Big time college football is among the most byzantine sports enterprises in the world.
This is the game where the national championship is decided by a computer, after all. Its weird machinations make Major League Baseball look positively transparent.
One of college football's most bizarre affairs in recent memory unfolded last week when Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach was fired by the university after allegations surfaced that he had abused one of his injured players.
What should have been an exciting week for Red Raider fans as their team prepared to play the Michigan State Spartans in the Velaro Alamo Bowl quickly devolved into a public relations nightmare for all concerned.
Mike Leach is probably the game's most unorthodox and innovative coach. His methods are so unusual, he was profiled in a New York Times Magazine cover story not long ago.
Leach may be different but he's highly successful, producing a consistent winner at a school famous for mediocre football teams. He went from a novelty act to a fan favorite in just a few years.
Adam James, the injured player in question, has a father who is also famous. Craig James is a popular ESPN football analyst. Before he went into the broadcast booth, Craig played in the NFL and before that, he was one of the fabled "Pony Express" at SMU together with Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson.
After Adam suffered a mild concussion earlier this season, he reportedly showed up at practice sporting shades and a nonchalant attitude. Leach spotted him and ordered athletic trainers to place Adam in a small unlit equipment shed while the team practiced.
Rather than speak directly to Leach about the incident, Craig James evidently complained to the university and an investigation ensued. When it was learned that the coach had indeed stuck Adam in the shed, Tech officials suspended Leach before demanding he sign a set of guidelines designed to prevent any future acts of abuse. These details were mysteriously leaked to ESPN.
Leach refused to sign then lawyered up and publicly threatened to sue Texas Tech to have his suspension lifted so he could coach the team in its bowl game. Fed up school officials canned Leach for insubordination.
Leach next went to the media in a poorly thought out PR effort aimed at refuting the charges. He claimed his firing was because he was due an $800,000 bonus. He denied he'd abused Adam and he accused the boy's father of using his celebrity status to constantly lobby Tech coaches to get more playing time for his son.
"Just because you have influence, power and a microphone in front of you doesn't mean that your son should have any more right to play than the other guys," said Leach.
Craig James dismissed Leach's charges as "absurd."
On the coach's first point about money, Texas Tech clearly wanted to keep him otherwise why offer the guidelines? On the second point, the team's head trainer appeared to confirm Adam James' side of the story in a sworn statement. As for the third point about Craig's lobbying on behalf of his son, there is uncertainty.
Leach's actions certainly looked like payback for the old man's alleged meddling. It was also petty and inexcusable, Leach's goal to humiliate the youngster before his teammates.
If Craig James was looking for his own payback, there was an unintended consequence. Poor Adam didn't know what humiliation was until last Saturday evening in San Antonio, where he was lustily booed by thousands of Mike Leach supporters, many of whom waved nasty signs castigating the kid and his dad.
In the aftermath, everyone was a loser. Leach is now radioactive because of his behavior toward the university. Tech will likely have a difficult time recruiting a quality coach who won't be worried that officials are prepared to interfere on a parent's say-so. Adam will probably never play another down at Texas Tech and he'll undoubtedly have trouble transferring into another top tier program.
The lesson for all? When you decide to go public, be careful what you ask for.
Oh yeah, Texas Tech beat Michigan State 41-31.
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Kevin
Foley is president of KEF
Media Associates, an Atlanta-based producer and distributor
of sponsored news content to television and radio media. He last wrote about a dust-up in the U.S. Senate in December.
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