[ESPN] Mike Leach suspended after player complaint

Wasn't there a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff leading up to the incident?

I know last year Leach pissed off TT and tried to trade up several times before signing his extension and for years I've read internet rumors (take it for what it's worth) that Leach has had serious issues about being embarrasssingly drunk in public (vomiting/making a scene etc) on multiple occasions.

 

man, this James kid sounds like a HORRIBLE person.

What Leach did was wrong, but I heard on the radio yesterday that the kid smarted off to Leach when he asked him why he was wearing sunglasses...which led to the room incident.

I really think Leach got screwed, though he isn't innocent in the situation

Just sounds like he got fed up with a kid with a bad attitude, poisonous personality and a poor work ethic combined with a sense of total entitlement

 

I fully believe that Leach's power move last year to get more money from Tech bled over into this incident.

Myers obviously held onto his grudge over who has the bigger d*ck and made Mikey pay for it the moment he gave him the opportunity.

My gut feeling, though, is that Leach will end up getting his money, and Tech will end up having to fire Myers to get a new coach that is worth a damn.

And the James family will never live this one down, either.

(The Leach drunk-in-public stuff seems pretty far fetched, since in this day and age if you pick your nose with more than 2 people around someone is going to record it somehow)

 

I agree with all of this. It will be interesting to see if Myers can hold the moral high ground over this incident, given that he hired and constantly defended a coach (and friend) that had a history that included choking a player.

I do appreciate that Leach is apparently not going to go quietly. Normally in things like this (see Kansas), the coach and admin settle and we never get to hear the real story. I'm guessing in this situation, more and more info is going to come out from both sides.

 

The only thing is that it goes back some years, back to his early days at Tech in a pre-youtube/smartphone/twitter universe in the early part of the decade, some incident about him shambling about drunk and pissing his pants at a restaurant. I might be able to dig something up.

edit: unsure if this has been posted but the Dallas paper put up emails between TT officials during his contract negotiations, looks like a lot of bad blood:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/12-09/1231newleach.pdf

 

If that is the case, you bench the kid, or revoke his scholly and boot him off the team.

You don't restrain the kid in an equipment closet. Leach was asking for it.

 

That story is actually true. I live in Lubbock and worked with a client several years ago who said he was there when it happened- it was at this bar down the street from my house called Cheers- like a pool hall/bar type of place. He said it wasn't really that big of a deal, but he was definitely intoxicated.

 

I guess they decided to release this after the local news in Lubbock was riding Leach's balls and letting his lawyer go unchallenged. God that was hilarious. "There's ICE! There was a fan!" LMFAO at all the Lubbock locals and Raider Nation. The only reason Leach is fighting this is because it makes him look bad. He's been trying to high tail it out of there for years.

I don't doubt that kid probably has entitlement issues and his dad was a pain, but you know Leach could have just kicked him off the team or let him transfer if that was the case. Instead he let his temper get the better of him and treated the kid in a way he shouldn't have.

 

What if you told the kid his scholarship is gone but if he's willing to sit in the closet you're willing to reconsider? Because that is what seemed to happened to me.

 

Really? Where has it been stated that he was ever given the option? News to me.

 

Are you suggesting he was physically forced into the room? Because no one has implied that, and it seems like you could just always walk away from the punishment and be kicked off the team. The same option you have s if the coach made you run laps or any other sort of punishment.

According to that video, he had a chair in that room and his phone, and was free to take video. If he was being held against his will, why didn't he simply call 911?

 

restrain? really? yeah, i'm sure leach put him in a headlock and man handled this kid


I can't believe people are so outraged over something so harmless and standing in a room.

 

Great point. He even turned the light on, and nobody made a fuss about it.

Leach is not stupid enough to FORCE someone who's father has as much pull (and I'm sure he does) as Craig James into something like that. I'm sure the kid willingly went into the closet, took the video, and shared it all because he probably didn't like the coach and wanted more PT. Probably even tried to blackmail Leach with it.

Eh, I'll give them both the benefit of the doubt.

Okay, so where will Leach land next?

 

Some people are thinking that Leach will be the next OC at A&M just to spite TT (which I could see Leach doing). I'm sure he'll want a head coaching job somewhere but I think a big program will hesitate to hire Leach should he pursue legal actions against TT.

As for TT, Tuberville said he is "very interested in TT." That would be a HUGE pickup for them.

 

It would be funny to see what Leach would do at a school like Central Michigan. I'm not sure if they filled their coaching vacancy yet, though.

 

I am suggesting that a number of players have come out and supported James' version of the story. They were there and I was not.

I am suggesting that a case can be made that Leach violated Texas law. If he violated Texas law, why would a state supported institution keep him employed?

As to why he did not call the cops, who knows? His life was not threatened.

Keep this in mind too...this did not become public until Tech issued their statement regarding the suspension. The James family made a complaint to the Tech administration. Tech could have handled this internally, but Tech chose not to.

 

Usually if you win they overlook incidents like this.

 

Absolutely - my point is that James' version of the story doesn't seem to be a big deal. I fail to see how being required to stand in a room is any worse than any of the other punishments that coaches dole out.

Unless he was physically forced into the room and held there against his will, I fail to see any potential violation of state law, and no one involved in the situation has suggested that.

 

ESPN should realize that they have a giant conflict of interest in this story and they should abstain from reporting on it... or at the very least "commentating".

 

Exactly, someone has to be the adult in this situation, and it SHOULD be the head football coach.

Just kick him off the team for crying out loud, or tell him not to go to practice.

DD