Posted on 01/01/2010 7:16:02 PM PST by Bad~Rodeo
For the first time since being fired by Texas Tech, Mike Leach has spoken out about his dismissal as he conducted interviews with both the New York Times and ESPN to ring in the new year.
And, in both cases, the former Red Raider head coach alternately denied mistreating one of his players to railing against the university, the player -- Adam James -- and the James family -- ESPN analyst Craig James in particular.
As for the alleged abuse of Adam James -- initial reports stated that Leach had ordered the receiver confined to a dark, cramped room/electrical closet -- Leach said it simply didn't happen. According to the coach, he had ordered James to be taken "out of the light" as he had been diagnosed with a mild concussion. More specifically, Leach stated he was unaware where James was taken as he "was busy coaching practice."
Leach then lashed out at what he described as falsehoods being distributed by the media in general and ESPN in particular.
"There have been several things that have been brought to my attention on the ticker that's just false," Leach said according to the Times, referring to ESPN's bottom line ticker. "He was never locked anywhere. At no point was he locked anywhere. At no point was there an electrical closet."
Steve Pincock, Tech's head athletic trainer, backed up Leach's claims, saying in a statement that "Adam was never locked in any facility, and was never placed in an electrical closet or tight space, or instructed to do so."
"Adam showed up to practice in street clothes, no team gear, and dark sunglasses," Pincock said, according to the statement. "Adam walked about 40 to 50 yards,
(Excerpt) Read more at collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com ...
A ping for your peeps, Raider.
What? No Waterboarding?
You may want to read this NBC report. click the link to the article.
He is not going to go away quietly, he is going to defend himself, and he has the means to do so.
Wait until he plays those messages from Craig James in court.
Spoiled college kids won't fly to a west Texas jury.
This may get very entertaining.
And Leach will take his offense to some school somewhere, and just keep on becoming bowl eligible.
Really? I failed to see anything in the article that made Leach look bad.
Can you imagine Leach as Offensive Coordinator at an established school with a strong defensive reputation? Like, say, Alabama?
It's not surprising that Craig James is a first class idiot, and a college coach is a bit bullheaded. But, when it comes to brain-trauma injuries, you would think - especially given all the PR on concussions of late - the school AD would have a much more specific protocol for dealing with athletes rehabbing from these injuries.
Personally, I’d like to see Leach coaching another team in the Big 12 so he can annually layeth the smacketh down on the Pink Faiders.
Having taught school for 22 years, I can just hear Adam James saying, “wait til my dad hears this”. James sounds like those little league dad’s that followed their kid to college and he used his job to try to put pressure on the coach. I don’t know Mike Leach, and I am a Bama grad, but I know kids and parents like the James family.
I was in Lubbock the day all of this went down. This is not going to end well for the Tech admin. Most bowl appearances since the inception of the Big 12. #1 graduation rate. 99.9% of Raider Nation is furious. Tech is going to loose big time. And they deserve to. When I went, we were glad to beat either UT or A&M in a year. Now Tech owned A&M until this year. Leach put Red Raider football on the map.
It was up for, what, a couple of hours????
Would be awesome to see. I’m not sure he’s the personality type to go back to being a coordinator. I just watched his interview on Sportscenter and he did a good job, btw.
That's just my point. There didn't/doesn't seem to be any specific protocol in place regarding these kinds of injuries at this school. The fact of the matter is photo-sensitivity is a symptom of person suffering from a concussion. It shouldn't piss a coach off - and it clearly did - that this kid had on sun-glasses.
Thanks for the heads-up. It is glaringly obvious that ESPN has Craig James’ best interest at heart and not the truth. I saw an edited version on television of the internet link I posted on ESPN, but was shocked when I saw the online version. They left SO MUCH OUT!
That’s fine - maybe Leach will sue them too for contributing to his defamation of character. I hope he cleans Tech’s financial clock so that a new group will come in to manage a great university in an honorable way.
Home of Red Raider James gets added security:
Celina Police have beefed up patrol around the home of Tech receiver Adam James this week amid Internet postings from angry fans revealing his address.
“We have patrol officers that are watching over the house along with the Collin County Sheriff’s County,” Celina Police Chief Joe Williams said.
http://www.redraiders.com/2009/12/31/home-of-red-raider-james-gets-added-security/
How do they know that spoiled brat got the concussion at practice and not at the bar fight he was in the night before?
After Leach finishes with the James family in court, they will be wishing they had just told their 22-year-old sophomore to come home and live in their basement. No school or coach will want to have anything to do with this whiner and his helicopter dad, who attended 70+ practices to see that the coaches weren’t being mean to his little boy.
Wonder if he's sending the signal that any settlement would have to include the resignation of the AD?
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