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Mizzou Links, 12-29-09

By Bill Connelly

Okay, we start with something only marginally Mizzou-related...

Leach Did WHUT???

  • Double-T Nation: Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach Suspended :: This Won't Be a Distraction At All
    I'm imagining something like the following. Adam suffers a mild concussion and is held out of practice. Adam returned to practice wearing sun glasses told Leach that he had to wear sunglasses under doctors orders and Leach probably felt that this was a bit much, perhaps Adam didn't have the requisite respect for Leach that Leach thought he deserved. Leach then directs that Adam go into a closet and sit there and think about his actions. The James family hears about the incident and then demands that Leach apologize for his actions. Leach, being somewhat of a smart-ass, probably responded something to the effect that Leach he was helping the situation as Adam needed the darkness so as to not hurt his concussion. Leach then probably asked that someone make sure that Adam actually stayed in the closet during the team practice. I think it's been reported that there was a "guard" present, but I seriously doubt there was an armed guard blocking Adam from leaving the confined space.

    Leach was then asked to apologize and he said no. In fact, I would bet that Leach offered that he was doing Adam a favor by not putting him in direct sunlight.

  • Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Leach suspended after player alleges abuse
  • Dr. Saturday: Mike Leach suspended for allegedly 'isolating' Craig James' concussed son in electrical closet
  • SI.com (Stewart Mandel): Reputations and futures of Mike Leach, Craig James on the line

My take: I imagine Seth C. is just about right in the scenario he laid out above.  Leach is not exactly above strange punishments (see: making a dude study at a desk on the football field a few months back), and I'm sure he was just being Crazy Old Mike Leach in this scenario.  I also believe that Craig James really is probably the worst type of football parent -- it fits with how I envision him that he would be overbearing and overprotective and "just trying to do right for his kid" and thinking he has more pull than he does. I ALSO believe that, in the grand scheme of things, this type of punishment, or whatever you want to call it, wasn't sickeningly bad.  It was strange, it was stupid, it was sarcastic, and it was unnecessary, and there is nothing in the manual about how to punish Leach for this one, but it really wasn't terrible.

All that said, I do not take Leach's side on this one.  Look, when somebody's academics are suffering, do whatever you want to get his attention.  But if a kid is hurt, or even SAYS he's hurt, then be as sarcastic as you want, but let your training staff take care of it.  Too much is at stake here.  You get paid millions of dollars to coach a game, and in this day and age, in a lawsuits-and-money soaked environment, when injuries are involved, YOU DO NOT TAKE ANY CHANCES WHATSOEVER, whether you're just being Crazy Old Mike Leach or not.  Whether or not this type of punishment was serious, whether or not the James family is annoying as all hell (I'm sure they are), and whether or not you even 1% believed that this kid actually had a concussion, you hand him over to your probably very large training staff and wash your hands of it.  You can even still be sarcastic as you hand him over.

To the people actually trying to justify Leach's actions by saying he was just treating a concussion like you're supposed to ... you're freaking crazy.  A) You still let the training staff take care of it -- they're, uhh, trained for this, and B) he did it again two days later.  With that, your silly case falls apart.  He may have been sarcastically 'treating' it, but that doesn't make it justifiable.

To the people who are outraged that this is being punished at all ... you're freaking crazy.  I don't care what Bear Bryant or your high school coach got away with back in the day, and I don't care how many feet of snow you walked through to get to school or how tough you were ... you're freaking crazy.  Today isn't back in the day.  Everybody involved knows what is at stake, both in terms of money and parent outrage, and no matter how entertaining Leach can be, NO coach getting paid millions of dollars to coach a game should even remotely try anything like this.  Again, this isn't like Mark Mangino making a player walk on his hands on a scalding turf, but it doesn't have to be.  There are processes laid out, and you get paid very well to follow them.  So follow them.  If you don't, you might lose your job over something really silly, like being a smidge too mean to an annoying, overbearing father's son.

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Okay, now to the MIZZOU part of the Mizzou links...

Texas Bowl Links

  • The Trib (Dave Matter): Behind the Numbers: Texas Bowl, Pt. I
    The Mids have never ranked lower than fourth nationally in rushing yards per game since Johnson’s arrival in 2002, while ranking no worse than third in rushing attempts per game during that span. Seventeen players have carried the ball for the Mids this year, led by quarterback Ricky Dobbs, whose 285 carries accounts for 37.8 percent of Navy’s carries. Only two players in the country average more carries per game than Dobbs' 23.8: Stanford running back and Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart and Pittsburgh freshman standout Dion Lewis. (For comparison’s sake, during his junior and senior seasons, Brad Smith accounted for 41.0 percent of Missouri’s carries.)
  • The Trib: Navy offense flexes its muscles
  • KC Star: Blaine Gabbert could be Big 12's best quarterback next season
  • Post-Dispatch: Jared Perry given OK to play vs Navy
    Post-Dispatch: Sean Weatherspoon faces new reality
  • PowerMizzou: Navy's triple threat
  • Annapolis Capital: Texas Bowl's fortunes reverse in just 4 years
    Annapolis Capital (Blog): Monday Texas Bowl Quotes
  • Washington Post: Navy looks for a rewarding bowl result
  • Washington Examiner: Midshipmen finding that everything's bigger in Texas, including opponent
  • The Birddog: THE BIRDDOG'S EXCELLENT TEXAS BOWL ADVENTURE, DAY 1
  • We Are Mizzou: Mizzou Shopping Spree

Other Mizzou Football Links

  • PowerMizzou: 2010 recruiting outlook: New Year's edition

Big 12 Links

Other Mizzou Links

  • MU Basketball
    PowerMizzou: Like father, unlike son: Turning point?
    SI.com (Seth Davis): Jigsaw Man provides missing pieces for title teams

    Kentucky

    Missing piece: J.T. Tiller, 6-3 senior guard, Missouri. The Jigsaw Man developed his man-crush on Tiller after I named him captain of my All-Glue team last year. As a senior, Tiller will give the Cats the maturity push they need to get over the championship threshold. Not surprisingly, Tiller's stats won't blow you away (9.9 points, 3.1 assists, 2.6 rebounds), but just watch him sometime. Besides being a hellacious defender, Tiller is a terrific student who as the son of a military dad will give John Calipari's backcourt the tough, snarly, defensive-minded persona it lacks.

  • MU Women's Basketball
    MUtigers.com: Mizzou Defeats North Texas, 71-44
    The Missourian: Hanneman, Johnson return in MU women's basketball team's win
    The Missourian: Missouri women's basketball team goes undefeated in December

Other

I include this link basically just for myself and Uribe Auction, but PBS has Pearl Jam's entire Austin City Limits concert online right now, and it...is...awesome.  LOVE how the new songs stand up to the old ones.

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