Double T - Double Cross

Introduction

Chapter 1 – On the Sidelines: The Firing of Mike Leach

Chapter 2 – Mike Leach: The Early Years

Chapter 3 – On the Plains: Happiness is Lubbock, Texas…

Chapter 4 – Head Coach Mike Leach: Immediate and Sustained Success

Chapter 5 – Leach and Tech Administrators: Early Conflicts

Chapter 6 – The Golden Season: 2008

Chapter 7 – The Turning Point: New Contract Negotiations

Chapter 8 – The Magic Continues: The 2009 Season

Chapter 9 – The Phony Express: Craig and Adam James

Chapter 10 – The Garage, the Media Room, the Electrical Closet

Chapter 11 – Preparing to Swiftboat Leach: Craig James and Spaeth

Chapter 12 – A Rush to Judgement: The Investigation

Chapter 13 – A Few Not-So-Good Men: The Rush to Firing

Chapter 14 – Aftermath: the Reactions, the Smears, the Lawsuits

Chapter 15 – Life Goes On: Where Are They Now

Afterword

Appendix A – Organizational Authority for Texas Tech University Administrators and Board of Regents

Appendix B – Contract

Appendix C – Texas Tech Statement on Mike Leach Termination

Appendix D – Statement by Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach

Appendix E – Texas Tech Letter to Mike Leach

Sources / Bibliography

About the Author

Books by Michael Lee Lanning

The Only War We Had: A Platoon Leader’s Journal of Vietnam

Vietnam 1969-1970: A Company Commander’s Journal

Inside the LRRPs: Rangers in Vietnam

Inside Force Recon: Recon Marines in Vietnam (with Ray W. Stubbe) The Battles of Peace

Inside the VC and NVA: The Real Story of North Vietnam’s Armed Forces (with Dan Cragg) Vietnam at the Movies

Senseless Secrets: The Failures of U. S. Military Intelligence From George Washington to the Present

The Military 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Military Leaders of All Time

The African-American Soldier: From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell

Inside the Crosshairs: Snipers in Vietnam

Defenders of Liberty: African-Americans in the Revolutionary War

Blood Warriors: American Military Elites.

The Battle 100: The Stories Behind History’s Most Influential Battles

Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, From Ancient Greece to Today’s Private Military Companies

The Civil War 100: The Stories Behind the Most Influential Battles, People, and Events in the War Between the States

The Revolutionary War 100: The People, Battles, and Events of the American War for Independence, Ranked by their Significance

Dedication:

To truth, justice, honor, honesty, courage, loyalty, and fairness. Characteristics often absent in the events behind the following story.

Introduction

When approached by my publisher about writing this book, I had mixed emotions—a sparked interest and a skeptical apprehension among them—concerning whether or not the topic and I were right for each other. I do watch the occasional football game on television, but I have not attended a college matchup in years. I keep up with the Top 25 polls through the sports section in the daily newspaper, but I do so more to be informed than because I am a great fan of college football.

I was aware that Texas Tech University fired Mike Leach, mostly because the timing of his surprise termination made the regular news as well as sports headlines. Although I had no dog in the hunt—or more aptly no player on the field—the story was of interest since I had grown up near Lubbock, had myself attended the Red Raiders’ rival Texas A&M University, and have a daughter who is a Tech graduate. Residing in Phoenix, Arizona near the publisher at the time of his inquiry, I felt fairly removed from the details surrounding the controversial dismissal; however, my wife and I were rebuilding our home on the Bolivar Peninsula on the Texas Gulf Coast that we had lost to Hurricane Ike in 2008, and soon I would be much nearer the primary players in this deepening drama. For all these reasons, I was certainly intrigued by the book’s topic.

As a researcher, writer, and historian, I have previously written military history with a focus on the Vietnam War era. My other books chronicle battles and leaders as far back as 3000 BC. But after turning to my computer and making a brief initial search on the phrase Mike Leach Texas Tech, I quickly discovered that an incident as recent as two years ago—and continuing today— is much easier in most ways to investigate but more difficult in others than incidents that occurred decades or even centuries ago. The good news and bad news are the same—information is everywhere. Basic internet searches simply overwhelm.

Yet sources on this particular subject crossed all genre lines, conflicted grossly, or simply made no sense. The more I read, the more it appeared that writers of many articles had more interest in agendas than in facts. Accounts of the same issue were often as radically different as political stories produced by the Fox News Channel and MSNBC.

As research progressed, I quickly discovered the Leach supporters to be more available and forthright than the Texas Tech University administrators, who seemed to have adopted a deep-bunker mentality. It soon became apparent that something was just not right—morally or legally. From the outset, the firing of Mike Leach appeared to be more the result of the good old boy buddy system at work than any sound business practice in play, more about personal politics for control than basic professionalism, and more about finances than fairness. But I wanted to gather all the evidence and details in order to present a fair analysis.

I have made every effort in this book to cover both sides of the controversy. I have cited court documents, depositions, and personal interviews that have been at the forefront of my research as well as opinion columns, internet blogs, and other commentary available. The conclusions reached in this book are my own—based on the facts as I understand them. All readers are, of course, entitled to make up their own minds.

Michael Lee Lanning

Bolivar Peninsula, Texas

October 2011

Chapter 1

On the Sidelines:

The Firing of Mike Leach

Mike Leach sat on the sidelines. Not in San Antonio’s Alamodome preparing his Texas Tech University Red Raiders for the 2010 Alamo Bowl against the Michigan State Spartans as he had expected. Instead he was alone in his hotel room. Instead of working on plans for the game scheduled for January 2, Leach was awaiting a legal decision from the 99th Judicial Court in Lubbock, a ruling that would either lift or uphold his coaching suspension imposed two days before by his bosses, Texas Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers and University President Guy Bailey. (Organizational Authority for Texas Tech Administrators and Board of Regents at Appendix A.)

Leach and the Red Raiders had departed Lubbock in high spirits for San Antonio on Monday, December 28, 2009 to complete preparations for the upcoming post-season bowl game to be played four days later. The team—after its spectacular 2008 year—had just completed another successful season, racking up an 8-4 record and making Mike Leach the most winning football coach in Texas Tech history. Not only had the Red Raiders, who had been un-ranked and mostly unnoted a decade before Leach took over, gained national recognition, but also they had done it in a style that old-school proponents of the game said could not be done. Coach Leach had had the vision, and his players had executed it right into the Top 25 in the polls. The Raiders had been flying in more ways than just on planes.

Upon his arrival in the Alamo City, however, Leach received a stunning telephone call from Athletic Director Myers telling him that he had been suspended from coaching duties—effective immediately—until further notice.

Leach was shocked. Here he was at the pinnacle of his coaching career at a major bowl game with an opportunity for him and his team to gain even more national attention and to move up in the Top 25 polls. The previous year’s team had elevated Tech as high as number 2 in the country; the Alamo Bowl, while not a top tier contest, would validate that the Red Raiders had become a national powerhouse and that their radically different style of offense was changing the face of modern football.

Now instead of euphoria and a cheering crowd, Leach stood alone against the forces of incredible accusations and an entrenched university administration and Board of Regents. In weather, it would have been called the perfect storm; in football terms, Leach now faced the perfect blitz. From one side of the field of perspectives and agenda, the attacks were coming fast and furiously from an ESPN sports commentator who was using a microphone from his on-air bully pulpit to accuse Leach of abusing his son. Part of the reason that the suspension caught Leach off-guard was that he thought the complaint issue had been resolved, having been told by the university’s attorney- investigator just days before that she had finished her inquiries and that there was nothing for him to worry about—not that he was overly concerned since he believed he had done nothing wrong in regard to his player. Nevertheless, he had been glad to have the incident behind him so that he could concentrate on the bowl game with no distractions. Or so he had thought.

But the moves against Leach were not that simple or singular. From another, unexpected side of events, the threats were mounting from what looked like thwarted, hostile Board of Regents members who could now see their way to finally out- maneuver Leach, take him down, and save themselves a bundle of cash—all that the same time. When they saw Leach weakened by very public and unanswered accusations, they appeared to have recognized an opportunity for revenge and for saving the university some cash.

Leach, however, was not on the field of play alone. He had dozens of happy players and thousands of jubilant fans at his back; and a staff of loyal coaches and trainers to his front. In the end, however, none of the defenses or supporters could do anything to stop the assault on his reputation and character.

As a part of the brief conversation suspending him from his job, Athletic Director Myers read Leach the letter written on Office of the President stationary: Dear Coach Leach: We recently received a complaint from a player and his parents regarding your treatment of him after an injury, and we have undertaken an investigation of that complaint. We consider this a serious matter. Until the investigation is complete, you are suspended from all duties as Head Football Coach effective immediately.

Though surprised, disappointed, and hurt, Leach did not hang his head. He did what he had done all his life when faced with adversity: the Coach fought back. Less than twenty-four hours later, Leach directed his attorney, Ted Liggett of Lubbock, to file a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the suspension based on the failure of Texas Tech to follow due process and for breach of the coach’s contract. The District Court, recognizing the time sensitivity of the matter, had set a hearing for 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 30, just three days before the big game.

Because Leach was still in San Antonio, his attorney Liggett approached the courthouse without his client on that Wednesday morning of the 30th , bundled against a driving wind that had brought a light dusting of fresh snow the day before. Stomping through even deeper slush and ice left from a powerful winter storm that had hit the Plains less than a week earlier, the lawyer entered the building only to find an atmosphere even colder than the one outside

Liggett had prepared for a hearing with the presiding judge over the TRO issue and had intended to proceed straight to the judge’s chambers. Instead, outside the judge’s office, he encountered the attorney representing Texas Tech University who informed him that if he proceeded with the hearing on the temporary restraining order, Leach would immediately be terminated as the football coach and as an employee of Texas Tech. Liggett responded that he did indeed intend to proceed, to which the Tech counsel made no comment but rather reached into his briefcase and handed Liggett a letter from his client. In fewer than three dozen words, Texas Tech University President Guy Bailey fired Leach: This letter shall serve as a formal notice to you that, pursuant to Article V of your Employment Contract, you are terminated with cause effective immediately, for breach of the provisions of Article IV of that Contract. (Contract at Appendix B.)

Liggett called Leach with the news and then met with reporters and the public who were still in the courthouse expecting the now-canceled hearing to begin. After Liggett read the termination letter, the crowd reacted in disbelief, one man yelling, You can stuff my season tickets!

The news swept from Lubbock to San Antonio and rippled across the country—and indeed, the world—in minutes via sports radio and television, blogs, and other media outlets. The story that a university would fire its most successful coach ever on the eve of a nationally televised bowl game was so baffling that it quickly leaped from the sports sections to national news headlines.

Questions came from all directions: Why would Tech fire the coach with the most football wins in its history, a mentor who had one of the highest percentages of graduating players in the NCAA, and an individual who had brought national attention and significant additional revenues to Texas Tech and its football program?

The Texas Tech administration immediately went on the offensive to justify what was quickly becoming a very unpopular decision on their part. Shortly after the news broke, Tech issued a statement that read in part, After reviewing all the information available, Texas Tech University has decided that the best course of action for the university and football program is to terminate its relationship with Head Football Coach Mike Leach for cause. The statement continued, The coach’s termination was precipitated by his treatment of a player after the player was diagnosed with a concussion. The player was put at risk for additional injury. After the university was apprised of the treatment, Coach Leach was contacted by the administration of the university in an attempt to resolve the problem. In a defiant act of insubordination, Coach Leach continually refused to cooperate in a meaningful way to help resolve the complaint…. This action, along with his continuous acts of insubordination, resulted in irreconcilable differences that make it impossible for Coach Leach to remain at Texas Tech. (Complete statement at Appendix C)

Texas Tech University System Board of Regents Chairman Larry Anders and Vice Chairman Jerry Turner voiced their support for the termination. Both lauded the leadership Athletic Director Myers and University President Bailey had exhibited in taking the action. University Chancellor Kent Hance told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, This is sad. The only person responsible for Mike Leach being gone is Mike Leach.

Those who were following Tech football and ESPN television already knew that the episode, at least on the surface, involved the alleged mistreatment of sophomore player Adam James, son of former Southern Methodist University and National Football League star Craig James. The elder James, an on-camera ESPN personality, analyst, and sports announcer—scheduled to be an on-air commentator for the Alamo Bowl—had already been broadcasting his belief that his son had been mistreated by Coach Leach. There can be little doubt that pressure from national exposure for employing and tolerating an allegedly abusive coach, as James presented Leach in his son’s side of the story, influenced Tech officials. Or, did it simply hand them an excuse they had been waiting for?

The James family announced on December 30, We appreciate that the University conducted a fair and thorough investigation. Even though the statement added that there would be no further comment at that time, Craig James was right back on ESPN voicing his view of the situation, giving interviews, and answering questions as they came to him. On December 19—just two days after his son’s first alleged mistreatment and more than a week before Leach was suspended—James the elder had already hired his own public relations firm to assist him in publicly presenting his son’s claims. Some sources point to James hiring the PR firm as much as ten days earlier.

The basis of the James family outrage was that Adam had supposedly been endangered when the coach failed to appropriately respond to his concussion. The evidence