It is bowl season so I feel like posting about a college football-related story. As most people know, Texas Tech fired their head coach Mike Leach.
Allegedly, Leach mistreated one of his players (the player was Adam James who happens to be the son of ESPN’s color commentator Craig James).
In response to this accusation and because Leach would not agree to some guidelines, Texas Tech suspended Leach for the team’s upcoming bowl game. Leach then had the audacity to sue the institution so he could coach in the game.
You can learn more about this story here. From the article:
Turner [vice chairman of the university system’s Board of Regents] added that Leach?s failure to agree to guidelines set forth by
the school?s president led to his suspension, and ?we are where we are?
because Leach sued the university to try to coach in the Alamo Bowl.
Turner is admitting that Leach was fired because he sued the institution. Some unsolicited advice to Texas Tech and the university system: Stay quiet (or else get a better message) because now it appears that you didn’t fire Leach for cause but instead fired him because he was exercising his legal rights. If he was fired for cause, Leach probably would be entitled to little to no money.
An interesting “subplot” is how ESPN has reported on the story. From what I have watched, ESPN has been biased, not once mentioning that most players have defended Leach and criticized James.
ESPN also had Craig James on Sportscenter last night to tell his side of the story. It seems to me that when one of your staff people is part of a story, a media outlet needs to go overboard to ensure its objectivity and treat the person just like you would any other person in such a story. Instead, ESPN has taken the opposite route and given James a soap box to get his message out.
There’s a lot to this story and Leach has yet to present his side of things. It will be very interesting to follow, including what the impact will be on the school, the James, and Leach.
