re: Texas Tech fans turn on Adam James

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At some point such fans will have to decide whether they are fans of Texas Tech football, or fans of Mike Leach.

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This is not a perfect analogy but imagine it's late December of 2004 and a rarely used player, whose daddy had been politicking for more playing time for his son, makes a disputed claim that Nick Saban "abused" him, a charge which after a quick internal investigation of 1 day was accepted by the LSU administration which then summarily fired Saban, LSU's most successful coach in over four decades, three days before the Tigers were to play in the CapOne Bowl.

How do you imagine Tiger fans would have reacted?

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I ask the question why do so many of you continue to support Leach when the team is backing Adam James?

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i know this wasn't directed at me,but Im gonna take a shot

because Leach is GONE, nothing is gonna change that fact,he might win the lawsuit and get a nice payout but he will not be the head coach.


and the current players know this. They might have been told by the coaching staff to close ranks

now FORMER players, those with no dog in the hunt seem to support Leach, is that blind loyalty OR are they is a better position to speak the truth.

if Leach was THAT much of an a-hole I would think they would be more examples of this type of behavior.I have yet to hear of any,, but this thing is going to be going on for a while so ,, who knows what might be next.

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His teammates who know a hell of alot more than you ever will about this situation seems to disagree.
I ask the question why do so many of you continue to support Leach when the team is backing Adam James?

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But his former teammates who can speak freely are not supporting him and describe him as a goldbrick and a slacker:

To Whom It May Concern:

Texas Tech University and the athletic department is filled with great people from the top down, starting with the chancellor all the way down to the student athletes involved in the programs. In the football program, Gerald Myers and the rest of the administration have put together an unbelievable staff that believe success only comes from hard work and doing things right. The staff expects the players and everyone involved to buy into their beliefs, but like anywhere not every player agrees with or buys into what the coaches and program stand for. At Texas Tech the majority of the players do everything the coaches ask of them and anything possible to improve the team. Adam James is one of the few players who has never bought into what Texas Tech football was built on and in my years there with him had a negative impact on the team because of his attitude and work ethic on and off the field. Coach Leach demands a lot out of every player in the program and pushed his players and coaches as hard as any coach I have ever been around, but he is fair to every player and would never make and decision or action that is not best for the Texas Tech football program.

Before Adam James ever entered the football locker room at Texas Tech I heard how spoiled and selfish he acted in a team atmosphere from many of my baseball friends. Adam was on the baseball team his true freshman year at Tech, before he ever joined the football team, and did not make it through the baseball season because of his selfish attitude. After a baseball game in which he felt like he did not get enough playing time, but the team still won twenty to one, he came into the locker room after the game and “pouted and threw a big fit” according another player on the baseball team. A few weeks later in the middle of the season, he just stopped showing up to practices or game and quit because he was not happy about how he was being treated. One of my roommates was a baseball player on the team and many of my friends were a part of the team that witnessed all of this. These baseball players told me he was “spoiled and selfish” before he ever came to the football team. After quitting baseball he came out for football and his selfish attitude was very evident, as was his laziness. During off-season workouts he often would be caught skipping lifts in the weight room or finding ways to cut corners/get out of conditioning exercises. When we had player organized seven on seven throwing in the summer, when he would show up he was much more interested in playing his own games on the side of the field or telling people that he wasn’t going to run any routes because the coaches do not get him a “fair opportunity” anyway. During the season he was often “injured” (it usually seemed like a very minor injury that could keep him out of practice but never out of any other activity, including games) so he would not participate in some drills in practice. None of these acts were productive for our team, but the most detrimental part of Adam was his off field attitude and actions. In the locker room and away from the facility, Adam used any opportunity he had to tell other players how he was being treated unfairly, how the coaches did not give him a fair chance and how we did not have to do everything the coaches told us because they had no option but to play some of us. When I heard these kinds of things I usually tried to put an end to them but Adam pretty consistently talked bad about the coaches or down played the importance of working hard, when he was off the field. When he talked to young players or players that were usually on the scout he would explain how the coaches were not fair to certain players and only played favorites. When he talked to players that did get some playing time he would talk about how we didn’t really have to do what the coaches asked of us because the coaches had to play us anyway. And it almost always tied back to how he was not getting a fair chance to play just because the coaches were unfair. The coaches were always more than fair to Adam I felt, because he came in the game during certain formations and situations last football season, but because of his work ethic and attitude, many of the players on last years team had a hard time trusting him or relying on him because he was not always practicing and we had seen his laziness during the off-season. Adam was a kid that seemed like he had been given everything he wanted his whole life and acted like if things did not go exactly how he wanted someone was treating him unfairly or someone needed to be blamed for his failures. He was a selfish player on and off the field that was counter-productive for our team and would be for any other team.

Mike Leach was not only my head coach, but he was my position coach all five of my years at Texas Tech. I spent more time with him than any other player during my five years and had meetings with him every day. He was very hard on me and every other player in program and he held very high expectations for every player. He would push us all every day during the season and during the off-season. He felt that hard work, dedication and doing things right was the only way we could be successful and compete in the Big XII conference. He worked harder and longer than anyone else in program and was committed to winning at all cost. He would never have been unfair to a player or not played the best players he had because he wanted to win more than anything else. Coach Leach also expected us to be tough but smart at the same time. He would not pressure a kid to play with a serious injury or play when he did not feel ready to play. Coach Leach is a man that cares about his player and puts his players, coaches and the well being of the Texas Tech football program above all else.

Coach Leach is a great coach at Texas Tech that emphasizes the importance of hard work and doing things the right way so that the football program has the best opportunity possible to be successful. He, along with the administration and the rest of his staff, have built a great football program at Texas Tech that is built on the virtues and principles that give any program an opportunity to be successful. Every single player may not buy into the program’s beliefs, but Mike Leach has almost everyone on board with him and the Texas Tech football program on a successful track.

Graham Harrell

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now FORMER players, those with no dog in the hunt seem to support Leach, is that blind loyalty OR are they is a better position to speak the truth.

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Boom.

Sounds like alot of players are little vags on that team.

1. there are still plenty of players that support Leach despite what ESPN tells.

2. who gives a shite if they didn't like him anyway? Fact is they won a lot of games under him. They don't have to like him.

Exactly. Alot of them don't want to work hard and earn their keep which has become more and more of a problem over the years. We need more coaches like Bear Bryant nowadays - "I don't give a damn what all-conference bullshite you were in high school, this is college football."

This reminds me of the Perrilloux deal now. People on both sides trashing each other.

Mike Leach got fired for what Mike Leach did, not what James did, not what people on an internet site think.

Go file an injunction on your employer and see if you have a job. Leach played the game and lost. He thought he was bigger than Tech.

damn

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So the players that have either defended James or alluded to a "final straw" are the ones that don't work hard or earn their keep.

How do you know that?

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2 of the first that came to his aid were 3rd stringers at best. Maybe if they had spent more time working hard and less time bitching, they might have actually done something with themselves instead of occupying a scholarship.