Leach nips tweets from Tech players
A day after two of Texas Tech’s most prominent players expressed discontent with the team on their Twitter accounts, head coach Mike Leach has banned his players from using the popular social networking site for football purposes.
Brandon Carter, Texas Tech's returning All-American offensive lineman, has been suspended indefinitely. (John A. Bowersmith)
“The policy is nothing football related outside of football,” Leach said Monday during his weekly news conference. “Any way you look at it, little Twitter things that relate to football is a violation of team rules. If somebody plays for us, they don’t have a Twitter account.”
Leach said players’ Facebook accounts will be monitored to make sure they don’t disclose sensitive team information.
All-American offensive lineman Brandon Carter and fellow senior Marlon Williams, the Red Raiders’ leading tackler this season from his linebacker position, both expressed disappointment with Tech’s 2-2 start. On Sunday afternoon, Williams also wrote, “Wondering why I’m still in this meeting room when the head coach can’t even be on time to his on (sic) meeting.”
When asked Monday on the Big 12 teleconference about Williams’ comments, Leach said: “Anybody that’s a malcontent doesn’t stay around here very long, because we’ve got a pretty good line of recruits that are fully willing to replace him. Insterestingly enough, he doesn’t have a Twitter page anymore.”
Williams’ tweet has been deleted, and Carter’s Twitter page also has been removed. Carter’s tweet on Sunday broke the news of his suspension from the team, a subject Leach would not address Monday despite repeatedly being asked about it.
“Well, none of that’s privy to the media,” he said. “It’s for violating a team rule. Anything that he needs to do to get back, that’s pretty much between me and him.”
Leach called Twitter “stupid to begin with,” and said college football players get enough attention as it is.
“If they don’t get enough attention, I’ve got graduate assistants and student assistants that’ll sit there and listen to them embellish stories and talk and tell them how great they are all they want. They don’t need Twitter.”
Carter told his Twitter followers Sunday afternoon he was suspended from the upcoming game against New Mexico. A few hours later, Leach confirmed as much and said Carter’s suspension is for an indefinite period.
Asked how much the offensive line will miss Carter, Leach said, “Not at all.”
That represents a departure for Leach, who in the past has defended Carter to critics and put him out front as a congenial team spokesman. For much of his career, the 6-foot-7, 335-pound has gotten far more attention than the average offensive guard. He’s well known for his game-day look — his face carefully self-painted with eyeliner — his many tattoos and the ever-changing color of his mohawk hairdos.
That appearance has made him a target for opposing fans. Early in his career, Carter spit at a heckler as he headed to the locker room after a 2006 loss at Colorado. But as he became a more prominent player, Leach tapped him frequently as a team spokesman, sending him to Dallas for this year’s Big 12 media days and making him one of the chosen few to answer questions at the team’s weekly Monday news conference, an assignment that revealed a humorous, insightful personality.
When he was asked last Monday about dealing with hostile crowds at places such as Texas and Houston, Carter said: “I’m definitely used to it. I get the finger more than anybody else, I think.”
Senior cornerback Jamar Wall said Carter’s suspension took him by surprise and he didn’t know the events that led to it.
“It’s something that wasn’t in his character,” Wall said. “Most people would think that’s his character, but it’s really not. He’s a real good guy. So when I heard that, it definitely caught me by surprise.”
Staff writer Don Williams contributed to this report.
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Tech football team says, “We are sucking right now”. End of Message…
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That’s it, I’m transferring out of here. Texas, do you have room for an X-Raider?
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There is a lot of good going on at Tech these days. Not to down play this issue, but Leach has already taken ownership. Bottom line, Leach is the Coach and noone on the team should call him out on his decisions in public. This is true in business too. You simply do not call your boss out in public. As far as I am concerned, a bad situation was handled correctly. Leach acknowledge he should have kicked the field goal, and Carter was suspended for insubordination. Carter will make right wth the team and with Leach, and we can move forward.
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Sure, but we don’t accept GED’s. Must be a high school graduate with high GPA and high SAT scores. And, please leave your trailer home in Lubbock.
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The Twitter comments were foolish at best as they will be quoted for days. I can understand Leach saying comments about the team on Twitter is a violation. However, he is not in the position to have a player cancel a Twitter account; it does violate their rights. Make it a rule, “no team business on Twitter!” Other than that have at it sharing your life to the world.
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I’m glad Leach did this. We have enough distractions we don’t need this. BTW, these fake postings are stupid. Go back to jr. high.
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I do agree with coach that Facebook & Twitter are lame ” Leach said players’ Facebook accounts will be monitored to make sure they don’t disclose sensitive team information.”
Let’s talk with Brandon Coach. Lay the leather to him and get him back in the game.
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I understand you point Patrick to an a certain degree. But if I own a business, then I sure don’t want my employees a) talking bad about the organization and b) Tweeting when they should be paying attention to beating New Mexico. I’m sure Williams cancelled his account on the stupidity of posting this and then it gets printed throughout the US media.
You can call them student athletes all you want. But the truth is that this IS a business and academics only justify them being there. But I can agree that they should not have to “cancel” their accounts. Maybe just go inactive for a while.
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I can’t wait for the Raiders to score more homeruns on Saturday against the Lobos. Although, field goals are ok too.
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Hey K, it’s touchdowns, not “homeruns” you dumb blonde…
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Not at all? Now c’mon, Leach! That’s just stupid of you! Maybe your play-calling in the 4th wouldn’t have been missed and the players could have drawn it up in the sand better?!!
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Texas 4-0
Tech 2-2
Enuff said…
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X-Raider Mike,
You are giving up on this team after two games — games that we literally were one to two plays away from winning?! You are a pathetic excuse for a man.
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Hey guys, we made it to the national news. Check this out and check out Carter. He does look kinda stupid.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Texas-Tech-invites-the-public-to-a-gallery-of-te?urn=ncaaf,192452
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I was leaning toward Leach until, “Asked how much the offensive line will miss Carter, Leach said, “Not at all.””
Making that statement to the media is less offensive than what the one player tweeted and whatever the heck Carter did? Wish we knew the whole story on Carter.
Yes, we all have to watch what we post anywhere. It can have the habit of coming back to bite us in the backside. That also includes what is said to the media, Cap’n Leach.
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Hey Big Joe, I can’t wait to leave this pathetic school and pathetic people like you. Tell your lady I’ll send her a tweet from Austin. Guns down. Horns Up HOOK’EM HORNS! Yea, I like that…
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Yeah, I’m thinkin of leaving as well. I think I will transfer to the University of Houston. Go Cougs!!!
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I’m not stupid. I’m just a tech cheerleader. Go tech, beat Texas… By the way, when do we play Texas?
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Can’t we all just get along. And remember I am studying to be a priest, so please watch your language.
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hey, where did everybody go? Oh well, I guess I’ll have the rest of the pizza.
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If Leach had a twitter acct I would’ve tweeted him that 5+3= 8.
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We forgot to add that we require a certain flexibility in gender preference at TU. It’s the whole ‘Keep Austin Weird’ thing. Plus we kind of like it that way here. Makes getting a date much easier, especially for those of us who have no lives whatsoever and find ourselves relegated to trolling other teams’ sites and making complete fools of ourselves (an otherwise laudable achievement here).
Also, you must own at least 37 t-shirts from Walmart.
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Isn’t it ironic that Mike Leach, long known for his weird obsession with pirates, has a real-life MUTINY on his hands? LOL
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Wild Horn, that was funny, “real-life mutiny” ha-ha-ha…. Hey, ah, do you think Texas will go undefeated?
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See above as example
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We accept GED students. D students welcome Low SAT scores are expected.
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That was funny.
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Viva New Mexico, Ariba…Ariba… Andele….Andele…. So, we meet again Red Raiders. I just want to let you know that we have had our bean borritos and we are going to beat you on Saturday. Go Lobos, beat the raiders, bitem…bitem…AARRFFFFF
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What the hell was that?
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Now if Houston can go undefeated and get a BCS at large bid, and Tech can go undefeated the rest of the way and end up in that same bcs game- I think it just might end up a little different. Tech was leading by a decent margin at half, but with no depth and injuries on defense they were wore out. Try rematch TT 45 Houston 30
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And I can’t believe that the refs let Houston hit our guys so hard. That was uncalled for. Reminded me of the hit by that Sergio Kindle guy on our QB. There is no excuse to hit so hard. It is so uncivilized. Refs shouldn’t allow hard hitting.
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I remember a short time ago we were in a similar situation and ended up beating those teams we weren’t expected to. Remember already this year there are a lot of good 1 loss teams and looking at their schedules they could easily be two loss by the end of the year. GO TECH forget all those fly by night fans that suddenly showed up after last years season.
Tech 77 NM 10
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Leach will do anything necessary to lead discussion away from what would have happened if we hadn’t run 4 running plays to the same goal line spot, & had kicked a field goal instead.
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Hail to thee, New Mexico,
Thy loyal sons are we.
Marching down the field we go,
Fighting for thee.
RAH! RAH! RAH!
Now we pledge our faith to thee,
Never shall we fail.
Fighting ever, yielding never.
HAIL! HAIL! HAIL!
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Let’s see all you UT fans…You guys played UTEP on Saturday……uhm, just wondering, but isn’t that kind of like “playing with yourself?”
Yeah, I thought so.
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Hearing Mad (Magazine) Mack speaking out in defense of twittering was priceless. Mack, you may want to remind your players not to twitter about driving into someone’s home while twittering.
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I have to agree with Leach on this one. Remember Jared Allen from Texas? Last fall Mack Brown pulled his scholarship and dismissed him from the Texas team after Facebook removed Allen’s racial slurs (n-word included) off the internet. You can’t recruit with players doing all of this posting. Maybe they should try paying for their own education.
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We have figured out your weakness, Tech!!……..Your coach can’t add!!!!! We’ve decided to spot Tech 5 points on Saturday. The way I see it, this will confuse Leach so much that he will go for it on 4th down every time. And being that Tech can never make 4th down yardage….LOBO’S WIN!!!
Congrats Texas Tech…Ya’ll have become the new A&M !!
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tweeter, wrong, our coach is sucking…that’s why it struck such a nerve!
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Joseph,
Houston’s defense was strong enough to stop the Raders. Case Keenan is a better QB and always has been.
I think Coach is doing just fine. He will have them in a bowl and that is all that matters to the powers that be.
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I want our 12.5 million back and Leach to go to______________. How do you lose to Houston? Where was the defense?!! I want a refund and Leach fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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PLEASE…. all of you Longhorn rejects, please go back to your web-site.
I know your real school…. SHSU, TSU and SFA may not have a web site…. so if you are going to jump on a band wagon…. jump on the UT web site.
I respect Mike Leach…. don’t agree with his call not to go up by 8.
When I was in school, we were happy with a 7-4 season…. and 8-3 was REALLY great.
Coach Leach has taken our program a long way…. just hold together during these bumps and keep improving.
GO RAIDERS!!!
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8 games to go. Our two toughest road games are behind us. Figure it out. And if you’re one of these “Never been to Austin” Texas fans, this means that Tech’s record is about to improve.
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Marlon Williams is getting a free education and national exposure. If having to wait on his coach to show up for a meeting is such an inconvenience, then he needs to go find a better offer somewhere else. Like Leach said, there is always a replacement ready. Look how quickly Matt Williams was suited up.
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I support coach Leach’s ban of Twitter and monitoring of Facebook. I will also support his ban of Quarterback Sneaks on 4th Down and his monitoring of Quarterback Sneaks on Other Downs.
His risk taking on 4th down on the goal line is the same as trying to build a retirement fund by buying lottery tickets each pay day instead of putting a little money (points) in the bank (on the scoreboard) everytime you have the opportunity. Come on coach, you’re smarter than that!
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Now, y’all will root for the ONLY team: UT!!!! Censored due to Twitter! Hah, hah hah! The “sensitive team information” really helped you lose against UT and UH! Hah Hah!
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Didn’t UT run off a player last year for a negative comment on Facebook about President Obama? I thought UT players would be smarter than that, and obviously more liberal. You UT folks are just hypocritical losers — most underachieving bunch in the country. Raiders will right the ship.
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It was a touchdown…
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Currently living in Austin. However, born in Lubbock, raised in Seminole and Amarillo. Dad and many family members graduated from Texas Tech. I attended Tech while graduating from WTSU. I’ve always loved and supported the Red Raiders. Coach Leach is wrong on this one. I can’t help but believe he’s upset with himself, justifiably so, and lashing out at his own players. There’s a social media out there Coach. Young people are going to tweet and write on each other’s wall. It’s what they do. If you can’t accept criticism when you make a major blunder, find another line of work. On the other hand, congratulations to the Raiders play in Austin. The Horns had their hands full.
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NM Lobo,
After what happened in H Town, I wouldnt give a plug nickle for your chances in this game. I would give you 40 points, and never think twice about it. Tech will roll, and so will the Lobos heads.
Tech 63
NM 17
Wreckem Tech
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GoLoboGo said:
We have figured out your weakness, Tech!!……..Your coach can’t add!!!!! We’ve decided to spot Tech 5 points on Saturday. The way I see it, this will confuse Leach so much that he will go for it on 4th down every time. And being that Tech can never make 4th down yardage….LOBO’S WIN!!!
Congrats Texas Tech…Ya’ll have become the new A&M !!
Go Lobo,
Before you spot points, you better be sure you can score points. Techs defense will outscore NM this weekend. As for going for it on 4th downs, I dont think there will be many. However; going for it on 4th down against NM this year is highly recommended from what I have heard.
As for being the new A&M, I can see how lesser teams would see that as Tech has overwelmingly averaged out to be the 2nd best NCAA team in Texas since the inception of the BIG 12. That position used to be held by A&M. Tech has learned how to recruit, and has a very successful offensive scheme. Year in, and year out Tech continues to do more with less then any other NCAA division 1 football program I can think of. That is a testament to Leach.
Tech will roll
Protect the Jones
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Hey Go Lobo,
I dug up some history which I thought you might enjoy.
New Mexico-Texas Tech Series
1931 TTU, 32-6…………………………….Lubbock
1932 TTU, 39-6………………………………… Albq.
1937 TTU, 27-0…………………………….Lubbock
1938 TTU, 17-7………………………………… Albq.
1939 TTU, 19-7…………………………….Lubbock
1940 UNM, 19-14……………………………… Albq.
1941 TTU, 36-0…………………………….Lubbock
1942 TTU, 20-0………………………………… Albq.
1944 TTU, 13-7…………………………….Lubbock
1945 Tie, 6-6……………………………………. Albq.
1946 TTU, 27-0………………………………… Albq.
1947 TTU, 26-20………………………………. Albq.
1948 TTU, 14-7…………………………….Lubbock
1949 TTU, 27-0………………………………… Albq.
1950 TTU, 37-12…………………………..Lubbock
1951 TTU, 60-14………………………………. Albq.
1971 UNM, 13-10………………………….Lubbock
1972 TTU, 41-16………………………………. Albq.
1973 TTU, 41-7…………………………….Lubbock
1974 Tie, 21-21………………………………… Albq.
1975 TTU, 24-17…………………………..Lubbock
1976 TTU, 20-16………………………………. Albq.
1977 TTU, 49-14…………………………..Lubbock
1978 TTU, 36-23………………………………. Albq.
1979 TTU, 17-7…………………………….Lubbock
1980 TTU, 28-17…………………………..Lubbock
1981 TTU, 28-21…………………………..Lubbock
1982 UNM, 14-0……………………………….. Albq.
1983 UNM, 30-10………………………….Lubbock
1984 UNM, 29-24……………………………… Albq.
1985 TTU, 32-31…………………………..Lubbock
1986 TTU, 14-7…………………………….Lubbock
1989 TTU, 27-20…………………………..Lubbock
1990 TTU, 34-32………………………………. Albq.
1994 TTU, 37-31…………………………..Lubbock
1995 TTU, 34-7………………………………… Albq.
2000 TTU, 24-3…………………………….Lubbock
2001 TTU, 42-30…………………………..Lubbock
2002 TTU, 49-0………………………………… Albq.
2003 TTU, 42-28…………………………..Lubbock
2004 UNM, 27-24……………………………… Albq.
Wreckem Tech
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OH MY:
I remember the “Help Jerrys Kids” days of Tech football. The impotent coaching of Jerry Moore (81-85) and the Thankless Longhorn David McWilliams (86).
For those of you who do not remember, because you are too young. We must tip out hats to Thank God for Spike Dykes and Mike Leach.
Wreck “Em TECH
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New Mexican Lobo, in your dreams. You are not going to beat anyone, much less Tech.
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