Dec 29 6:55p by Holly Anderson
According to ESPN's Joe Schad (so, take this with about a deer lick of salt), the Mike Leach-Texas Tech imbroglio may not even come down to a court hearing -- because the university may be firing him for cause no matter what happens:
People close to the situation tell Schad, reporting on the network's Outside the Lines show this afternoon, that the university is prepared to fire the suspended head coach with cause in the next 48 hours.
[...]
That time frame is very intriguing, though, as Leach is due an $800,000 "completion bonus" if he's the head coach after Dec. 31 of this year; that 48-hour time frame mentioned by Schad would have the coach fired before the bonus was due, thus saving the university -- at least temporarily -- just under $1 million.
Remember the endless contract fights Leach and the University got into last winter? It's not out of the realm of possibility to assume Leach has a long list of enemies in the athletic department (and that list would begin with Gerald Myers, Texas Tech's AD, with whom Leach already has a contentious relationship), no matter how successful he's been on the field.
4 comments
Texas Tech May Just Fire Mike Leach Anyway?
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Comments
They can't fire him with cause
According to his contract, firing him with cause would require that he had violated NCAA regulations, condoned such violations, been arrested, or failed to discipline players for serious infractions. Leach hasn’t done any of that. The only thing they could do is fire him without cause, and that would cost them $1.6 million. As a Tech alumnus, I think wasting $1.6 million by firing the winningest coach in school history is political suicide. I’d only advise Myers, Hance, and Bailey to do it if they hope to be unemployed themselves next year.
by battledome on Dec 29, 2009 7:04 PM EST reply actions
Cut James, Fire Myers.
Gerald Myers has always been a whiney, mealy mouth old coot, even when he was young and the head basketball coach at a time when the only schools that played basketball were Villanova and UCLA. He is a weak sister and long overdue for removal.
Craiggers is a stage daddy who didn’t get offered by Tech.
As unbiased as he tries to appear, he has alluded this year to Adam not getting enough playing time. (Replay the game broadcasts) He MAY have set this whole thing up.
The biggest danger to Adam? Certainly not standing in a barn with a mild concussion, but never knowing if ANYTHING he has ever done, he has done by himself.
by stande4 on Dec 29, 2009 7:57 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
RE: Cut James, Fire Myers
NICELY stated…
and while you’re at it, Fire papa James from ESPN for disrupting an entire NCAA football program… He’s certainly not unbiased during the MANY Tech games he worked this year.
by tommeny on Dec 30, 2009 2:58 AM EST reply actions
Mike Leach vs. TTU vs. The James Gang
Lessee if I’ve got this straight…
1. Tech fires Leach, Leach counter-sues, Leach gets MILLIONS in award
2. Kent Hance, realizing that all this has cost Tech MILLIONS in lost revenue and legal fees, fires Gerald Myers
3. ESPN gives James a raise for best pub ESPN has ever had since Tiger went AWOL on his wife
4. Adam James drops out of Tech and walks on at SMU and June Jones throws up
5. Urban Meyer takes one look at the Tech fiasco and says “yep, I’m getting out of this squirrel cage before some celebrity Daddy takes MY job away from me”. He “retires” again
6. Leach signs contract with Florida at $5.1M per year (take THAT Mack Brown).
Naaah life couldn’t get THAT weird!?
Could it?
Disgusted Tech MBA 83
by JWK MBA 83 on Dec 30, 2009 3:22 AM EST reply actions
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