Mike Leach suspended for Alamo Bowl

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I haven't read this thread at all; maybe this has been said already....


First, I’ll preface this by saying that all brain/head and body injuries need to be taken seriously. Getting an injury in the course of playing a game while (supposedly) getting an education is no reason to make in impossible for you go hop off your Lay-Z-Boy when you are 35. The health of the young men must be foremost in the minds of the athletic staff. But...

Would this even be in the media had this player been the son of a life-long coal miner from Shamokin, PA? The son of a farmer from Worthington? Or the son of a man who, do to poor decisions on his part, has found himself on probation? No. Absolutely not. Thanks to Craig (I made more $$$ as a collegian than a professional) James, his son has made SportsCenter, the manifestation of all that is wrong with sports.

I hope Mike Leach tells TT to go *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# themselves. Which, knowing his proclivities, he may.

I'll leave you with an email from the 8th year inside WR coach at TT (Dana Holgorsen) about the player in question:

I am writing this letter on behalf of Mike Leach in regards to the Adam James situation," Holgorsen writes in his e-mail. "I was the inside receiver coach at Texas Tech when we made the decision (to) 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 Adam's 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 (the) belief he was not a D1 football player," Holgorsen writes in his e-mail. "Coach Leach overrode my opinion and Adam became a Red Raider. During the rest of my time at Texas Tech I was Adam's position coach where I always remained critical of Adam's ability to play at this level due to being lazy in not only the classroom but also in the offseason and during practice.

"Coach Leach was the one who kept saying he believed Adam would eventually contribute. Adam's teammates believed he was selfish and were constantly getting on 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 (tight end) 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," Holgorsen writes. "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.
 

gut, I agree that if this weren't Craig James' kid, it would probably not reach Mangino proportions, but while Dana Holgorsen (doesn't he have a Minnesota or Upper Midwest connection?) certainly has a right to his opinion, just because someone is given a scholarship that they may not deserve shouldn't enter into the calculation here. It's a bit of short-sighted stance to say "Hey, we let you play. Now we get to treat you like crap."

It's not like Adam James is alone in getting a "gift" scholarship. Even with the 85 scholarship limit, there are guys who get them who are undoubtedly lucky that for whatever reason--alumni connections, favor to local high school program, old friend of coach, the list goes on and on--somebody saw fit to make them an offer.

I saw the Craig James' interview during the Badger/Hurricane pre-game, and I thought he did a decent job of distancing himself from the Leach v. Texas Tech part of the story. He's Adam's dad for crying out loud. If one of my kids came to me with a story like this, I'd react the same way, as in "What the heck?" James is obviously in a rare position, as you have stated Gut, in that any comment he makes as a parent is going to spill over into a critique of Leach in a larger sense, which is why it's important that he step back and let the process play out, like he did last evening.

I view these things as "tip of the iceberg." If this stuff finds its way into the press, there's probably more there. On the farm, we use to say about rats that if you "saw one, you have a hundred."

This isn't Sunday school and football is a game, especially at this level, that requires extreme physical, psychological, and mental sacrifice. Hence, coaches have to push the envelope and sometimes that's going to spill over into behaviors that if fully known are going to make the general public squeamish. That said, you don't lock kids in equipment rooms.
 

Simple question:

Did Leach doubt James had a concussion and then order him into a closet for several hours?

If yes, coaching career is OVER. This is really bad timing considering the media is starting to latch onto secondary concussions as an issue.

As for the e-mail, James was a three star recruit on Rivals. Was it because of his Dad? Maybe but TT recruited him. He plays as a redshirt sophomore for an 8-4 football team and caught 19 passes. If he only plays 5-10 plays a game, he certainly produces.
 

Winnipegopher said:
As for the e-mail, James was a three star recruit on Rivals. Was it because of his Dad? Maybe but TT recruited him. He plays as a redshirt sophomore for an 8-4 football team and caught 19 passes. If he only plays 5-10 plays a game, he certainly produces.
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Makes you wonder about Horgerson's ability to identify talent if that is the case.
 



This entire incident smells fishier by the hour. I have my doubts that all of the emails were spontaneously written. I have an inkling there may be a campaign by Leach's handlers to support Leach by defaming Adam James. It's just a guess, but the no holds barred crapping on James seems suspect. What all of these supporters fail to mention is the concussion, which I'm beginning to have some doubts over as well.

My call is that if the concussion is real, bye bye Leach. If the concussion was made up, bye bye James. Still, Leach should not have treated James this way with a possible concussion, which either way, may result in some disciplinary action. If James was just being a lazy ass, I have no problem with the isolation routine.
 

Wow, I can't believe they released those e-mails. TT looks more and more like a joke. In the end, the kid either had a concussion and Leach was a jerk and/ or the kid was a jerk and Leach handled it horribly.

If the kid was so bad for so long, why was he still on the team? Players get booted all the time for attitude, yet this kid is still playing?
 

If James had issues, why on earth would you isolate him in a closet? Why not just "isolate" him on the practice and playing field, i.e., reduce his practice reps and eliminate his playing time? For me, Leach has/did handle this in an extremely poor manner, in essence he made his own bed, now he has to sleep in it, and it looks like it's going to be very cold in that bed.
 



apparently Leach has been fired

per news radio out of Lubbock. Apparently Eric Chandler is the front runner for the new coaching position. Chandler's done some amazing things in his first year at East Dillon HS.
 


Inigo Montoya said:
per news radio out of Lubbock. Apparently Eric Chandler is the front runner for the new coaching position. Chandler's done some amazing things in his first year at East Dillon HS.
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If Chandler gets the job, do you suppose RB Smash Williams would look at transferring from Texas State? I wonder if he could talk FB Tim Riggins into changing his mind about playing college football?
 

If young James is in the wrong--and he may well be as it doesn't sound like he was Mr. Sunshine--then just dismiss him from the team with the nebulous "conduct detrimental to the program" and leave it at that.

Leach may be a smart enough guy, but there are really only two rules of politics: (1) Know who your friends are, and (2) Know how to count (or in this case, know who has got the real power). Seems like Leach is okay with (1), but the Texas Tech administration has a lot bigger hammer than Leach's truckload of pals.
 



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