Leach has been fired ....

They fired him before he could take them to court to coach in the bowl game. This is a pretty sketchy thing going on here.



http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls09/news/story?id=4781981

This is so bizarre. Either Leach is the devil incarnate (which I highly doubt), or the university is going to have its pants sued off. This whole story makes no sense. I've always like TT, but this is so nutty, I'm questioning the university on this one.

kfilly20 wrote:
They fired him before he could take them to court to coach in the bowl game. This is a pretty sketchy thing going on here.



http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls09/news/story?id=4781981

They also fired him just before he was to get an $800,000 bonus tomorrow. Interesting timing and the many of the other coaches and players aren't very happy about the firing or about that James brat.

So does this mean Robert Anae could be leaving? He came from TT, he's been a very successful OC, this could be his chance to get a head coaching gig.

It's interesting how ESPN.com has edited the AP story they are publishing. Here is what they have left out from the original AP story:

Quite an ascension from the being the head coach for a European League team in Finland.



While piling up victories, he's also occasionally spoken to Donald Trump -- an acquaintance since the time Leach tried to just drop in on Trump before even meeting him while visiting New York.



Not unlike Bob Knight when he came to coach the Red Raiders basketball team for 6 1/2, Leach has raised the profile of the city and the school. He appeared on "60 Minutes" and been profiled in the New York Times Magazine.



For his success on the field and unique personality off it, he has become generally adored by Texas Tech fans.



He's handed out dating advice on his weekly local show, done the weather forecast for a Lubbock TV station and drawn cheers by buying barbecue for the thousands of students camped out at the stadium before a big game.



Leach's name surfaced in recent years when other coaching spots have opened up. Two years ago it was Arkansas and UCLA. Last year there were reports Tennessee might be interested and he traveled to Washington during contentious contract extension negotiations when the school was looking for a new coach.

ESPN cut the story off right after they mention how Leach struggled at Tech to recruit against Oklahoma and Texas. I think I'll be looking to other media outlets from here on out....I don't like the lengths ESPN seems to be going to in order to protect one of their own.

If I wanted to be a head coach, I would even give TT the time of day. They have poisoned their own waters. Who would want to coach under the rule of whoever fired Leach for this?

This does seem very suspicious. Now, I admit I'm biased, since I'm of the opinion that Craig James is a disgusting, bigoted, lying sack of ... hot air, and therefore it's not that great a stretch in my mind to expect his son to follow that example to the letter. I've read a few sites now with quotes from teammates etc attesting that the kid was a punk. Beginning to sound to me like a personal problem that some whiny kid, who's daddy is on a big sports network payroll, has with his coach, and is trying to cash in family celebrity to settle a score to cover his own alpha sierra sierra.



Not saying I'm necessarily sold that this is a cause, but I've also read a couple of (not mormon affiliated) sites that imply his faith, in an intense Bible Belt, is one possible cause for the trouble. Possibly some backlash from the contract he was given that some TTech bigwigs didn't think should have gone to one o' them Marmuns???

I suggest you all head over to cougarboard. There is a lot of gold there right now, too much for me to summarize here.

byutx wrote:
I suggest you all head over to cougarboard. There is a lot of gold there right now, too much for me to summarize here.

All I've seen over there are people talking (in 15 or so different threads) about the email support Leach has been receiving from fans, players, coaches and boosters.



These emails:



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



Am I missing anything?

snoscythe wrote:

I suggest you all head over to cougarboard. There is a lot of gold there right now, too much for me to summarize here.

All I've seen over there are people talking (in 15 or so different threads) about the email support Leach has been receiving from fans, players, coaches and boosters.



These emails:



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



Am I missing anything?

Did you see anything about the email support Leach has been receiving?

I liked this, but it's not for the faint of heart: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=188&f=1650&t=5369190

this too: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=188&f=1650&t=5368975

byutx wrote:

All I've seen over there are people talking (in 15 or so different threads) about the email support Leach has been receiving from fans, players, coaches and boosters.



Am I missing anything?

Did you see anything about the email support Leach has been receiving?

LOL. I take it you meant to reference the Texas Tech forums, not the RumorBoard forums. Thanks for those links. I am still looking to re-find the Texas Tech forum thread that was going last night where they were posting "pictures" of Adam James. One was a him on the cover of Newsweek with the headling "I'm Gay!"



That kid will not last the week in Lubbock.

kitic77 wrote:
So does this mean Robert Anae could be leaving? He came from TT, he's been a very successful OC, this could be his chance to get a head coaching gig.

They can have Anae and we'll take Leach.

I like this Bleacher Report take, entitled "Daddy's Little Girl"



http://bleacherreport.com/articles/316733-daddys-little-girl-adam-james-and-the-mike-leach-suspension



A sampling:

Now I'm not in a position to know exactly what happened but we already know that the original allegations were not exactly true.



We were told that Adam James, son of ESPN's Craig James, was forced into a shed to stand hours on end after showing up to practice.



The shed turned out to be an equipment room, complete with ice maker, fan, ventilation and exercise equipment.



We were told that Adam James, son of ESPN's Craig James, was next confined in an electrical closet under guard.



The "electrical closet" turned out to be a spacious press room with video monitors and stationary bikes, and the "guard" turned out to be trainers who were checking on his head injury.



So we already know that Adam James, son of ESPN's Craig James, was exaggerating the circumstances to the point of nearly straight-up lies.



So the next question one might reasonably ask is, "why was he told to go there?"



Well Adam James, son of ESPN's Craig James, suffered a mild concussion not so long ago that had him sidelined, but was recently cleared by his own doctor to play.



Instead, he showed up to practice wearing sun glasses (presumably because of the concussion he had been cleared from), and offered his own diagnosis to coach Mike Leach.



That being that he was not feeling up to practice and instead would rest on the sidelines in his sunglasses while the rest of the team worked their tails off.



At this point it's worth taking a step back and looking at the situation in it's totality.



First, I'd like to appeal to the former or still participating football players out there and ask them what they think their coach would have done if they had been cleared to play but decided quite nonchalantly that they didn't feel like it.



I could very well ask this of any former or current athlete, but football coaches tend to be an ever harder breed. They're all like Bobby Knight.



What Mike Leach did was tell Adam James, son of ESPN's Craig James, that he'd be damned if was going to let him laze around on the sidelines in sunglasses while the rest of the team worked, and if the sun was such a problem, that he'd be better off sitting out the practice in the equipment garage, where players often took respite from the heat.



And you know what? I can't be sure, but he probably said that forcefully and with an expletive or two laced in to accentuate his point.



That's what football coaches do.



It's their job to break you down until you understand that nobody is above the team.



Nobody, not even Adam James, son of ESPN's Craig James.

Also, for those of you on Facebook:



http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=196921211868&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52022434211&ref=search&sid=1136918262.1885792180..1

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=196921211868&ref=mf#/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=223614508903



Fans are now sending his address around the e-world. Ouch. Casey Clausen had it easy.

This video is AWESOME! It's a tour of the "shed" and "electrical closet" in which Adam was enclosed.



http://www.kcbd.com/global/Category.asp?C=151146&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=108431&topVideoCatNoB=108535&topVideoCatNoC=111448&topVideoCatNoD=108536&topVideoCatNoE=111449&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=4421239&flvUri=&partnerclipid=

snoscythe wrote:

snoscythe wrote:
All I've seen over there are people talking (in 15 or so different threads) about the email support Leach has been receiving from fans, players, coaches and boosters.



Am I missing anything?

Did you see anything about the email support Leach has been receiving?

LOL. I take it you meant to reference the Texas Tech forums, not the RumorBoard forums. Thanks for those links. I am still looking to re-find the Texas Tech forum thread that was going last night where they were posting "pictures" of Adam James. One was a him on the cover of Newsweek with the headling "I'm Gay!"



That kid will not last the week in Lubbock.

I did mean to refer to rumorboard, but only in TIC as a knock to the board. When this type of story breaks, however, I think that site's format is a little better suited.

snoscythe wrote:
It's interesting how ESPN.com has edited the AP story they are publishing. Here is what they have left out from the original AP story:

Quite an ascension from the being the head coach for a European League team in Finland.



While piling up victories, he's also occasionally spoken to Donald Trump -- an acquaintance since the time Leach tried to just drop in on Trump before even meeting him while visiting New York.



Not unlike Bob Knight when he came to coach the Red Raiders basketball team for 6 1/2, Leach has raised the profile of the city and the school. He appeared on "60 Minutes" and been profiled in the New York Times Magazine.



For his success on the field and unique personality off it, he has become generally adored by Texas Tech fans.



He's handed out dating advice on his weekly local show, done the weather forecast for a Lubbock TV station and drawn cheers by buying barbecue for the thousands of students camped out at the stadium before a big game.



Leach's name surfaced in recent years when other coaching spots have opened up. Two years ago it was Arkansas and UCLA. Last year there were reports Tennessee might be interested and he traveled to Washington during contentious contract extension negotiations when the school was looking for a new coach.

ESPN cut the story off right after they mention how Leach struggled at Tech to recruit against Oklahoma and Texas. I think I'll be looking to other media outlets from here on out....I don't like the lengths ESPN seems to be going to in order to protect one of their own.

LOL. Now ESPN has inserted this into their heavily edited version of the AP wire story:

The letter set out guidelines for dealing with student-athletes that the school wanted Leach to agree to. He refused to sign the letter.



Among the guidelines were:



• "Decisions regarding whether an injury warrants suspension from practice and/or play will be determined by a physician without pressure from you or your staff."



• "There will be no retaliation against any student who has suffered an injury."



Liggett said Leach likes Lubbock and wanted to remain the football program's coach.



"Coach Leach has never, ever hidden his desire to coach the Texas Tech Red Raiders," Liggett said. "His accomplishments, his actions, his graduation rate all prove that."



Leach likely will speak publicly soon, though Liggett said he did not know when and declined to say where Leach was Wednesday.



"It's pretty hard to keep him quiet," he said.

They omitted, however, three of the other guidelines in the letter that Leach refused to sign, like the very first one: "All practices and other team meetings will be monitored by the athletic director or his personal representative." The other two are weasel-provisions that would look like tacit admissions by Leach that he was violating university policy. Leach would have been an idiot to sign a letter with "guidelines" that relinquish his control over the program and that would give the university ammo for an argument that Leach was in breach.



A copy of the letter can be found here: http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/kcbd/2006/station/TTU_response.pdf



Then again, ESPN isn't interested in telling a story here. They are interested in protecting their own.

byutx wrote:
When this type of story breaks, however, I think that (CougarBoard's) format is a little better suited.

I agree. CougarBoard is nice for breaking news because it has the heaviest traffic of the boards. When it comes to discussion though, I like a little less yelling, a little more debate, and a lot more restraint.