anything else.
Leftwich recently sat down for an extensive interview on the “Left Hash Call and Play Caller’s Club” Podcast, alongside assistant quarterbacks coach Lindsay Scott Jr., where the interviewers walked through the path that helped shape both Leftwich’s coaching rise and the offensive philosophy now driving Texas Tech. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the 36-minute conversation.
Football Was Always the Plan
For Leftwich, football was not simply something he grew up around, it was his environment.
Leftwich is the son of longtime college coach Spencer Leftwich, so Mack spent his childhood bouncing around coaching stops at North Texas, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, and Arizona. Long before he understood the profession, he understood the routine. When the interviewers asked about growing up as a coach’s kid, Leftwich reflected on being immersed in football from an early age while his father coached at North Texas. “I’ve got pictures being four or five years old and not missing practice,” Leftwich said. “The only green jersey my mom could find was a Keyshawn Johnson Jets jersey. I had the plastic helmet, plastic shoulder pads, football pants, I had to be in full gear.”
That immersion created more than just an obsession with football for Leftwich. It gave Mack an early understanding of what coaching could mean beyond the field. “You just see the impact that my dad has… the relationships he builds… and how cool of a profession it is,” Leftwich said.
“Literally since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a football coach.” Leftwich also noted during the interview that he had full playbooks drawn up while still in elementary school.
Playing Quarterback Helped Shape His Coaching Philosophy
Long before he was calling plays, Leftwich was starring at quarterback.
When the interviewers asked about his playing background, Leftwich detailed a decorated high school career that included Pennsylvania High School Player of the Year honors, a state championship, First-Team All-State recognition, and 45 passing touchdowns during his senior season. He later went on to play quarterback at UTEP, where he spent his collegiate career continuing to develop his understanding of the position. That experience, Leftwich said, has played a major role in shaping the way he coaches quarterbacks today. “To me it’s the most important position on the offense,” Leftwich said.
“Having played the position… knowing what they’re going through… the pressures, the emotional standpoint of it… I think it helps coach those guys for sure.”
Early Coaching Experience Provided a Reality Check
For all the success Leftwich had enjoyed as a player, he told the interviewers that one of the most important seasons of his career may have been his first year in coaching. Fresh out of college, Leftwich took over as offensive coordinator at Lehman High School in Kyle, Texas, while also teaching geometry and coaching freshman basketball.
He quickly learned that understanding football and coaching football are two very different things. “You get done with college as a player, and you think you know everything,” Leftwich said. “Then you realize, oh shoot, I don’t know anything. It took me until Week 8 of the season to realize you needed scout cards to get the scout team lined up in a real defense. I learned basically, hey, I don’t really know what I’m doing. I need to go get under somebody that does know what they’re doing.”
UIW Helped Launch the System and the Partnership
After Lehman High School, Leftwich accepted a graduate assistant role at Incarnate Word under current Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris. This was an opportunity he described to the interviewers as career-changing. “That was probably the best place I could be,” Leftwich said. “I got to be in the quarterback room with Coach Morris and really learn what it looks like to have a system to attack defenses.”
Leftwich received his first opportunity to call plays at the collegiate level in 2022, the same season Lindsay Scott Jr. took over at quarterback and delivered one of the most productive campaigns in FCS history. Under Leftwich’s direction, Scott threw for 4,686 yards and 60 touchdowns, while adding 712 rushing yards and 11 rushing scores, leading UIW to a historic season and earning the Walter Payton Award as the nation’s top FCS offensive player. But according to Leftwich, Scott was far more than simply the quarterback executing the offense.
When the interviewers asked about Scott’s influence on the early version of the system, Leftwich credited his former quarterback with playing a major role in shaping the offense. “He had a lot of say and a lot of input on that early version of the offense,” Leftwich said of Scott. “A lot of the concepts we were kind of running and experimenting with for the first time… there was a lot of back and forth with him on what the offense needed to look like.” Leftwich credited Scott’s football IQ and natural feel for the game as major reasons for both UIW’s offensive success and Scott’s eventual transition into coaching.
When Leftwich accepted the offensive coordinator position at Texas State ahead of the 2023 season, he brought Scott with him, giving his former quarterback his first opportunity on a collegiate coaching staff. “He was a super smart player, very cerebral. He’s been out there and he’s taken the snaps and ran those plays,” Leftwich said. “He can really communicate to those quarterbacks at a high level what they should be seeing, the timing, what the field should feel like on each play.”
What began as a quarterback-coordinator relationship at UIW has now evolved into one of the more notable young offensive coaching partnerships in college football, with Scott continuing to work alongside Leftwich at Texas Tech as the two help lead the Red Raiders offense into 2026.
Full Interview: https://youtu.be/mCvxL4R7v90?si=UKJn-guv9OH5LL_A
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