Leach Fired!

[peruna81]

In a strange sort of way, watching the Tech program implode via media reminds me of the turmoil of the DP announcement in '87...sad regardless whether Tech or any school.

file this story under "How NOT to do damage control'...

[huskerpony]

I'm only a HS coach but this makes me sick!!! The argument that he belittled a player or singled him out because of injury is crap. Believe me, I hate Tech and Leach for that matter as much as anyone, but kids and parents in today's society are out of control. So what the kid had to sit in a closet, it was probably good for him but oh no, God forbid somebody do one of our little sweet lovelies wrong. Grow up!

I'm on a soapbox because I see this constant babying of kids on a daily basis on my level. Today the view is always the kid is right and the adult is wrong. Crap, I can't tell you what was said to me and physically done to me while I was a football player at SMU and you know what my parents said when I told them (if I told them)...."did you learn your lesson and are you going to do it again?" Sure, what Leach did begs some ridicule and maybe a warning but not this. I'm disgusted with the James family and am ashamed that they are connected to SMU.

Sorry, as a doctor, I completely disagree. If a player hasn't been medically cleared to practice, he doesn't practice. That's it. It doesn't matter how lazy the kid is or how much you hate his parents. Put them on an exercise bike on the sideline, send them to the film room, or have them participate in non-contact drills if they are able.

This is not the first incidence of Leach attempting to humiliate injured players--thereby encouraging them to hide injuries and practice against medical advice. Making them stand in an area wearing pig t-shirts? Putting them to work in a sand pit on the sideline? These are not appropriate ways to deal with injured players.

These are college and highschool students playing a game in their spare time, not marines. If a kid is lazy, you deal with the laziness after their brain injury has healed. If he is still lazy, he doesn't play. If their parents are a problem, deal with their parents. Don't stick an injured kid in an equipment shed with a guard to make sure he doesn't sit down.

[couch 'em]

Sorry, as a doctor, I completely disagree. If a player hasn't been medically cleared to practice, he doesn't practice. That's it. It doesn't matter how lazy the kid is or how much you hate his parents. Put them on an exercise bike on the sideline, send them to the film room, or have them participate in non-contact drills if they are able.

This is not the first incidence of Leach attempting to humiliate injured players--thereby encouraging them to hide injuries and practice against medical advice. Making them stand in an area wearing pig t-shirts? Putting them to work in a sand pit on the sideline? These are not appropriate ways to deal with injured players.

These are college and highschool students playing a game in their spare time, not marines. If a kid is lazy, you deal with the laziness after their brain injury has healed. If he is still lazy, he doesn't play. If their parents are a problem, deal with their parents. Don't stick an injured kid in an equipment shed with a guard to make sure he doesn't sit down.

The Ticket reported that James' doctor who diagnosed the concussion has cleared Leach of any medical wrongdoing in his treatment of James.

[FWMustang]

huskerpony,

He was cleared, then showed up wearing sunglasses complaining about bright light. If that is the case, then he needs to go back to the doctors, who are going to turn him around because they just cleared him.

Apparently everyone has forgotten about the Boy who cried "wolf!" It sounds like he was constantly feigning injury or whatever during practice or disciplinary exercise. How is anyone supposed to know if he is legitimately injured when the kid has been a constant pain in the [deleted] his entire tenure?

Again, Leach's only mistake seems to be not cutting the kid loose. but then Leach doesn't do things the way most of us would.

[SC Pony]

Leach is an idiot. Send the kid home or to the infirmiry. It is amazing how the sports fans on foxsports.com and cbssports.com are 90%+ on Leach's side. I agree with jstang that "The guy punished a player for having a concussion, he should be fired for stupidity if nothing else."

I think that to the average person on the street this will play out very differently: what kind of guy takes any kind of apparently punitive action against a player who injured himself "in the line of duty"?

Leach's attorney is taking the offensive on this and trying to make TT look bad. I think that he will fail and the multiple "fat little girlfriends" comments are not going to help.

My guess is Leach will realize at some point that, barring a few sports fans who think that James is a wuss, public opinion will be squarely against him and he walks away with 30% or less of his contract.

[huskerpony]

The Ticket reported that James' doctor who diagnosed the concussion has cleared Leach of any medical wrongdoing in his treatment of James.

Not further injuring someone and promoting an environment where players are encouraged to hide their injuries are two different things. What Leach did wasn't medically damaging to the player, but the question is what does the next player who has a concussion do if they don't want to spend practice in a shed?

I don't think it is something to be fired over. Apologize, put out a specific policy on what will occur for injured players during practice, and it's done. Apparently that was too much to ask of Leach.

[Pony_Fan]

All I care about is that they might be in complete disarray when we play them next year.

[RednBlue11]

okay, why in thew world is anyone taking leach's side in this argument? has everyone forgotten who this kid's dad is and what a complete [deleted] leach is?

unless you have adam's med file sitting in front of you and you have an MD in neuro-science i dont want to see anyone speculating on whether the James kid was actually medically able to practice no matter what his doc said...its an utter waste of time

point blank leach is an A-hole who had this coming to him, i my opinion, and while this incident might not have been THAT big of a deal in the big picture it sent leach over the edge and he crossed the line not once, but several times...good riddance, I hope he never coaches college football again.

[jtstang]

huskerpony,

He was cleared, then showed up wearing sunglasses complaining about bright light. If that is the case, then he needs to go back to the doctors, who are going to turn him around because they just cleared him.

You're the first person I've seen say that he was cleared to practice. Can you link to your reliable source?

[Dooby]

Looking over the coaching staff, I see nobody that can take over Leach's duties as QB coach or Offensive Coordinator in the short or long term. They have a problem, even if they promote the current DC/interim HC to permanent HC.

Their options are to (i) change systems or (ii) hire Briles, Sonny Dykes or Sumlin and/or his OC.

[KnuckleStang]

Funny how attitudes towards trauma to the head have changed. In HS two-a-days practice in the early 80's, I got a mild concussion (short term memory loss, couldn't find my locker, when they pointed me to it couldn't remember my combination, etc.), and when I went to the training room and told the coaching staff, they all literally laughed at me, and among themselves. It was like a big joke to them. They put some smelling salts under my nose, snapping me back to the present, and I practiced that afternoon with a headache, which persisted for a week. It was not an option to miss practice and look like a wuss. And see, I turned out okay! Oh, wait...

That said, making somebody stand in a Cool Hand Luke box is stupid. Even if you think the kid is a soft [deleted] (and I'm not saying he is), you should just kick him off the team, like June would do

[SmooBoy]

Looking over the coaching staff, I see nobody that can take over Leach's duties as QB coach or Offensive Coordinator in the short or long term. They have a problem, even if they promote the current DC/interim HC to permanent HC.

Their options are to (i) change systems or (ii) hire Briles, Sonny Dykes or Sumlin and/or his OC.

(iii) Hire Porky Pig and run the ham bone

[jtstang]

See that is what I don't get. If you assume all of those anti-James emails portray the kid accurately, why would he still be on the team?

[The Spaz]

Funny how attitudes towards trauma to the head have changed. In HS two-a-days practice in the early 80's, I got a mild concussion (short term memory loss, couldn't find my locker, when they pointed me to it couldn't remember my combination, etc.), and when I went to the training room and told the coaching staff, they all literally laughed at me, and among themselves. It was like a big joke to them. They put some smelling salts under my nose, snapping me back to the present, and I practiced that afternoon with a headache, which persisted for a week. It was not an option to miss practice and look like a wuss. And see, I turned out okay! Oh, wait...

That said, making somebody stand in a Cool Hand Luke box is stupid. Even if you think the kid is a soft [deleted] (and I'm not saying he is), you should just kick him off the team, like June would do

Well, this may surprise you, but medical studies didn't end in the 80's...
We take things more seriously because we know the dangers of head trauma now better than in the past

[FWMustang]

You're the first person I've seen say that he was cleared to practice. Can you link to your reliable source?

I'll admit, I may be regurgitating what I have seen on other boards and articles. I just ran across a couple of them:

Leach's attorney was on ESPN yesterday and said that James was cleared to return to practice. The talking head followed up asking if that meant he was cleared to practice, asked if he was cleared to take contact and the attorney did a No, no, no, of course not! What the attorney meant by cleared to return to practice was 'cleared to stand on the sideline and watch practice'

Well Adam James, son of ESPN's Craig James, suffered a mild concussion not so long ago that had him sidelined, but was recently cleared by his own doctor to play.

Instead, he showed up to practice wearing sun glasses (presumably because of the concussion he had been cleared from), and offered his own diagnosis to coach Mike Leach.

I guess I inferred, having been at practices, that if the kid was being a pain/distraction just standing there on the sideline, this was the next step in a disciplinary process. Notice I didn't say punishment.

I'm sure this won't hold up to the LEGAL and MEDICAL expertise on this board. Fire away.