Comments on: Mike Leach Had To Go

By: bcuban

bcuban — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:28:11 +0000

I think most including me understand it was not "toruture" I was making a point of perception not a point of fact…

By: Tad

Tad — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:06:41 +0000

I was an interrogator in the Army for 4 years and I tortured people.
A couple of necessary caveats: the torture was waterboarding, and the tortured were US troops. It was done as a training exercise in a POW simulation scenario.
In any case, that kid in that closet (although I've seen the Youtube video and it was pretty big for a "closet") was hardly torture.
If Leach had waterboarded him, then I might be inclined to call it torture.
"Go walk around in the garage" is more accurate. I'm not sure I call that a fireable offense.
For the record, I have no allegiance to Tech or any other college. I'mjust going by the preponderance of evidence I've been exposed to.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:00:16 +0000

I've been a teacher for over 30 years, and a college teacher for the past 10+ years, and you just don't "punish" a student–regardless of age–like this. Leach was the responsible adult, and the one with the power here. If James had refused to accept the punishment he would have felt that Leach might have reduced his playing time or dismissed him from the team. It doesn't matter if he is 18, 20 or 50–Leach as coach had the power, the student did not.

As college teachers our forms of "discipline" are very limited. In classes, students are paying tuition–if they choose to do the work, fine–if not, so be it. No external discipline is really involved–its up to the student to do their work. In my opinion, Leach had the ultimate form of discipline to exert over James–playing time. Sending him to a shed was simply a stupid move, the last resort of a bully whose other tricks weren't working.

And as far as standing goes, that wasn't the point of the punishment–Leach's point was to humiliate the player, by removing him from the team, and isolating him. All he really did was humiliate himself in the end.

By: Seth

Seth — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:59:54 +0000

What done is done. I'm an TTU alumni and was unhappy at the firing, but lets move on and find a great coach and win on Saturday. But I just have a couple questions of general questions.

1) At 22, are they no not an adult? I'm 25 now, but even if my parents told me at 22 to stand in a closet and not sit, I wouldn't do it.

2) What are allowable forms of discipline for student athletes?

3) What can standing really do to a person? I don't buy there was any danger for the player, concussion or not.

Wreck'em Tech!

By: bcuban

bcuban — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:52:19 +0000

I give one more perspective here. Anyone who thinks there are more supporters of Tech football than Tech parents and parents in general who care about how the health and well being of their child is handled by those entrusted with that responsibility is delusional in the extreme. That is not the brand Tech wants for their sports program.

I and I alone am the only person who gets to put my child in a dark room forced to stand for hours. End of story!

By: @eradke

@eradke — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:35:58 +0000

I did not mean to come off that way but please tell me why you think one group remembers and one forgets.

By: @eradke

@eradke — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:33:31 +0000

Yes actually, you become sensitive to light after a concussion. I do not pretend to know the situation and it could be that he acted in a poor judgement. In real life, if you are at a high preforming organization and you are not complying to the culture, you get fired. I am not saying that he did or did not do anything right but what should his response been. Should he have kicked him off the team? Please do not mistake my framing of the question as a support for abusing players.

By: bcuban

bcuban — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:21:36 +0000

Sorry, Erik Radke plays baseball..lol

Here is my beef with your post.

If you want to tell me your opinion and what your about your creds are not at issue. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, when you presume to tell me what I am about and what my motivations are then you had better be more qualified than I am to opine or you have no credibility.

By: @eradke

@eradke — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:17:00 +0000

First name is Eli, I do not feel any obligation to prove myself as a PR professional but I am not for the record. If you want me to fake it I can though. Also, I do not need any experience other than winning an argument when I was 8, to prove your argument is false. Now if you are writing only a simple matter of opinion (however illogical) stop reading now.

Quote: "If Texas Tech did not fire Leach, they would be trying his case over and over both in a court of law and in the court of public opinion every single time a parent did not like the way their son/athlete was treated after an injury."

You are making the assumption that this group will remember. OK so it would be safe to say every group would remember, if that is not the case what is the motivation to remember? How has the Minnesota Vikings or any other number of institutions been stigmitized or the whole NFL been stigmitized?

Quote: " Leach will coach again. Schools with football programs have short memories when winners come knocking."

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:15:13 +0000

So you'll turn a blind eye to a bully who puts a kid with a concussion in a dark, windowless shed because he doesn't like his attitude? Because if you don't support the coach then the football program will suffer? Then something is very, very wrong in west Texas.

By: Janet Marcum

Janet Marcum — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:08:33 +0000

Mitch – where do you think the money comes from? Lubbock and the cities where former Tech grads currently live. So, yes, it does matter who they just pissed off. A Big 12 football program without alumni support will suffer. Tech’s popularity over the past ten years has revolved a lot around football, and that can’t be ignored.

By: CCC

CCC — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:39:59 +0000

As a Texas Tech Graduate who was very close with the football program, its staff, players, and coaches, I have witnessed James' and Leach's behaviors and I have to say that James' statement couldn't be further from the truth.
James disregarded practice etiquett, was lazy and unusually entitled and the coaches constantly had a hard time disciplining him. Mike Leach is very well known to be a football coach unlike any other in the sense that he hardly looses his temper, rarely raises his voice, and does not utilize gross punishments in any sort of sense.

By: bcuban

bcuban — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:23:51 +0000

This is more than moaning and whining, the alleged tatics(if true) are akin to torture..

By: bcuban

bcuban — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:18:25 +0000

I think the last thing Tech was concerned about was the percentages of allies and enemies. They were thinking in a much bigger picture than Mike Leach and Tech Football-as they should have been