When Mike Leach showed up for work Thursday, Jones AT&T Stadium felt a little more homey than it did the day before.

Just in time for Leach’s 10th season as Tech’s football coach, his parking space received a custom paint job. A pirate, complete with eye patch and bandana, crossed swords and a stenciled “Captain Leach” mark the spot next to the stadium as uniquely his.

The parking spot of Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach recently received a pirate-themed makeover. The spot is located at Jones AT&T Stadium. (Geoffrey Mcallister / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Local artist Jaime Alcorta was in charge and completed the work in about five hours Wednesday.

“She did a tremendous job,” Leach said. “(Tech football staffer Antonio) Huffman came up with that (idea), so that was real nice of those fellows. I didn’t know it would be near that elaborate.”

The parking space is outside the Tech football training facility, near the stadium’s southeast entrance.

Alcorta said painter Junior Rodriguez of Rodriguez Painting applied a black base coat and then she and part-time employee Cliff Wilke completed the job. The idea had just been pitched to her on Monday by Tech strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie, with whom she was acquainted.

“I knew I could do it, so I just was kind of thinking of an idea,” Alcorta said. “Me and my husband are big fans, so he was real excited. He helped me draw it out on the computer and get it all to scale and how big we wanted it, so it was kind of fun to do.”

As the owner of “Walls of Art,” Alcorta is used to doing murals and fine art in homes, a few commercial businesses and some restaurants. She said painting on asphalt was a first.

“I had to figure out how to paint it and what paint to use and what clear coat to use,” she said. “I had to call around trying to figure out what the best paint was.

“I guess we’ll see if it stays very long. I tried to do traffic paint and clear-coated it.”

The parking space is black. Alcorta used scarlet paint to color the pirate’s bandana, the “Captain Leach” stencil below the swords and even to fill in the jagged cracks in the pavement.

“It was a really fun project to do,” said Alcorta, who grew up in Olton and has been in business in Lubbock for eight years. “I don’t get to do something like that every day.”

Tech coaches didn’t spring the parking-place project on Leach as a surprise. Alcorta said staff members ran the idea by him first. Nevertheless, he was still pleasantly surprised by the finished product.

“I think she did a really impressive job,” Leach said.

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TEXAS TECH/Area artist Jaime Alcorta paints custom space in parking lot