Mike Leach Fired

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GopherGod

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According to the Texas Tech site he has been fired.
 


Had to see it coming. a) They've been trying to can him for a few years and b) You don't file an injunction against your employer and expect to still be employed. Plus, they saved themselves $400k by firing him today rather than Friday.
 


I got fired once, it cost my company $10,000 in legally earned severance pay is all. IOW, not my problem.

Go Gophers!
 


Whapow!

From RockMNation, a Mizzou blog:

Craig James University Death Toll: 2
 

It's come to this huh? A spoiled brat player with a history of faking injuries to skip practice gets disciplined by basically sitting in a room or riding a bike during practice and the respected and accomplished coach is fired? Good lord, old school football is dead isn't it. Really sad the sport has come to this.
I had a groin injury in HS, couldn't do the windsprints after practice with the team, I was told to jog until the team was done, I did. I guess I should have sued and cried to mommy and daddy to get the mean old coach fired.
 

This is less about the wussification of America than it is an administration that wanted an excuse to boot a guy.
 

The whole Adam James thing was merely an excuse, the administration at TT wanted Leach gone since last year. Do you think it was a coincidence that Leach was scheduled for an $800K bonus tomorrow? This was about ego and money and not Mrs. Adam James and her whiny papa.
 



There's either more to this then we know, or as Al_4 States, they just wanted him gone and this was thier window. You don't fire a coach as successful as Leach over what appear to be questionable accusations this quickly unless there's pretty solid evidence against him or your trigger finger was itching all along.
 

If you're a good coach, do you want to go to Texas Tech?

You're going against Texas and Oklahoma for the division title every year. You're located in an isolated city with little draw.

They just fired a coach who had the team recently ranked #1, and had the most success in school history.

I would say, hell no.
 

Mike Leach sounds like a first class asshole. Texas Tech fans should be happy he is gone.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
Mike Leach sounds like a first class asshole. Texas Tech should be happy he is gone.
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You're kidding. Have you ever been to Lubbock, TX? Mike Leach is the best thing that ever happened to that school. No way do they replace him. Texas Tech's football program is like an elevator crashing to the basement right now.
 






It's fun when the different sides line up their bobos and go at it. Even funnier (and quicker) in the internet age.

The bottom line is if James has/had a concussion, Leach is in the wrong.
 

The last 3 coaches to beat the Gophers in a bowl game have been fired in the past month.

Al Groh was fired by UVa in late November
Mark Mangino was fired by Kansas earlier this month
Mike Leach was fired by Texas Tech today.

Don't press your luck Paul Rhoads :)
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
Mike Leach sounds like a first class asshole. Texas Tech fans should be happy he is gone.
Click to expand...

He brought a lot of success to that program, and I would rather have a coach who sets a fire under my ass than one who coddles me. That can be the fine line that separates success and respect from failure. Makes fighters out of kids, not pansies.

A lot of things about the 1940s-50s sucked from a sociological perspective, but the mindset displayed here was one of the things that made our country the greatest in the world back then. There's a reason why our parents/grandparents from that time were considered "The Greatest Generation." There was no room or toleration for slack-asses, and that attitude is what we are desperately missing today. Sad to see someone take a pretty big hit for it.
 

50PoundHead said:
The bottom line is if James has/had a concussion, Leach is in the wrong.
Click to expand...

The other bottom line is that Adam James probably acts like an entitled jackass. This sort of thing doesn't just happen.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
The last 3 coaches to beat the Gophers in a bowl game have been fired in the past month.

Al Groh was fired by UVa in late November
Mark Mangino was fired by Kansas earlier this month
Mike Leach was fired by Texas Tech today.

Don't press your luck Paul Rhoads :)
Click to expand...

Why stop there? Chuck Amato was fired at NC State last year IIRC. Mike Billotti moved upstairs. I dare say no current NCAA football coach has EVER beaten us in a Bowl Game!

(Then again I think the only active coach we've beaten is Houston Nutt.)
 

I think without question James is a jack-ass. That said, James played most of the year.

If he is as big a jack-ass as he is bring made out to be, why didn't Leach kick him off the team?
 

Winnipegopher said:
I think without question James is a jack-ass. That said, James played most of the year.

If he is as big a jack-ass as he is bring made out to be, why didn't Leach kick him off the team?
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Serious question, would Craig James and his status have had any sway resulting in the inaction?
 

True enough Natedawg, but then Winnipegopher's point becomes even more relevant. Just dismiss the kid from the team instead of doing something stupid. The head coach has all the ammunition here unless he decides to give some away and Leach gave away half the munitions dump.

frozengopher, good point, but James wouldn't be the first celebrity kid bounced from a team. If Adam James is a total jaker, Leach just has to say clearly into all the microphones that "Adam James wasn't going to help our team with his attitude" and take the high ground. I don't think there's any way Craig James can respond to that. I can remember when Billy Packer looked like an idiot after trying to pick fights with big-time hoops coaches and James would likely be wise enough to leave it alone from his perch.
 

Ole said:
Yeah, read the emails, quite a few folks coming out with corroboration to adam james's attitude problems.
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Not much corroboration if you ask me. So, at worst, the kid had a "bad attitude". If he were such a problem why was he still on the team and playing? Interestingly, no one, including Leach, appears to dispute that James had a concussion. Leach appeared to be POed that the kid would not practice the next day (concussion on the 16th and standing in the the shed on the 17th). I was reading something yesterday where a kid suffered permanent injury from a second concussion and collected $7.5 million from the college involved. I guess I can see where TT might be a bit disturbed that the coach is trying to coerce a kid with a concussion into practicing.
 

Stole this from another message board...

A FEW GOOD PIRATES

Gerald Meyers (Tech AD): *Coach Leach, did you order the Code Shed?*
Kent Hance: You *don’t* have to answer that question!
Coach Leach: I’ll answer the question!
[to Meyers]
Coach Leach: You want answers?
Meyers: I think I’m entitled.
Coach Leach: *You want answers?*
Meyers: *I want the truth!*
Coach Leach: *You can’t handle the truth!*
[pauses]
Coach Leach: Son, we live in a world that has sidelines, and those sidelines have to be guarded by pirates with swords. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Meyers? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for James, and you curse the Pirates. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That James’s small shed, while tragic, probably saved games. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves games. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties with your fat little girlfriends, you want me on those sidelines, you need me on those sidelines. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very bowl games that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a sword, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Meyers: Did you order the Code Shed?
Coach Leach: I did the job I…
Meyers: *Did you order the Code Shed?*
Coach Leach: *You’re G**damned right I did!*
Texas Tech Coach Leach Suspended….
 

I don't think Leach was necessarily coercing him. Medically, if someone has a concussion, they should be put into a cool, dark place. He was only acting on James' behalf :)
 


frozengopher said:
I don't think Leach was necessarily coercing him. Medically, if someone has a concussion, they should be put into a cool, dark place. He was only acting on James' behalf :)
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That is basically the argument his lawyer was trying to make (he, Leach, had a note from the doctor saying it was o.k. to make James stand in a dark, cool place).
 

Winnipegopher said:
I think without question James is a jack-ass. That said, James played most of the year.

If he is as big a jack-ass as he is bring made out to be, why didn't Leach kick him off the team?
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was thinking. Sit the kid down, tell him that things are not working out, release him from his scholarship and its done. If James doesn;t agree to that tell him that his scholarship will not be renewed. Of course, the situation could also have been "solved" if James had quit the team. It seems likely that both are probably jerks, but putting a kid in a shed is just stupid. I also think that Leach's lawyer is incompetent. Lawyers try to spin things to favor their client but this guy is feckless and unprepared.
 

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