Mike Leach interview

the Mike Leach situationism forwarded rapidly at Texas Tech with the University of deciding to dismiss him as a head coach we've heard from several different entities but have yet to hear directly from Mike Leach himself until now joining us from Crested Butte Colorado is the former head coach of the Red Raiders Michael want to start with your your description of the attitude of Adam James while he was a player for you Leigh I think he got the biggest thing is I think he's lazy I think that there's a sense of entitlement and really this isn't an independent thought on my part because it's pretty well documented in a number of statements by teammates and both of his both of his position coaches and you know really a guy that we could never get to work hard and wanted to fall back on his father anytime he wasn't playing and so you know you had Craig meddling and things all the time and you had Adam that didn't want to listen to his coaches and hold up his end as far as effort out there on the field so then ultimately it became you know very disturbing to the Jameses that he wasn't playing more which is a difficult situation I had a daughter that played softball and yeah I didn't always like the way things went with her and then but as a parent just because of the emotional involvement that you have with your child you're really not qualified to evaluate you know how many reps your child should have and you know who should play ahead of WHO and things like that and you know I've told Craig this I've told Adam this and and you know neither has ever been willing to accept it which is you know we have approximately 12 coaches watching every inch of film and sitting through every practice watching every practice and generally we watch the film over again and and then meeting with all the players and constantly discussing and evaluating who should play where and we make these decisions based on attending all the practices and with the wisdom of 12 people and when you have a parent that's emotionally involved and once meddle with the situation I write and I've told them before I have to respectfully defer to the people around me as far as playing time with regard to a dime the entire things about playing time and then you know two days before the incident that's been way overblown and then several untruths have been put out there about it you know he'd been disciplined had to run stadium steps he and a couple other receivers and and then at the end his attitude was very poor is poor with coach Wiley his position coach and it was poor with Benny Wiley his the the strength coach am I gonna get a couple things you said here you said that Craig James was meddling how do you define meddling well I would say when you when you call coaches when you call me you call as position coaches both of them you call other administrators on campus and or you come to practices and want to have constant discussions on your son and their playing time and you know who should be playing ahead of who and things of that nature and then you get calls from other people that he's discussed things with outside the program and they let you in on well you ought to know that he's saying this and ultimately he he doesn't you know and then you and at some point I said well we're not going to return any more of the phone calls you know we have to this has to be handled like any other parent Craig James required more time than all of the other parents combined and at one point I discussed with Adam then me and coach Riley we said well we can't return all these phone calls and we're not gonna sit and listen to your father tell us how often you should play it if you don't like how often you're playing work harder and try harder don't go to your father and have him call us and beg for playing time because it's not going to happen and then we also pointed out how would the other players on the team feel if we listened to their father they all want their son to play more than you and it's just not fair to do it and it's in it's not right to use you know influence and things like that to try to get playing time you do it through effort you do it through competition you do it through preparation and hard work and and the other thing I want to point out and it's a it's a very obvious thing but if we weren't to this point I wouldn't mention it but we are one thing that's really obvious and I don't I don't really think that down deep in their heart in the back of their mind anybody truly believes that me or anybody involved in my program sat around and said let's see who should we rip off who should we cheat as far as how much we let them play and then as you're sifting through the roster I don't think any of us said okay how about the richest kid whose father's got the biggest microphone in front of his face the most constantly let's rip him off let's not treat him fairly let's do things unfair to him just because I can assure you that everybody in our program wants to win badly enough and works hard enough at it and meets constantly to discuss who are the best players that it's far far far too important to all of them to play the best one instead of Asia preferential treatment or be deliberately cheat somebody you know who's got a father looking over our shoulder all the time but also has a lot of money and influence and in a big microphone that he's around constantly and and well as we quit returning the phone calls then then of course Craig started making calls to administrators athletic directors chancellors and things like that well one of the things try to bring pressure on us Mike one of the the reason that led to the latest call the one that that we know about and and Craig has said that he did not try to use his influence and did now and only talked to you and your coaches about trying to improve his sign and trying to get him more playing time through the types of ways you mentioned but what I want to ask you now what was your reaction when you found out that Adam James was diagnosed with a concussion well first of all I can assure you that nobody none of my coaches feels like that that's the case so we can get past that right now and I certainly don't my reaction when Adam James had a concussion was that I need to coach the other players out that you know I'm calling all the plays I'm certainly not you know walking Adam James around and supervising him that's what we have trainers and medical personnel for my reaction was well he's got a concussion okay well what are the problems with a concussion well first of all you don't want to overexert yourself second of all you're light-sensitive and third of all you don't want to get hit again to exacerbate the situation you don't want to get hit by a ball a flying body a golf cart or whatever the case may be and you need to be hydrated and we want him close to the football field because he's a team member and we wanted him to be around our teammates but we want him out of the light and one thing Adam was walking around and well and this is kind of indicative of his attitude he came out on the field he was not dressed in school gear like the other players and everybody else involved I had a head on backwards had his sunglasses on and in you know walked slowly around the field and and I said why does he have sunglasses on they said well he's sensitive but like because he had a concussion I said well put him somewhere out of the light and and well so then he went to a garage that's got the door open he goes to a garage that's that where we were that at no point was it was the garage locked it holds two vehicles tightly but it's it's big enough to do that it's got a nice machine it's got a fan and while we're on the subject the offensive line during special teams will go to the shed especially on a hot day because it's shady and and second of all because there's an ice machine there and which given the fact that those are the symptoms it seems like really a pretty good place it's it's none of this stuff that's been portrayed none of this Cool Hand Luke Brubaker stuff that is so popular to sensationalize and and quite quite honestly I think there's been some irresponsible journalism on that because there's been an overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary but it's not was accepted for reasons known only to those journalists that choose and not to what why did you make the decision where Adam James should go as opposed to the trainer I didn't I didn't I said you know find someplace dark and when one place was as good as the next and that was close to the field and and plus it had the ice machine what do you think a coach's role is in terms of deciding how an injured player is to be handled I think you defer to the doctor which brings up a good point I have a I have a I have a statement by dr. Michael Phi who's the who's the doctor that treated Adam James and diagnosed him with the concussion and the most important line on this statement says according to the information given to me no additional risk or harm were imposed on Adam by what he was asked to do okay and I'm gonna read it again because I think that's important and that's the most important issue on this everybody can look at second-guess and question all they want but this is the treating physician this is the individual that decided he had a concussion and according to the information given to me no additional risks or harm weren't post on imposed on Adam by what he was asked to do and with deference to the to the the doctor's orders and diagnosis that he had a concussion we wanted to try to make sure that that those elements were assured we knew that we were involved with a sensitive family you know and and also quite frankly a family that was somewhat bitter a because you know again I says that I said in the beginning it's all about playing time and that's why we're having this discussion so what does anybody rate does anybody really think if he was not Craig James's son we would be having this discussion but the other is we wanted to ensure that the football program had no liability so as far as protecting him from getting hit again and and the rest we felt like that was important so what did you do when you found out that the James had complained about about Adams treatment I wasn't surprised I wasn't surprised because of his attitude two days before I wasn't surprised because I knew that that Craig had already talked to upper administrators I wasn't surprised because Craig had already at one time told me about meeting with our Chancellor and getting involved in business deals and things like that and and I wasn't surprised because they were dissatisfied and quite honestly you know you know Adams somewhat suggested two days prior to that you know we're not doing our job as coaches and it had that element of hostility where and which that's part of why we were really careful in in conscious of where he went and what he did and oh in addition wait wait wait in addition we had a trainer outside that checked in on him every 15 minutes okay what did Texas Tech then do after you say you you weren't surprised that they complained what did Texas Tech want you to do to rectify the situation no I was never presented with anything the only thing I was ever presented with from Texas Tech was in a meeting they and this was with the president the ad in a meeting basically there was a bunch of statements on you know players to are to be treated this way that way and the other way which I agreed with for the most part and then the other was a failure to do that you can be penalized the following ways they wanted me to sign the paper and I saw no reason to sign it I think you know I don't I don't mind you can put it in my file you can do whatever you want but nothing about my contract or America would compel me to sign it everybody me and everybody in my program is completely innocent of anything and I'm not gonna sign anything that even gives the impression that there may be some wrongdoing when there's not so I didn't sign it and then from there the conversation went too it's important to keep this out of the median to get this resolved and I said well you know if for some reason you know that you don't want me or something like that let's figure out an exit strategy because we're going to we have a great recruiting class we're gonna have a great team next year and every and you know in consideration for my staff and and those people if we need to part ways and we can do it at the end of next season and and go from there and and you know they didn't appear to be interested in that but well and then I got to the bowl game just a few days later and then was suspended so you know they violated that the whole thing as far as this business of let's keep it out of the media and the other thing was was you know it's contrary to my contract my contract calls for notice of any wrongdoing and the only things that were thrown around to me was that we've had a complaint well there's complaints on people all the time we've had a complaint and but but I said well what law did I violate well there wasn't an answer what policies died violate there wasn't an answer what have I been told to do that I violated there wasn't an answer and and then so then from there they started throwing about the term insubordination I said well what was insubordinate what in your view is in support you know and really no answers there I'll tell you one thing that has shed some light on the subject recently I don't know if you read the material in the Dallas Morning News today it's loaded with a bunch of emails between ell Regents the Chancellor and parties outside of the program that you know clearly are involved in some level of collusion and conspiracy that that goes back to last year and I wasn't aware aware of it and so you can imagine my shock when I discover in all those emails in the Dallas Morning News today and I find out that everybody you know that several individuals were working against me as far as last year and all the way along and I mean all you have to do the emails that's what they say and that's not that's not in my words that's in their work I did read the most of them most of them pertain to your contract negotiations last year which became acrimonious you mentioned Mike a couple of times the Chancellor I talked with the Chancellor Kent hands last night and he said that he and Gerald Meyers tried to help you and and you basically wouldn't let them help you how would you describe your interaction with the Chancellor and the athletic director during this situation well it was fascinating when you asked what exactly you asked me to do in order to see what exactly they asked me to do in order to straighten out the situation there wasn't an answer and the reason there wasn't an answer is because I have yet been asked to do anything to straighten out the situation part of it is the obvious fundamental problem that I did nothing wrong and then I've never been asked anything and they didn't give you an answer to it either when when you say earlier that that you didn't necessarily direct Adam James to be put in be put into the shed had he chosen to walk away from the ship what would the consequences have been well nothing I mean it would have been fine really when you consider that the next day he did walk out went to the bathroom and the rest and walked around the room and even opened up the door to an electrical room which Steve pin forbid him to go into okay what point did you feel like Mike that you were going to be unable to resolve the situation with Texas tacking it was inevitable that you the two sides were going to part ways well I never felt that way a hundred percent once they once they'd suspended me in gun public and I think you got to understand I've been here for 10 years we've won more bowls in my tenure than all the other years combined we've won more games and all the other years combined when I got here we had one of the lowest graduation rates in America we now have the highest graduation rate in America of any public institution and but to see those you know this to see those emails in the Dallas Morning News and discover I've been pulling knives out of my back for a year well I mean obviously I'm looking for a place that actually wants to have teamwork and it's important to them to do well on the field but also it's going to be important to me that they're committed to academics says I've been throughout my career but when when I first discovered that is contrary to what they said as far as keeping it out of the media and trying to resolve it they suspended me and there was no explanation on that you saw the letter on the suspension and that letters all that I've been given on the subject and so given how hard my staff and my team had worked to go to the ball as we have all ten in a row it was important to me to have the you know to exercise my right and have the opportunity to play in the bowl and in Texas Tech is a state institution as a citizen of America I'm protected with all the other rights and legal remedies that anybody else in America is especially at a state institution what why why do you think they fired you Mike well I'm about to tell you you're I mean you're kind of hurrying me along I mean and you got to understand that in the course of this I really haven't had a voice so maybe I'm a little overzealous in having one now but the thing is when we've filed the temporary restraining order to allow me to coach the bowl game my attorneys went to the courthouse and and we felt like we had a really good case had a lot of material backing us and and due to the the nature of the facts and and do the nature of the facts and the arguments we had and some case law we felt like we'd win the restraining order and before they argued argued the restraining order well then the other side gave my attorney in a letter that fired me and you've read that a letter as well which again outside of the term ends of ordination being thrown around really has not it hasn't provided any grounds I mean Kent Han says well you know if I exercise my legal rights to try to get back on the field to coach the team I worked an entire season to prepare to be on the field with based only on accusation that's false that somehow that's insubordination against the institution and so I should be fired well well since when is exercising your rights and legal remedies since when is that insubordination how so what was your first reaction when you when you discovery that they were firing you I was poor I was puzzled to a degree but there you know you can imagine over a period of time there's been a lot of funny things happen you know because I got a lot of mixed messages from them I've rolled it around in my mind analyzed it in my mind and then of course today what the Dallas Morning News published definitely shed some light on it there's obviously some people involved with the Regents and Chancellor that that you know behind my back have been working against me which is a shame because I've always been assured that this is a team effort and operated accordingly and so I mean it that sheds some light I'll tell you another thing that I found interesting the memos that the Dallas Morning News had were dated December 8th through February 8th ok but my contract wasn't signed until the 19th and the last memo was a somewhat hostile memo on you know don't settle and don't sign him to a new contract and the rest I think not just me but I think everybody would be fascinated to know what the emails correspondence and memos for those 11 days between February 8th and February 19th said I know that I'm really curious and quite frankly I don't think that you would have had a group from Denver drive five hours to come set this thing and have this interview with me while you're all the way across the country if you weren't somewhat curious yourself I've read the memos and for those who haven't read them most of them from a prominent Texas Tech booster to the Chancellor Kent handsome other memos involved in there as well Mike if you feel like that there were people in the administration or influential people outside of it working against you what do you think their motivation was you know I'm not sure I suspect that you know whether whether they're tired of me they want a different guy you know sometimes it comes down to you know as spike dykes had a great quote spike dykes said spike dykes one time he says his head coach your popularity goes down 10% each year he says I've been here 13 years you do the math and now obviously outside some of these people I'm very popular and that's clear and with you know the masses of people at the courtroom and around Lubbock and flags and the rest and I really appreciate that and I can't say enough about these fans their support and their devotion to what we've done together with this team over the last ten years I honestly don't know I think it's a probably has something to do with power and control and I'll tell you the other thing I think it has to do with is I just don't I think they don't want to pay the money I think I think last year they didn't want to pay the money and then based on popular opinion and public pressure and things like that they got in a position where to save face they had to give me a competitive contract which they did and then I think whether it's for financial reasons or what they've decided to not follow through and now essentially they're trying to steal the money I mean because you know I get an $800,000 completion bonus at the end of December 31st and and some other things but and I just think that it either has to do with the financial end of things or you know some level of you know wanting their guy or their being bored I don't know but I guarantee it's financial and it has to do with not paying so much money and willing to to utilize ruthless means to do it and again those memos those aren't my words those are their words what so what do you plan to do next yeah you know it's a little tough to go skiing on the near future hopefully phone rings and then after today I mean this story is unfolding and has a lot of different chapters you know a variety of things have happened you know the yeah a variety of things have happened you know the biggest being I guess the Dallas Morning News story and then you know several distortions which are beginning to get dispelled I think is another and so I don't know I mean the phone rings off the hook and and who knows but Mike what I what I want the future told is I want to I want to go to a football program that truly has teamwork that's interested in building their program keep in mind we've expanded our stadium three times in six years here and me and my staff had a part in that generating interest and our level of TV attention and things like that and teams that had a lot of success on the field and I want one that is committed from top to bottom to doing that rather than exercising other agendas and and then I want one committed to academics I mean we were first other public institutions academically here at Tech and wherever I go I want to be first in that too I mean you teach your players to compete and everything they do you teach you teach them to compete on the field I want him to compete in the classroom and that's part of why I think Adam James is unhappy I think he thinks that that influence and power and entitlement I think I think he believes that gives you a starting position and I don't agree with that because I think regardless of your background if you work hard and if you compete and develop your skills or the best you can be and compete there you should be rewarded accordingly and and I think there's a difference in philosophy there and I think given the fact that he didn't share that he should have transferred there are a number of your former players most notably Erik Morris Graham Harrell who have come out very strongly in support of you there have also been some players who have been a critical of this situation one of them Chris Perry was quoted as saying that he had no complaints about the decision he compared what happened to Adam James as to using his words like an animal in a cage and he said the Texas Tech has his pet back now because you're gone what's your reaction to Chris Perry's words well it's really pretty simple I mean Chris Perry's not on the on the starting lineup he's a scout team player so he's probably dissatisfied with how many repetitions he has I've suspended Chris Perry on two different occasions for violating team rules and Chris Perry is Adam James's roommate as we speak at the Hyatt and and that's starting to take a bit of a funny shape now the other thing is is you know the players they're under you know by the administration coaches and players aren't to speak to the media and that's an effort to avoid distraction and it's understandable but what I understand and I'm sure it's right because the people I heard from have no reason to lie is that you know the numbers were given to a reporter and the reporter called individuals that were you know malcontents sand and so then they called in again this keep in mind this is would be a violation of a team rule there but despite that they called and said what they said and you know and under the best of circumstances the football is difficult and it's frustrating and you can't make everybody happy we have 125 people out there and you can select a couple guys that don't play very much and even some that do that aren't happy but you know I had former players in in particular because I didn't want to distract the team I knew they needed to prepare for a bowl game against Michigan State and together we worked very hard to get there and have the opportunity to play them and then you know then the other thing I was you know they're asked to not speak to the media and so I figured you know former players that have had success here and been through to the end of the program rather than you know one view one individual in particular who you mentioned has been on academic probation and everything else I figured I'd go with credible people that are the are the fine examples of what we produce here at Texas Tech so what if your players said directly to you since you're firing I haven't had the opportunity to talk to them which is unfortunate I've had some texts I've had some calls but essentially I've been banned from talking to them which is another thing that I didn't feel was particularly just and and again I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to speak and the rest and and you know so what what was the last conversation Mike that you had with Adam James I haven't had a great deal of conversation with Adam James you know just basically the position coaches and the trainer's handle him I haven't had a lot of conversation with them the last one though would have been okay the last conversation was the day that the day that we disciplined him and had him run Stadium steps with another receiver to we were in a period called quick game and I said you're not giving us good effort I want you to run hard I want you to concentrate stick your toe on the ground catch the ball like everybody else is doing and and then I had to get on him again the next period and then I said I said well you know go see Benny you're gonna run stadiums and that would have been the last conversation with him and there really wasn't a lot of dialogue and it was relatively short but you know essentially it's always been our point of view in our opinion that that Adam do what the others do and do what everybody else does and that his parents behave like all the other parents do and respect the opinions of a number of coaches as they evaluate every inch of the film and watch all the practices and evaluate all the players fairly rather than sit and make a bunch of phone calls and beg for playing time Kent hence told me last night Mike that the only person truly responsible for Mike Leach being fired is Mike Leach how would you describe your level of responsibility in your dismissal well I think those I think those those emails with the Dallas Morning News I say a great deal and I think they contradict that statement tremendously and I don't know how anybody that reads those emails could disagree what do you think the end result will be of this between you and Texas Tech because ultimately that ultimately when we filed the restraining order you know it was you know whatever their response was retaliation and embarrassment well what do I think ultimately will become of I'm sorry you asked me the question again I said what you think ultimately how do you see this situation playing out well I guess there's there's two extremes I would like to see you know me and Texas Tech despite some unwholesome maneuvering that's gone on for over a year by certain individuals we've had a great relationship for 10 years they've been the best football years in the history of Texas Tech in any way that you measure them with regard of running a clean program with regard of not having any problems with regard me personally not having any with regard to graduation rate with regard to product on the field these are the most productive years Texas Tech has ever had with regard to building with regard to making money with regard to being on TV best years at Texas Tech has ever had and I'm really proud to be a part of it and really proud of the fans and people that I've gotten to meet and gotten to work with and you know they'll mean something important to me the rest of my life but and so I would like to think you know based on that based on the fact it's the right thing to do and also based on the fact it's clearly the most practical thing to do that the two parties will be able to sit down come to an equitable resolution and and solve it and butt in and I hope that that's the case I guess worst-case scenario is is you know that doesn't happen and in my side of course reserves the right to exercise any legal remedies you know guaranteed to any other citizen of this of this country and because you know my ten years my record speaks for itself and what we've agreed to in that contract that needs to be fulfilled and and my sides really not willing to accept anything short of that the emails to which you referred a several of them have the booster encouraging the Chancellor not to pay you what your side was seeking during contract negotiations and expressing concern over you looking for other jobs you use the term unwholesome maneuverings are there things that you consider unwholesome maneuverings that happened other than those emails that you've referenced well I suspect there's eleven days worth missing and then there's there's a plenty of material prior to that and who knows what's gone on since then and in prior to this I mean I think what a person ought to be curious about and look look into as you know any business relationships any financial relationships any personal relationships any political relationships and clearly based on those memos and their word I think we'd all be a little surprised if we don't find some to exist what would you do differently Mike if this situation if you had this to do over again situation what would you do differently I can't think of a great deal that I'd do differently you know I mean I think you know there's always hindsight but you wake up every day you do the very best you can and you'd be honest with everybody and and I mean that's the best you can do I mean do the best you can and I you know I don't have a lot of regrets you know I go out and I do the best I can and and you know maybe there's a mistake or something like that but you do the best you can and if that was your best and just do your best again and let the rest take care of itself Mike thank you very much for joining us wish you the best a lot well thank you so much I look forward to seeing

Channel: 6Magazine

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Keywords: Mike, Leach, interview

Id: 2hjKPebReak

Length: 36min 32sec (2192 seconds)

Published: Tue May 29 2012