Did Mike Leach really find it necessary

[flomoe]

What we do know is that Leach never specified either the equipment garage - a rather large outbuilding adjacent the practice field, with 20' ceiling, an ice machine, running water, ventilation fan, and fully-opened door (with broken lock) where, at various times, Adam James was found talking on his cell phone and sipping drinks while sitting or napping on the floor, or the 'electrical closet' - a rather vacuous media room where visiting coaches hold their press conferences.

 

All Leach did, since he was busy trying to get his team ready for it's 11th consecutive bowl-game appearance, was ask the trainers take young Adam to a location out of the direct sunlight. The three licensed physical trainers that were charged with Adam James supervision chose both locations.

 

 

Mr. Senator, you are absolutely correct. Did Leach really do anything wrong or was it the overzealous media looking for a big story spurred by their "white hope" James leading the charge?

 

Hopefully Coach Leach can keep his winning tradition alive as OC for the new Buffalo Bills in 2010.

[Lori]

Mr. Senator, you are absolutely correct. Did Leach really do anything wrong or was it the overzealous media looking for a big story spurred by their "white hope" James leading the charge?

 

Hopefully Coach Leach can keep his winning tradition alive as OC for the new Buffalo Bills in 2010.

Media witchhunt? The school suspended him before anything ever got out into the press.

[flomoe]

Media witchhunt? The school suspended him before anything ever got out into the press.

 

 

I don't want to get into a he said she said discussion here but I thought that the media (James and his ESPN cronies) already were covering the story and the witchhunt didn't get into full bloom until after Leach's side of the story came out. I could be wrong on the timeline but he was fired long before his side got aired in the media.

[zazie]

By the way, there is no draft to play for Texas Tech. Adam Craig signed up for it. And when he and his father found out that even though TT is not viewed as a major D1 school, they still would not be able to manhandle their way into significant playing time, and abuse the privilege of having ESPN behind them, Adam could have left the program and gone elsewhere.

 

Instead, this was the path they chose.

 

I wish there was a real draft, Adam would be the right age, then he could find out what it is like to take real orders in the Iraqi desert.

[Ramius]

This entire situation is a mess. Craig James is an asshat for airing his complaints in the media through his own employer. The fact that ESPN let him do this shows just how far they've fallen as a network. Their main goal is entertainment and running a TMZ-like operation over any actual sports reporting. There's a little thing called "conflict of interest." When all this broke, they should have pulled james to the side and not let him anywhere near a camera or website.

 

As for Leach, he and the university have been at odds for a while. The firing comes as no surprise, especially given the fact they owed him a huge bonus for coaching in the bowl game. The university has been looking for a way to get rid of him since at least last offseason, and he gave them a reason.

[shoveldog]

What, nobody brought young Master James a fruit smoothie and a pillow? Fascists!

[zazie]

This entire situation is a mess. Craig James is an asshat for airing his complaints in the media through his own employer. The fact that ESPN let him do this shows just how far they've fallen as a network. Their main goal is entertainment and running a TMZ-like operation over any actual sports reporting. There's a little thing called "conflict of interest." When all this broke, they should have pulled james to the side and not let him anywhere near a camera or website.

 

As for Leach, he and the university have been at odds for a while. The firing comes as no surprise, especially given the fact they owed him a huge bonus for coaching in the bowl game. The university has been looking for a way to get rid of him since at least last offseason, and he gave them a reason.

Is there any explanation for why they were at odds? Seems Leach was doing nothing but winning for them and in essence printing money for them and their program.

 

they should have loved him.

 

I don't get that part of it at all there is some peice missing from the puzzle here.

[vincec]

Or he was trying to teach him that individuals don't belong on a team.

 

Or that it doesn't matter who your daddy is, you might just suck.

I don't see how being forced to stand in the tool shed, in the dark, by your self teaches you about teamwork or helps you learn about your playing abilities. People in authority that try and teach their charges "lessons" through intimidation should realize that the only lesson that teaches is that the person with the power makes the rules.

[shoveldog]

I don't see how being forced to stand in the tool shed, in the dark, by your self teaches you about teamwork or helps you learn about your playing abilities. People in authority that try and teach their charges "lessons" through intimidation should realize that the only lesson that teaches is that the person with the power makes the rules.

 

LOL! You are arguing what point exactly? The point your are ridiculing has been proven over and over again throughout history. The strong survive, the weak perish and those with power DO make the rules.

[zazie]

LOL! You are arguing what point exactly? The point your are ridiculing has been proven over and over again throughout history. The strong survive, the weak perish and those with power DO make the rules.

And those who bring lowly programs like TT to glory on a consitant basis SHOULD make the rules.

[gobillsinytown]

When those players from UT got kicked off the Vols team for robbing a store on campus Lane Kiffen didn't call them criminals. When Urban Meyer kicked Torre Davis off of the Gators this year he didn't call him stupid. You don't call a 20 year old out on national TV, especially the way he did it. I had no problem with his criticism of Craig James though. We all know parents like that, whether you coach or your kid has a teammate who's parent thinks their child is the only out there.

 

Mike Leach will NOT get a high profile job anytime soon and he's to much of an ego-maniac to be an OC after owning his program for 10 years. It's back to square one, mark my words.

 

This is why Kiffin and Meyer are better coaches IMO, because they're better at handling situations like this. Like it or not, a college head coach has to be a PR guy as well. If the "old school" methods of coaching still worked, then every college coach would be using them. It seems like today's successful college head coaches are more like psychologists, figuring out what buttons need to be pushed to motivate their players. And there's a lot at stake, because keeping the kids motivated usually keeps them out of trouble. I think that's what stressed Meyer to the point of screwing up his health.

For every publicized incident like Torre Davis, there's probably 10 more behind the scenes that no one finds out about.

I can't imagine having to deal with some of the punks who think they're the next Jerry Rice or Deon Sanders without having to work for it. And yet, as a head coach, you need them on your team. No thanks.

[Nanker]

I don't see how being forced to stand in the tool shed, in the dark, by your self teaches you about teamwork or helps you learn about your playing abilities. People in authority that try and teach their charges "lessons" through intimidation should realize that the only lesson that teaches is that the person with the power makes the rules.

I'm a bit more neutral on this than most here, but I tend to believe Leach more than I'm buying into the James hysteria.

 

If a player has a concussion he got in an earlier practice - is the HC supposed to keep him out in the hot sun and let him wander about? If he's not healthy enough to take part in practices what's the coach to do? He's a flaming distraction to the players on the team if he's just wandering about in regular clothes and shades.

 

From what I can tell Leach simply told his trainers to get him out of the bright sun. They could have done worse - like put him in a ditch and cover him up with manure. I didn't hear about him being handcuffed and shackled and frog-marched to the stockade. Missed the part about the whippings and waterboarding he had to endure for weeks on end too.

 

I also believe this is 100% about the money that Leach strong armed from the AD during his last contract negotiation. I think that stuck in the AD's craw and the firing is a spiteful and cheap act of him trying to get back at Leach.

[Lori]

Is there any explanation for why they were at odds? Seems Leach was doing nothing but winning for them and in essence printing money for them and their program.

 

they should have loved him.

 

I don't get that part of it at all there is some peice missing from the puzzle here.

$$$$$. Contentious contract negotiations last year, and he's never exactly been one to discourage having his name linked to openings at the big-name schools. Some in the TTU administration didn't care for that. Doesn't have anything to do with the details of this incident, but as previously noted by others here, if someone was already looking for an excuse to run him off ...

[zazie]

This is why Kiffin and Meyer are better coaches IMO, because they're better at handling situations like this. Like it or not, a college head coach has to be a PR guy as well. If the "old school" methods of coaching still worked, then every college coach would be using them. It seems like today's successful college head coaches are more like psychologists, figuring out what buttons need to be pushed to motivate their players. And there's a lot at stake, because keeping the kids motivated usually keeps them out of trouble. I think that's what stressed Meyer to the point of screwing up his health.

For every publicized incident like Torre Davis, there's probably 10 more behind the scenes that no one finds out about.

I can't imagine having to deal with some of the punks who think they're the next Jerry Rice or Deon Sanders without having to work for it. And yet, as a head coach, you need them on your team. No thanks.

Adam Craig does sound to me like a kid that would be lazy and entitled.

 

Coach is Coach, you do what he says, he is the leader of the squad.

 

Coaching should not be about PR expertise but about winning ballgames everyone has their own style.

[jester43]

LOL! You are arguing what point exactly? The point your are ridiculing has been proven over and over again throughout history. The strong survive, the weak perish and those with power DO make the rules.

yeah right...and everyone else can eat ****, right?

 

look, i am sure there is much more to this story on both sides than we've been presented, and when all the facts are aired, i'm sure there will be enough blame to go around. and maybe mike leach is god's gift to the coaching profession and i'm just too blind to see it. but his story is just as ridiculous as adam james'. he really wants people to believe he sent that kid away with the trainers to go who-knows-where and the next thing he knew he was being strong-armed into signing a tacit admission of guilt and then when he didn't he was fired because they didn't like his contract? and that no one could or would tell him what he did wrong? i'm sorry, that doesn't add up.

[The Senator]

Media witchhunt? The school suspended him before anything ever got out into the press.

Quite true - and no player was named in the one-paragraph letter informing Leach of his suspension, nor the actions that caused said suspension.

 

So how did ESPN get to air so quickly with the player's name, and the ridiculous allegations that Leach ordered the player confined to 'the tightest, darkest place possible', or the 'electrical closet' (now known to be the rather vacuous visiting teams' media room), which ESPN has been in many, many times?

 

I think, and this is JMO, that Craig James snookered his employers into a bad decision to portray the story so one-sided, and I hope when all is said and done, there will be consequences for James.

 

That said, not all of the media is reporting this as the one-sided James family version...

 

As anyone who knows anything about Texas Tech football can tell you, there is something odd about yesterday’s suspension of football coach Mike Leach because of a complaint that he mistreated a third-string receiver named Adam James, who happens to be the son of football commentator and former SMU star Craig James. For one thing, Leach has never been known to violate any NCAA rules on player treatment, as a wave of former players who went public this week have attested.

 

Link - Texas Monthly: Pirate Under Attack. Avast, Ye Swabs

 

 

Craig James looks like the prototypical overbearing sports dad trying to secure more playing time for his son. Not only that, but his alleged attempts to use his position at ESPN and the power that the network wields over the college football narrative to incfluence Leach, a clear abuse of power for a guy who certainly hasn't cared about the rules in the past. His son even worse for getting his coach fired for what appear to be stupid, yet relatively minor infractions. There is no longer any way that he can continue with the Tech football team after alienating many of his teammates and proving himself a prima donna. An announcement of his transfer should follow in the near term, but what school wants to take on a player with a father who will always be questioning his son's playing time and a player who will take the necessary steps to undermine or fire his coach? It's hard to imagine another major program wanting to take him on at this point.

 

Link - Burnt Orange Nation: Mike Leach Musings

 

 

If what Mike Leach said was true in the New York Times on Friday, then what we all thought two days ago is a mirage. Leach and other sources claim that the coach did not, in fact, mistreat Adam James. Leach said only that he did not know where the player was taken and that he ordered only that James be taken "out of the light." Leach is supported by head trainer Steve Pincock and a team doctor...

 

I received two calls this week from people I trust saying James had bothered coaches and that he had tried to leverage his influence at the network to get his son playing time. Big Daddy James had become a royal pain in the you-know-what....I thought from the beginning it was borderline unethical that friends and co-workers of James were reporting this story. It had that "railroad" smell to it from the beginning with James being portrayed as the protective parent.

 

Link - CBS Sports: Another side to the Leach/Texas Tech story

 

 

The whole mess at Texas Tech involving head coach Mike Leach and Adam James, son of ESPN college football analyst Craig James, is just sort of dark and odd. We know Leach is quirky. We know he can be crude and sexist. It's much tougher to tell from news reports, secondhand anecdotes and a video that surfaced on ESPN but seems more appropriate for The Blair Witch Project, if he actually is a cruel sadist...

 

If allegations Leach made yesterday to The New York Times prove true, Craig James should face disciplinary action and possibly lose his job.

 

"Craig James called assistant coach Lincoln Riley so often to lobby for playing time, that they had a meeting with Adam James. They played him two of the messages and asked, "How would you feel if we went in there to the meeting room and we stuck speakers up and we played these two messages for the team?" ... After that, we didn't get any more phone calls from Craig, but he did proceed to call administrators."

 

Link - Huffington Post: Leach incident shows ESPN ethics stink

 

 

Everyone knows I'm an unabashed Leach fan. Many know also know that Leach holds a J.D., having graduated from Pepperdine Law School in the top third of his class, and likely knows exactly what he's doing in all of his dealings with the media. If Leach is being truthful in his dealings with the media, as one would expect from someone with his legal training, I expect Texas Tech and Craig James to be paying Mike Leach a rather large sum and that, when all is said and done, it is Craig James who will find himself unemployed.

[gobillsinytown]

Adam Craig does sound to me like a kid that would be lazy and entitled.

 

Coach is Coach, you do what he says, he is the leader of the squad.

 

Coaching should not be about PR expertise but about winning ballgames everyone has their own style.

 

I agree. Unforunately, there's just too much money in college football to use the "old school" style. Too many people and financial interests involved in the team, including boosters, wealthy parents, business interests, etc.

I think Leach is a good coach and hopefully he'll learn from his mistake after the noise dies down.

[Nanker]

Everyone knows I'm an unabashed Leach fan.

 

NO! Really?

[shoveldog]

yeah right...and everyone else can eat ****, right?

 

look, i am sure there is much more to this story on both sides than we've been presented, and when all the facts are aired, i'm sure there will be enough blame to go around. and maybe mike leach is god's gift to the coaching profession and i'm just too blind to see it. but his story is just as ridiculous as adam james'. he really wants people to believe he sent that kid away with the trainers to go who-knows-where and the next thing he knew he was being strong-armed into signing a tacit admission of guilt and then when he didn't he was fired because they didn't like his contract? and that no one could or would tell him what he did wrong? i'm sorry, that doesn't add up.

 

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly that there is much more to this story. Personally, I firmly believe the coach was sending a "message" to the kid after he showed up for practice in street clothes and sunglasses. You just don't do that in team sports. It's not good for team morale. The kid pushed the coach, the coach pushed back. It's going to end badly.

 

But, that doesn't change my response to the post... Darwin's rules apply to all facets of life. Whether your position is that it's right or wrong doesn't really matter... it just IS. Those with power make the rules.

[PushthePile]

I don't see how being forced to stand in the tool shed, in the dark, by your self teaches you about teamwork or helps you learn about your playing abilities. People in authority that try and teach their charges "lessons" through intimidation should realize that the only lesson that teaches is that the person with the power makes the rules.

I happen to think that this lesson is important. The NFL wouldn't have so many boys behaving like they're above the law, if this lesson was still a priority.

 

The kid got seperated from the team because he was acting like a head. Who cares? Leach didn't get to where he is by abusing players. You reap what you sow.