football ramblings

The Red Raider Saga:
Like most of you I have been following what has been going on at Texas Tech over the past few days and it seems to get more and more bizarre. When I first heard  about it, it sounded strange that a coach at any level would lock a player in an electrical closet since he could not practice because of a minor concussion. As the stories continue to develop it has taken (and I am sure will continue to take) some crazy twists and turns. The shed that Adam James was taken to stand in turns out to be a garage that is used to store equipment. A garage that was not small. The electical closet turns out to be a room used to do press conferences after the game. Many of Mike Leach's former players have come to his defense and complained that the problem was Adam James. Likewise, I understand that those defenses of Coach Leach are being countered by more complaints of treatment. Now, we as fans will be left to follow the story via the internet, TV and even Twitter, while the lawyers go to war to see what can sort of financial deal will be worked out. Some things seem obvious. Mike Leach will not coach at Texas Tech next year. That would be a no win situation for everybody. You have coach that turned around a program with an exciting brand of football. The Red Raiders were coming off a fantastic 2008 season where life was good, and things were looking up. They did not have the same success in 2009 and there were some situations brought up in the media of problems within the team. This incident with Adam James seems to be the straw that broke the camels back, and now the kindom of Mike Leach and the Red Raiders is crumbling down. What happens next? I saw on "Twitter" that Mike Leach was fired. Roughly 3 hours later, I saw a "tweet" stating that Tommy Tubberville is interested in the Red Raider job. I can honestly say that I have no idea if that it true or not, but it is a little look into the world of big time college athletics. One thing will be interesting. How will the next HC of the Red Raiders handle Wide Receiver Adam James? He will not play in the bowl game and it will be interesting to see what happens to his career as time goes by.
What can we learn from all of this:
I would say that as a Head Coach, regardless of what level, you have to think out everything in regards to how you handle a team. Being in coaching myself since 1987 I can tell you that I have not always made the best decisions or been proud of all my actions, but I don't feel I have ever put a player in harms way. I think this is going to be the big factor in the Mike Leach story has it unfolds. Did he put his player in harms way by what happened under his leadership of the Texas Tech football program. I think that will be a hard point to prove. Bobby Bowden is quoted as saying, "In coaching, the highs are never as high as the lows are low." I would guess as good as Mike Leach felt when Graham Harrell threw the TD pass to beat Texas in 2008 can't compare to the down he is going through right now.We'll see how the bowl game goes....
Bowl Season Ramblings:
Here are some thoughts from me regarding this years Bowl season as it has progressed:
The "I got the dream Job at the right time award": From what I saw last night, that award has to go to Brian Kelly. Does a fantastic job building up the program at the University of Cinncinati, goes undeafeted, gets a chance to go against the University of Florida to prove they can "play with the big boys".  I would think he really likes that new Notre Dame coaching gear!! Seems a little unfair that teams can get the reward of a bowl game only to not have their head coach, coordinator or position coach because that guy gets a new job and moves on before the bowl game....
The "Thank you Bob and the Sooners award": Obviously this one goes to the Sooners. It has been along time since the Sooners won a bowl game. I was unable to watch it but got score updates via espn on my iPhone. It made for a stressful New Years Eve, but it was nice to get the final score update that the Sooners had won. Now, goodbye 2009...Hello 2010.
The "OK you probably are one of the best ever to play the college game award": Gotta give this one to Tim Tebow. I stayed up to catch the game live. Kick-off around 02.00 in Sweden. When I went to bed at 06.00 after the game...I truly thought that Tim Tebow could not have gone out in a better way. Yes, of course the Gator fans would like to have seen the back to back championships, but the way Tebow played in that last game was the exclamation point on a fantastic career. Two things will be interesting to follow now. One is, what will Tebow do in the NFL? I am no expert, but he'll probably do something...Two is, how would you like to be the starting QB at Florida next fall?
The "I can't believe they stopped that play twice in a row award": This has to go to the Oklahoma State Defense on their goal line stand against Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl. Ole Miss ran their 330+ pound DL straight up the gut...twice...from inside the one and the Cowboys defense stopped the big dude from getting into the endzone...Mass x Velocity = ???
The "That's not the way we planned it award": This one goes to the OSU offense.  In their 7 first half drives they went 6 punts and 1 fumble..They regrouped at halftime and then went..Punt, Punt, TD...so things are looking good...then they followed it up with...turn over on Downs, Interception, Interception, fumble, fumble, interception...and finally, interception....not  a good day for the offense....
Ok, now it's time to stop rambling and time to watch a some more football...it's sunday morning now in Sweden and I have The Liberty Bowl to finsih watching, then check out the Red Raiders in the Alamo Bowl.