Looking forward to Brian Kelly
Re Adam james: "He's lazy, there's a sense of entitlement, pretty well documented by teammates and position coaches. Would never work hard and would fall back on his father any time he wasn't playing."
Re Craig James: "Called coaches, position coaches, both of them, administrators at school or come to campus to discuss on your son and playing time, Craig James required more time than all other players combined."
Also has statement from doctor that said nothing done to James was detrimental to him.
Still pissed off PING!
PING!
I can hardly wait!
As the parent of a Tech grad and a huge football fan, I hope he puts the James family in their place!
Gerald Myers should be run out of town on a rail.
When this is over Daddy James should be canned by ESPN. Incredible abuse of power, and in the meanwhile he’s instilled that entitlement attitude in his son, basically ruining the kid. And some TT administrative heads should roll, too.
The truth will eventually emerge and hopefully justice will be done. The following is a link to photos of the ‘shed’ and ‘closet’ in which James was sent to after complaining of light hurting his eyes. There weren’t small cramped enclosures as the James gang seemed to allude to.
Click for the pictures;
http://simg.sportsbybrooks.com/7/4/7427351fad17fb65a7f3f485963e2274_texastechshed.gif
The truth always comes out. The administration and Craig James is going to have a lot of egg on their face on this one.
Leach will end up coaching in a better situation with a bigger contract. TT will end up having a ho-hum program and Adam James will be a distant memory.
What a mess of programs.
None of this makes any sense.
To get fired over something so petty. Craig James must have something on the AD.
Pure BS.
Something not getting mentioned enough is that Leach graduated 79% of his players, fifth or sixth highest in major college football; and the highest of any public university. His graduation rate was likely much higher than the non-football students at Texas Tech.
Whoever's advising Leach on his PR is an idiot. He should have declined to give his opinion on Adam James and talked about the administration. Adam James didn't fire him (contrary to popular opinion).
As people usually do, both James and Leach are telling us only what they want us to hear. The actual truth is probably somewhere in between. As a casual observer I think the University finally got the excuse it had been hoping to find to fire an egotistical tyrant of a coach (their opinion). When coaches are accused of egregious acts colleges usually suspend the coaches they want to keep and fire the ones they don’t. Being a great Xs & Os coach doesn’t always equate with being head coach material. It seems that Leach lacks the people skills to deal effectively with everyone in the program.
It certainly gives Craif James and ESPN a black eye. With Craig James, it’s just another example of a member of the media using it to further his/her own agenda,
Looking forward to Brian Kelly
Go get em’ Leach.
Although many people, including myself, would love to believe that football is somewhat pure, there are a lot of politics and behind the scenes stuff that goes on. Leach would never have survived at UT for this long, for example, due to comments like "their fat little girl friends." UT just won't have it, regardless of record. The days of guys like Woody Hayes, Bear Bryant and Darrell Royal are over. There's no way a Bear Bryant will have another summer camp in Junction, Texas.
Parents of players and alumni can be a phenomenal pain. I covered a high school program for a few years, and the coach was the most competent HS coach I've ever known. Some parents got upset because he wouldn't play their kids, as he had strict rules about off season conditioning programs and "if you don't practice you don't play." Some of these parents got elected to the school board, and refused to renew his contract the year this HS won the state title.
At colleges alumni and boosters are both a blessing and a curse.
Adam James was not the reason Tech fired Leach, he was the excuse. I've dealt with a ton of guys like him, and when I sit across the desk from them, one thought goes through my mind: "Son, life's gonna kick your @ss and there's nothing I can do about it." Daddy can't run interference forever. James is a petulant, spoiled little twit, but the AD wanted to fire Leach and couldn't do it because Leach was too popular at Tech.
My guess is that Bobby Knight had been around long enough to know you can shove players and assistant coaches around, but you kiss the AD's @ss. Leach wouldn't, and the AD was waiting to nail him. The question wasn't whether he would fire Leach, but what would be the excuse. I also think Leach became more belligerent this year, possibly daring the AD to do something.
But why do it at all? If the kid is a pain in the neck, then send him back to his dorm or kick him off the team. What on earth is the purpose of putting him in a dark room?
It just sounds childish and petty to me. A really dumb thing to do.