Texas Tech fires Mike Leach

Nearing two decades of watching sports, the one thing I've learned is to expect the unexpected. Although it should come as a surprise, Coach Mike Leach's firing from Texas Tech was not a surprise at all. What does surprise me, however, is the brevity of Texas Tech's investigation of the situation involving Leach and wide receiver Adam James.

First of all, I will be the first to readily admit I don't have all the factual knowledge of what happened. ESPN anaylst Trevor Mattich stated that the internet has said Leach trapped James in a shed-like compartment, and used someone to stand guard on the outside to make sure he couldn't escape. This seems to be a problem to me because if the entire team witnesses a teammate being treated in this manner, wouldn't the entire team have stood up on his behalf? A couple of players were outspoken in the fact that they were relieved to hear of Leach's termination. The question I pose is if a "teammate" and "brother" is treated in this manner, and they witnessed this atrocity, why didn't either of you step up to the plate in his defense? If played football and I saw a teammate being abused, I'd man up and say something.

Personally, I feel Texas Tech wanted to be off the hook concerning Leach's contract. ESPN reported that had he remained the coach on Dec. 31, he would've been owed an additional $800,000. I do think the relationship between Leach and the administration had reached a breaking point. The school knew they needed a good reason to fire him. They suspected Leach wouldn't be fielding a 4-8 team anytime soon. So, they had to find something to nail him with.

I find it hard to believe a coach who's won over 80 games in 10 years,and has battled with big dogs Texas and Oklahoma wasn't given the benefit of the doubt in this situation. The fact that the school failed to stand by him is further proof that this had more to do with his contract than anything else. Had I been in the administration's shoes, I would've appointed a committee of 8-12 people to interview every single player, manager, coach, and trainers. I would've told them to make out a detailed report with transcipts from every interview, statistics of those who saw nothing out of the ordinary, and statistics of those who saw something unusual. I would've wanted them to work as quickly as possible, but accuracy of the report is what mattered. I wouldnt've cared if the report had taken one week, two weeks, one month, or two months.

It's because of Leach that I'm a fan of Texas Tech football. Although I'm not as big of a Tech fan as I am of Florida, I still enjoyed watching "the mad scientist" roam the sidelines. It's interesting to note that a majority of the Techf ans on espn.go.com are in full support of Leach. Some fans are posting that the journalists in Dallas have reported that a majority of the players are in favor of Leach, and ESPN simply got a couple of quotes from a few of the players that wanted him gone. It'll be interesting to see who Tech gets as the new coach, if James remains on the team, and if Texas Tech football has been set back a decade with this awful, brash decision.