The Saga of Mike Leach :: Something is Rotten in the state of Texas Tech University

I have to say your analysis has to be spot on. I think you have a very out-dated AD, whose time has passed him by struggling to be relavant. Sure we can pay off the Great Captain, but to what ends? Again, it is time for someone to explain exactly what Leach did to “harm” this little boy (I am talking about Craig as well as Adam).
If your analysis were wrong, wouldn’t we see the admistration in the media defending their stance? Its amazingly quiet out there.
While I will not be able to attend the game, I hope that those that do, voice their opinions loud and long to ESPenis.
FREE OUR CAPTAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the pressure that they will be putting on our administration will be ridiculous, they are calling for Leach’s lynching, they want blood and are acting like leach sent the whining bastard to a torture shed… good… fucking… lord…

Mark May is an idiot.

http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/19238949

I sent an email last night to the Chancellor and Mike which agrees with your comments above. As far as the major of the ESPN commentators, it’s really not a surprise that they are only going with the story of their co-worker/friend. If it was anyone outside of ESPN I think this story would be going in a completely different direction which is probably the most frustrating part of this whole ordeal. The whole spinning of the shed and how demeaning they are trying to make it sound is just comical. Mark Schlereth and others are trying to paint the worst picture possible in hopes to create little doubt on what the Tech administration has acted on. It’s so ridiculous that Schlereth has compared this act to Mangino’s tactics. Schlereth even said, “you can swear and pull my son’s face mask but putting him in a dark shed is just unacceptable”. Call me crazy but I would think swearing and pulling a kids face mask in front of everyone is pretty demeaning. Or better yet, perhaps the coaching staff was trying to wake a kid up to get him to stop thinking about himself and maybe start thinking about his actions and the team. Some people listen/learn verbally and some listen/learn by having time alone. I have no doubt the James kid is most likely a pampered little _ and it pains me to think some little brat is going to be the reason we lose the best coach in the history of our alma mater. Regardless of what Leach allegedly did and how successful he has been, he is still a person who lives within a country who’s law allows for due process. ESPN’s staff, Meyers, and Baily have obviously taken their opinions of one side without consideration for what we are all given as U.S. citizens.

The only observation I can come away with this the non communication angle – between the "boss" (AD) and the employee (HC).
The University doesn’t win in this fight. The Administration of the university, in other word the personalities who run the university don’t win. Even if they oust Leach they will become pariahs. So you come back the ego personality argument that because we can’t "talk" we must have a surgical procedure to remove what irritates us. Don’t you just get the feeling that if Meyers could rant on Leach once year and Leach just nod at him this would go away?
This incident just illustrates the weakness of the administrations ability to solve problems. Not ready to punt my school but this makes it hard to be a supporter.
I will send the note/ email to the Chancellor – i.e. In support of keeping Leach but a lot of bridges have been burned. Someone has to go for fresh start. That’s the normal organizational shake up process. It just does not appear that we are capable of taking the high road in the "Hub" city.

i think the mike and mike show finally listened to some of us writing in and got super defensive when accused of not showing both sides.

 the two guys on there looked suddenly more stressed that the last 2 and a half hours. they were talking about this on the CBS comments too.

i think that says something to where they are standing… i think the uber defensive nature of it made it obvious that they knew they hadn’t and were grasping for ways to make it seem like they were being un-biased.

and btw, i’m getting sick and tired of Craig James saying “I’m a DAD”

why would an appology suffice? Sounds to me like sweet baby james was pissed having to run stairs earlier (before his alledged injury). what a pussy.

If Texas Tech would pay for both of my kids tuition, books, room and board, I will gladly take up residence int he “shed” for 3 hours EVER"Y day.

I have long read this blog but haven’t commented much, but am as big a Red Raider fan as there is.

I have forwarded this blog post to all TT fans I know, as well as friends and family who are generally fans of the program, and of Leach.

At this point, I am so upset with the path the administration has taken, that I am giving serious thought to spending a good bit of time in the future cheering for wherever Leach ends up, if he is wrongfully fired.

Wreck ’em

The James family, and the University, don’t give a s(h% about Leach or the support from alumni and students. Be careful what you wish for Mr. Myers. Money is power. Leach is money… and Texas Tech is about to lose both.

We need one now.

This has been handled in the worst possible way. I see this as a pattern of how the Athletic Adminstration has handled this event and last year’s contract negotiations. It is always public, always mishandled and always personal. This defies logic that a D-1 University would allow itself to be portayed in the national media by the poor decision making of a handful of individuals that obtained their position more through attrition than merit.

This analysis is something that I suspected all along. The news coverage also reminds me of the allegations against the Duke Lacrosse players. I hope that there will be a similar result.

Just read a tweet from Chris Level. He states that if Mike Leach wins a court order this morning, Texas Tech will most certainly fire him shortly after the decision.

What the F is going on up there??? Are they NOT at all concerned with what appears to be the majority of support in favor of coach Leach?

I’m left to stop writing now b/c I don’t have any non-curse words to describe my feelings at this point.

I found this on comment posted on redraider.com. Haven’t validated it and don’t have the ability to. FYI

Whom It May Concern:

Texas Tech University and the athletic department is filled with great people from the top down, starting with the chancellor all the way down to the student athletes involved in the programs. In the football program, Gerald Myers and the rest of the administration have put together an unbelievable staff that believe success only comes from hard work and doing things right. The staff expects the players and everyone involved to buy into their beliefs, but like anywhere not every player agrees with or buys into what the coaches and program stand for. At Texas Tech the majority of the players do everything the coaches ask of them and anything possible to improve the team. Adam James is one of the few players who has never bought into what Texas Tech football was built on and in my years there with him had a negative impact on the team because of his attitude and work ethic on and off the field. Coach Leach demands a lot out of every player in the program and pushed his players and coaches as hard as any coach I have ever been around, but he is fair to every player and would never make and decision or action that is not best for the Texas Tech football program.

Before Adam James ever entered the football locker room at Texas Tech I heard how spoiled and selfish he acted in a team atmosphere from many of my baseball friends. Adam was on the baseball team his true freshman year at Tech, before he ever joined the football team, and did not make it through the baseball season because of his selfish attitude. After a baseball game in which he felt like he did not get enough playing time, but the team still won twenty to one, he came into the locker room after the game and "pouted and threw a big fit" according another player on the baseball team. A few weeks later in the middle of the season, he just stopped showing up to practices or game and quit because he was not happy about how he was being treated. One of my roommates was a baseball player on the team and many of my friends were a part of the team that witnessed all of this. These baseball players told me he was "spoiled and selfish" before he ever came to the football team. After quitting baseball he came out for football and his selfish attitude was very evident, as was his laziness. During off-season workouts he often would be caught skipping lifts in the weight room or finding ways to cut corners/get out of conditioning exercises. When we had player organized seven on seven throwing in the summer, when he would show up he was much more interested in playing his own games on the side of the field or telling people that he wasn’t going to run any routes because the coaches do not get him a "fair opportunity" anyway. During the season he was often "injured" (it usually seemed like a very minor injury that could keep him out of practice but never out of any other activity, including games) so he would not participate in some drills in practice. None of these acts were productive for our team, but the most detrimental part of Adam was his off field attitude and actions. In the locker room and away from the facility, Adam used any opportunity he had to tell other players how he was being treated unfairly, how the coaches did not give him a fair chance and how we did not have to do everything the coaches told us because they had no option but to play some of us. When I heard these kinds of things I usually tried to put an end to them but Adam pretty consistently talked bad about the coaches or down played the importance of working hard, when he was off the field. When he talked to young players or players that were usually on the scout he would explain how the coaches were not fair to certain players and only played favorites. When he talked to players that did get some playing time he would talk about how we didn’t really have to do what the coaches asked of us because the coaches had to play us anyway. And it almost always tied back to how he was not getting a fair chance to play just because the coaches were unfair. The coaches were always more than fair to Adam I felt, because he came in the game during certain formations and situations last football season, but because of his work ethic and attitude, many of the players on last years team had a hard time trusting him or relying on him because he was not always practicing and we had seen his laziness during the off-season. Adam was a kid that seemed like he had been given everything he wanted his whole life and acted like if things did not go exactly how he wanted someone was treating him unfairly or someone needed to be blamed for his failures. He was a selfish player on and off the field that was counter-productive for our team and would be for any other team.

Mike Leach was not only my head coach, but he was my position coach all five of my years at Texas Tech. I spent more time with him than any other player during my five years and had meetings with him every day. He was very hard on me and every other player in program and he held very high expectations for every player. He would push us all every day during the season and during the off-season. He felt that hard work, dedication and doing things right was the only way we could be successful and compete in the Big XII conference. He worked harder and longer than anyone else in program and was committed to winning at all cost. He would never have been unfair to a player or not played the best players he had because he wanted to win more than anything else. Coach Leach also expected us to be tough but smart at the same time. He would not pressure a kid to play with a serious injury or play when he did not feel ready to play. Coach Leach is a man that cares about his player and puts his players, coaches and the well being of the Texas Tech football program above all else.

Coach Leach is a great coach at Texas Tech that emphasizes the importance of hard work and doing things the right way so that the football program has the best opportunity possible to be successful. He, along with the administration and the rest of his staff, have built a great football program at Texas Tech that is built on the virtues and principles that give any program an opportunity to be successful. Every single player may not buy into the program’s beliefs, but Mike Leach has almost everyone on board with him and the Texas Tech football program on a successful track.

Graham Harrell

“What Happened to James” has to be the lamest excuse for journalism I have seen. There is absolutely no story behind the headline. Why is someone not asking what the “mistreatment” was, what was its affect on the player, was Coach Leach notified of the complaint beforehand? Is there a written complaint or did the James Gang just phone it in? WTF

FYI, if you are as disgusted with ESPN as I am concerning coach Leach and how they have reported this story, you can send an e-mail to the Ombudsman at the following URL.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?id=2826900

Bailey should have fired after the graduation ceremony where he prounced how happy he was to be at “Texas A&M.”

Everyone here is well versed in my disdain for the attitude our Priate has had over the last 10 years. I am from the “respect the authority that has been placed over you whether you like them or not” school thought. And I fell Leach has consistently flouted the authority. HOWEVER, I agree with Seth 100% on this. Leach is getting a massive high hard one right now. It paints our administration in such an embarrassing light that I can’t find the right words to express my disappointment and frustration.

Tech, for all the wonderful things it offers, continues to find a way to be laughed at. Whether it’s through our athletic department or through the accreditation process (I know, it was a tiny thing, but it still looks pretty bad). I’m fed up.

emails last night. How would you feel if you worked for either of these guys, knowing that if things get tough…..they don’t have your back.
I go back to my rants earlier this year…..when you announce Leach’s extension should also have been the announcement that Myers was put out to pasture at the same time. This came back and bit us in the ass.

A Universtiy would pull crap like this to weasle out of its financial obligations. Time to man up boys. Who the hell do you think will want to coach here now? When I think of Meyers I am reminded of Chevy Chase’s SNL line….“Jane, you ignorant slut”. What a tool. Lets get rid of this dumbsombitch NOW

Supposedly more is about to come out about Leach.
http://twitter.com/Chrislevel

wtf is going on?!?!?

We should probably call it the gitmo shed…..poor guy

If I could play football for Mike Leach I’d sit in a shed all day long.

with rumours going around saying that if leach wins, he gets fired… that there is more details we dont’ have a clue about yet… that the james’ were the impetus but not the largest reason for all this… i just don’t know… lord i hope leach didn’t fuck something up royally

Hearing set to start in a few minutes…probably know something within two hours.

i am just glad espn has decided to report both sides. the ticker at the bottom just showed a statement from riley about james, and sport center gave a statement from Leach.

Last year before the osu(copycats) game myself, my sons, and 2 friends got a personal tour of the facilities. It is a great building and many, many windows and I jsut could not see too many places where ti would be real, real dark. I also saw the shed, not a real dark or small place. We did go in Jones but I didn’t see the alleged other room. Anyway, I thought this was just a James’ power play from the beginning and the Tech Admin is making a huge mistake. Porblem also is that if they fire Leach, who would want to come to not be supported as Coach, and once they pay Leach what amount of money will be left? I fear we will get a coach from Eastern New York. What happens to Adam James? Does he stay on the TTech team? If so, how can he even stay in school? Very sad, as we were at least nipping on the heels of ut,ou, but not now! Wreck’Em Tech

Art Briles has been contacted

the hearing has been made public now and pushed back to 10:30….per chris level

Hearing started at 10:11 per Fox 34 in Lubbock (cousin is keeping me updated out there)…Fox is going to report live…in between Martha Stewart…fun.

Any online radio station have a live feed? This is nuts.

CourtTV couldn’t get this to us

The debate about whether or not Leach’s actions were right/wrong come down to the current state of political correctness in our society. I’ve been listening to ESPN “analysts” rant about how deplorable, unbeleivable, shameful, etc. this situation is for days. Yet when you look at the message boards of everyday people, the overwhelming majority don’t feel like it’s such a big deal. Why the huge disparity? It comes down to elitism and entitlement

If you ask Ed Britton and family about being singled out, sitting at the 50 yard line during a blizzard was right or wrong, they’ll probably tell you it was charachter building.

I do think its alright to make a 20 year old man sit in a dark room for two hours to make him think about his lack of motivation and build his character. You want to know why? Because in the 7 years I spent in the military, I have had to similarly build the charachter of many young men. And you know what? None of them complained…in fact, most of the time they realized later that they were learning a lesson in maturity and manhood. Its called ADVERSITY. But most spoiled kids who grew up in gated golf course communities never face that in their lives, so when they do face it, they complain and act entitled.

Kids like Ed Britton, or Wes Welker for that matter, or Zach Thomas, or any of 99% of Tech players who were not high-level recruits and had to battle through ADVERSITY to make it, will tell you that being humbled by coaches or their fathers have contributed greatly to their charachter and work ethic.

The one time we recruit a kid with a high profile dad…and it bites us in the rear.

But good for Leach for standing up to the celebrity dad here, sticking up for his values and not succumbing to a plastic apology to appease a powerful family.

This whole thing reminds me of the Phil Simms/Mack Brown/Major Applewhite story. But in that instance, Mack being the politician that he is…bowed to the celebrity sportcaster dad.

and my natural skepticism of politicians doesn’t allow me to share your enthusiasm. However it turns out, I hope those of you that are fans of his are spot on. I have a good friend that feels the same way. I just can’t imagine why a sharp guy in his position wouldn’t have s-canned Gerald in short order.

I just wonder with all the TTech fans @ the Alamo Bowl can AJames really “stand” on the sidelines? He will need 2 or more Texas Rangers!!!!! This is so sad!!!!! Wreck"Em Tech

So if (hopefully not) Leach is fired, who’s available at this point? Who wants to take this clusterf*ck and its administration over?

Meyers needs a puppet…

There are times to make decisions solely on principal….when your character is being attacked is absolutely the best time to do this.

Hearing still hasn’t actually started.

All parties are still in chambers; court is overflowing; crowd over 30 deep in the halls and outside.

 just waited and the Oyster bar and would have one person with a beeper and would have to call in once paged. Times have changed

I will post a Hearding Day Thread…stand by

Thread is up…head to the front page

I think he has heard “other” stuff from Admin. types but it maybe only just Leach being Leach stuff and this is just crap!!!!! Free Leach! Wreck’Em Tech

Tech radio is reporting