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      Texas Tech fires Mike Leach

      December 30, 2009 /

      ESPN.com is reporting that Texas Tech has fired head coach Mike Leach on Wednesday.

      The school handed a termination letter to Leach’s attorney, Ted Liggett, just minutes before the two sides were to appear in a Lubbock courtroom for a hearing on the coach’s suspension.

      Liggett said the letter said Leach was “terminated with cause effective immediately.”

      In February, Leach and the school agreed to a five-year, $12.7 million contract. According to terms of the deal, Leach was due an $800,000 bonus on Dec. 31 if he were still the head coach at Texas Tech.

      Leach was suspended by the university on Monday after receiver Adam James alleged the coach twice confined him to small, dark spaces while the practiced.

      James is the son of former NFL player and ESPN college football analyst Craig James.

      Texas Tech plays Michigan State on Saturday in the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

      In an affidavit included with his injunction request to coach the Red Raiders in the Alamo Bowl, Leach said he “would never intentionally harm or endanger a player” and that he had been “forced into this situation without being afforded any process.”

      He wrote “absolutely” no evidence had been given to him that showed he had violated any university rules or standards.

      Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill will coach the Red Raiders in the 2009 Alamo Bowl. One would think quarterback Taylor Potts and the Tech offense will struggle dramatically considering Leach called all the plays.

      It’ll be interesting to see what the backlash will be coming out of Leach’s camp. This all went down quickly, so I’m wondering what Leach’s lawyer has planned in response to his client’s firing. If Leach truly did nothing wrong, then his lawyer might be able to build a nice case against the university. Leach still has a career to protect, so I’m wondering if he’ll fight this in order to save face or if he’ll let the situation die in hopes that he can join another program quickly.


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      College Football

      Great Quotes: Darko Milicic

      December 30, 2009 /

      “It’s the NBA. The NBA, all around the league, same (garbage). ‘Your chance is going to come.’ All that kind of (garbage). (Forget) that…I’ve got to be real. There is no team in the league that is going to give me the chance that I’m looking for. My only chance is back in Europe. I’m going to do that. I want to be happy. I want to play.”

      — Darko Milicic, via MLive.com, on all the lying that goes on in the NBA

      Part of me feels bad for this guy. Coming to the U.S. from another country, he spent his rookie season as an 18-year-old kid playing for Larry Brown. Then I check out his page at Basketball-Reference and see that he has made more than $30 million, and I don’t feel bad for him anymore.

      He complains about not getting his chance, but it’s not like he was stuck on one team under one regime his entire career. He has played for four different franchises, so he has had plenty of opportunity. He wants playing time? He played 23 minutes for the Magic and Grizzlies in back to back seasons and didn’t average more than 8.0 points or 6.0 rebounds either year.

      If he’s such a good player, he would dominate in practice and his head coach would be forced to give him minutes. It’s not like there’s a league-wide conspiracy to keep Darko Milicic down. Head coaches want to win, and if that means he gets big minutes, so be it. If that means he rides the bench, so be it.

      When a team acquires a player and keeps him around for a while, that’s an opportunity. It’s his job to practice hard and keep improving to the point where the coach has to give him playing time. If he doesn’t, he’s just squandering the opportunity. And Milicic has squandered plenty…

      NBA

      Line of the Night (12/29): Kobe Bryant

      December 30, 2009 /

      The Golden State Warriors have trouble playing defense, and Kobe took advantage of this fact on Tuesday night, posting 44 points, 11 assists and four rebounds in the Lakers’ 124-118 win at the Staples Center. Bryant has a tendency at times to be more of a volume shooter, but on Tuesday, he scored 44 points on 27 shots (making 13) and also hit all 16 of his free throws. It was a very efficient night.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Report: Cowher interested in Bills job

      December 30, 2009 /

      According to Buffalo Sports Daily, former Pittsburgh head coach Bill Cowher is interested in the Bills’ open coaching position.

      Capaccio, who was broadcasting live his UStream “Buffalo Bills Now!” show Tuesday evening when an excessive amount of listeners forced the site to crash, spoke with me moments ago by telephone.

      The source, which Capaccio says is not someone inside the Buffalo Bills organization but rather a source who knows Cowher, says that “I wouldn’t be surprised if they are talking today.”

      He went on to mention Cowher will continue to monitor other situations, most notably Tampa Bay and Carolina, but in no way, shape or form has he written off Buffalo as a possible destination. This contradicts several reports that claim Cowher has snubbed the Bills in their efforts to pursue him.

      He also went on to say Cowher wouldn’t necessarily demand a general manager role and/or complete control of the team, provided the right people were in place for him to work with.

      Cowher would spurn all other offers to coach in Buffalo and wouldn’t want complete control of the team in the process? That’s certainly thinking outside the box.

      With the regular season coming to an end, I’m sure we’ll hear more reports and rumors like the one above. Half the league has been out of playoff contention for weeks and head coaching rumors are about the only hot news some teams have. I highly doubt “The Chin” would want to coach the Bills if he didn’t have complete control of the team (and why wouldn’t the Bills want to give him complete control?), but hey, you never know.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      Taylor: Jones doesn’t want to fire Phillips

      December 30, 2009 /

      Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News made several good points about Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips (more specifically, Phillips’ job status) in one of his recent articles.

      No one is rooting for Wade Phillips to succeed more than Jerry Jones.

      If Phillips succeeds, then it justifies Jerry’s decision to hire Phillips instead of Norv Turner, and it justifies his decision to go with a players’ coach after Bill Parcells left.

      Besides, Jerry loves working with Phillips because the coach allows him to be himself. He can be part of the process instead of feeling like an intruder when he wants to address the team after a game.

      Jerry doesn’t want to fire Phillips.

      Frankly, he’s looking for reasons to keep Phillips around. His 32-15 is a good start, but Jerry wants some playoff success. You can’t blame him, considering the Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game since 1996.

      That’s why Jerry hasn’t been shy about saying what needs to happen for Phillips to keep his job.

      It’s also why he hasn’t yet signed the club option that will guarantee Phillips another year.

      This was a very simple way of looking at the situation and I thought Taylor hit on several key points, none bigger than the fact that Jones wants Phillips to succeed. If Phillips fails, then Jones looks bad for hiring him, so why wouldn’t he want the head coach to succeed?

      It’s easy to get caught up in how Jones wants to make flashy decisions. Many people (myself included) somewhat expect him to go after Bill Cowher or Mike Shanahan in the offseason because that just seems like a Jerry Jones thing to do. But the fact of the matter is that Jones is in Phillips’ corner – he just wants to see his team win or else he’ll have to make a change because in his mind, the Cowboys have a Super Bowl roster.

      This Sunday will tell a lot about Phillips’ future in Dallas. If the Eagles crush the Cowboys and Dallas gets bounced in the first round of the playoffs next week, Jones will likely make a change. But if the ‘Boys can muster a win against Philly and make a run deep into the playoffs, then there’s no guarantee that Jones will cut Phillips loose in the offseason.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

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