The Saga of Mike Leach :: The End
Incredible Support
Yesterday I asked that you would copy me on any email that you decided to send to the Texas Tech University Administration. I had no concept as to what kind of response I’d receive and now I know. Although I haven’t actually counted, I think it would be safe to assume that I was copied on more than 200 emails from alumni, fans, and fans from other teams regarding their displeasure with the method by which this entire situation was handled. To be honest, I was surprised at the actual volume of support and I’m surprised at the response. It’s been absolutely amazing and this speaks to the power of this community. If you’ve sent me an email recently I may not be able to respond I may not be able to respond for at least a couple of days, I hope you understand.
Who to Blame
Last night, rather than continue to write about this, I gathered with some fellow Red Raiders and decided to drink and as we talked about the situation last night, the thing that I expressed to them was the thought that if you want to play the blame game then you’ll have plenty of participants. I really want to just blame Gerald Myers for the entire situation, and I do believe that he didn’t want Mike Leach to be the head coach last year, but at the end of the day, I blame everyone, and I mean everyone, involved. From Gerald Myers for his seemingly lack of communication with his football head coach, to Mike Leach for perhaps thumbing his nose at anyone and everyone involved at the administration, to Craig James for perhaps being an over-bearing parent, etc.
This is really about adults not being able to get along and co-exist.
It’s about egos, and that goes for everyone involved, and no one wanting to budge.
And don’t believe for a second that the reason that Leach was terminated was because he decided to sue the university. That’s absolute bullocks. Legally speaking, it was Leach’s only move that he could make, which was to file an injunction. Leach was terminated because he couldn’t get along with the administration, on almost every level.
The Hypocrisy
In 2006, during the basketball season, Bob Knight choked Michael Prince, during a game. I’ve tried to find the video this morning and have come up empty and what I remember about the incident was that Knight laid his hands on an athlete in what many deemed to be an inappropriate manner. You had that incident on television and you had the entire world watching. Knight and Myers were close friends, and the only reason that Knight came to Texas Tech was because of the close relationship between the two. I do not believe that it was ever reported that Bob Knight was asked to apologize, nor do I remember Knight being asked to sign a document to acknowledge his mistreatment of players. Bringing this up isn’t to debate what Knight did to Prince during that game, what I’m curious about is whether the parties were treated fairly.
This is perhaps the biggest issue that I have with the entire incident is what appears to be the unequal treatment of those coaches who were friends with Myers and those who were not.
DoubleTNation.com
12/31/9
Magnolia Tribune
