Texas Tech Sees Your MSU Bowl Drama and Raises You a Mike Leach Firing

by Pete Rossman on Dec 30, 2009 12:42 PM CST in Football Comment 5 comments

I had a feeling Mike Leach would be fired today (an $800,000 bonus due to Leach tomorrow if he was still head coach was likely a motivating factor - EDIT - maybe not - per an EDSBS tweet: Get money. PeteThamelNYT Talked to someone close to Leach. He's expected to still get the $800K. Contract says: employed for 10 biz days.), but I thought the court hearing on Leach's injunction would at least take place before he was fired.

Thus the wackiest and most dramatic MSU bowl game in recent memory - not that there'd be many to choose from - added another juicy back story. I didn't think it was possible for any team to be in more disarray than Michigan State entering its bowl game, but congratulations Tech, you've raised the bar.

As for how this will affect the game on Saturday, Texas Tech is going to most likely react in one of two ways: The players will band together and come out firing, inspired by the loss of their coach, or they'll be lost without their usual play caller. As for how this affects Michigan State, it's anyone guess. If Tech comes out with a collective hundred yard stare, that's great for State, but if any of Taylor Potts' wide receivers remembers how to run a wheel route...the firing might not matter much.

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Well, I'll hand it to Coach Leach,

He sure knows how to engineer his own exit. Once the injunction was filed, it was dead certain Texas Tech would fire him. Administration couldn’t face the possibility of having their suspension of Leach revoked. I’m sure he’ll do fine elsewhere- he’s now my second-favorite coach.

Sorry about the double post there, I hit the enter button prematurely. I wish I could make a dirty joke about that, but can’t come up with anything. Damn, creativity, where are you when I need you!

by heresjohnny on Dec 30, 2009 2:35 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

great headline

by JohnnyB.Spartans on Dec 30, 2009 3:13 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Just noticed

that the ESPN story includes a couple quotes from players speaking out in favor of the firing.

“I have no complaints about this decision. [Leach] put Adam [James] in a shed like an animal. Like an animal in a cage. That was bull,” defensive lineman Chris Perry. “You call other players. I think it was a good decision. We have our pep back now. We practice hard this week. We had less stress this week. You know why? Because he’s gone.”

Just a flat-out bizarre story.

Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 30, 2009 4:06 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

That quote came from an uninspired defensive lineman that had the same work ethic as Amanda James.

Which is none.

" Answers -- Become Resources."
Without Questions; There are limited Resources...

by KWashburn on Dec 31, 2009 2:48 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

FWIW

The interim guy seems to be expending a lot of energy lobbying for the full-time job. Doesn’t seem like a good thing for team morale/chemistry.

Quotes from today:

I’m very interested in the job. Maybe that’s a double yes with some exclamation marks. You journalists know about that, you know, some little dots. I know how to text a little bit. My daughter taught me how to text but yes I’m very interested in becoming Tech’s next head coach at Texas Tech.

Well the biggest thing is…it’s very important we keep this class together. It will be one of the best classes we have signed if everything goes through. In these situations we will have questions, because they will come to Texas Tech for a number of things. Academic and graduation rate is number one. It’s the first priority they have done. The second is for the football team and the winning atmosphere we have created as well as the social environment of Lubbock. It’s the second biggest city in the Big 12. We hope to keep it together and keep everyone tight and I am very optimistic this thing will get handled quickly and I am looking forward to being a big part of that.

I am looking forward to it (play calling). When the first everything happened it was a unique deal. I had to be a part of all three sides of the ball. I have always been a part of the special teams and the defense, but now making sure I have eye balls on all three. It’s gone really smooth, just like I knew it would be.

Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!

by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 30, 2009 6:52 PM CST reply actions 0 recs