Mike Leach

[MikeWaters]

He will be fired. He's pissed off enough people with power that they are intent on taking him down. Even if it means infuriating their fans and taking the entire football program into the dump. They will return to their rightful place in the pecking order, which is just above Baylor.

So where does Leach go after this? And could this possibly affect the MWC? Currently, I don't see a scenario where Leach comes to the MWC, unless a current head coach is plucked away (like Whittingham or Patterson). Even that would be iffy.

I would imagine that some team out there would be willing to roll the dice with Pirate Mike.

[MikeWaters]

Media sources now reporting that Leach has been fired.

Leach did an amazing job in that hell-hole. This is a blessing for him.

[Tex]

I met Mike Leach a couple of years ago. Funny guy, but a little bit odd.

[Archaea]

Support for Leach.

http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.c...70202/19238949

[Archaea]

James sounds like the guy who should have been kicked out.

I am writing this letter on behalf of Mike Leach in regards to the Adam James situation. I was the inside receiver coach at Texas Tech when we made the decision the sign Adam James in January of 2007. Adam had no offers to play NCAA D1 football during and after his Senior year. After a conversation between Coach Leach and Adams father Craig, Coach Leach acquired a brief highlight tape of Adam and made the decision to take him as a scholarship student athlete. I was opposed to doing so in belief he was not a D1 football player. Coach Leach overrode my opinion and Adam became a Red Raider. During the rest of my time at Texas Tech I was Adams position coach where I always remained critical of Adams ability to play at this level due to being lazy in not only the classroom but also in the off season and during practice. Coach Leach was the one who kept saying he believed Adam would eventually contribute. Adams teammates believed he was selfish and were constantly getting onto him for lack of effort as they sensed entitlement on his part due to his father being a very good football player. Adam eventually ended up playing a little after I left due to his body type being able to do some TE sets which consists of around 5-10 plays a game. Adam should be thankful for the opportunity to play at Texas Tech and for Mike Leach, who gave him the opportunity. In my opinion playing 5-10 plays a game in an outstanding offense is more than he would get at any other school in NCAA D1 football.

Dana Holgorsen
OC & QB's
University of Houston

[MikeWaters]

If I were the James kid, I would drop out of school immediately and go into hiding. And perhaps even petition Obama for relocation, new identity, and plastic surgery.

Texas Tech just fired their Bear Bryant. I don't imagine that they will be nearly as good going into the future.

[MikeWaters]

"The James Gang", I like that.

I never want to hear another game/show with Craig James.

[MikeWaters]

You know, personally, I love what Leach brings to the college football game. I love that he doesn't just deal in cliches. I love it he doesn't give a damn what other people think.

I would love for him to be at BYU, but I know it couldn't work, even if he were a TR-holder. BYU is a place of conformity, of dress codes and firesides, of "oh my hecks" and clueless fans who pay nothing for seats and have as much football knowledge as money in their wallets. Not much.

If I were New Mexico or CSU I might try to make a run at Leach, if I had the boosters to back it up. Not sure that Leach would be interested, but worth a shot. If Whittingham were to leave Utah, if I am Utah, I make a run at Leach for sure. He would bring a heightened profile to the program.

[SeattleUte]

Mike, ultimately, you ARE part of the herd.

Here is a more or less complete list of reasons for Leach's overwhelming support on BYU sports boards:

He is LDS

He went to BYU

He has never coached in a BCS bowl

He was "screwed" by a BCS/Big 12 formula last year

He thinks college is only about football

He coaches a 2-3 tier program in an isolated backwater and has overachieved

He favors a strong offense and passing game, and defense is an afterthought

Craig James is a BCS homer

He is a lawyer

He never played; went from being a fan to a coach


The Legal & PR case against Mike Leach is very simple. It has two prongs:

First, a kid reports a symptom, the physician diagnoses a concussion, and as a result the kid is subject to humiliation and obloquy. I don't care if Leach put him in the Ritz Carlton. It's like separate but equal. If this kind of thing were countenanced, there would be a chilling effect on kids reporting and treating concussions. Yes, there was torture. It was psychological.

Second, this is an instance, recurring in DI college sports, of the bully, rogue coach. The coach who lets success on the field go to his head and comes to believe he's bigger than the thousands or tens of thousands of students, the hundreds of millions or billions that a university raises and spends on education and research. Who holds up the university for astronomical raaises, then won't play by the rules, tries to humiliate and puff himself up against adminstrators and educators, and abuses his players.

(I use "success" advisedly. Since Leach became a martyr his supporters have turned his record into a work of genius. Except last year, the record was not spectacular. Actually, neither was last year.)

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Mike, ultimately, you ARE part of the herd.

Here is a more or less complete list of reasons for Leach's overwhelming support on BYU sports boards:

He is LDS

He went to BYU

He has never coached in a BCS bowl

He was "screwed" by a BCS/Big 12 formula last year

He thinks college is only about football

He coaches a 2-3 tier program in an isolated backwater and has overachieved

He favors a strong offense and passing game, and defense is an afterthought

Craig James is a BCS homer

He is a lawyer

He never played; went from being a fan to a coach


The Legal & PR case against Mike Leach is very simple. It has two prongs:

First, a kid reports a symptom, the physician diagnoses a concussion, and as a result the kid is subject to humiliation and obloquy. I don't care if Leach put him in the Ritz Carlton. It's like separate but equal. If this kind of thing were countenanced, there would be a chilling effect on kids reporting and treating concussions. Yes, there was torture. It was psychological.

Second, this is an instance, recurring in DI college sports, of the bully, rogue coach. The coach who lets success on the field go to his head and comes to believe he's bigger than the thousands or tens of thousands of students, the hundreds of millions or billions that a university raises and spends on education and research. Who holds up the university for astronomical raaises, then won't play by the rules, tries to humiliate and puff himself up against adminstrators and educators, and abuses his players.

(I use "success" advisedly. Since Leach became a martyr his supporters have turned his record into a work of genius. Except last year, the record was not spectacular. Actually, neither was last year.)

I had the thought the other day that if you were to comment, your response would be extremely predictable.

First off, Mike Leach is extremely popular among college football fans of all stripes. A&M fans HATE Texas Tech. Tech has become only 2nd to Texas in terms of rivals. But a great many A&M fans on their message board express respect and fondness for Leach. If your greatest enemy appreciates you, trust me the appreciation goes all around from other fans as well.

Since you are such a hater, as to not believe me, then read this. An excerpt:

This was about injured egos, and more than anything else, ignorance. Because while the backlash toward Leach is maybe understandable, the Texas Tech administration made the bigger mistake of misunderstanding Leach's success. It wasn't that they had a coach who'd produced ten winning seasons, but that they had Mike Leach. He didn't deliver Texas Tech to national prominence despite his strange style, but because of it.

College football fans cared about him -- and by extension Texas Tech -- because he was completely different than anyone we'd ever seen coaching before. Sure, his teams were successful, but not that successful. There are plenty of top 15 programs that nobody cares about. I'll watch Oklahoma State play Oklahoma, but otherwise, they're not on my radar. But Texas Tech? People will watch, solely because they know that Mike Leach and his offense will make things interesting. He had the people all across the country talking about Texas Tech.

And in the end, that's his job. It's not to win the Big 12 or win National Championships like Mack Brown or Bob Stoops. Those would be great, but from the administration's standpoint, the goal is to enhance the overall profile of the school. That's why they hired Bobby Knight after multiple instances of abusive behavior, the likes of which make Mike Leach's shed seem tame. But it wasn't Knight that got the whole country talking; it was this quirky, weird looking ex-lawyer that nobody really understood, but everyone loved.

Texas Tech stumbled onto a winning lottery ticket with Mike Leach. Now, they've chased him off because he wanted to get rich too. And yeah, I'm sure the Texas Tech administration thinks that their football team can win without him. But will anybody watch?

The other things you mention about why he is popular, they may be more or less correct. Who cares.

On to the James thing. There is no evidence that James was punished for having a concussion. Was James being punished? Yes, I think he was. Why? We don't know yet. Because Leach has not told us. What do we know for certain? That all injured Tech players were required to do some kind of activity or practice even if they were injured, to the extent medically permissible. There was to be no loafing. Had James earned the ire of Leach because of reasons outside of his concussion? It seems so. At least there are multiple accounts of this, published by other players and coaches (but not Leach himself). Coach says he needs to do something. Trainers say he can't. Take your sunglasses off. I can't. Ok, during practice, stand in the dark. Torture? Please.

Does Mike Leach not care about his players? Texas Tech ranks first in football graduation rate among all public universities since Mike Leach took over. Does that sound like someone that doesn't care? Has Leach ever pressured a player to play despite a concussion, or any other kind of serious inury that could jeapordize the health of a player? Haven't heard a single accusation of this.

This was a case of some good ol' boys at Tech, who didn't like Leach, who actually wanted him fired after his big 2008 season, who seized the opportunity to distort what happened with the James kid, and fire their nemesis. If you don't believe they hated Leach, I present you with emails that the Dallas Morning News obtained via the FOI Act.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...leachblack.pdf

If you are going to slum it over here, don't bring your usual weak stuff. That might work where you come from, but your pretty boy act doesn't work here.