Texas Tech Is Not Texas...Is It?

Let us say from the outset that many fans and alumni of Texas Tech love Mike Leach.

Even if the allegations against Mike Leach were true with respect to his treatment of Adam James (the son of legendary Pony Express SMU football player, New England Patriot, and longtime college football broadcaster twice on ESPN and once on CBS Craig James), those same fans and alumni would still feel the same about Mr. Leach.  

This the same university that hired Bobby Knight despite a history of allegations of misbehavior against him stemming from his days at Indiana.

For the record, I like Coach Knight and grew up with him during college basketball's growth spurt during the 1980s.  He was a great coach, winning three national titles in 12 years.  

Mike Leach does not have any history that would suggest that he is an abusive coach nor do any allegations against him rise to the same level as those against Coach Knight during his tenure at Indiana.  

As far as current players and staff who are now coming out saying negative things about Leach, that should be taken with a grain of salt. 

Regardless of the level... high school, college, professional... probably half of the players of any given football team hate their coach and half of the players of that same team love their coach.  That could be said of any team sport especially after that very coach has been fired.

Furthermore, there are plenty of former Texas Tech football players defending Mike Leach, so I summarily dismiss the negative comments of players as being no more significant than positive comments by players.

Nobody forced Texas Tech to sign Mike Leach to an extension last year.  

They could have simply declined and taken the same bold step that Boston College took when it fired former football coach Jeff Jagodzinski after he interviewed with the New York Jets of the National Football League despite being warned of the repercussions.  

Most employers in the United States will never put up with and do not have to put up with employees who look for other jobs.  

Employees who exhibit such disloyalty usually will have no sympathy from any judge or jury that ultimately hears their unlawful termination lawsuits that they may file.

However, any issue of disloyalty is unlikely to be relevant as to Texas Tech first suspending and then firing Mike Leach just before he was to receive an $800,000 bonus.

The fact that Texas Tech extended Leach's contract despite having full knowledge that he had been shopping his services around to schools like Washington and Auburn render the disloyalty argument meaningless.  

Nobody has proven or even suggested that Mike Leach was still looking for another job after signing the extension.

All Texas Tech has is the alleged abusive allegations regarding Adam James, which is the university's only way to possibly get out of a contract with Mike Leach.  

Other things about Leach are allegedly coming to light during Texas Tech's investigation but we are not yet privy to all of that information.  

One wonders what Texas Tech was doing all these years in terms of keeping an eye on the football program under Mike Leach.

After 10 years, they are now investigating and discovering things.  Why did we not hear about such an investigation during Texas Tech's 2008 dream season?  

It is funny how investigations pop up just before an entity like Texas Tech wants to fire its head coach.  Do you think any major college football program will dare conduct an investigation of its head coach without knowing the end result, especially if it is a winning head coach?

It appears that Leach and Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers had a testy relationship with each other.  Mr. Myers is also the same person who gave Bobby Knight an opportunity to coach again.

Furthermore, parties usually break contracts when it is no longer in their best interest. It is possible that Texas Tech viewed Leach's contract that way after a disappointing 2009 season in comparison to the unprecedented success of 2008.

It is also quite mind-boggling that neither Adam James, Craig James, nor any interested party associated with Texas Tech football did not simply pull Adam James off the football team for his protection from an allegedly abusive coach.

Nobody forced Adam James to stay at Texas Tech.

After all, your life is more important than any issue regarding your athletic scholarship no matter how rich or poor you or your family are.

Craig James was on air stating that his primary concern was the fact that his son had a concussion and he feared for his safety.  

So, Mr. James...do what I would do if I feared for my child's safety...grab your son and yank him off that football team and do not allow him to be a member of that abusive coach's program because your son's life is precious.  

Do not let him play again until and unless you are darn sure he is okay.  

Also, you should  find another place for him to play and go to school if necessary ...scholarship or no scholarship... because I do not believe money is an issue with you and besides you cannot put a price tag on your child's life.  

I do not say that sarcastically...I mean that being a father myself.  

It is unlikely that Texas Tech can rebound the same way that a major academic and athletic powerhouse like the University of Texas can do so from a similar situation.

Simply put...Texas Tech is not the University of Texas.  

Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance (a prominent lawyer himself) said that you cannot sue your boss and expect to stay employed...true.  

However, you cannot suspend the greatest coach you have ever had and act like you had no intention of firing him just before he was due his $800,000 bonus.

Texas Tech messed with a coach who has a law degree, who understood his contractual rights well and decided he would not be bullied.

A Division I FBS head football coach in the backwater of Lubbock, Texas, cannot go 8-4 every year, play in a bowl game every single year, produce quality NFL players and maintain academic integrity without some issue no matter how minor or major arising at some point during that tenure.  

If Texas Tech was expecting all good things and nothing negative ever to come out during its Golden Era, then it needs to take another look at that jersey and realize who they are, or in the alternative, who they are not.

Texas Tech is more than welcome to return to its losing ways.

The fact that Texas Tech is even in the news for college football should tell you Mike Leach's impact on that university.