[Vision2020] Importing A Known Abuser To WSU Football

[Tom Hansen]

Is this a case of déjà vu?

Courtesy of the December 30, 2009 edition of the Christian Science Monitor at:

http://tinyurl.com/ycaybl2

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Mike Leach fired: Texas Tech coach's methods seen as cruel

Mike Leach, the most successful coach in Texas Tech football history, was fired Wednesday after being accused of punishing receiver Adam James for not playing through a concussion.


Fired: Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said he looked forward to playing in the 2010 Alamo Bowl against Michigan State during this press conference at the Club at Sonterra on Dec. 10.
(Kin Man Hui/Newscom)
The summary firing of Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach Wednesday for allegedly punishing a concussed player by isolating him in an equipment room for hours shows that even today’s highly-paid collegiate coaches can expect swift justice if they overstep their bounds with players.

Leach is the winningest coach in the history of Texas Tech and succeeded in bringing a measure of glamor to the football program in Lubbock,Texas, through a blitzkrieg offense that routinely leads Division I college football in passing. The Red Raiders have qualified for a bowl in each of Leach's 10 seasons and have won five of the past seven.

Firing him is a potential civic catastrophe in football-mad Texas.

True, there has been some ill will between Leach and Texas Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers as Leach began demanding more authority over the program. But the speed with which Leach was fired is striking.

Leach was suspended Monday as the school investigated complaints from a player, Adam James, that the coach sent him to sit alone in an equipment room for not playing through a concussion. The room was originally described as a dark shed, but reports have since suggested it is a decent-size storage room.

When Leach filed a lawsuit trying to overturn the suspension so he could coach in Saturday's Alamo Bowl, the school fired him.

'Old school' coaching or new anger?

The Leach firing comes a few weeks after Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino resigned amid accusations by players that he physically and emotionally abused them at practice and during games. Mangino was college football Coach of the Year in 2008. Leach was 2008 Big 12 Coach of the Year.

Unlike coaches such as Rick Neuheisel or Mike Price, who were both fired in 2003 for off-campus issues (gambling and allegations of indecent behavior with a stripper, respectively), the two recent examples point to coaching techniques that verge on cruelty.

"I think it's almost comical, if it weren't so serious, that too many parents and too many coaches kind of treat players and children like dirt during the week, and then on the weekend when the game comes up, they tell them, 'Okay, now go out and be great,' " Fred Akers, the former Texas Longhorns coach, told the Washington Post last month.

Modern players both in college and, to a greater degree, professional sports have changed, and many are less willing to take the tough, confrontational style epitomized by the late Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks, who often berated players for perceived weaknesses. Yet coaching, too, is exhibiting a personally vindictive turn, some say.

“Whatever happened to extra running as motivation to play better, or punishment for missing assignments?" writes Fanhouse’s senior national columnist, Kevin Blackistone. “Are the stadium stairs no longer available at the end of practice?"

“This isn't about not being able to do it the way old coaches did it,” Blackistone adds. “No, this is about abject stupidity, and there shouldn't be any quarter for it in institutions of higher learning. Abuse isn't a part of pedagogy any more than it is a part of anything else.”

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Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 

On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:19 AM, Joe Campbell <philosopher.joe at gmail.com> wrote:

> Not that I want to defend the practice of importing known abusers but I do think it may be too early to lynch Leach. I'm willing to wait out the investigation. He's not going to kill anyone and they are not going to win very many games this year whether he stays or goes.
> 
> On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 10:40 AM, Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Pac-12 will review Wilson allegations
>> 
>> Ted Miller
>> Washington State and the Pac-12 will both review allegations made by former Washington State star receiver Marquess Wilson that first-year coach Mike Leach and his staff were abusive to players. The school announced that Wilson was suspended last ...
>> 
>> Blog | November 12, 2012
>> Pac-12 to investigate allegations against Washington State Cougar...
>> 
>> Brett McMurphy
>> The Pac-12 has agreed to look into allegations made by former Washington State receiver Marquess Wilson of abusive behavior by coach Mike Leach and his staff, commissioner Larry Scott said Monday.
>> 
>> Story | Conversation | November 12, 2012
>> Washington State Cougars to review Marquess Wilson allegations
>> 
>> The president of Washington State University has asked the athletic department and the Pac-12 separately to review recent allegations about the football program in Pullman.
>> 
>> Story | Conversation | November 11, 2012
>> Wilson fires back at Washington State staff
>> 
>> Ted Miller
>> Washington State receiver Marquess Wilson, suspended from the team this week, accused coach Mike Leach and his staff of abusive behavior on Saturday. From the ESPN.com story: "This was going to be our year. My teammates and I were aspiring to be ...
>> 
>> Blog | November 10, 2012
>> 
>> [Remember Texas Tech.]
>> 
>> -- 
>> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
>> art.deco.studios at gmail.com
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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