PurpleStuff

December 30th, 2009 at 2:32 PM ^

Because he didn't "do" anything that a sane person would call a fireable or even chastizeable offense. Having had a concussion or two in the past, I know that the last thing you ever want to do is move, much less show up some place where your doctors and coaches have specifically told you to stay away from. This James kid apparently repeatedly disobeyed the coaches and doctors and because of this behavior they had to find some place to stick him where he wouldn't further aggravate his injury. They didn't stick him in a dungeon or a holding cell, but rather a spacious garage with ice and cooling equipment and then in what looks like a small media room. Were they supposed to offer him candy and blowjobs when he refused to listen to them?

Tech fans are going to be burning down administration buildings pretty soon after this one. Leach will land on his feet and TTU will go back to being a bottom feeder. I challenge anyone to go to Lubbock, TX and then look at Leach's record and tell me he isn't one of the very best coaches in college football.

jmblue

December 30th, 2009 at 2:39 PM ^

Your first paragraph is conjecture; it may be true, but I suspect the real story is somewhere in between the versions offered by Leach and James. I definitely agree with your second paragraph, though. They may never again land a coach of Leach's caliber. I hope they are confident that their version of events is accurate.

PurpleStuff

December 30th, 2009 at 2:50 PM ^

I thought I read on here that the team doctors had told James to stay home. Is this still just rumor/conjecture/one side of the story?

As for the actual conditions he was placed in, after seeing the video of the two locations I can't understand how any sane person would consider Leach's actions to be worthy of firing. In fact they seem like an extremely tame way of dealing with a player who is by all accounts (except maybe his parents') a total douchebag.

jmblue

December 30th, 2009 at 3:03 PM ^

Do we know for a fact that Adam James disobeyed the coaches, or that he has a history of doing so? Or is that just one side of the story? As for putting him in the room where they store the tackling dummies, that doesn't seem like a normal response to having a concussed player. Maybe you have to do that at a high school when you're on a shoestring budget, but when you're a big-time college, you send the kid to the training room, which has better amenities than room with nothing more than a rusty old fan and no place to sit down other than the floor. If he really was that light-sensitive, okay, then you just turn off the lights in the training room. That was, at best, a bizarre response by Leach and warranted a least a talking-to from his superiors. I agree that making it a fireable offense was probably excessive, though.

bryemye

December 30th, 2009 at 3:08 PM ^

Do we know that nothing else is going on in the training room? Are there other athletes that might need to use the training room? Are there other sports at Texas Tech? Is sending him to a place where players were sent to get away from the heat such a terrible offense?

PurpleStuff

December 30th, 2009 at 3:14 PM ^

I guess I wasn't even referring to his past behavior (though it seems that a lot of people in the program have had issues with the kid in the past). Just that if the coaches/doctors told him to stay home and he showed up, he would be disobeying them. If he did it again the next day he would be repeatedly disobeying them. Again, if the coaches/doctors didn't tell him to stay home then it is a different story. But if they did, this seems like a pretty mild punishment for not listening to the people in authority. Aside from a few non-essential comforts and the fact that it sounds better to be in the "training room" rather than the "storage shed", I don't see much real difference in him laying down with the lights off in this garage as opposed to lying down with the lights off in the training room (and if you have a concussion all you can really do is lie down with the lights off).

M-Wolverine

December 30th, 2009 at 3:48 PM ^

"Candy and blowjobs"? LOL

I've stayed away from the topic, since I'm sure we'll find out more (other than the fact that anything that keeps them from pounding MSU sucks), but since that remark drew me out, my personal bias is that it wouldn't really shock me that any kid of Craig is a dick. And that family and "football morals" are at other ends of the spectrum. Not that he deserves to be mistreated for his fathers sins, if any definitive evidence ever comes out that it happened.

PurpleStuff

December 30th, 2009 at 8:04 PM ^

Yeah, I've never understood why James never gets called out for being a part of the most corrupt program in NCAA history. This father/son relationship could explain how what everyone else sees as a big garage is a "closet" or "shed" in the minds of the James family.

Adam: Dad, look at this place where the coaches made me sit during practice.

Craig: What is that thing? It looks kind of like a garage, but there is no booster-bought sports car inside. What could it be?

Adam: An electrical closet?

Craig: I'm not sure what either of those words mean, but I guess you're right. That must be the kind of knowledge you pick up from actually attending class. I love you, son.

JC3

December 30th, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^

How in the hell are you going to replace a coach who has gone 84-43, and taken your team to 10 straight bowl games without getting all the facts straight first?

That's ridiculous. Oh well, they better call Sonny Dykes.

HAIL 2 VICTORS

December 30th, 2009 at 3:12 PM ^

http://www.collegefootball.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2150&tid=13735596…

Gerald Meyers (Tech AD): *Coach Leach, did you order the Code Shed?*
Kent Hance: You *don’t* have to answer that question!
Coach Leach: I’ll answer the question!
[to Meyers]
Coach Leach: You want answers?
Meyers: I think I’m entitled.
Coach Leach: *You want answers?*
Meyers: *I want the truth!*
Coach Leach: *You can’t handle the truth!*
[pauses]
Coach Leach: Son, we live in a world that has sidelines, and those sidelines have to be guarded by pirates with swords. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Meyers? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for James, and you curse the Pirates. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That James’s small shed, while tragic, probably saved games. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves games. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties with your fat little girlfriends, you want me on those sidelines, you need me on those sidelines. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very bowl games that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a sword, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Meyers: Did you order the Code Shed?
Coach Leach: I did the job I…
Meyers: *Did you order the Code Shed?*
Coach Leach: *You’re G**damned right I did!*
Texas Tech Coach Leach Suspended….

gobluesasquatch

December 30th, 2009 at 3:13 PM ^

Last year, Tech played hardball with him re: a contract extension. It was stupid and to save face they had to give him the extension. This is there way of getting back at him.

Interesting, Craig James' son is involved? Easy access to ESPN and the media. Fired before the 31st when he was to receive a huge bonus. Fired before the hearing regarding an appeal of the suspension. That reads as NO evidence.

Leach has a legal degree. I'm sure he knew exactly what he was doing as Tech pursued their course of action. In the end, I suspect that not only will he get his full contract, but much, much more, similar to Jim O'Brien at OSU.

The unfortunate reality is that he's one of the best minds in the game, and he's already had trouble getting high profile jobs that he would do well at (Alabama - though can't criticize hiring Saban). Now, with his eccentric personality and this, he'll never get a top coaching job.

If RR doesn't work out (and I hope he does), I wouldn't mind seeing the Pirate Show in Ann Arbor.

Hapa

December 30th, 2009 at 5:35 PM ^

http://www.doubletnation.com/2009/12/30/1225450/breaking-mike-leach-fir…

Seems like TTU fans are very, VERY pissed. I'm shocked at how fast the TT administration jumped the gun on this... the "investigation" of Craig James isn't even over, and I'm of the opinion that the firing goes deeper to a conflict with the administration (see Mike Leach Contract Negotiations 2008).

Needless to say, he is now the hottest coaching commodity in the offseason, wonder where he will end up?

Jensencoach

December 30th, 2009 at 7:49 PM ^

...but, as a coach, he should have been more aware of this kid's potential to create problems. It seems that he has been needy and arrogant his entire college career, and with his father being who he is, you have to handle this situation delicately. Daddy is an influential person within the college football community and Leach should have either found graceful way to either get the kid to leave the program (long ago when the issues were first prevalent), or to put up with whinny stuff. Now coaches have to make tough decisions that go beyond football, it sucks but it's part of the job.