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With no intention of excessive insensitivity (I’ve been known to in-sensitize), only Mike Leach can manage to steal the media thunder from Urban Meyer, lord of a much bigger, badder football program. With Leach, his monotonous tone, and deadpan delivery belies an interesting, captivating, yet polarizing sports figure that has carved out a niche in the sports world, that can only be described as an eccentric personality that eventually became larger than life. Eventually he became larger than Texas Tech University, the school that gave him his first big break. Rubbing elbows with the likes of Donald Trump, and touting a quirky, over-stated obsession with pirates have indeed led Mike Leach to the headlines of the New York Times, ESPN, and Wikipedia. Like Brett Favre to the Green Bay Packers, Mike Leach put Lubbock, Texas on the map of collegiate Division I (excuse me, FBS or Football Bowl Subdivision) football. Whereas Favre resuscitated a once proud program, Leach actually created a legacy at Texas Tech. While the paint had not dried yet from the transition of the Southwest Conference to the Big XII, hard-nosed defensive football coupled with a power running game still dominated the landscape of Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, and yes even Texas Tech football.

Bringing a knife to a gun fight, Leach’s hire as head coach in 2000 signaled the end of power running, and the beginning of the spread offense. Five receiver sets, wide splits along the offensive line, aggressively going for it on 4th down even on their own 5-yard line, Red Raider football was never the same again. As the knife in said gun fight, Leach’s innovations and “break from the pack” football philosophy provided Texas Tech with a unique identity that allowed them to expand their recruiting power beyond West Texas, and gave the Red Raiders the opportunity to climb out of the shadows of their older, more prominent brothers in the Big XII. Soon it was the knife that was instilling conserved fear into the group of guns with its weird formations, its pass-happy offensive strategies, and speed at the skill positions. In short, ignoring my obsession with knife euphemisms, Mike Leach was the sole architect of Texas Tech’s football success in the last decade, and was one of the trail blazers for the spread offense that… spread like a fad throughout the nation’s university football programs.

His accolades extend from consistently producing the top-ranked offenses annually, to rewriting NCAA record books with number-ladened QBs of heavy stats made for video games much less college football. It comes as no coincidence that Texas Tech enjoyed its best season ever in 2008, when Mike Leach was simply at his peak. Armed with a blue-chip veteran QB in Graham Harrell, and a superstar WR in Michael Crabtree, the Red Raiders fielded a team habitually potent on offense but finally also stout on defense to roll to an 11-2 season that had them ranked as high as number two in the polls, on the heels of knocking off the number one Texas Longhorns. Unfortunately every fodder for True Hollywood Story or Outside the Lines needs a fall from the precipice of success.

Leach’s recent suspension trumped by his subsequent firing have led the sports headlines for the week leading up to the not-so-much-anticipated-minor-bowl game against Michigan State. While many stories have surfaced, and many more are familiar with the outliers of a situation that few truly know about but everyone will speculate regardless, Leach’s dismissal effectively draws a line in the sand. Team Jacob or Team Edward? I mean Team Red Raider? or Team Leach? Let’s just say what we do know, and what we do not know, still fail to add up to the media-filled pie fed to the general public.

The closest analogy comes from Coach Mark Mangino, who facing similar charges but from many and less famous players, was forced to resign with a 3 million dollar buyout from Kansas University, two years after winning national coach of the year honors for leading Kansas to a BCS bowl. Kansas may have eventually fired Mangino, if the accusations were credible, and Mangino refused to resign. In that vein of thought, Texas Tech would have had to also force resignation on Leach if the accusations were credible. The difference is a matter of Kansas’ source of accusations from many compared to Texas Tech’s sole grievance in Adam James (famously beaten to the ground by now, the son of former NFL player/ESPN analyst Craig James). Sometimes the faceless many lend the same credibility to the famous face of one. In this case, my reluctance lies with Texas Tech’s fast moves in regard to this issue. Whether or not Kansas football flourishes, its basketball program takes most of the glory. Texas Tech has no elite basketball program (with or without Bob Knight), in a state feverish of high school football, UT/TAMU football, and Dallas Cowboys football. In a football state, a rising program will find every avenue to accommodate the mastermind that fostered relevancy, national relevancy to Texas Tech football.

So why the personal suspicion? As much as Mike Leach would be mistaken to risk a multi-million dollar salary to appease an ego, Texas Tech University would be even more repressed to alienate the man behind the curtain that has brought so much fortune and monetary fortune to the forgotten runt of the Big XII South. Yes, I for one along with diehard Red Raider fans are forever grateful that he made Texas Tech football matter, but although the exact details of this story have not surfaced, I find it hard to believe that a 2nd string (at best) or 3rd string (at worse) receiver can bring down the man bigger than the program itself. As sure as Tiger Woods likes blondes, Adam James is a scapegoat. Texas Tech risks hundreds of millions of dollars in getting rid of Mike Leach. Mike Leach risks 12.7 million over 5 years for indiscretions of the ego (again if such accusations are credible), but in a society of short memories and quicker forgiveness, he will get another coaching opportunity. Rick Neuheisel, Kelvin Sampson, Lane Kiffin, Ron Zook, and Bob Knight to name a few, are/were embattled coaches who did/will get their second chance. To crudely reference economics 101: when there is demand, supply can screw up, but as long as they can recruit and coach, there will be an economic equilibrium of price and quantity. Something like that.

I truly believe there were other issues at play, other major issues in relation to player treatment, or perhaps a different matter altogether that would lead to the Waterloo of Leach seen today. It makes no sense for a major university to handicap its profit-making football program for the next five years over an individual (read: individual, not team) complaint against the head coach. The weirdest thing of all, is the lack of support from current players, and the equally schizophrenic response from the interim coach/defensive coordinator:

- Ruffin McNeill said he was shocked when he learned of the firing — and he lobbied to be Leach’s permanent replacement.

“I’m very interested in the job,” he said. “I think that’s a double yes, with some exclamation marks.” –

Wow, McNeill… opportunistic much? I can’t say I blame him, but the bipolar support for a friend/lobbying for his job sours the bacon frying in this pot. So while current players revel and sing “ding-dong the witch is dead”, and former players rightfully come to the defense of Captain Leach, the whole ordeal begs for the assumption that what we hear/read on the surface is barely the tip of the proverbially weird and interesting iceberg. The fact that current players don’t bat an eye that their skipper is terminated, and no outbursts to burn James at the stake (not considering the rabid fan base), all contribute to my growing reluctance that this was only an isolated incident that was the sole reason Texas Tech fired Mike Leach.

Where do we go from here? Specifically, where do I go from here in spewing out constant nonsensical nonsense in a manner befit of Perez Hilton? I digress. Mike Leach will be in demand at a school slightly less in stature of Texas Tech while the stench of the supposed scandal still permeates. A more established program could conceivably take a shot at him, but that remains to be seen. He will inject immediate buzz and depending on the leftover pool of talent, a quick turnaround to any struggling football program. In 3-5 years, his recruiting class will be fully implemented and we will see a retread of that exciting offense much beloved in Lubbock, Texas for the last ten years.

Once the smoke clears, Texas Tech University can still attract a solid if not spectacular coaching candidate. Consider the fact that if there was the possibility of NCAA sanctions against the school, by taking a proactive approach and ousting the source of wrongdoing, Texas Tech preemptively allows itself to come out of this situation relatively unscathed. Especially with the multitudes of current players voicing approval of Leach’s ousting, this will not hurt potential coaching candidates. They won’t get an Urban-Meyer-caliber coaching candidate, but this is still a major school in a major conference smack dab in the middle of fertile-blue-chip-football-country. The ideal recourse is to hire a coach familiar with the same spread offense that Mike Leach employs. From Art Briles, to Kevin Sumlin, to Dana Holgorsen, to Sonny Dykes, to Robert Anae, there are many choices to fill the big shoes of Coach Leach. Former prominent coaches on the outside looking in for a job (personal fantasy, don’t read too much into it) like say Tommy Tuberville, who did experiment in epic failure with the spread offense in Auburn last season, could be enticed to tap into the vast resources of a major Texas university. However the best action for Tech in my overrated opinion is to stay in the comfortable confines of the spread offense as the players tailored for this particular philosophy are already here.

In truth, as a fan of Texas Tech football, Mike Leach brought life (albeit unique but wonderfully different) to a program in need of an identity. Now that he has nursed this once fledgling-whipping-boy football team to national recognition, the circumstances of his dismissal while unsubstantiated in detail, should not shroud his accomplishments. That being said, if he is not at fault, and Texas Tech indeed made rash decision based on false accusations, then he will still find another coaching job, and Texas Tech will regress in football relevancy until the next coach comes along. If Texas Tech had probable cause, probable reason to terminate Leach, then they had to do what was possible to stop a leak, that would have only eventually flooded into a storm of controversy. The smoking gun, I repeat, is the lack of support from his own current players. You cannot expect beloved Texas Tech greats, Wes Welker or Graham Harrell to volley criticism at a former coach, when by doing so would solve nothing. Logic also mildly suggests that while the focus is on player treatment, and former Red Raiders vehemently deny any mistreatments from Coach Leach, that the smoke billows from another source of suspicion. That is, if Texas Tech indeed had reason to fire Leach aside from player mistreatment, then no one much less former players are truly aware of the situation.

Analogous to Brett Favre’s unfortunate divorce from the Green Bay Packers, you invariably will always have the mass taking sides. In this case, you either supported Brett Favre the man, or Green Bay Packers the team. Do we root for laundry, or root for the hairy man behind said laundry? A subject prudent for another time, but for now in light of the media turmoil around Favre’s third team, a division rival no less, I can confidently say that his fan base shrinks with every cunning manipulation of public opinion through the media. One man does not define a team. As much as Favre has done for the Green Bay Packers, and as much rope should be afforded to his legend, long after his bust is gleaming in Canton, Ohio; the Packers still have games to play without him.

As much as Mike Leach has done for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and as much rope should be afforded to his legend, long after his country-singer-Vince-Gill-doppleganger-mug is coaching on the West Coast; the Red Raiders still have games to play without him. I wish I could boycott Texas Tech in support of Leach and refuse to pay a dime to my alma mater, but alas they have already taken 100 Gs from me in pursuit of an undergraduate degree. It also does not behoove me to go into job interviews and reference my Mike Leach degree in piracy/closet despotism to future employers.

Sincere best wishes to Mike Leach and his subsequent prospects. The legend will precede the man, and will serve him well in spite of questionable variables. Rick Neuheisel, Kelvin Sampson, Lane Kiffin, Ron Zook, and Bob Knight are still kicking, and Coach Leach will be OK. The programs left in their wake will eventually recover: Washington (still waiting), Oklahoma (any day now), Oakland Raiders (don’t start with that can of worms), Tennessee (work in progress), Florida (Urban Meyer?), and Indiana (well Kelvin Sampson pushed them back five more years right when they were just recovering) should see sunnier days once that knight in team-sponsored-polo-short-sleeved-shirt comes waltzing onto the field. I just hope Texas Tech’s days in the sun aren’t forever tainted by the winds of controversy.

Wreck’em