Well played, Leach.

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f.k.a. "Tubtastic"
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Not sure if this was mentioned before in the "Mike-Leach-wants-to-be-the-Gopher-coach" threads, but hats off to Leach on his recent comments about wanting to come here.

While I'd love it to happen, think for a minute about what really was going on:

Leach is in the mist of two legal battles relating to his termination at TT, a termination he feels was unjust. In particular, for his defamation suit against ESPN, one of the elements he has to prove up is damages--that is, that he was "injured" (monetarily) from ESPN's reporting.

By voicing a desire to coach MN, Leach creates a frenzy from the fan base and boosters who he has reason to believe would love him coaching here. He stirs the pot with the Phil Miller interview, hoping more people put pressure on Maturi to hire him.

Leach, who has a law degree, is beefing up his case for damages. He wants Maturi or a U of M official to say he is not a candidate due to his checkered past so he can show potential damages to the court/jury.

He knows he is arguably one of the better qualified realistic coaching candidates for the MN job and arguably would have been hired but for the scandal (which he says was conjured up). That's what he wants Maturi/the U of M to say expressly.

And heck, if the public pressure mounts enough to hire him, he gets back into coaching which is where wants to be and he hasn't been able to return since the alleged scandal broke.

Win, win for him. Well played, Leach.
 

Heh. Interesting angle on the damages there. I work at a law-firm specializing in plaintiff's side employment law and I hadn't even thought of that.
 

Tubtastic: Gets back to what I said about a qualified, compentent, successful Big Name Coach. I want a guy who says: "I can make chicken salad out of chicken $hit, let me at it."
 


Excellent point Tubtastic! It is for posts like yours that I frequent these boards because I never would have thought of it from that angle. Like the show "The Last Word" on MSNBC, because you made us smarter, you get the last word.

Keep those posts coming.
 



Yeah, I'd love to see Leach coach here, but I fear Maturi won't consider him even if he is the best candidate available and wants to coach here. I'm afraid Maturi isn't content with just ruining the football program for four years.
 

Leach was just as smart not to publicly say he wanted the Miami job. In that scenario, TT/ESPN's attorneys would simply argue that Leach would have never gotten that job (even without the scandal) because higher qualified candidates want that position compared to the MN job.

Leach went for the highest paying job available for a school that would be less likely to attract a coach with more qualifications. Great move.
 

Tubtastic said:
Leach was just as smart not to publicly say he wanted the Miami job. In that scenario, TT/ESPN's attorneys would simply argue that Leach would have never gotten that job (even without the scandal) because higher qualified candidates want that position compared to the MN job.

Leach went for the highest paying job available for a school that would be less likely to attract a coach with more qualifications. Great move.
Click to expand...

I like your angle, but the last statement is not quite true. He is lobbying for the Miami job just as he did for our vacancy. Here's the quote from the Miami Herald.

> Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, who is looking for a job, got a ringing endorsement from Donald Trump Wednesday. Trump sent a written message to UM President Donna Shalala praising Leach on the front page of a Palm Beach Post Sports Section. Leach took to the airwaves Wednesday on ESPN radio and then sent his own message.

"I think it is a great opportunity for anybody," Leach said of the UM job. "They have got a great tradition and all the rest. A great recruiting base and you could do big things at Miami.

"I have had success everywhere else, you know and I think it just has to do with everybody doing their role. See Texas Tech started out in the border conference, which was a really soft conference, then Texas Tech went to the Southwest Conference, which was a pretty good conference, then they went to the Big XII, which was a great conference, but in that ten years that me and my staff were in the Big XII we won more bowl games than all of the years that Tech had the rest of the years combined. You know so we have got a pretty good team and a good plan."
Click to expand...

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2010/12/as-the-coaching-search-moves-along.html#ixzz175ReIki6
 




I'm not a big Leach fan and am not sure he is a fit for Minnesota, but he's the smartest guy in college football.
 

I'm not sure what his motivations are but I think he does want to coach here but it's not a bad backup plan to have some leverage if doesn't get the job (which he won't).

I think it's a valid point. His situation with TT has pretty well made him unhirable.
 

I wonder if any transcripts of conversations conducted by either the Nienas firm or Maturi are public documents that must be released if requested because the University is a public entity.
 



GophersInIowa said:
It's certainly a possibility.
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GophersInIowa: this is way off topic, but I think you'll be able to relate. My niece and her husband have recently moved to Des Moines from the Twin Cities. She's a speech therapist.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, she was telling us about how hard-core the Hawkeye Fans are there. They came up with story after story about the all-out craziness that they've experienced.

My favorite: She was treating a teenage Hawkeye fan with a head injury (insert joke), and she was trying to get him to repeat certain letter groupings and inflections. He talked to her about being a Hawkeye fan and about the upcoming game with the Gophers. They talked for some time and then he said, "Minnesota can never win because they're a Junior Varsity Football team" The r and v together were perfect for his impediment, so she had him repeat it several times. The next appointment she saw him...a few days later, he kept repeating it over and over (she said a little much). I wonder what he's saying now?

My deepest respect for you being a Gopher fan in Iowa. It has to be trying.
 

GRGOPHER said:
I like your angle, but the last statement is not quite true. He is lobbying for the Miami job just as he did for our vacancy. Here's the quote from the Miami Herald.



Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2010/12/as-the-coaching-search-moves-along.html#ixzz175ReIki6
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that he did.

Even so, it can't hurt his case. The more schools that reject his advances, the stronger his case for injury. His argument is less strong, though, when a top-tier school rejects him because it arguably won't have hired him even without the scandal.
 

50PoundHead said:
I wonder if any transcripts of conversations conducted by either the Nienas firm or Maturi are public documents that must be released if requested because the University is a public entity.
Click to expand...

Great question. I've done a few FOIA requests but nothing like this. My guess is that the public might be able to get such transcripts (if transcripts exist) but not during the coaching search and only after the search is closed. My guess is that certain information might be able to be redacted too (like coaches' names and offer amounts).
 

Tubtastic said:
Great question. I've done a few FOIA requests but nothing like this. My guess is that the public might be able to get such transcripts (if transcripts exist) but not during the coaching search and only after the search is closed. My guess is that certain information might be able to be redacted too (like coaches' names and offer amounts).
Click to expand...

What I was thinking, even with name redacted, is if someone who was called said "Leach is a drip" or "Leach is a drunk" or "Leach needs to be in an institution." This would be especially pertinent if the response came from someone at Texas Tech.

I know so little about employment law that, if written, it wouldn't even cover the back of a match book, but I know there has been a lot of tightening up about what can be said about a former or current employee who is seeking employment somewhere else.

I guess what I'm driving at is what if Texas Tech officials are stupid enough to never want Leach to work again by trashing him in response to inquiries.
 


Rescooter said:
GophersInIowa: this is way off topic, but I think you'll be able to relate. My niece and her husband have recently moved to Des Moines from the Twin Cities. She's a speech therapist.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, she was telling us about how hard-core the Hawkeye Fans are there. They came up with story after story about the all-out craziness that they've experienced.

My favorite: She was treating a teenage Hawkeye fan with a head injury (insert joke), and she was trying to get him to repeat certain letter groupings and inflections. He talked to her about being a Hawkeye fan and about the upcoming game with the Gophers. They talked for some time and then he said, "Minnesota can never win because they're a Junior Varsity Football team" The r and v together were perfect for his impediment, so she had him repeat it several times. The next appointment she saw him...a few days later, he kept repeating it over and over (she said a little much). I wonder what he's saying now?

My deepest respect for you being a Gopher fan in Iowa. It has to be trying.
Click to expand...

At one time I had a massive head bruise on half my brain (no kidding). When I finally was coming to, I saw a doctor standing over me asking my name with my name in the sentence, "Al, can you tell me your name?" I kept thinking what on earth is he talking about. He was patient and repeated the question in the same manner. Soon, it dawned on me that my name was Al. So, I tried to speak my name. My tongue worked about as well as speaking with a soggy, wet noodle. I can remember the doctor saying, "he's responsive. That's a good sign." That's when I slipped back into the coma. Woke up about 3 days later. Spoke like I was bombed out of my mind for what seemed like weeks on end -- speach slow and slurred, mostly incoherant (some would that that persists through to today). A few weeks after the accident, I started my freshman year at the U. Wore a wool hat on the hottest of days thinking it was frigid cold. Pulled straight B's. Hardest year of my life. One day I woke up like nothing ever happened. I feel for the Iowa guy. I wouldn't want a major head injury on anyone. The scary thing is you don't know what your were missing until it returns, if it returns.
 


I was dropped on my head as a baby, and have never recovered. But I still have hope.
 

brilliant_medium.jpg
 

If Leach is this smart then we need him as our football coach.
 


Yes, great post. Never looked at it this way. Well done.
 

So because he is this genius manipulator, the U should hire him? Don't think it works that way--here or at most places.
 

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