A great former Dallas Talk Show host was fond of saying "follow the money" when you wanted to know the motivation behind a mysterious move or series of events. As we disect the Mike Leach firing in Lubbock, that phrase keeps coming to mind.
No, it was not sticking Adam James in an air conditioned garage that brought the wrath of Gerald Meyers and the rest of the Red Raider huffalumps. While that may be the convenient out the administration was looking for, Texas Tech and Mike Leach have been on divergent paths for quite some time. One can go back to at least February when the two sides engaged in an unbearably long contract negotiation that resulted in Leach "breaking the bank" because after the best season in Tech history, he held the Raider Nation by the tortillas.
Fast forward through an 8-4 season, comments about "fat little girlfriends", and other Leach idiosynchracies and you have the meltdown that occured today. Tech, or namely Meyers, unhappy with his coach and puckering at the idea of writing an $800,000 dollar check if Leach is
still the coach tomorrow, gives the best coach that TT has ever had the old "walk the plank matey. "
Today I am sad for the Red Raider nation...sad because Leach and Lubbock were a perfect combination, the renegade coach and the rebellious nature of the flatlanders seemed to go hand in hand, not to mention the winning, always the winning.
Leach will land on his feet....he may not have the white bread charisma of a Mack Brown or the kick-ass righteousness of an Urban Meyer, but his results speak for themselves.
As for the Red Raiders, if there is a brain left in anyone's head in the Tech athletic department, they are furiuosly courting Art Briles as we speak. Briles has the pedrigee, the track record and the diplomacy to succeed on the South Plains, now will AD Meyers fork over another big contract to land him? That remains to be seen.
doug
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