If Mike Leach....

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The only reason I'm not really high on Leach as potential coach is that we are in absolutely no position to hire a risky guy.

It's too bad, though. I think Leach could turn this program around, but the administration might be doing the right thing by trying someone else.

If, by some chance, Leach is hired. I would be quietly very optimistic about the football team's future. Bottom line: I really wish we were in a position to take a bit of a gamble on Leach; but after Brewster, risks won't fly around here.
 

What most of you are saying is it is more important to win (at any cost) and overlook that this guy is a piece of sh#T . He has abused his players and has been difficult to deal with......but that is ok? As long as he wins right? I don't think anyone will hire this crap guy, but we are that hard up will overlook that? Glad you guys think of the kids!
 

kearsm said:
What most of you are saying is it is more important to win (at any cost) and overlook that this guy is a piece of sh#T . He has abused his players and has been difficult to deal with......but that is ok? As long as he wins right? I don't think anyone will hire this crap guy, but we are that hard up will overlook that? Glad you guys think of the kids!
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Leach's only indiscretion involved a spoiled entitled son of a big time ESPN producer who had clout. There's a lot of question as to whether Leach even did anything wrong.

And that said, I have no patience with the "think of the children" nonsense. These guys are adults, and they're playing major college football. I'm very much in the camp of "as long as he wins" as long as he doesn't get us into a bunch of trouble a la Clem Haskins (or at least doesn't get caught.)
 

Let's not whitewash this, and say it was just being told to stand in a garage. The player had a concussion and was told not to practice. Leach punished him for not practicing with a concussion. It used to be thought that concussions were minor, but they are not. Bringing him on is risky. If you hire someone who has been involved in scandal, that can bring down an administration if it happens again. Bruininks and Maturi won't be here to deal with the mess if it blows up, their replacements will have to deal with it. And the local media will be unmerciful.
 

I started out opposed to Leach because of the incident with the James kid, but the more I think about it the more I like it.
 


RodentRampage said:
Let's not whitewash this, and say it was just being told to stand in a garage. The player had a concussion and was told not to practice. Leach punished him for not practicing with a concussion. It used to be thought that concussions were minor, but they are not.
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This is accurate. Also, the Texas Tech administration wanted Leach gone long before this incident. It was just the reason they could use to terminate his contract with cause, and avoid a huge buyout.
 

WAGopher said:
This is accurate. Also, the Texas Tech administration wanted Leach gone long before this incident. It was just the reason they could use to terminate his contract with cause, and avoid a huge buyout.
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Why did the administration want him out? Couldn't be for underachieving on the field...
 

discochris said:
Leach's only indiscretion involved a spoiled entitled son of a big time ESPN producer who had clout. There's a lot of question as to whether Leach even did anything wrong.

And that said, I have no patience with the "think of the children" nonsense. These guys are adults, and they're playing major college football. I'm very much in the camp of "as long as he wins" as long as he doesn't get us into a bunch of trouble a la Clem Haskins (or at least doesn't get caught.)
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If the players are treated badly they can easily throw the coach under the bus and not perform and the saga will continue.

By your comment above you appear to be an asshole
 

kearsm said:
If the players are treated badly they can easily throw the coach under the bus and not perform and the saga will continue.

By your comment above you appear to be an asshole
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Does that happen that often? Did guys like Leach (who is strange, but I don't think is an a-hole, or Mangino, who I DO think is an a-hole and who I don't want here) win games? How were their programs before they took over? How are they now?

Do you want to contend for championships, or do you want want a "nice guy?" If the two are exclusive of one another (not saying they are, but IF they were), which would you choose? Brewster was a nice guy. He was also a loser. Wacker was a nice guy. He was also a loser (at least here).

I'd choose winning championships with an ass for a coach.
 



MrGopher said:
Why did the administration want him out? Couldn't be for underachieving on the field...
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I think Leach and the Chancellor had a few run ins with each other. Also, there was some bad blood over Leach's salary and how that was negotiated in the media a few years before the whole James incident. I don't really remember the details.
 

discochris said:
Do you want to contend for championships, or do you want want a "nice guy?" If the two are exclusive of one another (not saying they are, but IF they were), which would you choose? Brewster was a nice guy. He was also a loser. Wacker was a nice guy. He was also a loser (at least here).

I'd choose winning championships with an ass for a coach.
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That's a false dichotomy. The choice is not limited to Leach or Brewster. There are plenty of good coaches out there who don't have problems with scandal.
 

discochris said:
I'd choose winning championships with an ass for a coach.
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Seems to be working for Wisconsin.


I'd be very happy to get Leach. He would instantly give us credibility and most important he can start right away. We don't want to have to wait until after bowl season to get the new coach in. If we were planning on that, we'd have waited until the end of the season to can Brewster. There are a lot of advantages to finding someone that can start in the next month. I doubt they will hire anyone before we quit playing games, but hopefully the day after.
 

Sparlimb said:
Seems to be working for Wisconsin.


I'd be very happy to get Leach. He would instantly give us credibility and most important he can start right away. We don't want to have to wait until after bowl season to get the new coach in. If we were planning on that, we'd have waited until the end of the season to can Brewster. There are a lot of advantages to finding someone that can start in the next month. I doubt they will hire anyone before we quit playing games, but hopefully the day after.
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championships...wisconsin???

BB has roughly two wins in games WI is not favored! (I didn't take the time to look that up though.)
 



RodentRampage said:
That's a false dichotomy. The choice is not limited to Leach or Brewster. There are plenty of good coaches out there who don't have problems with scandal.
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Note the capitalized word "IF" in my post.
I'm not saying that all good coaches have issues. I was just saying that if given the choice, I'd rather win championships with a jerk, than continue to wallow in mediocrity or worse as we've done for decades.
 

Leach = Bobby Knight in his prime. I would take Leach as a coach. Down here in Texas, the TT fans are pissed he is gone. The players thought he was to tough and he did have a few problems with the Chancellor. I can tell you one thing...the fans would love to have him back.


The only thing is, I believe his style of football would not work in the Big Ten.
 



RodentRampage said:
Let's not whitewash this, and say it was just being told to stand in a garage. The player had a concussion and was told not to practice. Leach punished him for not practicing with a concussion.
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I don't believe that is entirely accurate. According to Leach, he was told James could not practice because he had a concussion. Leach said fine. Then, (according to Leach) James showed up at practice with shades on and hat cocked, walking around laughing and distracting the other players. Leach told him to get off the field if he couldn't practice and it sort of degenerated from there. At least that is what I remember hearing.

I am far from condoning punishing a player for having a concussion, but I do believe there was more to the story here.
 

Iowasucks said:
Leach = Bobby Knight in his prime. I would take Leach as a coach. Down here in Texas, the TT fans are pissed he is gone. The players thought he was to tough and he did have a few problems with the Chancellor. I can tell you one thing...the fans would love to have him back.


The only thing is, I believe his style of football would not work in the Big Ten.
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First of all, you are on to something.... but I think the most telling sign was how supremely thrilled the people at Texas, A&M, Okla, and Nebraska were to find out he would be gone. The man showed that he didn't need their level of talent to beat those schools. Everyone down there knew he was on the cusp of winning the conference and becoming a regular player in that league.

Secondly, is there any evidence that he is inflexible as an offensive coach. Can he only run the spread, or would he be willing to tone down some of the spread aspects of his offense in order to succeed? He just seems like an eccentric, but really smart guy. I believe his quirky mind is capable of scheming up something that would work, if the spread really cannot.

And finally, ask yourself this. Who was the last coach able to get the absolute maximum out of his quarterback? I can't think of anyone. With him, we wouldn't need the most talented QB to have the best QB-play in the league. That's a rare and special thing.
 

monk10 said:
How does this solve our defensive issues? The Air Raid doesn't protect our defense by keeping it off the field. It tries to outscore the opponent early so that they become one dimensional and easier to defend. Unfortunately even in its hay day, it didn't provide the best defense is a good offense strategy.
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Scoring 40+ per game against every team that doesn't have an elite defense would help the defense out.
The best defense is a good offense.


People claim defense wins championships, scoring more than the other team wins championships.


If you actually watched Texas Tech football, you would see that TT did have a pretty solid defense his past couple of years. When you are scoring 35 points a game you don't need to hold the opponent to 7 points every week. He was under .500 in the Big 12 just once in 10 seasons.


People like to point out that you need to run and play defense to win the Big Ten. That certainly isn't what Purdue did to win their title with Brees. That isn't how Northwestern won a share in 2000. That isn't how Illinois went to the Rose Bowl with Juice Williams and a mediocre defense.
In college football, there are many ways you can win games. This is not the NFL. We are not playing games in December (if we do they are down south or in a dome).
 

RodentRampage said:
Let's not whitewash this, and say it was just being told to stand in a garage. The player had a concussion and was told not to practice. Leach punished him for not practicing with a concussion. It used to be thought that concussions were minor, but they are not. Bringing him on is risky. If you hire someone who has been involved in scandal, that can bring down an administration if it happens again. Bruininks and Maturi won't be here to deal with the mess if it blows up, their replacements will have to deal with it. And the local media will be unmerciful.
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Leach 'punished' him for being a nuisance. He was dicking around on the practice field with sunglasses and Leach didn't want him out there if he couldn't practice.. Got mad at the kid's "Sunlight triggers my concussion", and had him sit in the press room.

This only got the press it did because the kid just happened to be ESPN's prodigal son.

Many of Leach's players came out and vouched for him and his coaching. Behold, most loved him.
 

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