Former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was fired Dec. 30, after the family of receiver Adam James claimed that James had been mistreated by Leach while suffering from a concussion.
The timing of the dismissal was suspicious, as Leach would have been owed an $800,000 bonus for taking the team to a bowl game had the claim come out a day later.
The controversy surrounding the issue has divided Texas Tech fans — sort of.
Supporters of the embattled coach formed a 60,000 member-deep Facebook group called Team Leach, while there are two Team Adam James groups, both with just over 30 members.
Team Leach Facebook members all seem to have a fantastic sense of humor about a pretty serious event that had costly consequences.
They are passionate in their support for the Texas Tech football team and Leach.
On Thursday about 500 members of Team Leach met at Memorial Circle on the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock to protest their hero’s firing.
This clearly marks the ineffectiveness of protesting. If 500 protesting pirates cannot get answers or results, then what hope is there for anyone else?
But there is an issue in this debacle more devastating than the loss of a great football coach: the university rushed to judgment before all the facts were available.
The administration may have fired Leach with the best interests of the players in mind, but it seems there was no real investigation performed, smacking of a hidden agenda.
Add in the impending payout of Leach’s bonus and all that we can assume is that the school did not want to fulfill its end of the contract.
It appears as though the university was more concerned with money and not the welfare of the players.
Of course, that would be jumping to a conclusion.
The truth is that the facts surrounding the incident have not been properly investigated or made public.
James’ specific injury and Leach’s actions seem to be a mystery to everyone not directly involved.
No matter how many times you read or hear an official statement from the administration, the events seem confusing.
The only thing we know for sure is that Texas Tech’s head coach was obsessed with pirates.
Other schools need to learn from the controversy at Texas Tech. When something goes wrong, it should not take a student protest to find out the truth.
Administrations need to be open and accountable to their students.
It’s unfortunate, but at this point, it doesn’t matter if Leach was right or wrong; the only way he’ll set foot on Tech’s campus again is if he’s picking up his last paycheck.
Travis Hensley is a communication senior and may be reached at [email protected]
