Why is Texas Tech like Oregon?

Um, no.

Please to be reading the facts about the situation, and you will see that Leach was not engaging in any nefarious behavior. Tech just destroyed their football program.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/30/AR2009123002278_2.html

1. Leach is an excellent coach with an outsized ego that was not a good fit for the school that employed him. Gee, a coach with a high opinion of himself.

2. Leach was faced with a situation where a player, having reported a “mild concussion”, was unable to practice. As a coach, he made a decision to protect said player while still maintaining a visible level of discipline on his team. Did he believe James was “dogging it” a bit? Was it the shades that set him over the edge? Regardless, Leach’s actions appear to be twofold: Protect the injured player (which he did — nobody with a straight face can argue that his actions endangered James, beyond subjecting him to a certain level of humiliation) and send him a message. Anyone who has ever coached a team or even acted as a supervisor or foreman over a large crew understands the importance of the occasional “message”, especially when young adults of varying maturity levels are involved.

3. Young James complained to his parents.

4. His parents reported the issue to the administration — a much easier report to pull off if your dad’s Craig James.

5. The evidence shows the administration was waiting for just this sort of “incident” to make a case for firing Leach “with cause.” (See an email thread from the contentious contract negotiations of last winter here.)

A clear element of the reporting on the “incident” was the initial allegation that James had been “locked” in a “shed” with a “guard” (the “shed” was the size of my garage; the “guards” were trainers; and he was free to leave if he wanted, although James was risking his team status if he didn’t stay). The key to demonization is dramatization.

So. Texas Tech was determined to sack Leach. When someone is that dedicated to a cause, it matters little how much collateral damage is done; the end justifies the means.

Leach will be just fine. There is absolutely zero evidence over his career that he’s ever mistreated or damaged a player, his graduation record was excellent, he’s regarded as one of the great tactical minds in college football. He won’t be without a job for long.

Tech, on the other hand, has a few problems: how to mollify a fan base that’s gone postal, how to keep a recruiting class in line, and where to find a coach who’s anywhere nearly at the level of the guy they just sacked.

Leach was the only reason Texas Tech has even approached relevance in major college football. The TT administration, I fear, is about to learn the expensive lesson of how easy it is for a football program to return to also-ran status. It’s their loss.

and this is our first year in the Texas Tech system. Lemme tell you one thing, I’ll be expecting my tuition to “effectively skyrocket” do to Leach suing the shit out of his former school. Ugh.