upstater1
Hall of Fame Poster
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- Nov 29, 2005
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The point is that Leach only got fired because James's dad does work for ESPN and intervened PUBLICLY on his kid's behalf.
Don't think for a minute that this doesn't has everything to do with MONEY. TV revenue/exposure=bigtime $ for the university. All Adam's daddy had to do was put in a phone call to the Chancellor, good ole boy politician Kent Hance, and everything is taken care of--ESPN/ABC coverage and money keeps coming as long as you don't embarass the Bristol boys.
Do you think guys like Woody Hays, Bo Schembeckler, or Bear Bryant ever did anything like this to motivate their players? I'm sure some of the stuff they did would warrant a lynching in this day and age.
I don't agree with what Leach did, I just think there's a lot more to this story than meets the eye.
As someone who works at a school, and who has had to answer pissant complaints after my bosses start an inquiry--Yes, I do think any father of a football player could have launched the same complaint. And the university would need to take it seriously. There's an official process for doing this.
On the other hand, the process doesn't say you need to suspend anyone.
The problem is that Leach didn't like being questioned formally on this. I ca sympathize. neither did I. But rather than tell my bosses to stick a pin in their eye, I explained myself as part of the process, and the administrator didn't even bother answering me, he just cc'd the parent complaining my explanation (apparently, I had offended little Johnny with my bad language).
I'm not saying that the administrators didn't have it out for him, but he gave them a lot more ammunition than they needed. James can't sit back just because he works at ESPN.