Texas Tech’s firing of football coach Mike Leach isn’t near the surprise the national media is making it out to be. The real shocker, especially to those who have been around the Big 12 since he arrived 10 years ago, is that Leach’s rebel-for-his-own-cause act lasted this long.
Winning a lot insulated him for quite a while.
Leach, the 13th head coach at Tech, has more wins (84) and the second-best winning percentage (.661) in the school’s 84-year football history. Advertising
In the early years, the quirky guy with the law degree from Pepperdine and the crazy Air Raid offense was a national media darling and a local folk hero.
Leach, whose coaching stops include Iowa Wesleyan and a club team in Finland, took great delight in ignoring the traditional axioms of successful football.
He passed nearly every play. He gambled on wild fourth-down chances. He called timeouts to try to change tempo like a basketball coach. He ran up the score. And he said about anything he wanted — out loud, too.
But it didn’t take long for those of us who wander the Big 12 to begin hearing that Leach’s iconoclastic behavior wasn’t limited to the football field.
Word was he was awful at the schmooze-the-boosters game. He didn’t just snub them. At some gatherings, he told them that they didn’t know what they were talking about. That’s a huge no-no.
In time, Leach’s “I don’t suffer fools’’ approach extended to the Tech administration, too.
His seemingly constant sniffing around for other jobs irked his bosses and led the agent community to refer to him as “Happy Feet.’’
Leach has been linked in the past with openings at Tennessee, Auburn, Illinois and UCLA. Two longtime coaching acquaintances told me that Leach nearly begged Miami of Florida to hire him. But no one ever did. Wonder why?
Then about a year ago, Leach injected himself into the coaching search at Washington without telling Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers.
During ensuing contract extension talks at Tech last winter, Myers wanted a clause inserted that any similar future act by Leach would be a fireable offense and would subject Leach to a $1.5 million penalty.
When Leach and Myers reached an impasse, personally and professionally, Tech Chancellor Kent Hance finished the five-year, $12.7 million deal. That occurred less than a day before a special meeting of the Tech Board of Regents to discuss Leach’s fate.
Leach’s response to the uneasily acrimonious situation that humiliated some of his superiors: “I have no regrets.’’
Moral to the story: You can poke your bosses with a stick for only so long, regardless of your success. For a recent example, see “Mark Mangino, University of Kansas, resigned under pressure, Nov. 2009.’’
Today, the talking heads are way too fixated on Leach’s alleged mistreatment of Red Raiders wide receiver Adam James as the main reason for the firing. The James allegation simply sets up a firing “for cause’’ case for Tech to try to avoid a big buyout.
It was Leach thumbing his nose at authority far too many times over far too many years that got us to this point.
Tech folks also squirmed uncomfortably over Leach regularly showing off for the media while his players — many of whom didn’t get near the national attention they deserved — were kept away from reporters and far from the spotlight.
Leach, who has chastised players for being prima donnas and glory hounds, posed for a Texas Monthly cover shot in September dressed in a pirate’s eye patch.
Leach, who has lambasted players for being lazy and not putting in the time needed to get better, spent the night before the Texas game this season filming a cameo for the TV show “Friday Night Lights.’’
And then there is this beauty of a story, recounted by former Minnesota coach Glen Mason to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Texas Tech and Minnesota were picked to play in the 2006 Insight Bowl. One of the perks was a trip to New York to promote the game and be present when Nasdaq opened on Wall Street.
Mason said Leach showed up for dinner at a fancy Manhattan restaurant wearing an Under Armour T-shirt, khakis and a sport coat. After dinner, Mason went back to his hotel, while Leach said he wanted to stay out a while.
The next morning, Mason said, Leach showed up at Nasdaq in the same clothes after an apparent all-nighter. Both head coaches and their athletic directors were asked to speak for about 30 seconds.
Leach went last. His comment: “I don’t have much to add. So as we say in Lubbock, ‘Guns Up!’” That led stock traders to dive for cover and security forces to come running.
That stuff is funny for a while. Then it grows stale. Eventually, it becomes embarrassing and reason to make changes.
Leach’s dismissal will cause nervous tension at Baylor.
Last winter, when it appeared Leach might get dumped, the hot replacement candidate was BU coach Art Briles, a Tech graduate and a former Red Raider assistant to Leach but with a much more benign personality.
Such a coaching move from one Big 12 South Division school to another would be a rare and surprising development.
But here’s the biggest surprise of all today:
Colorado’s Dan Hawkins is still a Big 12 football head coach, while Leach and Mangino aren’t.
Poster Comment:
Confession ... seems like my kinda guy ;-)