Mike Leach: You Deserve What's Come To You

As everyone knows over the last three to four days the saga unfolding with Adam James, Mike Leach and the Texas Tech Football program and at the core being a report that former Red Raiders head coach Mike Leach sent the sophomore wide receiver to a "shed/electric closet/press room" after he had a diagnosed concussion.

Here is the known timeline of the reported events in this situation.

1) Reports come out that Texas Tech coach Mike Leach sent WR Adam James to a shed as "punishment" while he had a concussion.

2) Texas Tech suspends Mike Leach for bowl game

3) Leach sues Texas Tech

4) Texas Tech fires Mike Leach a day before he was due to receive a 800K bonus in his contract.

So that's the timeline of events in this entire situation. Now the reports variety a little bit between the Leach camp and the Jones camp (including Craig James, ESPN CFB analyst and Adam James' father).

Some say it was a closet that was at least 40 sq ft in size. Some said it was a small shed with no lights. Others have it being a press room and so on.

The real problem is not that Adam Jones had a concussion or that Mike Leach was fired. It was the treatment of Jones that started this entire fiasco.

Texas Tech is a Big 12 program, a division I school with top of the line school facilities. The question and the confusing part in this entire situation is the fact that when Jones had his concussion (mild or sever a concussion is still the same) why was he not sent to the team room to be attended to and treated by doctors for his concussion instead of being secluded into a shed with a guard standing outside making sure he did not get out.

I know that there are some coaches out there who want to send a message to their players and want to be tough on their players but this goes way outside that boundary. A player with a concussion needs to be in a controlled situation, with team doctors around to check and clear everything so that there is no long term effect.

But locking a player in a shed with a concussion does nothing for the player, your reputation and it does not even come close to making sense on any level.

You want to send a message to your players bench them, or have extended workouts that are more grueling but not put a college football players career and possible life on the line by secluding him in a shed or tight space while having a concussion.

Now the real shocker in this saga is the fact that Mike Leach and his attorneys have not denied any reports of Leach sending James to a closed shed while he had a concussion.

Usually you will see a coach say that it's false and deny all reports. Leach is flat out saying "yes I did send him to the shed".

That right there would make me, if I were the Texas Tech AD, fire Leach on the spot. There is no way that on field success, no matter how great you are as a head coach, can justify these actions taken by Leach.

Leach has won 84 games at Texas Tech, more than any coach in school history. He's led them to 10 straight bowl games and was the AP coach of the year last year.

Yea that's great you're an outstanding football mind and a great head coach. The down side is you don't know how to handle personal contact with a player.

Here is Craig James on ESPN about the situation and I'm fully in support of what Craig James said.

When I hear some people say that Leach is the winningest coach in Texas Tech so he shouldn't have been fired.

Well I have a response for those people. Florida head coach Urban Meyer has won two national championships in his five seasons at Florida. Meyer is 56-10 in his five years at Florida and yet Meyer is more close to his players and personally and emotionally attached to his players more than any coach is to their team.

So there's a difference. Two winning coaches. However Meyer is more of a man than Leach seems to be. Now Leach is a good coach but this will hurt him and his reputation a lot.

Most likely what's going to happen is that Leach will learn to go back to school, learn not to sue your boss because you will never win, and hopefully Mike Leach will learn from this mistake and give Leach a year and I'm sure he will have another coaching job in college football.

NOTE: Here is Leach's attorney on ESPN

Michael Crabtree Still All Talk?

Since his days at Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree has been loaded with talk. Rated in the top five by countless scouts and NFL analyst coming into the 2009 NFL Draft, Michael Crabtree was looking like a sure top five lock with the St Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks holding three of the top four picks in the draft.

However, as we have seen in recent NFL Draft's, hype doesn't guarantee anything. Brady Quinn was a sure lock at 9th overall to the Miami Dolphins. He took a huge draft day fall and landed at 22nd when the Cleveland Browns and Phil Savage traded back into the first round to get "their" quarterback in Quinn.

Now flash-forward to Michael Crabtree in 2009. With all the hype (among other things) coming into the draft surrounding Crabtree it looked as if he would be a sure top 4-7 lock. Well that's not how it went down.

Crabtree was passed up by the Rams, Chiefs, Seahawks, Jets, Raiders (who took Heyward-Bay over him) and the Jaguars all the way down to 10th overall with the San Francisco 49ers.

At the time it looked like a steal for the 49ers, who were looking to add another playmaker to support Frank Gore, Vernon Davis and the other weapons in San Fran.

Well five months later it went from a great pick to a potential huge setback for the 49ers organization when Crabtree threatened to sit out the entire 2009 season and reenter the draft in 2010 in hopes of receiving the contract he wanted and the contract he thought he deserved.

Before Crabtree signed I wrote an article comparing Crabtree and the 49ers to the Cutler-Broncos situation.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/254098-the-michael-crabtree-situation-why-its-worse-than-the-jay-cutler-saga

Finally on October 8th, 2009 Michael Crabtree grew enough brain cells and agreed to a six year $32 million dollar contract with $17 of the being guaranteed.

Before Crabtree had signed the 49ers were looking great and were about to take that next step to the forfront of the NFC West along with the Arizona Cardinals.

Coming into their bye week they were 3-2. Since Crabtree has signed the 49ers are 2-5 and have lost sight of what made then a winner in the first half of the season.

Now even though he has only played seven games in his career I thought it would be interesting to see if Crabtree is really showing signs that he can be that true elite No. 1 Wide Receiver or just another bust.

Here are Crabtree's stats to date in 2009: 32 receptions, 406 yards, 1 TD with a 12.7 avg.

Going a little bit deeper into his stats through the first seven games Crabtree is averaging over four receptions per game and 58 yards per game.

Not bad numbers but what has changed since Crabtree was signed was the 49ers swagger and since officially joining the Niners they have lost their edge they had the first half of the season.

Is it because Crabtree forced the hand of the 49ers front office or is it just because that's the way the NFL goes?

We won't be fully able to judge Crabtree for at least two more years. After that he's either made it or he's out. That's how it is in the NFL.