Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Mike Leach needs to get back his inner pirate

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach probably could use some advice from Eric Taylor right about now.

The crack Friday Night Lights staff would be hard-pressed to dream up such a predicament.



The facts are not all out about the case between Leach and a Texas Tech inside receiver named Adam James. The story has legs since James' daddy, Craig James, works for ESPN and if ESPN wants something to be a story, it will stay in the news (how was it that James Sr. was initially assigned to commentate a bowl game involving his son's team before all this blew up?).

The stunning part, from a Canadian point of view, is how much say some NCAA coaches have in the treatment of injured players (right or wrong). Talk about a liability nightmare. You would think that would be trusted to health professionals, the doctors and athletic therapists. Coaches should not stick their finger in the potential malpractice pie.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like this needs unbiased
arbitration by a completely neutral source, not connected with the college nor with ESPN. Emotions
are too high on all sides to get a fair hearing for the college or
for the coach at this boiling point.

Dennis Prouse said...

I am a big Mike Leach fan, but he really blew it in his handling of this player's case. These days, when it comes to concussions, you simply have to book out as a coach and leave everything, and I mean everything, to the medical professionals. In addition, bizarre forms of punishment are now verboten, whether Leach likes it or not. It's 2009, not 1959.

You can't help but believe, though, that this isn't the only reason why Leach was fired. His relationship with Texas Tech's AD and boosters has been strained to say the least, and I am sure they relished an opportunity to get rid of him. Like Rick Neuheisel, though, Leach will surface elsewhere in pretty short order, and will flourish. Hopefully he has learned something from this debacle, even though he will never admit it publicly.