Saturday, January 2, 2010

Virtue rewarded: Texas Tech 41-Michigan State 31

           Nice to see the Texas Tech Red Raiders come out on top tonight, 41-31 over the Spartans of Michigan State. Texas Tech risked losing a bowl game and perhaps a recruiting class when they fired coach Mike Leach for mistreating a player who had suffered a concussion in practice. For a big time football power like Tech, that was a strong statement for ethical behavior.
Coach Leach gave interviews to the New York Times and the Associated Press in which he denied ordering the injured player, Adam James, to be locked up in a dark place, but his account was refuted by trainer Steve Pincock, who signed an affidavit attesting that Coach Leach had directed him “to lock his [obscenity] in a place so dark that [series of obscenities].
So—unless there’s a massive conspiracy to frame Leach, it appears that he is guilty of lying, in addition to abusing an injured player. Hooray for Tech in acting boldly and ethically to fire him, even on the eve of a bowl game.But save a tear for Spartan coach Mark Dantonio, who suspended twelve players and fired two more for a campus brawl in December. Like the Tech authorities, he placed decent behavior above winning.

No comments: