Full-blown battle breaks out between The Pirate, Texas Tech
The man is coming off the best season in school history. Eleven victories. A top 12 finish. A win over No. 1. Unprecedented attention for the football program and the school. (You didn't see Bob Stoops or Mack Brown on 60 Minutes last year did you?)
So why does Lane Kiffin seem to have a better relationship with Florida than Texas Tech's Mike Leach has with his employers?
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| In the Big 12 South, Leach is still the little brother to Bob Stoops. (US Presswire) |
So much for that 11-2 season and three national coach of the year awards. So much for the 79 percent graduation rate, best in the Big 12 and among the top five in the AP Top 25 last season. So much for a dramatic increase in attendance, facilities upgrades, all because Leach was able to cobble together success among the scrub of West Texas.
Try explaining to recruits how you're going to be there for them, with only two years left on a deal that would have to seem more like a cement overcoat than contract.
Then try to explain how it ever came to this. Try to understand how Leach, his agents and the school are fighting a PR battle of public perception. And everyone is losing.
• Leach looks bad after complaining about his contract during the supposed sanctity of the signing day news conference.
• His agents look like amateurs for allowing every shred of communications with the school to become public.
• Texas Tech looks bad because at any other school, a contract extension for an 11-2 coach would have been completed long ago.
But when Leach's agents approached the school last year, they were told the administration preferred to wait until after the season to discuss an extension. Bad idea considering Leach blew out the numbers with the best season in school history.
That's when the sniping began. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal obtained correspondence between the parties through a Freedom of Information Act request. Never has a contract negotiation been so public and so contentious for a coach coming off a career year.
Try to imagine Brown or Stoops being given an ultimatum after an 11-2 season. The truth is it wouldn't happen. Brown and Stoops are among the top five paid coaches in the profession. Both schools have been more than proactive in rewarding their coaches. Leach? Let's just say there is something of a realization by all parties of how Texas Tech is viewed in the college universe:
Its football coach doesn't want to be there.
