Former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach is ramping up his attacks on his former employer. The Washington State head coach has taken a page out of Donald Trump’s social media playbook in deciding to take his personal battles to social media. More specifically, Twitter. Yes, the Mike Leach twitter account is in full force.
Leach has gone from using Twitter sparingly to accumulating over 50 tweets, replies or retweets over a 24-hour span from August 13th to August 14th. Unbelievable. With his increased tweeting have come more shots at Texas Tech. Incase you really don’t know this drawn-out backstory by now, Leach claims Texas Tech owes him roughly $2.5 million for the 2009 football season. That was his last at the school after which he was fired with cause over alleged mistreatment of Adam James, the son of former ESPN analyst Craig James.
Ever since then, Leach is still upset because he is not allowed to sue Texas Tech for the $2.5 million he believes he is owed. Texas state laws protected Texas Tech because the state legislature had to approve the lawsuit to continue through. Then in 2012, Texas Supreme Court ruled against Leach in his appeal to have Texas Tech’s immunity removed.
Leach recently told USA Today, “The No. 1 reason I got on Twitter is to promote WSU football. And the No. 2 reason is the sovereign immunity law needs to be changed.”
That’s scary. Essentially a coach who will quickly become one of the most enjoyable and entertaining social media follows of any coach in any sport says after promoting his own program, his second-biggest goal in Twitter is to remind everyone Texas Tech owes him millions.
Leach has spent time tweeting about it, but also retweeting fans who are learning about this situation and are sharing their outrage.
He coached a full season @TexasTech in 2009 and still hasn’t been pain. #PayCoachLeach
— FLS Matt (@matthewbabula) August 12, 2017
The state of Texas misses you but I want you to win it all at WSU…a certain school in Texas screwed you over and we are still upset https://t.co/l3H8AKtjUx
— Samuel Stowers (@SamuelBStowers) August 11, 2017
Hey @texasgov @TexasTech did you know this is the company you keep by having Sovereign Immunity on the books? pic.twitter.com/y9fPshlsqv
— wake up wrap sampler (@ol_feathers) August 11, 2017
And that is all just a small sample size of what is on Mike Leach’s twitter timeline.
Right now, it’s hard enough to be Texas Tech football. The program feels like it’s gotten a bit stale under Kliff Kingsbury’s direction. While he’s a fantastic offensive mind, he has yet to prove he can be a fantastic head coach. The Red Raiders are 22-40 in their past seven seasons in Big 12 play. They haven’t had a winning record in the Big 12 since Mike Leach’s last season in 2009 (yes, the one he claims he hasn’t been paid for.) As we’ve discussed before, Lubbock is five hours from the closest metropolitan area in Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth) and with the SEC recruiting Texas more than ever before, it’s hurt a program like Texas Tech.
Right now, the last thing the Texas Tech football program needs is abuse from the Mike Leach twitter account.
For the record, Leach is right. The sovereign immunity law in Texas is bogus. This case should go to court and a judge/jury should decided whether or not Leach is owed the $2.5 million he says he is from the 2009 season. If Tech has a leg to stand on, they will win.
Considering Texas Tech could have to buy out its head coach following this season and is potentially planning more stadium renovations, I don’t know if they have $2.5 million lying around. But it would behoove the Red Raiders to finally come to an agreement with Leach. Would the head coach “settle” for less than $2.5 million? I have no idea.
But good-faith negotiating would be a good decision right now because if you know Mike Leach, you know he is not going to let this issue go. And as his Twitter following grows and grows, there will only be more and more attention given to this story.
Better late than never.
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