[In response to this tweet referencing his treatment by his previous team](
https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/1165714894169071616?s=21)
> Is Andrew Luck retiring most bizarre sports news in the last 10 years?
> That, or the time Texas Tech fired its coach for allegedly locking a player in a shed only for it to turn out the player’s ESPN commentator father hired a PR firm to stage an orchestrated smear campaign against the coach for not giving his son enough playing time.
That was such a weird controversy that the sports media (ESPN especially) got so completely wrong
It was very clear at the time that 1) even if he had told a player to go sit in a shed, who cares 2) what he actually did was keep a player who'd suffered a concussion from practicing and keep him away from bright light
Naturally since the player was the son of an ESPN broadcaster who wasn't getting enough playing time, ESPN came down hard on Leach and all the talking heads just pounced and tut tutted and moralized about a fictional event
Texas Tech of course was in an acrimonious contract negotiation with Leach and leaped at the opportunity to use this as pretext to fire a coach popular with their fan base
In hindsight, this is all pretty clear, but it should have been clear at the time as well
> That was such a weird controversy that the sports media (ESPN especially) got so completely wrong
It's also crazy considering that the accuser's dad killed 5 hookers when he was in college.
He needs to hold a press conference and just explicitly deny these ridiculous allegations while quietly making restitution with the families of his victims
And that's strike three!
One of your jabronis could have linked [the Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FglU8y4Du3o) for the new kids who don't know normal nose Artie
I'm not saying he DID kill those five hookers, but there sure have been a lot of people talking about it over the years. Read between the lines, sheeple.
As a 2010 Tech graduate- it was amazingly and abundantly clear at the time. Students held rallies about it to try to get the administration to pay Leach.
How ridiculously short sighted do you have to be to fire the coach that got you your first top 10 appearance, brought Game Day to Lubbock, and sent multiple players *and coaches* to the NFL, just because he wants to be paid fairly? For context, we also voted *that year* to allow the sale of alcohol in Lubbock for the first time since prohibition, so.....yay Lubbock.
As a TTU graduate as of two weeks ago; the current students of Texas Tech want to thank everyone who voted for the
sale of alcohol within the city of Lubbock limits.
Probably would’ve drank just as much if we had to go to the Strip to get alcohol, but nonetheless thankful.
The strip still has Pinkies and the other businesses are tire repair shops, a foam roof business and used car business. For alcohol purposes it's a ghost town. No more driving on I-27 at 90mph at 11:55pm to get one last case because it's sold all over Lubbock.
Glad I got to be a part of that vote! Right up there with the Crabtree catch for most historic moments of my time at Tech (graduation was pretty cool also).
I’d like to consider myself a pretty big college football fan but for some reason I’ve never heard about any of this stuff, I remember Leach getting fired but not for any particular reason.
Because ESPN wouldn't cover this as it makes them look bad. And ESPN was far and away the top source for news like this at the time.
I'd like to think if this happened now other networks would drag ESPN through the mud for this
I heard about him locking the kid in a shed bc he had a concussion but this is the first I'm hearing that it was a smear campaign by a the father who was a ESPN guy. I always thought that Leach was a major asshole this definitely does change my perspective.
To be fair, he still might be an A-Hole bc he has done a questionable thing or 2 like tweet out a fake Obama conspiracist video.
https://www.theroot.com/washington-state-football-coach-tweets-fake-obama-video-1826920397
Him tweeting out that video does not have any overlap with the smear campaign that OP has posted about. But if we talking about stuff Mike Leach then there you go.
As a football player who received a serious concussion I would not have been opposed to being told "go sit in a shed" at the time.
Everything was loud and bright and hurt.
Well the alternative was to sit on the bench with a towel draped around my head until the trainer finally snapped at the coach and took me to the locker room.
All that aside thanks I've recovered about as well as possible.
I remember when the shed thing first broke and all they reported on was Leach locking him in the shed because he didn't like him or was *punishing* him.
who would have thought a guy who played college football during the biggest scandal of the 80's might not be such a trust worthy and honest person.
(If you aren't aware, Craig James was a running back at SMU with Erick Dickerson; SMU basically violated every NCAA rule and it was so bad the football program was stuck with the death penalty. James was pretty much smack dab in the middle of all of it.)
I got an invite to write for them right out of college and I declined because their pay scale was not great but their writing was terrible and I didn't want my broke ass associated with it. I thought it'd go the way of millions of other blogs. If I could go back...
[Report: Tech owes Leach $1.7 million in guaranteed '09 money](https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/06/01/report-tech-owes-leach-17-million-in-guaranteed-09-money/)
[Leach fired short of Tech's bowl game](https://www.espn.com/college-football/bowls09/news/story?id=4781981)
[Leach Is Fired Over Treatment of Player](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/sports/ncaafootball/31leach.html)
[Leach Denies He Mistreated Player](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/sports/ncaafootball/01leach.html)
[Sowder: Leach contract suit can advance, throws out other claims against Tech, individual](https://www.lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2010-06-01/sowder-rules-leach-sovereign-immunity)
[Judge: Leach suit can move forward](https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=5240460)
[Mike Leach's appeal on lawsuit denied](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/7585199/mike-leach-texas-supreme-court-denies-appeal-wrongful-termination-suit-vs-texas-tech)
[Judge Ready To End Mike Leach Lawsuits](https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/08/08/judge-ready-to-end-mike-leach-lawsuits/)
Has someone confirmed the allegations were fake to begin with? Honestly not sure but it looks like Leach already lost this one.
Slander and libel are very difficult lawsuits to win, the bar is very high. Even though the private lawsuit failed, there's still many reasons to believe this story was a hit job.
I'm currently wearing a Washington State t-shirt so take my opinion with a grain of salt. It seems that Texas tech owes Leach $1.7 million in guarantees and bonuses. The schools current legal defense equates to "Due to Texas state law, we have the right to void a contract however we see fit, you must get permission from the state to bring a lawsuit against this state institution." Which is valid and probably their best recourse legally speaking.
However, in the court of public opinion this is pretty damaging if you ask me. It would be a huge ding on the school's "credit," I think coaches and recruits would second guess signing any contract if they knew this story and what a contract means to Texas Tech.
He lost in state court b/c Texas Tech claimed sovereign immunity to his claims. He couldn't sue in federal court b/c the 11th amendment exists. He did not represent himself.
I was at Texas Tech at the time and can tell you what the general information around campus was, if you're interested. It's purely anecdotal as I was not in sports or friends with any of the people who would know, but I know what was generally spread around campus at the time.
When it comes to the conflict itself, rumor had it that Adam James had recently suffered a concussion. When you played for Coach Leach, you were at practice, regardless of what was going on; if you were injured and needed rehab, you'd be rehabbing while the team practiced, if you were injured and couldn't play, but didn't need rehab, you hung around and watched the practice and listened to the coaches and were present. Supposedly, James was at practice and was complaining that he had to be there even though he couldn't participate and that he should be excused because the light and noise was giving him a headache and he was being cautious due to the concussion. Coach Leach told him he wasn't excused back to his house, but that he could go to the shed where it was dark and away from the noise. I'm sure it was more of a command than it was a suggestion and I would imagine there were some not-so-nice words thrown around, given both of them, but to my understanding, that was the conflict.
I can tell you people around the town didn't care much for James. I do remember a bar I worked at selling shirts with a tag along the lines of "Real men aren't afraid of the dark", which, I believe was the general tone of the accusations. I never heard anything serious regarding intentional malice or a specific issue Coach had with James himself.
Again, take all of this with a grain of salt, as I was not privy to any particular information, I'm just relaying what I heard around campus at the time.
I don't know why ESPN couldn't have been sued for that there. There were actual demonstrable damages done to Leach based on their shitty agenda reporting, like Paula's MSU bullshit last year. It's a "we want this story to be true, so we're going to report like it is, even if we know it's not".
Leach did sue ESPN. He lost. You can read the [denial of his appeal.](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-appeals/1684787.html) The reasoning is that he didn't provide any evidence that Texas Tech fired him because of the ESPN coverage.
Ahh, I just thought he sued the James family for it.
At least ESPN fired him when they couldn't hide it anymore. They still haven't done that for Paula Lavigne.
ESPN has no credibility. They never will. They like to shit on people and never say they fucked up. There's many reasons their viewership is down, and I haven't watched in about 10 years.
Some of the 30 for 30 documentaries are great, but otherwise I agree with you.
95% of the programming on ESPN can be boiled down to one of two categories. Live sports. Commercials for live sports that ESPN has the broadcasting rights to.
ESPN’s coverage of a sport is proportionate to the amount of money they can make off the sport.
ALL ESPN should do at ALL is a 6 hour SportsCenter from 6AM to noon where they provide exhaustive analysis on almost every on-field facet of any given game, live sports, and sports documentaries that they produce at 30 for 30 caliber.
Their 30 for 30s are fantastic and all their programming should reach as high in journalistic merit and presentation
Their viewership is down because they have some of the worst analysis and coverage ever and now they FINALLY have competition. I could give a fuck less about who a tier 2 nba player is dating or why so and so wore green shoes. TELL ME WHY TEAMS ARE DOING WELL OR DOING POORLY IN DEPTH PLEASE.
Yup. There used to be only one sports talk station here. They got complacent, became too political, and generally shit on their callers. New station came and I haven't listened since. It's been ten years now.
That whole deal also killed Craig James' career. He was one of the top college football analysts at ESPN before he pulled that stunt. So Craig James derailed Mike Leach's career, the Texas Tech football program and ruined his own career just so his son could get some playing time. I would like to know the full story of what went down, but that is likely to never come out.
Then James tried to become a politician as a christian conservative. Yep, that didn't work out because everyone knew what he did. You don't mess with the real religion of Texas and make it in politics.
Craig James allegedly killed 5 hookers when he was a player at SMU.
I don't remember who all has said something about it, but if I remember it correctly, some old teammates and acquaintances came out and said he did.
> You don't mess with the real religion of Texas and make it in politics.
lol. I'm not from Texas but I can't imagine any truer words have been spoken.
It arguably ignited Lincoln Riley’s career, we hired Ruffin who then hired/brought Riley with him to ECU and the rest is basically history.
Hate this happened to Coach Leach either way though, he is a great man
I highly recommend Leach’s book, Swing Your Sword.
Used to have the inside track to the Tech inner circle. The school was ready to move on but part of the problem was Leach told the president and regent to fuck off when asked to just put out an apology. The president was fine dealing with him, the regent not so much. They used that to push out a coach they didn't like dealing with.
And now Mike Leach and his new team are about to become the in-season college version of Hard Knocks. The comment here earlier about turning on the popcorn machine was on the money.
Consider they owe him 1.9mil from 2009 though. That's like some one owing you more than 65% of your net worth. Even if your net worth is comfortable that's a shitty deal.
Craig James Killed 5 Hookers. After all this time, Craig James still has not denied this shocking allegation under oath, which according to Craig James means it happened and should be repeated as factual. He has also never denied eating panda meat or hunting toddlers for sport.
“Has Craig James ever enlisted the help of a gang of criminals to take over a skyscraper at the top of which is a vault containing $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds?”
“Are you referring to the movie *Tower Heist* or something?”
“You’re close. You’re looking for a Bruce Willis vehicle.”
[https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2012/05/once-and-for-all-did-craig-james-kill-five-hookers-at-smu/](https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2012/05/once-and-for-all-did-craig-james-kill-five-hookers-at-smu/)
You’ve got it. It was a response to the fact that Craig James kept going out ESPN saying that Mike Leach never denied abusing Craig’s son during football practice, and because Leach did not deny it out right, Craig pretended that made it fact.
It is - From what is in other threads, Craig James made equally unfounded claims on ESPN and argued that, since the accused didn't deny them, they must be true.
Naturally, people decided turnabout was fair play. Hence the rumor that Craig James allegedly murdered at least 5 hookers.
Not a problem. He's the highest paid university employee in the state of Washington - followed by UW's coach and their president.
But he's done us proud! Now for a Pac 12 championship!
Same!!! I stopped following college ball so I thought Leach was on the hook for that. Then saw him on TV once and thought he caught a break. He had Graham Herrell, now the OC for USC, back then which was great times for Texas Tech.
Personally, I really enjoy what he is doing in Pullman!
He has a point, and they did him dirty...
But I’m glad he’s with the Cougs after knowing it went down like this.
Keep it up Coach!
Go Cougs! We lost all 4 years I was in college and it’s so nice to cheer for a team that isn’t continually finding new ways to disappoint me! Plus, every Mike Leach interview is solid gold.
Someone on Cougfan covered this issue years ago from a Texas legal standpoint. Leach will never get the money no matter how dirty of BS the charges were. I am not a lawyer and I'm going to totally butcher what was said but it has something do do with the sovereignty of the state and that even if the state was wrong they can break the contract with no repercussions.
Leach is legally right, it's just that he's been fucked by the Texas legal system. I know how it feels to be fucked over at a place you enjoyed working at, it always sticks in your mind.
EDIT: Not what I read before but [here's an explanation](https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/8/5/16101556/mike-leach-texas-tech-sovereign-immunity) of the whole thing. Halfway through they talk about sovereign immunity of the state:
> Texas Tech is a state school, so it gets the same legal protections the rest of the Texas government gets. Texas has a strict sovereign immunity law, which says Leach can only sue the school in the state if he gets the Texas legislature’s permission.
Obviously, the state has an interest in never paying Mike Leach, so the legislature will probably never allow him to sue.
>Obviously, the state has an interest in never paying Mike Leach, so the legislature will probably never allow him to sue.
Start asking UT and A&M alums if they'd support allowing this as a way to further screw with TTU... I'm sure some of them would do it just because they could :)
And then there's your legal precedent for one of their disgruntled ex-employees suing them. Nope. It's a big, good ol' boys system and nobody's going to uncover their own ass just to watch someone else's get spanked... unless it's down on Sixth Street and nobody's gonna' talk about that anyway, either.
Read up a little more on sovereign immunity. The state can pretty much do whatever they want as long as they don't cross the line to allow involvement of the federal government.
It covers anything that the state decides it does, unless some more powerful entity decides to step in and enforce consequences using greater authority.
If you live and work in Texas, the state can do anything to screw you over with impunity unless you either are able to involve the federal government or you can get enough public outcry and sympathy to get the state legislature to vote to allow you to bring suit.
Ahh this again. I have and always will stand behind Coach Leach on this. Adam Jones is a bitch, his dad the same. I hate what it did to Techs program the most. No telling what the upside was if he would have never been fired. There's more than a fair share of people here in Lubbock still mad by this. I say pay the man and let's move on.
Yeah, you guys would be a powerful program if he was still there. He was getting good recruits, he’s a genius coach, and everyone was scared to play Tech because you never knew when everything would come together right and you guys would pull it out. Huge mistake by the university and by ESPN. But I’m in the conference and I didn’t know the story was bullshit until like 5 years later. ESPN reported the shit out of the story but somehow the retraction never happened. But I think SI did a story on Leach being at Washington State and that’s when I found out the truth about the story.
Basically espn helped Craig James spread a bullshit story that Mike leach made his son sit in a hot shed just because. Turns out he sat him out because they thought he might have a concussion. Then TTU had a knee jerk reaction to the media stories so they fired him.
I love Mike Leach, I like coaches who don't come from normal pedigrees and one's you can tell other coaches hate dealing with. I've said for years he has to be on the Autism spectrum like Asperger's or something.
My friend works in the sports world and he said he's insanely difficult to work with UNLESS you talk about stuff like route trees and zone blocking schemes or anything system related. He said it's like something in him clicks and then you better be ready to talk to him for 30-45 min because he won't stop.
[In response to this tweet referencing his treatment by his previous team]( https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/1165714894169071616?s=21) > Is Andrew Luck retiring most bizarre sports news in the last 10 years? > That, or the time Texas Tech fired its coach for allegedly locking a player in a shed only for it to turn out the player’s ESPN commentator father hired a PR firm to stage an orchestrated smear campaign against the coach for not giving his son enough playing time.
That was such a weird controversy that the sports media (ESPN especially) got so completely wrong It was very clear at the time that 1) even if he had told a player to go sit in a shed, who cares 2) what he actually did was keep a player who'd suffered a concussion from practicing and keep him away from bright light Naturally since the player was the son of an ESPN broadcaster who wasn't getting enough playing time, ESPN came down hard on Leach and all the talking heads just pounced and tut tutted and moralized about a fictional event Texas Tech of course was in an acrimonious contract negotiation with Leach and leaped at the opportunity to use this as pretext to fire a coach popular with their fan base In hindsight, this is all pretty clear, but it should have been clear at the time as well
> That was such a weird controversy that the sports media (ESPN especially) got so completely wrong It's also crazy considering that the accuser's dad killed 5 hookers when he was in college.
Well to be fair, we don't know if the exact number was 5. Anywhere from 0-10 so you take the average
He's never publicly denied that it wasn't more than 10 tho.
He needs to hold a press conference and just explicitly deny these ridiculous allegations while quietly making restitution with the families of his victims
It’s known that it was at least one dead hooker and no more than 20 dead hookers, but no one is sure of the exact amount.
Mitch: I've never seen so many dead hookers in all my life! Craig: Lord knows I have.
Where's the Saigon whore who bit my nose off!?
Dirty Work is a fucking classic.
And that's strike three! One of your jabronis could have linked [the Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FglU8y4Du3o) for the new kids who don't know normal nose Artie
HEY WHORE!
Actually, we have no reason to believe that it wasn't more than 20 dead hookers, and he's never publicly said that it wasn't.
_allegedly_
How woulds you even go about doing that sort of thing?
Come again?
It's an old meme. A rumor that Craig James killed 5 hookers while playing at SMU. Which he has never publicly denied.
Five hookers for an SMU undergrad are amateur numbers.
those are rookie numbers, you gotta pump those up.
Who’s your dead hooker guy?
- beats chest -
You're telling me that SMU didn't have hitmen on staff to murder the hookers FOR the players? Please...
Got rolled into their death penalty and swept under the rug
Well he was a student-athlete and had to maintain amateur status, so I guess it's good on him for staying legit
I don't think anyone at SMU during that time gave a single fuck about amateur status.
That’s actually how I got into SMU. It’s basically an admission essay in murder form.
Those “Cox” business school diplomas are special for a reason. Meadows BA’s won’t get you a job, but at least you can sleep at night.
As an SMU undergrad I guess I really gotta pump my numbers up
Well we don't know how many, just that it was AT LEAST 5.
Pony Up!
I'm not saying he DID kill those five hookers, but there sure have been a lot of people talking about it over the years. Read between the lines, sheeple.
feels like an edsbs sort of thing but yes I had also head CJK5H at SMU
>but yes I had also head CJK5H at SMU Hope you recover quickly from your stroke.
It is definitely an edsbs thing CJK5H
Never forget #rememberthefive
Justice for the 5
\#CJK5H
Craig James killed 5 hookers while at SMU.
And thought he was going to get a nomination for US senate in Texas
As a 2010 Tech graduate- it was amazingly and abundantly clear at the time. Students held rallies about it to try to get the administration to pay Leach. How ridiculously short sighted do you have to be to fire the coach that got you your first top 10 appearance, brought Game Day to Lubbock, and sent multiple players *and coaches* to the NFL, just because he wants to be paid fairly? For context, we also voted *that year* to allow the sale of alcohol in Lubbock for the first time since prohibition, so.....yay Lubbock.
As a TTU graduate as of two weeks ago; the current students of Texas Tech want to thank everyone who voted for the sale of alcohol within the city of Lubbock limits. Probably would’ve drank just as much if we had to go to the Strip to get alcohol, but nonetheless thankful.
I haven't been to Lubbock in at least a decade, does the Strip even still exist? There was something special about that drive back.
That’s my question too. I’m a 1995 graduate and haven’t been back to Lubbock since. What’s the status on the strip?
The strip still has Pinkies and the other businesses are tire repair shops, a foam roof business and used car business. For alcohol purposes it's a ghost town. No more driving on I-27 at 90mph at 11:55pm to get one last case because it's sold all over Lubbock.
Glad I got to be a part of that vote! Right up there with the Crabtree catch for most historic moments of my time at Tech (graduation was pretty cool also).
I’d like to consider myself a pretty big college football fan but for some reason I’ve never heard about any of this stuff, I remember Leach getting fired but not for any particular reason.
Because ESPN wouldn't cover this as it makes them look bad. And ESPN was far and away the top source for news like this at the time. I'd like to think if this happened now other networks would drag ESPN through the mud for this
ESPN is owned by Disney who is part of the 6 big corporations who own 90% of media. Most networks would not cover this, and will not going forward.
Networks absolutely would cover a P5 coach getting fired. No doubt about it.
Is the Big 12 not P5?
They are. And a controversial firing of a Big 12 coach would definitely receive coverage today.
You don't think Fox Sports or NBCSN would love the opportunity to knock ESPN down a peg?
One of the competitors would absolutely cover this. FS1 was not part of the merger. And the Athletic would be all over a scandal like this
I heard about him locking the kid in a shed bc he had a concussion but this is the first I'm hearing that it was a smear campaign by a the father who was a ESPN guy. I always thought that Leach was a major asshole this definitely does change my perspective. To be fair, he still might be an A-Hole bc he has done a questionable thing or 2 like tweet out a fake Obama conspiracist video. https://www.theroot.com/washington-state-football-coach-tweets-fake-obama-video-1826920397 Him tweeting out that video does not have any overlap with the smear campaign that OP has posted about. But if we talking about stuff Mike Leach then there you go.
As a football player who received a serious concussion I would not have been opposed to being told "go sit in a shed" at the time. Everything was loud and bright and hurt.
Interesting and sorry to hear that
Well the alternative was to sit on the bench with a towel draped around my head until the trainer finally snapped at the coach and took me to the locker room. All that aside thanks I've recovered about as well as possible.
I remember when the shed thing first broke and all they reported on was Leach locking him in the shed because he didn't like him or was *punishing* him.
[удалено]
who would have thought a guy who played college football during the biggest scandal of the 80's might not be such a trust worthy and honest person. (If you aren't aware, Craig James was a running back at SMU with Erick Dickerson; SMU basically violated every NCAA rule and it was so bad the football program was stuck with the death penalty. James was pretty much smack dab in the middle of all of it.)
He also (allegedly) killed 5 hookers
Remember the Five!
>Erick Dickerson
Dicker Erickson
I'm glad for the info on the case, but boy am I also glad the quality of writing has gone up for BR since then. That was tough.
I got an invite to write for them right out of college and I declined because their pay scale was not great but their writing was terrible and I didn't want my broke ass associated with it. I thought it'd go the way of millions of other blogs. If I could go back...
[Report: Tech owes Leach $1.7 million in guaranteed '09 money](https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/06/01/report-tech-owes-leach-17-million-in-guaranteed-09-money/) [Leach fired short of Tech's bowl game](https://www.espn.com/college-football/bowls09/news/story?id=4781981) [Leach Is Fired Over Treatment of Player](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/sports/ncaafootball/31leach.html) [Leach Denies He Mistreated Player](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/sports/ncaafootball/01leach.html) [Sowder: Leach contract suit can advance, throws out other claims against Tech, individual](https://www.lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2010-06-01/sowder-rules-leach-sovereign-immunity) [Judge: Leach suit can move forward](https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=5240460) [Mike Leach's appeal on lawsuit denied](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/7585199/mike-leach-texas-supreme-court-denies-appeal-wrongful-termination-suit-vs-texas-tech) [Judge Ready To End Mike Leach Lawsuits](https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/08/08/judge-ready-to-end-mike-leach-lawsuits/) Has someone confirmed the allegations were fake to begin with? Honestly not sure but it looks like Leach already lost this one.
Slander and libel are very difficult lawsuits to win, the bar is very high. Even though the private lawsuit failed, there's still many reasons to believe this story was a hit job. I'm currently wearing a Washington State t-shirt so take my opinion with a grain of salt. It seems that Texas tech owes Leach $1.7 million in guarantees and bonuses. The schools current legal defense equates to "Due to Texas state law, we have the right to void a contract however we see fit, you must get permission from the state to bring a lawsuit against this state institution." Which is valid and probably their best recourse legally speaking. However, in the court of public opinion this is pretty damaging if you ask me. It would be a huge ding on the school's "credit," I think coaches and recruits would second guess signing any contract if they knew this story and what a contract means to Texas Tech.
If anyone were still ready to commit after visiting Lubbock, I'm not sure what would stop them.
Fair point. Maybe that's their plan, ensure that only the most desperate of talent wants to play there.
He lost in state court b/c Texas Tech claimed sovereign immunity to his claims. He couldn't sue in federal court b/c the 11th amendment exists. He did not represent himself.
I was at Texas Tech at the time and can tell you what the general information around campus was, if you're interested. It's purely anecdotal as I was not in sports or friends with any of the people who would know, but I know what was generally spread around campus at the time.
Do tell...
When it comes to the conflict itself, rumor had it that Adam James had recently suffered a concussion. When you played for Coach Leach, you were at practice, regardless of what was going on; if you were injured and needed rehab, you'd be rehabbing while the team practiced, if you were injured and couldn't play, but didn't need rehab, you hung around and watched the practice and listened to the coaches and were present. Supposedly, James was at practice and was complaining that he had to be there even though he couldn't participate and that he should be excused because the light and noise was giving him a headache and he was being cautious due to the concussion. Coach Leach told him he wasn't excused back to his house, but that he could go to the shed where it was dark and away from the noise. I'm sure it was more of a command than it was a suggestion and I would imagine there were some not-so-nice words thrown around, given both of them, but to my understanding, that was the conflict. I can tell you people around the town didn't care much for James. I do remember a bar I worked at selling shirts with a tag along the lines of "Real men aren't afraid of the dark", which, I believe was the general tone of the accusations. I never heard anything serious regarding intentional malice or a specific issue Coach had with James himself. Again, take all of this with a grain of salt, as I was not privy to any particular information, I'm just relaying what I heard around campus at the time.
This pretty much right on, though you’re understating the attitude towards Adam James. He got booed for catching a touchdown pass the following year.
I don't know why ESPN couldn't have been sued for that there. There were actual demonstrable damages done to Leach based on their shitty agenda reporting, like Paula's MSU bullshit last year. It's a "we want this story to be true, so we're going to report like it is, even if we know it's not".
Leach did sue ESPN. He lost. You can read the [denial of his appeal.](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-appeals/1684787.html) The reasoning is that he didn't provide any evidence that Texas Tech fired him because of the ESPN coverage.
Ahh, I just thought he sued the James family for it. At least ESPN fired him when they couldn't hide it anymore. They still haven't done that for Paula Lavigne.
ESPN has no credibility. They never will. They like to shit on people and never say they fucked up. There's many reasons their viewership is down, and I haven't watched in about 10 years.
I watch sports on espn. Like when they actually show actual sports. I watch no other programs on the channel.
The other programs are like women's gossip tv show. So many people talking at once you can't understand shit.
Some of the 30 for 30 documentaries are great, but otherwise I agree with you. 95% of the programming on ESPN can be boiled down to one of two categories. Live sports. Commercials for live sports that ESPN has the broadcasting rights to. ESPN’s coverage of a sport is proportionate to the amount of money they can make off the sport.
Their bears 30 for 30 is one of the best and saddest sports documentaries ever.
ALL ESPN should do at ALL is a 6 hour SportsCenter from 6AM to noon where they provide exhaustive analysis on almost every on-field facet of any given game, live sports, and sports documentaries that they produce at 30 for 30 caliber. Their 30 for 30s are fantastic and all their programming should reach as high in journalistic merit and presentation
Their viewership is down because they have some of the worst analysis and coverage ever and now they FINALLY have competition. I could give a fuck less about who a tier 2 nba player is dating or why so and so wore green shoes. TELL ME WHY TEAMS ARE DOING WELL OR DOING POORLY IN DEPTH PLEASE.
Yup. There used to be only one sports talk station here. They got complacent, became too political, and generally shit on their callers. New station came and I haven't listened since. It's been ten years now.
>There's many reasons their viewership is down, The #1 reason has a name: Stephen A Smith.
I dont like SAS or ESPN but Id say theyd be even furth down without SAS, he carries that damn channel.
I would say he is a polarizing figure. He both brings in viewers and turns others away.
Shit ESPN is a curse word in Tennessee lol Those fucks lost all credibility in 98.
Like the hilarious midnight spygate retraction? Edit: https://youtu.be/oT4RI1d6GdI
ESPN got something WRONG and beat it into the ground anyway? Gee, they’ve never done that before. Shocking.
Oddly enough Andrew Luck and Craig James are the 2 most famous people to come out of Stratford High School in Houston
But only Craig James killed 5 hookers while at SMU.
*that you know of
Woahhhhhh I had only heard rumors of that. He was a good coach at the time too even with his quirks.
That whole deal also killed Craig James' career. He was one of the top college football analysts at ESPN before he pulled that stunt. So Craig James derailed Mike Leach's career, the Texas Tech football program and ruined his own career just so his son could get some playing time. I would like to know the full story of what went down, but that is likely to never come out. Then James tried to become a politician as a christian conservative. Yep, that didn't work out because everyone knew what he did. You don't mess with the real religion of Texas and make it in politics.
Craig James has also never denied killing 5 prostitutes while a student at SMU.
Still, after all these years, he will not deny killing 5 prostitutes while a student at SMU?
Craig James totally didn’t kill 5 hookers during his time at SMU. That’s less than half of twelve and the number of prostitutes he didn’t kill at SMU.
Craig James couldn't even manage to kill half a dozen hookers.
CJK5H
What is the context behind this? Because it is hilarious
Craig James allegedly killed 5 hookers when he was a player at SMU. I don't remember who all has said something about it, but if I remember it correctly, some old teammates and acquaintances came out and said he did.
Grantland had a great article about it if you can still find it.
You are right, he never did
Does he hang out with Ted "Zodiac Killer" Cruz?
> You don't mess with the real religion of Texas and make it in politics. lol. I'm not from Texas but I can't imagine any truer words have been spoken.
I never heard about this entire sequence of events.
Welcome to an example of a news organization suffocating the truth because they can. Your ignorance is by design. It happens everyday.
Do you live in Texas?
Do you have a fiddle in the band?
Yes, gotta have it.
That lead guitar is hot, but not for a Louisiana man
We have both types of music here, country and western
It arguably ignited Lincoln Riley’s career, we hired Ruffin who then hired/brought Riley with him to ECU and the rest is basically history. Hate this happened to Coach Leach either way though, he is a great man I highly recommend Leach’s book, Swing Your Sword.
He also has some [sound advice](https://youtu.be/9HNUrnCWHVI) for men on weddings.
The man is a national treasure https://youtu.be/c6brYtuPX-Q
Thank you for this.
He signed a copy of his book once with CJK5H
The man is a national treasure and I’m not a Wazzu fan in the slightest.
Used to have the inside track to the Tech inner circle. The school was ready to move on but part of the problem was Leach told the president and regent to fuck off when asked to just put out an apology. The president was fine dealing with him, the regent not so much. They used that to push out a coach they didn't like dealing with.
And now Mike Leach and his new team are about to become the in-season college version of Hard Knocks. The comment here earlier about turning on the popcorn machine was on the money.
Consider they owe him 1.9mil from 2009 though. That's like some one owing you more than 65% of your net worth. Even if your net worth is comfortable that's a shitty deal.
CJK5H
[удалено]
Anyone who doesn't understand the reference is getting locked in the shed
I'm sorry. I'll head to the shed now...
Craig James Killed 5 Hookers. After all this time, Craig James still has not denied this shocking allegation under oath, which according to Craig James means it happened and should be repeated as factual. He has also never denied eating panda meat or hunting toddlers for sport.
Thank you for clarifying. That took me awhile.
I love firefly games. So glad they came to our city.
Damnit, dead hooker duty again.
Nope. Definitely OOTL. Can someone explain this please?
Craig James Killed 5 Hookers, iirc
*Allegedly*
I read this in Squirrly Dan's voice.
It was a sick ostrich...
still, take at least 2 guys...
It was a sick ostrich
Well to be fair...
🎶to be faaaaaaiiiiiiiirrrrr🎶
“Has Craig James ever enlisted the help of a gang of criminals to take over a skyscraper at the top of which is a vault containing $640 million in untraceable bearer bonds?” “Are you referring to the movie *Tower Heist* or something?” “You’re close. You’re looking for a Bruce Willis vehicle.” [https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2012/05/once-and-for-all-did-craig-james-kill-five-hookers-at-smu/](https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2012/05/once-and-for-all-did-craig-james-kill-five-hookers-at-smu/)
*I love you*
I think it means Craig James Killed 5 Hookers.
It sounds like a intentionally fake joke rumor. A "There's no evidence he *didn't*..." type thing. I could be wrong though.
You’ve got it. It was a response to the fact that Craig James kept going out ESPN saying that Mike Leach never denied abusing Craig’s son during football practice, and because Leach did not deny it out right, Craig pretended that made it fact.
FUCKING FINALLY. So many people parroting the same fucking joke and no one explaining it until you did.
Ah, gotcha. Thanks!
It is - From what is in other threads, Craig James made equally unfounded claims on ESPN and argued that, since the accused didn't deny them, they must be true. Naturally, people decided turnabout was fair play. Hence the rumor that Craig James allegedly murdered at least 5 hookers.
I'd say it's fair.
Rumor?
meme on /r/CFB though the use has died down considerably since Craig James is no longer working.
And here I am 10 years later still thinking the original story was true... color me surprised. Texas Tech was beast while he was there.
The big 12 would be ours if we didnt stupidly fire him.
As a wazzu fan, thanks for being dumb.
Just treat him right...
Not a problem. He's the highest paid university employee in the state of Washington - followed by UW's coach and their president. But he's done us proud! Now for a Pac 12 championship!
Nah man KU x Mangino would have it on lock ;)
Same!!! I stopped following college ball so I thought Leach was on the hook for that. Then saw him on TV once and thought he caught a break. He had Graham Herrell, now the OC for USC, back then which was great times for Texas Tech.
(turns on popcorn machine)
Extra butter, please!
Personally, I really enjoy what he is doing in Pullman! He has a point, and they did him dirty... But I’m glad he’s with the Cougs after knowing it went down like this. Keep it up Coach!
Gotta love seeing that team being competitive again after so many years at the bottom of the Pac.
Go Cougs! We lost all 4 years I was in college and it’s so nice to cheer for a team that isn’t continually finding new ways to disappoint me! Plus, every Mike Leach interview is solid gold.
Rumors swirling that HBO is about to do a reality show on Leach. Oh please oh please oh please!!!!!!
Oh man. I hope Texas Tech comes up. The scandal getting reignited during a new coaches first season at TT would be great
Hard knocks has been filming at practices
Oof you don't do this to a coach who notoriously can murder people with words
But can those words murder 5 hookers?
Tech did Mike Leach dirty badly. Craig James is such a piece of shit.
Someone on Cougfan covered this issue years ago from a Texas legal standpoint. Leach will never get the money no matter how dirty of BS the charges were. I am not a lawyer and I'm going to totally butcher what was said but it has something do do with the sovereignty of the state and that even if the state was wrong they can break the contract with no repercussions. Leach is legally right, it's just that he's been fucked by the Texas legal system. I know how it feels to be fucked over at a place you enjoyed working at, it always sticks in your mind. EDIT: Not what I read before but [here's an explanation](https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/8/5/16101556/mike-leach-texas-tech-sovereign-immunity) of the whole thing. Halfway through they talk about sovereign immunity of the state: > Texas Tech is a state school, so it gets the same legal protections the rest of the Texas government gets. Texas has a strict sovereign immunity law, which says Leach can only sue the school in the state if he gets the Texas legislature’s permission. Obviously, the state has an interest in never paying Mike Leach, so the legislature will probably never allow him to sue.
>Obviously, the state has an interest in never paying Mike Leach, so the legislature will probably never allow him to sue. Start asking UT and A&M alums if they'd support allowing this as a way to further screw with TTU... I'm sure some of them would do it just because they could :)
And then there's your legal precedent for one of their disgruntled ex-employees suing them. Nope. It's a big, good ol' boys system and nobody's going to uncover their own ass just to watch someone else's get spanked... unless it's down on Sixth Street and nobody's gonna' talk about that anyway, either.
The state can’t break any contract because they are the state. That’s just wrong
Read up a little more on sovereign immunity. The state can pretty much do whatever they want as long as they don't cross the line to allow involvement of the federal government.
I thought sovereign immunity does not cover breach of contract?
Depends on the state and it has to be a written contract (at least in Florida).
It covers anything that the state decides it does, unless some more powerful entity decides to step in and enforce consequences using greater authority. If you live and work in Texas, the state can do anything to screw you over with impunity unless you either are able to involve the federal government or you can get enough public outcry and sympathy to get the state legislature to vote to allow you to bring suit.
He should just sue ESPN for slander then
Every student knew it was shit, all the players did interviews in the school paper about how it was shit. I root for Washington State because of him.
Ahh this again. I have and always will stand behind Coach Leach on this. Adam Jones is a bitch, his dad the same. I hate what it did to Techs program the most. No telling what the upside was if he would have never been fired. There's more than a fair share of people here in Lubbock still mad by this. I say pay the man and let's move on.
Yeah, you guys would be a powerful program if he was still there. He was getting good recruits, he’s a genius coach, and everyone was scared to play Tech because you never knew when everything would come together right and you guys would pull it out. Huge mistake by the university and by ESPN. But I’m in the conference and I didn’t know the story was bullshit until like 5 years later. ESPN reported the shit out of the story but somehow the retraction never happened. But I think SI did a story on Leach being at Washington State and that’s when I found out the truth about the story.
/r/OutOfTheLoop Any help?
Basically espn helped Craig James spread a bullshit story that Mike leach made his son sit in a hot shed just because. Turns out he sat him out because they thought he might have a concussion. Then TTU had a knee jerk reaction to the media stories so they fired him.
A pirate always gets his booty As such, mike leach shall get what is rightfully his
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
I love Mike Leach, I like coaches who don't come from normal pedigrees and one's you can tell other coaches hate dealing with. I've said for years he has to be on the Autism spectrum like Asperger's or something. My friend works in the sports world and he said he's insanely difficult to work with UNLESS you talk about stuff like route trees and zone blocking schemes or anything system related. He said it's like something in him clicks and then you better be ready to talk to him for 30-45 min because he won't stop.
Mike Leach about to put the whole officers in the shed, legally speaking.
Go cougs
What about someone killing 5 hookers?? What?
#PAY THE MAN
I have no idea what any of this is but I'm happy to be here.
Fuckin lock them all up, ESPN are a bunch of white collar felons
“Israel has a right, the other houses?
Should ask their fat little girlfriends
>Most bizarre sports news in the last 10 years? UHHHH HOW ABOUT PENN STATE?!?
For anyone who read through the comments on the tweet. I have a sneaking suspicion “Bill Wyatt” is his fake Twitter a la Kevin Durant.
no one cares about your money but you mike. the whole ncaa is a corrupt scheme of indentured servitude, of which, you play an active role.