We should have secured Briles in February. I don’t blame him for staying at Baylor. Tech can’t afford to buy out his contract anyway. Ruffin should be the man since he has the best shot at keeping the team and recruits together. Talk of Tuberville is a joke.

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ha, ha…no one wants to put up with this $%$ that is worthy of big time head coaching jobs.

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Coach Briles is a christian and a gentleman. Of course he is going to be nice and take his time. He needs to say and do the right things as Baylor has been good to him. However it is just a job and nobody blames him if he betters himself and they knew he would eventually do that anyway. The Waco Tribune comments are already blasting him and dropping names for a new Baylor coach! Talking to Tech immediately and accepting any job before the Alamo Bowl would be a distraction for our team and being who he is that just wouldn’t happen.

But I’ll bet he is our new Raider boss within 72 hrs of the bowl game!!! Dang I hope so anyway. We should have gotten him up here last year. He will be the man to take us to the Upper Natl level. We thank Pete Cauthen, Jt King, Jim Carlen, Spike Dykes and now Mike Leach as all great Raider coaches. But you ain’t seen nothing yet Baby!!! Give this guy they keys to the race car! He is the driver!!! With him we will go National . It’s gonna be a great ride!!!

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Please say yes Coach Briles – you da man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I don’t believe this is over with Leach. I feel when it is finally over we will owe him a lot of money, probably millions. Can we really afford to buy out Briles’ contract, offer him a decent salary, and pay Leach what we will owe him? I hope so but I also fear we will be paying for this mistake with a less costly coach.

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we might get a good coachafter we get rid of these cockroaches and te 3 stooges

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I have no doubt Coach Briles is a decent man, but these statements declaring loyalty to a university whenever a job come open are very often bogus.

That being said — because he is known as a gentleman, I could also understand if Coach Briles said no way to Texas Tech because he wants no part of an administration that has proven their corruption and lack of integrity. This whole situation is no longer about some punk college kid, a daddy with connections, a biased network, or even that Leach got fired — although those things are disheartening. Those things turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg to a much bigger problem at Tech. I can completely understand many quality coaches saying no thanks to Red Raider Nation — at least until things change.

As many have said before, I believe Ruffin is our best bet. I think he would be our strongest chance of maintaining recruits. He knows this team and Texas Tech and he knows the baggage that will come with it. Besides when all is said and done, this will come down to money. Even legal experts say based on the evidence so far, Leach is due a big payout. We may not be able to afford anyone who will demand even an average Big 12 salary.

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The primary candidates, in my opinion, should be Kevin Sumlin (maybe he’ll bring along Dana Holgorsen in a package deal?) and June Jones.

Briles doesn’t impress me very much.

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Why not Tubberville? His reputation in the Sec and his career in College Station are undisputed.

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I still say Briles will stay at Baylor. And, it will not be decided or announced within 72 hours of the bowl game. Texas law requires a 10 day period to post the opening. If they posted it Wednesday, then no announcement can be made until at least next Saturday, January 9th. That would be the earliest date an official statement can be made.

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The good ole boys will have to find a coach that will allow Craig James to run the program. The only candidate that I can see doing that is Ruffin.

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Briles will stay at Baylor because we can’t afford to pay him as much as Baylor is, not to mention we can’t afford his buyout. He will stay at Baylor. We can’t afford anyone who is a current head coach who is making a decent salary. We will end up with a coach who is out of work or with a coordinator. I like Ruffin, but if it’s him, we’ve got to get one heck of an OC.

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Hire Ruff as HC
Give Lincoln Riley a shot at -o-coord
Make Sonny Cumbie the QBs coach
Bring in Rocky Long as d-coord
Keep an eye on an opportunity to hire Graham Harrell as a future position coach

WE MUST KEEP THE NICHE COACH LEACH CARVED FOR TECH. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO SUCCESSFUL RECRUITING AND COMPETING AT THE TOP TIER LEVEL. CHANGE IT AND WE WILL PLAY EAST CAROLINA IN THE TEXAS BOWL EVERY FEW YEARS.

PLEASE NOT TUBERVILLE.

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Everyone loses on this one; fans, players, Tech! It was already hard to get top talent players to consider Lubbock. Now, with this mess it will get worse. Leach interviewed each year to get out of Lubbock, Myers is past retirement time and Hance is a former politician who has not really done that much for Tech. Maybe it’s best to totally clean house and just start over.

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Ruf is the best choice to try to keep this program intact. Keep Ruf, give him a shot, the biggest problem will be all the fallout from this Leach firing. This is going to cost TTU big money, and hopefully a change in the admin dept.

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I don’t think anyone on the current staff is ready for OC status. Could we possibly get Holgorson or Sonny Dykes back for an OC if it is Ruffin. Whoever it is, I’ll be rooting for them on TV, and in person once Myers is gone.

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I’m with you Randy.

In order of authority it has to be:

1. Kent Hance
2. Gerald Meyers
3. the James Family
4. the coach (McNeil).

So it has to be McNeil (or someone who agrees with authority ladder.
Everyone below 3 must be micro-managed to the point of ineffectiveness.

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If Ruff takes it and we can rid the admin. Could Ruff step down and new admin re-hire Leach? Would Ruff? Just a thought….

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go sign the petition!!! http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?ttu12309&1

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The coach we get will have to be a basement bargain after Leach takes Tech to court. I would guess Ruff will be the coach because he would be the quickest cheapest solution. Probably the best shot we have for an outside coach would be the coach from U of Houston. But of course that goofy Myers may be looking down in the high school ranks for a new coach.

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I would not blame any top drawer coach for sticking up his nose at Tech until changes are made at the top. We have shown we do not want to be a big time program. John Montford tried to get us beyond thinking “Lubbock Tech” and it seemed to be working until this fiasco. How many coaches stay off NCAA probation, lead in graduating players, and win at the same time? Someone should have swallowed their pride, but not Mike Leach! Briles might consider the job because he is a Tech grad and a West Texas guy, and hope to outlast the current regime. I just hope I can personally outlast it. My contributions will resume when a turnover occurs at the top.

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Has anybody actually laid eyes on Briles’ contract with Baylor? Sources are leaking out he has a large buyout but an exclusion to opt out with minimal penalty only to Texas Tech. Just saying….

Ruffin is a lame duck interim coach. If we’re stuck with good ol’ boys calling the shots that only want a coach with West Texas ties, where does that lead us….Art Briles and possibly Gary Patterson. Problem with Gary Patterson is he can reach a BCS bowl without playing TX or OU so he may be in a better position at TCU.

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Donor no more, my concern with that would be; is there too much quarterbacking (Cumbie & Harrell) going on? Cumbie and Harrell may have different likes and dislikes, so they would have to be willing to give and take a little without stepping on toes. Well, I guess Cumbie would have seniority huh?

Wazoo, the picture you painted is just sad! Somewhere someone is going to have to stop the Craig from snooping all of the time. It makes me wonder exactly when/if/how/ does Craig have the Admin by the balls. Are the coaches morally or contractly enclined to take calls from the parents 7 days a week or at all? Do you reckon Leach and the coaches done it out of kindness or in a threat style way?

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Wazoo you have the order wrong. it should be:
1. James Family
2. Kent Hance
3. Gerald Myers
4. Ruff McNeil or whoever is coach.

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Raider4ever, please do not joke that! That sh^t ain’t funny. UNT done it and ’nuff said!

If Tech was to bring in Ryan Leaf, surely we can over look his pill buying habit from players, will he and the James’ get along? LOL haha!

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Something else to think about. Almost every major college brings in an AD and then the AD brings in a HC with personal ties. The AD and HC get along, that’s why the AD wants his man for the program that supports the entire athletic dept.

Whoever we hire in January…Myers is 73 yrs old and hopefully is out as AD very soon. So you’ll have a new HC in 2010 and a season or 2 later a new AD. That’s backwards. We may be looking at a coach who is only here for a very short time before we hire a new AD who then turns around and hires the HC he prefers. Just saying….

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The only way the 3 stoogies can save face is bag a big name. Anything less and they can expect lots of “cold shoulders” for some time to come.

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ya’ll just don’t unnerstan boys. we already got our man. we just gotta wait a while ‘fore we kin announce it.
kh

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Hey I think Bobby Bowden is available.

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Tuberville was a good coach at Auburn and would be a lucky break for Tech (if we can’t have Leach that is). He ran into a issue of butting Heads with the adminis at his school and not taking their advice, sound familiar? He’s got TX ties and he’s hungry to show people at his former school what a mistake they made AND he coached in the VERY competitive SEC successfully. Tech deserves a break, I hope we get Tuberville. That being said I won’t even answer the phone if I see 806 on it until the current AD and Hance and Bailey are gone.

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I thought of the perfect coach…..Adam James’s Celina High football coach. He already understands the importance of pleasing Craig James and probably could be had for $100k which pleases Myers & Hance.

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flashlite please see sweet rick’s post. well i guess we might fire everyone on campus and have no research and afford everything. HANCE IS A RETARD.

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How about Greg MC MAKIN?

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Andy has had the best post on a new coach yet. I hope Tech gets Tubberville also

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Wazoo,

U r so way off. There probably was not another D-I coach in America who got away with doing less of what head coaches loathe (public appearances, media responsibilities, etc.) than Mike Leach.

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Bailey said tonight that he is going to be taking e- mails on who the fans want as a coach, he also apologized to the team in San Antonio today also,

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I am a huge Leach fan and really wish he was still Tech’s coach, but the fact now is that he’s not. So what is the best option moving forward?

Dykes – No way. Anyone see the Arizona-Nebraska game? Holgerson – Not a head coach. Would love to have him as OC. Sumlin – He is a perfect fit in Houston. Let’s leave him there. McNeill – Really don’t think he could take the program to another level or even sustain what we have. Would purely be a short-term solution to keep recruits and current players if able to satisfy them our offense won’t miss a beat. Briles – Think he could do the job, but probably too expensive. Would be perfectly ok with him though.

Tuberville – This guy really intrigues me. Don’t know his personality, but look at his record versus Leach’s over basically the same period. He was 85–40 in 10 seasons at Auburn, including a 4-year stretch (’04-’07) of 42-9 with 2 SEC Championship games, winning one and completing that season 13-0 with a number 2 national ranking (2004). Leach was 84-43 in his 10 seasons at Tech, with the best 4-year stretch being 37-14 from ’05-’08. As we all know, there were no conference championship games or undefeated seasons during his tenure. I was really surprised to look back over Leach’s records and find that he only had 2 seasons with less than 4 losses.

Obviously Tuberville would have to turn the offense over to someone and let him handle it. With his philosophy, our defense would only get better. He has proven he can win in a very tough conference and wants another chance to prove himself. If he will agree to stay out of the offense so we can go with the personnel we have and not have to go through a 2- or 3-year transition period, I think this just might work. Now, someone smarter than I am please shoot some holes in this theory because I know there are surely plenty of them, but right now it makes sense (or does it?).

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I say GREG MCMAKIN

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Willie B,

Tubberville has A&M ties. Do you remember McWilliams? As soon as Sherman wears out at A&M ole Tubby would be heading for college station. Do we really want to be a “stepping stone” program.

I think we are past that period in our history.

Besides, he couldn’t get along with the admin. at Auburn, what makes you think he will toe the line with our beloved GMyers?

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Come on Raider Nation. We took a chance on Leach and won…meaning we won games. It’s back to normal around here for now and probably forever. We are going to drop back into the ranks of UNM, NMST, and UTEP. It is what it is.

And the “new” stadium looks stupid; ackward; out of balance; all press box. It’s like being a guy with a big set of nuts, huge sacks with two boulders but all they surround is a twig. A tiny little pe he ker (keeps me from getting moderated).

To put it in terms you old timers will understand. Remeber when the group of horse humpers the Saddle Tramps would throw out those little red footballs and you were almost always gonna catch three or four because no body was at the game? Welcome back. UH vs TTU circa 1988.

It’s over, done with, deal with it.

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Da-ham I’m messed up. I took this pill called Xenical yesterday with some mexican food and damn if I’m not S h I ting grease balls.

You could fry chicken in my underwear.

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For the love of God, someone help me…..

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Thank you, Sam. That’s information I’m looking for. However, if he has success here, why would he want to go to Aggieland to try and rebuild? If he doesn’t have success, we don’t want him any way. Right?

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hire greg mcmakin

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( JoJo ) Art will be the next coach. I’m betting it was already in place.

This thing unravels by the minute! TTU Admin is going to look really bad when this is all said and done. I wish Coach would sue for re-instatement!

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It’s just all plain damn stupid. I’m heading for San Antonio. It’ll be a nice last road trip for a while.

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ERIC — I heard that too about Art Briles contact — that he has a clause in it regarding Texas Tech. The only thing is I didn’t just hear about it. I heard it last year during Leach’s contract negotiations. I have no idea if it is true or not though, but it would be very interesting to find out that he does.

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If you think Briles is better, you have got to be kidding.

He treats the kids horrible, forces them to use performance enhancing substances. Once the kid gets to his Jr./Sr. year he will toss them aside and look for a new victim.

He never cared about any of the kids at Stephenville. The kids ran wild down there and got away with all types of criminal behavior.

Student athlete is not in Coach Briles vocabulary. He will not care if the kids get an education. Leach wanted his athletes to graduate along with playing sports.

He had a bench clearing brawl while at Houston while in a bowl game.

Do we really want that attitude at Tech.

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So does anyone think Art Briles would consider going to work for the Hance group, a group that sticks a knife in the back of anyone who refuses to apologize for an embellished story that has not been investigated? Then cheats a man out of money owed. Realistically, there is NO ONE available who on a comparative basis went 12-4 in something like a Big 12 South the last two years.

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What’s becoming increasingly clear is that the administration wanted to get rid of Mke Leach for quite some time. The burning question in everyone’s minds, I think, is why would they want to do that?? Why would they want to get rid of the winningest coach in TTU’s history? Why would they want to get rid of a guy who had the highest graduation rates for his players than any college football coach in the country?

The emails that have surfaced that involved Kent Hance, Gerald Meyers, Jim Sowell and others are quite telling, if the truth be known. These guys have been wanting to dump Mike Leach for quite some time and it would be quite interesting and revealing to find out why that is. What is their motivation? Is it money? Is it that he’s bringing national recognition to the school of TTU? Does he offend Jim Sowell’s sense of what he thinks a coach at TTU should be? Do they want to get another good 4 or 5A high school coach and settle for paying him peanuts by comparison to the other big 12 coaches?

What is evident is that Mike Leach has continually upgraded the program that was historically a 2nd or 3rd tier program. There is no doubt that Spike Dykes did a great job while at Tech. He did have “some” college coaching experience when he came to Tech but not a resume’ that contained head coaching experience at the college level. Spike Dykes was great for the program. I want to be clear about that.

However, it might be telling of the motivation this current group of administrators is employing by looking at cost cutting measures as opposed to looking at the revenue and notoriety that is being realized under the direction of Mike Leach and company. Do they think that they can find another bargain like they did with Spike Dykes?

There is no doubt that Mike Leach was getting more production from players that were, for the most part, overlooked by the perennial football powerhouses like UT, OU and others. Keep in mind that these guys have enjoyed the prestige of having winning programs for some time. This sort of legacy and tradition doesn’t happen overnight. Mike Leach was building on that and starting to attract more and more big name recruits. Who knows what would eventually happen, but it looks like Tech was moving to the next level. We have Mike Leach and his coaches to thank for that.

Adam James was, in my opinion, the excuse for ousting Leach. The administration was intent on doing that long before the Adam James saga unfolded. The emails between Sowell, Meyers & Hance clearly demonstate that. So, hearing Kent Hance making a public statement that he tried his best to Keep Mike Leach and that Mike Leach was responsible for his firing at TTU seems a bit disingenuous and a bit of a strecth on Mr. Hance’s part. But, we all know that Mr. Hance was a politician and that’s what politicians often do is stretch the truth, often to the breaking point.

Another question must be asked. What sort of coach would please Mr. Sowell? He seems to be the guy that Kent Hance and Gerald Meyers are trying to satisfy and please. Do they want one who, as Randy Galloway of the Dallas Morning News pointed out years ago when Jimmy Johnson was fired by Jerry Jones, would lick his hand when his ear was petted?

I, for one, appreciate what Mike Leach has done as do many others. What an unfortunate and sad ending to what has been a very successful tenure at TTU for Mike Leach.

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When I was in private business, I hired and fired people. I don’t recall firing anyone who was really trying to succeed. I did fire very competant people for the simple reason that they cause problems and stired up negative emotions in the workplace or with the customers5.

Leach was a scab-picking pain in the butt. He was fired for that. He didn’t try to get along. He tried to force people to put up with his BS. To Mike Leach, any problems he had with other people were the fault of the other guy.

If Leach hadn’t been fired for this incident, it wouild have come sooner or later. He insisted on digging his own grave and then threatening to jump into it and take TTU football with him. What an a$$.

And in conclusion, most of the posts in favor of Leach appear to have been written by illiterate, knuckle-dragging drunks.

Mike Leach will someday get on with another program. And in looking back, he will wonder why in the heck he stuck it out with TTU and Lubbock County and the high-schoolish, conspiracy-kook, why-aren’t-we-like UTexas and OU attitude.

Good day and good luck.

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I like Ruffin. He should be considered for the job. But the Tech program is way beyond the point where you promote a coordinator without doing a national search!

Not popular to compliment Gerald Myers these days, but after Spike left he oversaw a search produced Rich Rodriguez and Mike Leach. Pretty successful! We need to do the same thing now, and do it very quickly. Signing day is close.

For those old enough to remember Rex Dockery, he was a really good guy and pretty good football coach. But he didn’t have the requisite name recognition to be able to successfully recruit, the program went way down, and it took about 15 years to bring it back. I am really concerned that will be the result if Ruffin is hired simply because he to is a really good guy and pretty good football coach.

That Tuberville would say he is interested shows the Tech job is a good job that would draw national interest. [I don't think Tuberville would be a good fit as we are to commited to the spread offense and while Tuberville purported tried to convert to that, he was about as successful as was Gerald Myers each time he said he was going to convert to up-tempo basketball].

But there are great possibilities out there. Possibly even the nations leading recruiter, Ed Orgeron, who while not successful in putting wins on the board at Ole Miss, got the talent that Houston Nutt later won with, and a lot of coaches are much more successult on their second attempt — particularly if he would get a spread offensive coordinator like Todd Dodge (who should be more than ready to get away from North Texas) or Major Applewhile (who once again has been denied his due at tu).

But that is just one idea — we need to have a process and let the process work!

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Your comment is awaiting moderation.

AGAIN? Gezz AJ

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The Kentucky Job became available today, bet Leach ends up there. LUCKY WILDCATS

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Great now we got to compete with KY to hire a great coach. Thanks stooges and cockroaches!

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If garyount ever leaves you guys will have to elect a new village idiot!

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Lonely not being in a village.

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