More Leach - Some players support the firing

ckDOG

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Dec 11, 2007
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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls09/news/story?id=4781981

Some Texas Tech players believed the university's decision to dismiss Leach was appropriate.</p>

"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 said. "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."</p>

Wide receiver Tramain Swindall said he supported the decision to fire Leach.</p>

"I do agree and I'm supporting Adam and what he's doing because it's the right thing to do," Swindall told the AP in a telephone interview.</p>

Swindall said he believes Leach was at times out of line in how he treated players.</p>

"And so do most of the players," he said. "It wasn't just about Adam. It was always a negative vibe."</p>

</p>

Said cornerback Taylor Charbonnet: "The players make this team, not one coach. As Adam's friend, I didn't like it at all what [Leach] did. He was my brother and I didn't agree with it. I don't know why [Leach] did that. But I know we are fully behind [interim] coach Ruffin [McNeill]. We love him and support him."</p>
I wonder how many TT players share these opinions or if ESPN is spinning it. Anyhow, it's interesting at least to hear what a few of the players say. I'd like to hear more opinions from other players in addition as well as opinions from other TT coaches. It's strange to me how Mike Leach could be the ONLY coach on the staff to be punished from this. He couldn't have carried this out entirely by himself. Other coaches/trainers either had to object or assist.
 

Faustdog

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ckDOG said:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls09/news/story?id=4781981

Some Texas Tech players believed the university's decision to dismiss Leach was appropriate.</p>

"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 said. "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."</p>

Wide receiver Tramain Swindall said he supported the decision to fire Leach.</p>

"I do agree and I'm supporting Adam and what he's doing because it's the right thing to do," Swindall told the AP in a telephone interview.</p>

Swindall said he believes Leach was at times out of line in how he treated players.</p>

"And so do most of the players," he said. "It wasn't just about Adam. It was always a negative vibe."</p>

Said cornerback Taylor Charbonnet: "The players make this team, not one coach. As Adam's friend, I didn't like it at all what [Leach] did. He was my brother and I didn't agree with it. I don't know why [Leach] did that. But I know we are fully behind [interim] coach Ruffin [McNeill]. We love him and support him."</p>
I wonder how many TT players share these opinions or if ESPN is spinning it. Anyhow, it's interesting at least to hear what a few of the players say. I'd like to hear more opinions from other players in addition as well as opinions from other TT coaches. It's strange to me how Mike Leach could be the ONLY coach on the staff to be punished from this. He couldn't have carried this out entirely by himself. Other coaches/trainers either had to object or assist.
ESPN's coverage of this has been pitiful. Mike Leach got fired for putting the punk son of Craig James in time-out. ESPN picked the mildest of the criticisms of James from the CBS emails and didn't even mention Graham Harrell's comments or the comments of the assistant coaches. Adam James wasn't put in time-out because he was injured. He was put in time-out because he is a jackass who wouldn't do what he was told.

It sucks that pageant mom Craig James and his jackass son have won in this situation, and they've won because Craig works for ESPN.
 

Dawgfan61

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agreed with everything you said. Its sad that coaches and/or disciplinarians can be fired for putting kids in time out.
 

patdog

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I'm sure many Texas Tech players will be glad to be rid of a coach who rants about their "fat little girlfriends" and is such a control freak he bans them from Twitter. No doubt, James is a *****, but Leach isn't much better either.
 

TBonewannabe

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I can see it now " Had a great game against LSU, got 600 in hand shake money". And yes there probably are players dumb enough to twitter that.
 

Dawgfan61

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but I didn't sign a scholarship to play for him. If they do not like Leach's rules they don't have to stay there are transfer rules in place for a reason.
 

DancingRabbit

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Bobby Knight. He was a bit of a control freak. His discipline was sometimes considered unorthodox, no?

Myers and/or a couple TT cigar boys obviously hate Leach. He put them on the map and they wouldn't give him a contract last year. Took an uprising of their fanbase to get Myers to come up with a competitive offer.

He probably is a douche, but a lot of coaches are douches. If Craig James seriously threatened legal action against TT then I can maybe agree with how Myers handled this.

<font size="-1">Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers insisted Tuesday that Bob Knight did nothing wrong when he "quickly lifted" the chin of Michael Prince in the latest clash between the hot-tempered coach and a player.</font>

<font size="-1">Prince and his parents also defended Knight, who confronted the forward and pushed his chin upward, as if to make him look the coach in the eye, during a timeout late in the Red Raiders' 86-74 victory against Gardner-Webb on Monday night.</font></p>

<font size="-1">"Coach Knight did not slap Michael," Myers said in a statement. "Michael came off the court with his head down and coach Knight quickly lifted Michael's chin and said, 'Hold your head up and don't worry about your mistakes. Just play the game."'</font></p>

<font size="-1">Knight, with a history of chair-throwing, referee baiting and run-ins with school officials, was not available for comment Tuesday.</font></p>

<font size="-1">Prince told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal after Monday's game that what happened with the coach "was nothing."</font></p>

<font size="-1">"He was trying to teach me and I had my head down, so he raised my chin up," said Prince, who was seen moving his jaw around as he sat on the bench after the confrontation. "He was telling me to go out there and don't be afraid to make mistakes. He said I was being too hard on myself."</font></p>

<font size="-1">Prince's mother, Suzette Prince, told the Avalanche-Journal she and her husband, Mike, were sitting across from the Tech bench and she doesn't feel this should be an issue.</font></p>

<font size="-1">"We talked with Michael and he had just committed two fouls in a row," Suzette Prince said. "He told us that Coach Knight was asking him if he's ready to play. He said they needed him ready to play."</font></p>

<font size="-1">She said she didn't think Knight should be reprimanded.</font></p>

<font size="-1">Knight gave a brief statement at the postgame news conference then answered one question before exiting the room, but the episode with Prince was never addressed.</font></p>

<font size="-1">It was win No. 871 for Knight, who is five shy of tying Adolph Rupp for second place on the career list. He needs nine more victories to surpass Dean Smith for the most victories in Division I history.</font></p>

<font size="-1">Knight's career has featured three national championships, all at Indiana, but plenty of outbursts.</font></p>

<font size="-1">In 1992, Knight kicked a chair on the bench while son Pat, then a player for him at Indiana and now his assistant and successor-to-be at Texas Tech, was sitting in it. When fans behind the team bench booed, Knight turned and responded with an obscenity.</font></p>

<font size="-1">He was accused of grabbing a player by the throat during a practice in 1997, an episode that was caught on videotape and created the whirlwind that eventually led to his firing from Indiana in September 2000.</font></p>

<font size="-1">Knight was fired for what Indiana officials called a violation of a zero-tolerance behavior policy shortly after he grabbed the arm of a student who greeted him on campus by saying "Hey, what's up, Knight?"</font></p>

<font size="-1">His most infamous moment came in a game against Purdue in 1985, when he threw a chair across the court after being assessed a technical foul.</font></p>
 

hotdigitydog

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correct in that they haven't said one word about or quoted one of the players, ex players, or assistant coaches who supported Leach nor have they dared to say a negative thing about James' work habits, which from all accounts are horrible..Heck, even the WR coach came out and issued a statement regarding that issue.......If Craig James was soooo upset about this like he claims, he should've called Leach personally or went to see him and talked to him man to man and not run to the media like a *****......The analogy that someone gave earlier about playing for Bobby Knight is so true......If you can't stand the heat, get the hell out the kitchen......
 

MSUCostanza

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You are right on. This has nothing to do with Adam James. It has to do with the AD not liking that Mike Leach was running the show last year when he basically forced them to give him a new contract. They were looking for any little thing they could to shitcan him, so they blew this out of proportion, made up some ******** about Leach not cooperating, and used it as an excuse to fire him and get out of paying him the bonus he was to get today. Looks like Tech has a Templeton as their AD. I'm sure they'll be happy sharing the cellar with Baylor again as long as they don't have to pay their coach anything.
 

jakldawg

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and I'm not talking about overall records or championships. When it comes down to it, Bobby Knight is an old-school, straight up, pure coach. Leach is an unconventional nerd that happens to be a coach (which helps explain his universally liked status by the online masses). And like I've said before, there is nothing as hated in college athletics as things that go against the status quo.
A fellow nerd agrees with me: The Downfall of Different.
 

drunkernhelldawg

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It seems to me that he sticks up for them above all other considerations. I wouldn't say that about Leach. Leach seems more interested in just winning regardless of the cost to the individuals on his team. Knight seems to me to be more of a true teacher.