| Pride Can Blur Vision | ||||
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Everyone has an opinion about everything. Whether talking about the best team in college football or the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to think they are right. It should catch us by no surprise then, when Mike Leach’s suspension and the firing that followed has drawn a line in the sand, with each person clearly on one side or the other. Living in West Texas, obviously the opinion is that Mike Leach has been wronged. According to this group, the family of Adam James has teamed up with ESPN to be the big bad wolf. The other argument is that Mike Leach was clearly wrong and deserved what he got. I tend to be somewhere in the middle, yet I have my own reasons. Without any real rooting interest on one side or the other, I tend to think both sides are wrong, and in particular, Mike Leach, who had everything to lose, yet threw it away despite being offered every opportunity to rectify the situation.
The university has now released signed affidavits from the physician that diagnosed James as well as one of the trainers that was apparently left in charge of locking James in the small garage just off the practice field. Refuting claims by Leach that this was the treatment requested by doctors, Dr. Michael Phy has said that the practice is indeed not normal treatment for a concussion. Furthermore, athletic trainer Steve Pincock has stated he was left in charge of carrying out the alleged orders by Leach. Many fans continue to say the university didn’t exercise due care in investigating the incident, but I tend to disagree. When the trainer left in charge of the situation is able to specify exactly what happened, it seems factual enough for me. The statements were taken by Texas Tech on December 21, yet Leach was not fired until December 30. This sure doesn’t scream out as a conspiracy against Leach nor a disregard for any sort of investigation. The fact is, Leach could very easily have his job right now, even with all the information that has been presented. Texas Tech had to suspend Mike Leach when these allegations came to light, no way around it. With the emphasis recently on post-concussion treatment and side-effects, those in charge can hardly afford to look irresponsible when allegations such as these come to light. The idea was to suspend Leach until everything was sorted out. Unfortunately, Mike couldn’t leave well enough alone. Having a law degree, Leach tried to outsmart himself and tried to force the hand of the university by taking it to court. At this point, the school had no choice but to fire the coach. If Leach coached the Alamo Bowl and it turned out he had quite literally mistreated one or more players with head injuries, or really injuries of any kind, the backlash would possibly be more severe than what it already is. Texas Tech gave Leach the opportunity to say all the right things and simply apologize for making an error in judgment, but his own pride got in the way. This is the same pride that made him look like a fool during contract negotiations during the past offseason. It is also the same pride that left him walking to work from a commuter lot after the hiring of Bob Knight in 2001. When Knight was given Leach’s parking spot, Leach then refused to park in the lot, feeling he had been disrespected, never mind the fact that Knight was already well on his way to being one of the winningest coaches ever while Leach was lucky Texas Tech had given him a chance in the first place. Surely no one can forget Leach’s comments about his players’ “fat little girlfriends” earlier this season after a loss to Texas A&M. While many found the comment amusing, it just proved how idiotic the coach really is. The man just doesn’t get it. In conservative West Texas, you can’t just say whatever you’re thinking at all times. You’re guaranteed to upset someone that way. The man apparently couldn’t show up for work on time either. After being questioned on Twitter about why players were sitting in a meeting room yet the coach hadn’t showed, he was suspended and the players were banned from twitter. Last I checked, if a player is late to said meeting, he’ll get benched, suspended, or, bear with me, maybe even locked in an electrical room. All jokes aside, why are players held accountable yet the head coach isn’t? Sure, Twitter isn’t the best avenue to voice concerns, but it all goes to show Leach lost control of the team when Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree walked out the door (although Crabtree has had problems of his own). Without the two biggest pieces of last season’s success, a mediocre football team has emerged; a team that isn’t winning nearly enough games against ranked opponents to cover up deficiencies and squabbling. At the end of the day, Mike Leach is guilty of thinking too highly of himself and being consistently condescending. Would Bill Parcells’ antics have been tolerated or taken seriously for very long had he not been a proven championship coach? I would doubt it would last for very long. In the same way, Leach put the cart before the horse. You have to earn respect to get it, and Leach most certainly is guilty of expecting too much too soon. His firing was the result of a collection of things, not just the Adam James incident. Whether merited or not, Leach bought his own ticket out of Lubbock, he just helped save Texas Tech University some money in the process. In the end, the only thing Mike succeeded at in this process is sucking the hope out of Lubbock… like a “Leach”.
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When news of Mike Leach’s suspension initially
surfaced with details of allegations by Adam James, my first reaction was
something to the effect of, “Wow, if this is true, Leach could be fighting for
his job.” As it turns out, it doesn’t look like James was ever actually locked
in anywhere, but every factual indication coming out of the university is that
despite what happened, those were exactly Leach’s orders. Now, I’d like to stop
for a moment and say that it seems like Leach was trying to teach the
prototypical rich, lazy, living-on-daddy’s-fame athlete a lesson after he
showed up to a practice after being diagnosed with a concussion in street
clothes, a backward hat, and sunglasses. The only problem with Leach’s
attempted punishment? He got caught.