Now is not the time for this.  Look around.  Survey the college football world.  Now, more than ever, your school and your team need you and your support.  Texas Tech is, as it always has been, engaged in a struggle for respect and recognition. My parents told me stories about how our school had to fight to get accepted into the SWC.  We had to fight and use every bit of political capital that we could to get into the Big XII.  How we, as fans and alumni of Texas Tech, react now, how we give and how we support our team and our school, could very well make the difference in whether we continue in a premier conference and might even influence whether we make it to Tier 1.  Our school and our team are now at a crossroads.  Our administration is battling to win Tier 1 support.  The schools with national reputations and tradition are battling to retain their spot in the hierarchy of college football.  The Big Ten is looking to expand.  Missouri is trying to flex their muscles and saying they want to make a move.  The Big XII could very well fall apart tomorrow.  If that happens and Tech can’t fill our stadium what then?  If that happens and our season ticket sales are in decline, what then?  Regardless of what the administration did or didn’t do, you and your support for Texas Tech will be what counts in this effort.  Now is not the time for us to become divided and to fall back.  Regardless who our coach is, now is the time to unite.  

You may think our administration is in the wrong.  You may see, as I do, the Mike Leach era as the best so far in the history of the program.  That is not the issue.  The issue now is if this time period is the best we will ever be.  I can promise you that if we don’t support our school and our team now that the answer just very well might be that we peaked.  Is that what you want?  I don’t.  I want better.  Now is not the time to fall back.  Now is not the time to become divided.  Now is the time to push harder to hold our place and to push higher.  

You may say that the administration is responsible for any decline.  You may say that if they hadn’t made the blunder that we wouldn’t have had a decline in ticket sales.  But at the end of this, you have a part to play.  Support your team.  Support your school.  Support the new coaches.  Don’t let a decline happen because you followed a man more than Tech.  Support and cheer for Mike Leach wherever he goes, I’ve got no problem with that and intend to do it myself.  But now is not the time to hide your Tech gear in your closet.  Now is not the time to pull back from your support.  This school needs you.  This team needs you.  

Look around our own state.  We are not, nor will we ever be, top billing.  What we have and who we are will be because we earn it.  Our place will never be secure.  To quote the movie pirate, we must take all we can and give nothing back.  I applaud your loyalty to Mike Leach.  Loyalty is a trait that is severely lacking today.  But now is not the time to pick a man over your school and team.  Now is not the time to let the success of the last decade slip away.  

In terms of national and state recognition, Tech has never been so well positioned.  Now is not the time to fall back.  We, as a fan base, are larger than we have ever been but where we are now might not be enough.  We need to grow bigger.  We need to grow bigger than Mike Leach.  If you became a fan in the last decade, decide now to stay and remain a fan.  It will take all of us to grow and to press onward for a better program and a better place at the table.  

So, now more than ever, wear your Tech gear, support the school and the team.  You may not like it and you may not agree with it 100% but the school has given you a higher road in this discussion.  Don’t be ashamed of your school for stepping in here.  You don’t have to like it but don’t be ashamed to support your school in this decision.   Let’s be bigger than a man.  Let’s be bigger tomorrow than we are today.  Now is not the time to fall back.  Now, more than ever, your school and your team need you.  

A house divided cannot stand. 

The past is littered with mid-level schools who once had success but could not sustain it.  Look no further than Rice.  Their stadium is huge, I think it held at one time over 70K.    Now it is empty.  Is that what you want?  Do you want to look at the Jones and see a half full, half supported team?  Every time I watch a game on TV and see the end zones of a stadium covered with tarps with the school logo I think, “how sad, they can’t fill their stadium and have given up trying.”  Look at Baylor for an example.  Don’t let this happen to Tech.  Take all you can and give nothing back.  Now is not the time to walk away.

I was a Red Raider when Jerry Moore was our coach.  I was a Red Raider when David McWilliams was our coach.  I was a Red Raider when Spike Dykes was our Coach.  I was a Red Raider when Mike Leach was our coach.  I am a Red Raider.

I can't believe the drama associated with a person negotiating terms of his employment contract.  All the calls about his loyalty and committing to Tech are pure BS.  The only question should be is he doing his job sufficiently enough to warrant the pay.  He isn't your wife who you can expect loyalty from.  He isn't your parent or child.  He is a professional coach for your university.  Recently John Montford applied for the UT Chancellor job.  I don't recall reading about a public outcry about him not being loyal to AT&T where he currently works.  

Colleges fire coaches all the time.  Where is their loyalty?  I don't recall the coaching profession being outraged when Syracuse fired Greg Robinson, questioning their loyalty to Coach Robinson.  The guy lost and got fired.  Leach has won more than any other coach at Tech and wants a raise and stuff.  Seems reasonable.  It is a business on both sides and being negotiated as such.  Negotiations, especially when done by professionals, ALWAYS includes demands that the demanding party KNOWS will need to be adjusted down.  Apart from Texas Tech being a state owned institution, this isn't really any of our business.  

This is a free market, capitalist society.  Leach chooses to market himself in hopes of increasing his value.  He's not your wife or girlfriend.  Take a deep breathe and let it work itself out.

I once heard that the art of successful negotiation was to care, but not that much.  Most posters on the fan sites care way too much to see this for what it is.   

I have a question for Seth.  What are teams like Missouri doing that stymies the Air Raid so much?  Over the past two seasons the two games with Missouri point to more than just a QB having an off day.  I'd like to know what you think.

I wonder if the key is knowing the read progression for the basic formations that the QB makes and how the receivers typically react to coverage positioning.  The Air Raid is premised on the receivers reading the db and running to space. For instance, in the Cotton Bowl Alabama played inside leverage so the outside receivers ran outside fly routes looking for the lob on the sideline.  So if you know for a particular formation, can you position your defense to show something and do another?  What about a variable blitz, one where your pressure comes based upon the formation and the hot reads?  Cover options 1 and 2 tight and blitz away from the hot reads. 

It just seems to me that Missouri did more than just have "good pressure."  They frustrated Graham and I think it was by jumping hot routes and taking away the quick options when they brought pressure.