Texas Tech Thursday Morning Notes - Unfounded Edition

by Seth C on Nov 29, 2007 6:37 AM CST in News

Double T Nation News:

We've got a lot to get to today, lots of news in Red Raider land. But first, DTN Reader TracySaulRulz wants you to vote for Michael Crabtree here at CBS Sportsline for Freshman of the year. The competition has been whittled down to Crabtree, Missouri's Maclin and Georgia's Moreno.

SMQ has a tremendous take on ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit's comments on Ohio State. Take the time to read this.

TB from Bring On The Cats also takes on a hypocritical reporter and yes, the hypocrisy is amazing.

Texas Tech Football:

There's not much news out there on the Leach to somewhere else story. LAJ's Don Williams sits down with Coach Leach and Leach has this to say about the rumors:

"Excited about practice,'' he said. "Excited about our bowl. We got a ton of guys coming back next year. If you get distracted by that all the time, all you're going to do is muddle up your mind and not get anything accomplished.''

Huh? Doesn't sound very definitive, does it, or much less an answer. As I said yesterday, if he stays or goes, there's not much we can do about it. It's human nature to look at opportunities that come across your way. Yes, we'd love for Leach to say definitively that he's not available for any job, but he doesn't want to be a liar (i.e. see Nick Saban) and I can appreciate that.

Don wondered if this would affect recruiting and had this in the article:

Some Tech watchers fear that by Leach not removing his name from speculation, he damages his staff's efforts during important recruiting time.

"It's hard to gauge,'' he said. "Hard to gauge if it does or not. But with rare exception all coaches are on one of two lists. One list is a list of `gonna get fired.' The other is a list of `gonna get hired somewhere else.' I'm proud to say I'm on the right list.''

Leach acknowledges that recruits have asked about rumors regarding his leaving Tech.

"Some. It comes up some,'' he said. "But I certainly like that question better than , I've never had this one , but it's better than the question of `Are you going to be there because I've heard you're going to get fired.''

If I'm Leach there really only is one job that entices me and it's on the West Coast. Like I said yesterday, you usually only get one shot at top tier job and I don't see Arkansas being that much better than Texas Tech. You could argue one over the other, but it's not a no-brainer for me. One bite at the apple.

FWST's Jimmy Burch has his weekly Big 12 Insider and gives Coach Leach the honor of "Costliest comment" and "Best potential investment".

Texas Tech Basketball:

LAJ's Eric Finley has the latest on the Bob Knight shooting and/or confrontation. According to Finley, the Lubbock police say that Lubbockite James Simpson's claims that Coach Knight shot at him are "unfounded." Here's the Lubbock Police Department's official response:

Lubbock police also disagreed with Simpson. The investigator on the case, Cpl. John Lofton, determined there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute.

"Our detectives investigated it fully and determined it to be unfounded," said Gregory Stevens, a spokesman for the Lubbock Police Department. "We have closed that case."

Texas law allows for hunting in certain areas of a municipality, including the area were Knight and his party were hunting, provided they keep the proper distance from residences. Police believe they were at a safe distance.

Police also questioned Simpson's motives, according to notes from Lofton's investigation. Simpson waited a day before calling police. He also canceled a meeting with investigators and waited several weeks to schedule a new one - by which time police had already closed the case.

"He called last week and made an appointment to meet (Tuesday). We talked and he got upset and walked out. I spoke to (Simpson) as a courtesy as I would do for anyone. When I disagreed with him, he became upset ... I can only assume he went to the media to voice his complaints," said Lofton.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions on this one.

Oh, yeah, there was a game last night and LAJ's Jeff Walker has his game review. I posted my game review last night and thought it was a tale of two halves and Coach Knight agreed:

"We have played a couple times within the scope of the game like two different teams, and we certainly did (Wednesday)," Tech head coach Bob Knight said. "However, from 15:30 left in the game, we played extremely well."

Coach Knight had some nice praise for Mike Singletary and Ricardo De Bem:

"Our guys did a pretty good job of hanging in there," Knight said. "It didn't look all that good when we were 13 points behind, but I thought we came back well.

"Ricardo and Mike Singletary did a good job in the game. I thought both of them really contributed and those five kids we had in there that brought it back were very good for us."

0 recs | Comment 6 comments

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Comments

Leach's comments

Ugh...with my top replacement gone (Briles), I am more concerned about the Leach rumors. He sure didn't do much to aleviate those fears. But if you think back to the last several off-seasons, that's pretty much his mantra. At least he's consistent.

I am thinking more and more that he may leave after next year regardless of outcome. My rationale has more to do with maybe he might just want a change of scenery as much as it would be about money or championships. (Aside: Think back...when's the last time you heard Leach mention the fact that he wants to win championships? I don't think I've ever heard him say that.)

Coaches are nomadic by nature...8-9 years is a long time for most of them - especially when the results are pretty much the same year after year after year. Think about your own job situation...if nothing ever changed, even if you liked your current set up, you may switch just to get your motor revived again.

So...if Leach leaves on his own, who do you like to replace him? Current staff (Dana Holgerson might be a nice transition, though a Baylor site has lobbied for him to be the OC under Briles...would be a big loss); someone w/ties to our past; or totaly new? Names?

Oh, and it looks like Navy's Paul Johnson is strong candidate for the SMU gig.

by Tech92 on Nov 29, 2007 2:37 PM CST 0 recs

Top candidates (for me) to replace Leach...

...should he quit...

Cris Peterson, Head Coach, Boise State
Dan Mullen, Offensive Coord, Univ of Florida
Dave Christensen, Asst. Head Coach/OC, Mizzou
Dave Blakeney, Head Coach, Troy Univ
Brian Kelly, Head Coach, Cincinnati

All lead or have led prolific offenses. None, however, have strong Texas ties (neither did Leach, that's more important for assistants since the HC only meets recruits on the back end of the courtship and after an assistant has really greased those skids).

Thoughts?

by Tech92 on Nov 29, 2007 3:06 PM CST 0 recs

fyi

I just voted on the CBS thing for Crabtree and the results showed Crabtree in 2nd about 12%behind.

I have no comment on a replacing coach, I am not that well versed in the coaches that are out there, sorry.

by Techsan03 on Nov 29, 2007 5:24 PM CST 0 recs

New OC

If Holgerson leaves what do you think about bringing back dykes from arizona? Tech92 I do like your idea for Mullen and Christensen. I didn't really like the briles idea mainly bc I don't think he has really been tested ie: coaching in CUSA not a BCS conference.

by ST04 on Nov 29, 2007 5:41 PM CST 0 recs

Dykes

I'm not sure about Dykes. He'd "fit", but does he have head coaching potential? I don't like the fact that Arizona's offense has been pretty tepid the last two years. Part of that is talent, though Tuiama is a decent QB.

My personal preference, should Holgorson go to Baylor (and I hear from my wife's Baylor friends that it's not a done deal - yet), is I'd prefer someone from an offensively explosive BCS team that has a dynamic rushing aspect as well as the ability to spread the ball through the air.

I think what often goes unrecognized about our defense's inability to stop the run is the fact that they rarely practice against players who can do it well. If we can get a coach who understands the need to run out the clock from time to time and can chew up tough yards inside (i.e. we nearly let OU win the game at the with our inability to move the ball running it), we'll add one or two wins a year...just my opinion.

by Tech92 on Nov 30, 2007 7:34 AM CST 0 recs

Dykes

I was just putting him at OC not HC. I get your point on the run defense, but it isn't like these guys just picked the game up. They have been playing for atleast 4 years. I really think we will have a good defense for the next few years they just need some experience. I too would like to see us average around 100yds a game rushing. Henderson/Mack combo was pretty good about that, and I think we have the tallent here to do it again we just need the experience. You do have to admit though the offense right now is hard to stop unless we stop ourselves. I haven't seen a team shut us down, but the team does it to themselves. Give me a sniff of defense against UT, colorado and OSU, and we would be an easy 10 win team. The only team that actually beat us this year is Mizzou. They just had way better tallent, and our offense self destructed by harrell throwing 4 ints. Really the OU game is the only game he hasn't gotten baffeled by being picked. One thought on Holgorson they better pay him a hell of alot of money bc his job won't get any easier, no talent, and briles really does do most of the play calling. I guess leach does too but still you get the point ie: its Baylor.

by ST04 on Nov 30, 2007 11:25 AM CST up 0 recs