Mike Leach Post Game Thoughts Are Incredibly Entertaining

everyone of my middle school and high school coaches should have been terminated.

What happened in our society that has changed our kids into entitled, primadonnas?

I heard “Amens!” after the God squad comment, and I did not find anything offensive about it. I really don’t see anything wrong with any of the footage. That is called football. How on Earth did any of it get recorded? Regardless Leach was doing what he always has… getting the most out of the least. As I have heard several times playing and coaching “If you don’t like the way things are run here, you can leave.” I have ways said that nobody gets is trouble for doing what they were supposed to.

I would love to see what he would have done next year. I hate Hance! I hate Myers! I hate Bailey!

I played multiple sports at multiple schools and experienced a variety of coaches’ motivational techniques. Some were not so far from Leach and others were quite the opposite. Either way, the ones who think this is truly news and something to hold against Leach are just sports-ignorant. Sadly, sensationalism looks just like ignorance.

It also seems that maybe these two clips were somewhat carefully chosen…

I don’t care for the language… That’s disappointing to me because I don’t think it’s necessary… I prefer to avoid profanity as much as possible.. then when I ever use it, it is really supposed to mean something… But I have experienced it before and realize it is often used as a “motivational” tool…

I am religious and not really offended by the “God squad” comment… I think I would listen and try to understand what he was trying to say… Maybe have a talk with him about it all sometime…

I thought I was a Leach fan before I heard these……this made me an even bigger Leach fan (minus the God squad stuff) but other than that this stuff kicked butt! Good stuff!

This kinda came out of left field. I only wish we had inside videos from all the games.

TTUMAR this is what a pregame video needs to be. I am one fired up sombitch.

We’re STILL talking about Leach? He’s not here so I give a rats ass about his techniques and ideas of motivating players.

He is basically saying what all of us are thinking..

And he will use HIS vocabulary. It may not be what you or I want to hear, but it is his style and his way and his team. As mentioned above, I have had coaches say anyone not agreeing with them can exit now. As for the “God Squad” statemet concerning the video. Look at HOW he used that:

“What does God say? ‘If you’re lukewarm, I’ll spew you out,’” Leach says. “? If you’re a defensive player, I don’t need one side of the brain on playing defense and one side thinking, ‘Oh gee, I wonder, this. I wonder that. I wonder the other thing.’ No, no. Screw that.”

As he said, God does not want us to be “lukewarm” in following Him. He wants us to be all the way committed. The statements following Leach’s quote says the same. If you are going to commit to playing football, do it at 100%, nothing less will do.

For those that are ready to move on, as I am, understand, there are still things concerning Leach that lingers. It will not just go away immediately. It may take some of us some time to completely be INTO the present. That does not mean anyone will be cheering on Texas Tech any less. It just means the basis of this team is still here and what happens now will ride whatever waves started by Leach. And don’t knock the fact Tech did not hire an assistant to replace Leach. They were never going to do that, I don’t care if Paul Bryant was one of them, or Joe Pa. We have, for the most part, a whole new staff that have great credentials. It is up to them to use all that was left behind in a way to improve on past advancements and make the team even better than it has been. It is what Leach would have done, and it is what this staff and players must do, as well.

Mike’s a good coach, but I have lost a bit of respect for him. I really don’t see Tubs acting like this. (at least I hope not….maybe I am just naive.) Ignorant people talk like that…. I expected more from such an educated person. I am looking forward to next year. Go Tech.

My rugby coach decided to coach rugby instead of football for a reason. That reason being, he would be fired if he coached football, since there are times where he sounds like Mike Leach. Not saying that’s a bad thing though. When you have some teammates that feel their starting spot is an entitlement, it takes some harsh language and singling out to get them to realize that the team will move on if they aren’t starting. When you barely beat a mediocre team who isn’t playing all that well, you should be unsatisfied. Mediocre teams are mediocre for a reason. When you’re the defending state champs, failure is unacceptable. That’s all there is to it. Even though you lost half the team the legacy still lives on. Same thing applies to football. Play smart and work hard and your efforts will pay off. If you don’t try too hard because you won a state title the year before, you’ll get beaten by inferior competition.

Those videos are absolutely awesome.

with the God squad comments. I think he was spot on. Religion can be as much of a distraction as fat little girlfriends.

I see no problem with what he said.

I also see a lot of similarities between these speeches and the insight bowl halftime speed. they’re the same message for sure.

I don’t have any issues with the profanity. Was it necessary? No. Do I hear worse sitting anywhere in the stadium? No. Leach is a smart guy, so there’s any number of reasons why he chose to use it. Maybe he was getting on their ‘level’ as has previously been mention, or maybe he was trying to show exactly how disappointed/ticked he was at their effort. The man has an excellent vocabulary, but sometimes you reach a point where, despite the lexicon at your disposal, there is no other phrase that can express your frustration like a good old-fashioned f-bomb. Just sayin’.

As far as the “God squad” comments, I don’t really see anything wrong with them either. Yeah, I can understand where it might have pissed some guys off, but I don’t think that was his intention. I get the impression he didn’t particularly see the need for it on the field…to each his own…but I don’t think he meant any insult. I think he was trying to make a point to those guys. You can do all the praying you want, but ultimately, you also have to follow through with your actions. Prayer without action is empty. God isn’t going to catch the ball for you…he may steady your hand, but you still have to run your route with all you have. You have to get yourself to the point where God’s influence can be felt. He can steady that hand of yours anywhere on the field, but if you never get off the line of scrimmage does it really matter? Like he said, if you’re on def/off/spec teams, bring your whole heart, whole mind, and whole body to the play at hand. I hate to sound corny, but, if you’re only half in it, you can’t win it.

So, in summation:
profanity – unnecessary, perhaps, but not unsuprising or inexcusable.
God squad – meant as a knock on their effort, not their religion.

Awesome stuff!

i can see where some will be offended by these, but let’s be realistic, some get pissed at a lot on here too, without much profanity at all. some just get offended at the mere mention of the Captain.
Personally, my rants when the bellboys fired Mike were worse than this. I would love to see a video of Leach’s “halftime” speech when he met with hance over the sweet baby james lies.

This is just two short snippetts of film after KU and Baylor so it’s hard to really say that this is Leach’s SOP but you can point to the fact that Tech has traditionally “coughed up a hair ball” against weaker opponents, i.e. North Texas and CU. Giving the players a little something extra to think about and challenging them was probably not a bad thing.

I wasn’t crazy about the “God Squad” comment but understand why Leach was so aggitated after the Baylor game performance. Leach’s job was to improve the team’s performance and that’s what I believe he was trying to do.

I respect Leach more after watching that video following the Baylor game.

Like the language or not, if you’re a Tech fan who wants to be the best, I don’t see how you can have a problem with what he said.

that to be fair and balanced, just remember the Captain’s post game interview as he was leaving the field of the Insight Bowl, how he was so proud of the team he was broght to tears. That is the come thing I will always have a memory of – way beyond fat little girlfriends, weather reports, pirate;s beating soldiers. The MAN had a passion for excellence and was humbled when he saw it displayed.

Play poorly or miss up your assignment, and the coach will get all up in your bidness. Make a play or do your job, you get the pats on the back. You got to get the guys fired up,motivated to do something. Like blackbeard sed, Leach was in tears after the insight bowl, because his guys went out there and executed. I love me some Mike Leach, and this is just him being him.

“You gotta get angry, you gotta get MEAN!”

All this does for me is confirm that the guys at Orangebloods (specifically Chip Brown & Ketchem) are a bunch of assclowns. And that they thoroughly hate Mike Leach.

Why is this “news”? How did he know the video existed? That is what I come away with.

To me, this is just coach Leach being coach Leach. It’s not all that different that we saw for the past 10 years. So count me as thinking this is no big deal.

and after a good nights sleep I think I can gather a coherent thought on this….I think. Before I do I will point out that I think it is somewhat sad that we have allowed ourselves to be fashioned into a mirror image of our politicians in Washington over this issue. If you read through these comments, they are split right down party lines. It made no difference what coach Leach said in those videos, one group of usual suspects was going take things out of context to bash him, and no matter how profane or offensive he may have been, the other group of usual suspects was simply going to defend him. This is the sad direction all of this has gone, and for full disclosure, I have found myself guilty of the same on occasion.

IMO, we are losing our objectivity and integrity on this issue. At some point it has to become ok to reference Leach’s accomplishments without feeling the need to point out his faults compared to Tubs. At some point it has to be acceptable to post a positive comment about Tubs without others felling like they have to defend Leach’s honor. I just think we are better than this, and I hope we figure that out before the fall.

As for these videos. It should be obvious, I am shallow when it comes to Tech football. If Mike Leach or Tommy Tuberville are winning football games, and have the respect of their players, I don’t really care what they say in the locker room, bedroom, or shower. Between sports and USMC bootcamp, I heard it all. Nothing in this offended me as much as losing to Houston, OSU, and A&M. If Tubs wins (and Leach before him), I don’t care if he puts bamboo under their fingernails, and slaps my mother. I’m just being honest. And that goes for the whole thing. I’m so sick of hearing about how we used to have an identity, we used to be outlaws, pirates, whatever. I don’t want to be an outlaw, or seen as a genius, I want to win championships. I will burn every “tie” or piece of “pirate” crap I own, and yours too for a damn championship. Cuss, don’t cuss, be a genius, be an idiot, I don’t care just win football games and don’t embarrass our school.

“We thought we were too good to play Texas Effin A&M”

Classic…

The problem I have is that this rant is after the last game of the season. The opportunity for motivation is over, is this some sort of pre-emtive pre bowl game speech that will last a month? Thats like kicking your dog when its already down.

This just turns out to be venting over his own lack of skill to motivate these guys which in the end is the HCs main job. He knew he lost this team early on and looking back you can see it game after game, he had peaked. Its all your fault because your not playing up to your potential, things are going to change.

Oops the season is over. You should have changed them after the Houston game or maybe the New Mexico game or maybe the A&M game. Now the season is over Im going to continue to suck the pride out of every last one of you and in a couple of weeks im going to make the last mistake I ever make at Texas Tech because Im so mad at all of you. I babied a kid for most of the year and he keeps spitting in my face well things are going to change. Sure enough they did.

Its one thing to be bad and one thing to be good but to have the potential to be good and waste it with infighting and lack of motivation thats what kills seasons.

It’s division 1 Football. It’s the Big12! If you can’t handle it, go play intermurals brother.

I truely believe this is a non-story, story. Here are the biggest questions that come to my mind:
1. How did the (insert explitive) orangeblood guys know these videos even existed? Inside tip maybe?
2. Why do they even care? (hatred of Leach probably)
3. Why is this relevant at this point given we have a completely new coaching staff? (answer=it isn’t)
4. Percentage of how many people that read this have seen worse or equal rants either from high school or college coaches? (I’d say at least 80%)

It’s about being consistent. Frankly, this is the same Mike Leach that we’ve seen for 10 years. He hasn’t changed at all so no one should be surprised. And it doesn’t offend me, at all.

It’s a different generation…what was accepted by us as just “part of it” in sports doesn’t seem to fly with the kids today. They don’t seem to have that fear (respect?) of authority most of us had/have and don’t have an issue revolting or tuning the guy out.

There were only a handful of times in my various athletic endeavors where I thought it was personal – and it came from my dad. He was my baseball coach from age 6 up until I went to Tech.

The others with football and hockey, well, everyone just took it with a grain of salt. One interesting thing, in hockey the coaches don’t seem to berate quite as much as they do in football. They strongly encourage and are super firm, but the way it’s done has a totally different feel. Herb Brooks and Scotty Bowman are notable exceptions. But personal stuff was almost never said. They would just drop you down a line or two. That always gets the attention more than a few cuss words.

This doesn’t really bother me too much because it is football….What I think seems to have gotten to at least a few players(tweeter, etc.) is that the Pirate seemed to try to get the players to be 100% and yet they didn’t see him as 100%( perception). I think from the outside it appears 10 years of this( I don’t mind this firey speech at all) and Leach’s disregard for being on time, not doing Red Raider Club stuff, etc. wore thin on them. Right or Wrong Leach seemed to have lost this team, at least in part this year. I really hate it and I will always be a Pirate fan. But Im a Red Raider above all else. Wreck’Em Tech

1. It’s not called simulated combat for nothing.
2. If you whoop someones butt you might win.
3. Coaches know their players and know what moves or drives them
4. If you want a Sunday School teacher go to church
5. He gets paid to drill winners and eliminate slackers
6. This stuff is available on most of the "Red Raider Replay" videos. Somewhat redacted. BTW he probably got a best "Your rants" video as a going away present from his Coaches and ex players.
7. Profanity isn’t prohibited by free speech and playing an NCAA sport is voluntary.
8. In the grand scheme of things no one lost an eye or a limb
9. Getting 18 -22 year olds attention is an art form.
10. Hope all the "naughty words" hand wringers get carpal tunnel syndrome.
11. Leach doesn’t work here anymore. But I am grateful for his efforts

I apply that to hand wringers in general. Life’s too short to be scared or angry all the time.

Now that’s some real chewing going on in those videos and I have to agree with the Captain. His verbage is a little harsh but man he gets the point across.

My point was that Leach did what Leach wanted to do…..I have 3 teenagers(18,15,14) and when you say one thing and do another it can cause some issues. Again I not saying it right or wrong, it can appear to folks and maybe some players that he was calling them into account( and he should) but he didn’t seem to want to do the “big boy” coaching things. Remember Ruff always did the Bowl press conference right after selection Sunday. Again it is definitely IMO but it seems for some Leach’s actions & words did always get in the same zip code. Looking immensly to April 17! Wreck’Em Tech

Leach’s actions & words didn’t always……

I don’t do profanity, it is not me. I don’t have anything to say about what happens in a locker room because I did not spend any time in one. I don’t know much about what happens on a practice field either.

I did catch Seth’s comment about the two sets of videos, the later ones with the anger as motivation—whatever the words choices, and the one at the Minnesota half time which was more an appeal to higher goals, higher thinking, higher performance, who do you want to be, how do you want to be remembered. The difference is glaring.

I have no idea what it means, if anything.

One could look at the anger tapes and try to correlate team performance and how players respond and all that, but I believe there is more to that than a post game, post season, or half time talk.

I am sure we could find plenty of tape of Bob Knight doing similar stuff, the HOF great RMK. We did not have the technology in his day…sooo, so what ?

Amazingly, there is video of these talks, freely taken, they are close ups with the coach looking in the direction of the camera several times. He clearly did not see anything wrong in what he was doing as a professional working with college football players.

People with motives will use this against ML, against TTU, against football, etc. It is kind of the way things go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojNVL8539no

seriously…i had gotten over the fact that he was gone, but now i’m sad again…thats a F***ING football coach…

Somebody at Tech who knew these tapes existed timed this so they would be released on deposition day. ""Hey Chip, Gerald Myers here. How about you file a FOI request so we have an excuse to release these tapes. They’ll be gold & you’ll get a big scoop. Whatya think Chip? Are you in?"

Follow me for a moment:
1. Tech is represented by Dickey Grigg (among others) who happens to also represent UT football players who have run afoul of the law.
2. Chip Brown is close to the UT program and likely knows Grigg.
3. Grigg gets a tip from Tech Admin that these videos exist.
4. Grigg pass along the info to Chip Brown (maybe with a little something for OB.com) and suggest he file a FOI request for the video.
5. Suggest the most impact might be to release the a couple of days prior to the depo of coach Leach.
6 ding, ding, ding. intended effect and all done behind the scenes.

Nah, probably never happen. Big stretch, I’m sure nothing like that would ever happen…
Sure would be a hellofa lot of fun to find out this is true though…

There is no one right way to coach or motivate 18-22 year old kids. Seth raises a great point about whether an act wears thin after 10 years. But Coach Leach accomplished much in the W-L column at a school despite a significant resource and talent disadvantage; from that, I conclude that Mike Leach is probably an able motivator. Tim Couch proved to be much worse than the world thought both before and after he had the benefit of Mike Leach tirades. Maybe that’s just Xs and Os. Dwayne Slay appeared to me, at all times, highly, er, motivated. Allan Everidge at least agrees.

Fine lines must be drawn somewhere between motivation and abuse, and I think the best place for that is physical hands on players, i.e., what got Mangino fired. But isn’t it strange that we’re wondering over the effectiveness of ass-chewing, practiced universally to varying degrees at every level of football, which suggests cause over coincidence; Mangino was a few years removed from Coach of the Year honors. Mike Leach, ass-chewer extraordinaire, won 84 games at Texas Tech and never had a losing season (which would be the biggest indication, to me, that a team had given up on him or grown tired of his shtick — yet even in a season with more public airing of grievances between players and staff than I can recall, we’re still sitting on a 9-4 record). Bob Knight (no comment necessary!). Darrell Royal, who is treated like a God here in Austin, once allegedly spit on a player with an injured vertebrae, told him to get his pussy ass up, and then yanked his scholarship a week later. Bear Bryant tortured and attempted to murder children at Junction. In Alabama, the God squad prays to him.

I cannot imagine myself getting motivated by being insulted repeatedly, but then again, I never played football. Maybe this is all a reflection of changing times and attitudes, about what is and isn’t the proper way to address adults. And that being the case, I feel mostly helpless as an observer. But I will point out that the above list of torturous monsters really knew something about getting the most out of their players. If the times are changing maybe that has a lot to do with player attitudes, much less social attitudes. Let’s remember fondly the days when our game looked more like the college football we revere — with warty legends, but legends nonetheless — and less like the NBA, where players are rarely coached/motivated at all, because the power struggle shifted years ago in their favor.

I don’t watch the NBA but I do watch College Footbaw.

By the way, best line in the above video, I’m still laughing over it, “you’re out of your fucking mind; Michael Crabtree made that play.” He sure did coach, and you’ll be missed.

All last season I kept hearing from friends and family who know I’m a huge Mike Leach fan that “something has changed with him this year, something is off”. After listening to the Baylor video I totally get it. He was dealing with a team that apparently thought coming off an 11-2 season made them better than they were and entitled them to not have to work as hard. That would piss me off too and I’m sure I would drop some f-bombs as well. After the way we played Baylor, what coach worth his salt would say, “gee guys, you didn’t play your best but at least we won and that’s all that matters, good job, you guys are the tops.” Umm, no. He has to hold them accountable win or lose and push them to the next level of performance. And if you have a team with an overinflated sense of importance, slamming them instead of propping them up seems to me to be the way to go.

I’m not advocating slamming them after every game or every practice, but the coach knows his team and in these cases maybe this is what was called for. Maybe there are some videos out there after other games like when we beat OU where he is praising the guys as being the “bees knees”.

There is no one out there like Coach Leach. Can’t believe how much I still miss him.

I flew up to Lubbock for the Leach rally earlier this year. Yes, I admit it, I am a serious Mike Leach fan. Anyway, none other than Bobby Knight was seated in front of me on the flight. When we landed in Lubbock, he couldn’t figure out how to open the overhead bin, and me being a nicely mannered Texas lady helped him open it. He thanked me so I took my opening – with no small fear for my physical safety:

me (tongue in cheek): are you flying in for the Leach rally today too?

Knight (tersley growling): No!

me (pleasant for the rest of the conversation): I was hoping you coaches stuck together

Knight (terse for the rest of the conversation): not with that guy

me: Well, I would have liked to see the administration thank him for his contributions over the years regardless of the way things endeded

Knight: there’s a lot you don’t know

me: He brought a lot to the football program, the university and the community during his tenure.

Knight: If you compare his record to Spike Dykes they are pretty close

me: Yes, but Coach Leach is the winningest coach in Texas Tech history

Knight (nearly biting my head off): winning isn’t everything!

At this point I realized it was time to end the conversation. I just smiled and Knight turned his back on me. You have to love the attitudes, double-standards and lack of self-awareness.

Apparently Bobby Knight and Mike Leach don’t like each other but Pat Knight and Mike Leach are friends.

Just a little story for a Saturday morning.