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Probably everybody now knows that Mike Leach, head coach at Texas Tech, was fired today. The allegations were that Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, was punished by spending time secluded in electrical closets and equipment rooms. Yes, this is bad. But ... another side of the story reveals that Adam James is in fact a spoiled little obstinate brat who probably didn't deserve the opportunity he'd been given in the first place.

http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/ ... 2/19238949

My take on this story - if Adam James, even with his apparently horrendous attitude, were not the son of a prominent ESPN analyst, this would have been a non-story, allegations would have been handled internally, and the most interesting character in college coaching would be around for more years to come. Of course, the attitude may be the effect, and the cause may be that his father is a prominent figure.

Add to that ... if Leach were coaching tomorrow, TTU would owe him $800,000. Interesting timing of the firing to say the least. I feel Texas Tech rushed to decisions, did not give Mike Leach due process, and they are losing a gem they did not know they had. Yes, Leach made some mistakes and could have handled the situation and the communications over the internal probe of the program better, but I fault an obstinate little brat, a prominent ESPN talking head, and a rushed decision more than anything in the firing of Leach. Nobody has done more for the football program at Texas Tech in history than Mike Leach.

MarkL wrote:
My take on this story - if Adam James, even with his apparently horrendous attitude, were not the son of a prominent ESPN analyst, this would have been a non-story, allegations would have been handled internally, and the most interesting character in college coaching would be around for more years to come.

Disagree, same thing happened at Kansas, and there the players fathers were not famous like this player's father is in this story. Its 2009, and with all the 24 hour news and sports channel this stuff will get out, no matter if the player's father is famous or not. It might not come out right away, but it'll get out

MarkL wrote:Probably everybody now knows that Mike Leach, head coach at Texas Tech, was fired today. The allegations were that Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, was punished by spending time secluded in electrical closets and equipment rooms. Yes, this is bad. But ... another side of the story reveals that Adam James is in fact a spoiled little obstinate brat who probably didn't deserve the opportunity he'd been given in the first place.

http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.com/ ... 2/19238949

My take on this story - if Adam James, even with his apparently horrendous attitude, were not the son of a prominent ESPN analyst, this would have been a non-story, allegations would have been handled internally, and the most interesting character in college coaching would be around for more years to come. Of course, the attitude may be the effect, and the cause may be that his father is a prominent figure.

Add to that ... if Leach were coaching tomorrow, TTU would owe him $800,000. Interesting timing of the firing to say the least. I feel Texas Tech rushed to decisions, did not give Mike Leach due process, and they are losing a gem they did not know they had. Yes, Leach made some mistakes and could have handled the situation and the communications over the internal probe of the program better, but I fault an obstinate little brat, a prominent ESPN talking head, and a rushed decision more than anything in the firing of Leach. Nobody has done more for the football program at Texas Tech in history than Mike Leach.

TL;DR... sorry.

But his dad's an uber-douche, too.

Just had to throw that in there.

I am afraid with this happening at TT and Kansas, players are going be crying foul every time something doesn't go there way.

MarkL wrote:Add to that ... if Leach were coaching tomorrow, TTU would owe him $800,000. Interesting timing of the firing to say the least.

But Leach also has a clause that pays him $400,000 for each year remaining on his contract if he's fired. He just signed a five-year extension, so this isn't exactly a financial win for the university.

And it cannot be stated enough. James' father is in the D-bag hall of fame.

1987alum wrote:

MarkL wrote:Add to that ... if Leach were coaching tomorrow, TTU would owe him $800,000. Interesting timing of the firing to say the least.

But Leach also has a clause that pays him $400,000 for each year remaining on his contract if he's fired. He just signed a five-year extension, so this isn't exactly a financial win for the university.

And it cannot be stated enough. James' father is in the D-bag hall of fame.

From what I read, they fired him for "cause" and that voided the $400,000 buyout.

I'm going to wait until this all plays out to comment, but the lady at the TTU-MSU bowl game with the sign supporting the coach and Adam's name in the middle of the sign needs to be locked away IMHO.

Here is a video of the "shed" and the "electrical closet". I've seen some schools that don't have a training room that nice and that is NO exageration!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Q_5nYwWLU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My detailed, informed, articulate thoughts on the matter are this:

1. The general opinion of Adam James is that he was a lazy, uncooperative leech (not Leach) on the team.
2. Mike Leach (not leech) always seemed a little bit unstable to me, and I am definitely never okay with anything that is even a small punishment for a player being injured. It happened to me when I played football, and I will never be ok with that concept.
3. It appears the school and boosters had already put plans in motion that would make it easy to get rid of Leach long before this incident happened.

So, in short, everybody was a bit of an AZZ-hole in this one.