MIKE LEACH VS. THE "JAMES GANG" & TEXAS TECH, THE UGLINESS CONTINUES
Everybody involved in the controversial firing of Mike Leach had something to say in the past 24 hours except Adam James & that appears to be damage control by his father, ESPN college football analyst Craig James. Let's examine the evidence Adam James used to start the ball rolling in this mess.
James claimed he was confined in an electrical closet by Leach for 2 hours. Leach had a 'guard' posted outside the door & James posted a YouTube cell phone video of the closet on the internet. Head Tech football trainer, Steve Pinock disputed some of James' allegations. Pinock said James was taken to the media room as instructed by Leach, but he was never confined, an assistant trainer was with James or checked on him periodically the entire time he was in the media room. Pinock said his assistants were never ordered to guard the door & they certainly didn't confine him in the electrical closet. Apparently, James filmed the 30-second cellphone video while in the media room by slipping into the electrical closet while he was alone. Pinock also said even tho he was disputing nearly everything James has claimed, he said he didn't agree with the treatment & apologized to James. Pinock isn't Mike Leach's hire, he has held this position at Tech for 20 years.
Craig James has stated repeatedly "his son's health was endangered by the confinement." Something he's never been questioned about(James has rebuffed all interview requests, choosing to issue taped statements on ESPN). Team physician Dr. Michael Phy gave a statement to the university on Tuesday that said "I never ordered this type of treatment but in no way did James being sent to the media room or a garage endanger him in any way. It could not have made his condition worse." He went on to state "I do think the practice is inappropriate & deviates from common medical practice." Dr. Phy isn't Mike Leach's doctor, he is retained by the university. Despite Dr. Phy's sworn statement, Tech administration continued to stick to the "Adam James' health was endangered by confinement ordered by Mike Leach" line.
Leach in an interview with the New York Times, stated "Craig James took more of his time than all the other parents combined." He continued "I can understand a father being supportive of his son. But at some point, coaches have to be allowed to coach. At some point the wisdom of all the people watching the film, going to all the practices, has to be respected." Leach said he called Adam James into his office 3 weeks ago & in the presence of his 2 position coaches, Leach played 2 voice mail messages on his cell phone from Adam's father Craig. Leach would not divulge what James said in the voice mail, but he told Adam to tell his dad to stop calling or he was going to play the voice mails to the entire team. The calls to Leach stopped immediately, but the calls to the administration started the next day. Leach claims to have saved the voice mails. Leach also told The Times "calls from parents cannot get their sons special treatment, it's not fair to the other players who are giving everything they have both in practice & in games."
Craig James responded to the interview by saying Leach's statements were "absurd, he's trying to deflect the blame he should bear onto my family. We never wanted this, we simply tried to protect our son." ESPN continues to cherry pick the sworn statements, taking much of it out of context. It will be interesting to see how long they stick with James if Leach's lawsuit reaches open court revealing voice mails, university emails & negative witness testimony. Someone within the university has given several emails to The New York Times. In one between the university president & the athletic director, the president advises the A.D. "make sure you make it easy on us financially to fire him, make sure that's in the deal."
I'd like to raise a question at this point I haven't heard from anybody, certainly not from the Worldwide Leader in Sports. I'd say, without doubt, Craig James is one of the top-5 SMU football players of all-time. Sammy Baugh, Kyle Rote, Doak Walker, Eric Dickerson aannnnd James. I have to believe James could have used the "legacy" card to get his son into SMU. A legacy in college sports is defined as the son or daughter of a prominent former student athlete. Is it true that not one of the other 119 Division I schools offered James a scholarship? Not even SMU? Did James even try? Maybe he didn't want his son going to SMU because they were having one 1-11 season after another. Tech was going bowling every year under Leach. No fun to boast about your kid's accomplishments on a 1-11 team. Here's where I feel Craig James' story is pretty transparent, it looks to me that he's full of it. I wonder if the techniques James has used to aid university officials in the canning of Mike Leach are taught in the Craig James School of Broadcasting. I'm not kidding, there's such a place in Texas. I think this guy is going to become pretty toxic in the Lone Star State. His son as well. People in Lubbock have posted his address on the internet, one defiant restaurant owner put it on their message board until police ordered it taken down. Now that's stupid, irresponsible & it's dangerous, I know Tech fans are steamed, I read almost 500 posts on their booster website(there were nearly 1,700) & the pro-Leach sentiment is running about 95-5, but cooler heads need to prevail, someone could get hurt.
Now, who gets to step into Mike Leach's shoes to run this program? If defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeil, named interim coach for the Alamo Bowl, can rally his team & get them to play well tonight, I think he should get it. He's came to Tech 10-years ago with Leach & has also been one of the faces of this program. If he can get his troops motivated & focused enough to beat a team that has suspended 14 of their players, he ought to walk away. Wide receivers' coach Lincoln Riley will step in for Leach as offensive coordinator & play caller. Here's a guy with a tall task in front of him. Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes is also being considered. Did you watch his offense the other night against Nebraska? Houston's Kevin Sumlin was being rumored as well. Why would you want to step into this mess if you're already a successful coach? Talk about a toxic situation.
So let's look at the final score in this travesty. No one wins, end of story. A spoiled, entitled slacker gets his egotistical father to use his bully pulpit to encourage some vindictive university administrators to fire an egotistical, but successful, football coach with poor judgment. Texas Tech University & their fans will end up losing the most. Texas Tech flags are being flown upside down(the international sign of distress) all over Lubbock, numerous big-money boosters came home from San Antonio after Leach's firing, they didn't want to go to the game. Fans had a bonfire of Red Raider gear on a vacant lot in Lubbock & message boards on restaurants, bars, car dealerships, banks & other local businesses are overwhelmingly negative toward Tech administrators & the "James Gang".
I'm a Mizzou fan, I didn't want to face Leach's team in Lubbock November 6th, but I don't want this either, it's not good for anybody, nobody benefits from this, everyone loses.
James claimed he was confined in an electrical closet by Leach for 2 hours. Leach had a 'guard' posted outside the door & James posted a YouTube cell phone video of the closet on the internet. Head Tech football trainer, Steve Pinock disputed some of James' allegations. Pinock said James was taken to the media room as instructed by Leach, but he was never confined, an assistant trainer was with James or checked on him periodically the entire time he was in the media room. Pinock said his assistants were never ordered to guard the door & they certainly didn't confine him in the electrical closet. Apparently, James filmed the 30-second cellphone video while in the media room by slipping into the electrical closet while he was alone. Pinock also said even tho he was disputing nearly everything James has claimed, he said he didn't agree with the treatment & apologized to James. Pinock isn't Mike Leach's hire, he has held this position at Tech for 20 years.
Craig James has stated repeatedly "his son's health was endangered by the confinement." Something he's never been questioned about(James has rebuffed all interview requests, choosing to issue taped statements on ESPN). Team physician Dr. Michael Phy gave a statement to the university on Tuesday that said "I never ordered this type of treatment but in no way did James being sent to the media room or a garage endanger him in any way. It could not have made his condition worse." He went on to state "I do think the practice is inappropriate & deviates from common medical practice." Dr. Phy isn't Mike Leach's doctor, he is retained by the university. Despite Dr. Phy's sworn statement, Tech administration continued to stick to the "Adam James' health was endangered by confinement ordered by Mike Leach" line.
Leach in an interview with the New York Times, stated "Craig James took more of his time than all the other parents combined." He continued "I can understand a father being supportive of his son. But at some point, coaches have to be allowed to coach. At some point the wisdom of all the people watching the film, going to all the practices, has to be respected." Leach said he called Adam James into his office 3 weeks ago & in the presence of his 2 position coaches, Leach played 2 voice mail messages on his cell phone from Adam's father Craig. Leach would not divulge what James said in the voice mail, but he told Adam to tell his dad to stop calling or he was going to play the voice mails to the entire team. The calls to Leach stopped immediately, but the calls to the administration started the next day. Leach claims to have saved the voice mails. Leach also told The Times "calls from parents cannot get their sons special treatment, it's not fair to the other players who are giving everything they have both in practice & in games."
Craig James responded to the interview by saying Leach's statements were "absurd, he's trying to deflect the blame he should bear onto my family. We never wanted this, we simply tried to protect our son." ESPN continues to cherry pick the sworn statements, taking much of it out of context. It will be interesting to see how long they stick with James if Leach's lawsuit reaches open court revealing voice mails, university emails & negative witness testimony. Someone within the university has given several emails to The New York Times. In one between the university president & the athletic director, the president advises the A.D. "make sure you make it easy on us financially to fire him, make sure that's in the deal."
I'd like to raise a question at this point I haven't heard from anybody, certainly not from the Worldwide Leader in Sports. I'd say, without doubt, Craig James is one of the top-5 SMU football players of all-time. Sammy Baugh, Kyle Rote, Doak Walker, Eric Dickerson aannnnd James. I have to believe James could have used the "legacy" card to get his son into SMU. A legacy in college sports is defined as the son or daughter of a prominent former student athlete. Is it true that not one of the other 119 Division I schools offered James a scholarship? Not even SMU? Did James even try? Maybe he didn't want his son going to SMU because they were having one 1-11 season after another. Tech was going bowling every year under Leach. No fun to boast about your kid's accomplishments on a 1-11 team. Here's where I feel Craig James' story is pretty transparent, it looks to me that he's full of it. I wonder if the techniques James has used to aid university officials in the canning of Mike Leach are taught in the Craig James School of Broadcasting. I'm not kidding, there's such a place in Texas. I think this guy is going to become pretty toxic in the Lone Star State. His son as well. People in Lubbock have posted his address on the internet, one defiant restaurant owner put it on their message board until police ordered it taken down. Now that's stupid, irresponsible & it's dangerous, I know Tech fans are steamed, I read almost 500 posts on their booster website(there were nearly 1,700) & the pro-Leach sentiment is running about 95-5, but cooler heads need to prevail, someone could get hurt.
Now, who gets to step into Mike Leach's shoes to run this program? If defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeil, named interim coach for the Alamo Bowl, can rally his team & get them to play well tonight, I think he should get it. He's came to Tech 10-years ago with Leach & has also been one of the faces of this program. If he can get his troops motivated & focused enough to beat a team that has suspended 14 of their players, he ought to walk away. Wide receivers' coach Lincoln Riley will step in for Leach as offensive coordinator & play caller. Here's a guy with a tall task in front of him. Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes is also being considered. Did you watch his offense the other night against Nebraska? Houston's Kevin Sumlin was being rumored as well. Why would you want to step into this mess if you're already a successful coach? Talk about a toxic situation.
So let's look at the final score in this travesty. No one wins, end of story. A spoiled, entitled slacker gets his egotistical father to use his bully pulpit to encourage some vindictive university administrators to fire an egotistical, but successful, football coach with poor judgment. Texas Tech University & their fans will end up losing the most. Texas Tech flags are being flown upside down(the international sign of distress) all over Lubbock, numerous big-money boosters came home from San Antonio after Leach's firing, they didn't want to go to the game. Fans had a bonfire of Red Raider gear on a vacant lot in Lubbock & message boards on restaurants, bars, car dealerships, banks & other local businesses are overwhelmingly negative toward Tech administrators & the "James Gang".
I'm a Mizzou fan, I didn't want to face Leach's team in Lubbock November 6th, but I don't want this either, it's not good for anybody, nobody benefits from this, everyone loses.
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