My Thoughts: Tommy Tubberville hired as Texas Tech coach

As I sit here and watch Tommy Tubberville on ESPN first take, I decided to go ahead and share my thoughts on the new Texas Tech Coach. Of course my last post was on the saga that has been Mike Leach. Since then, our team pulled together to reject the media pressure and win the Alamo Bowl. I won't lie, I was hoping after that performance we would see Ruffin get the head coaching job. I knew it was too good to be true, as Tech decided to go with a more CEO coach than a player's coach. Overall, I think Tubbs is a good look. He brings in experience from the hardest conference in the nation: the SEC (sorry Big 12 brethren..). I said before the Leach firing that Leach's ability to master the spread in the Big 12 lead to many copycats in the conference. The result is a offense driven conference that gets stomped by the SEC in bowl games. Tubbs already stated we wants to take us to the next level, and I think defense and a solid running game are the ways to do it. Don't get me wrong, I've loved the high-scoring yard-munching offense we've had over the years, but I'm ready to hit somebody in the mouth! I hope Tubbervile can find a place for Ruffin on his staff, as he will be able to retain some of the big name defensive recruits he's been chasing. The other good thing Tubberville said in his press conference was he wants to get the fanbase back on the same page as the program. I think this is very important, especially with the polarity of the Leach situation. I would like to take that a little further and say the fans can still dictate the image of this program. One thing I loved about the Leach era was his the desire to dethrone the big boys with wreckless abandon (pun inteded). I think we need to have that same desire moving forward. If we can stay just as rowdy, our homefield advantage will double with a great defense. So I'm down to ride with Tubberville, but its still up to Raider Nation to let everyone know we're still hungry for success at the highest level.

My Thoughts: Coach Leach Suspension

Alright so sometime yesterday a huge story broke that Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach has been suspended for the Alamo Bowl. This decision was made by the university after hearing complaints of treatment of an injured player on Dec. 16th. From the second I heard about this it seemed fishy, so I hit up DoubleTNation and started doing my research. Turns out the injured player was Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, and the younger James was told to wait in a dark closet after sustaining a concussion a few days prior. Being an avid Texas Tech Football fan, it didn't surprise me that Leach did something unusual, but I was surprised maliciously isolate a player. This story is still developing, but I feel like the relationship with a major news outlet (James' daddy wit ESPN), forced Texas Tech to make a decision they might not have needed to make. I really don't see how any other players' "mistreatment" would have become a national story so fast. At this point I think Leach is being targeted by Craig James in a classic case of Daddy runs to the rescue. I woke up this morning to find many Tech faithful feel the same way, as a facebook group "I dislike Craig James" has already gained over 500 members.
My question to the James family is, would you rather your son be chillin in a dark room or practicing football after sustaining a serious head injury? That alone leads me to believe its a case of Ego on the part of the younger and older James men. I really don't understand why the James family is trying to destroy Leach's rep, but I bet its more than just about this concussion matter. Maybe Adam James thought he deserved more playing time, or maybe Craig James thought he could control the opinion of an entire University with his press pass. Either way, former Tech players have spoken out supporting Leach; none have said he treated them wrong. Even my boy Ryze has put down a song in support of Leach. But let's say that Leach has actually been an abusive coach to multiple players, and has held the program hostage for the last 8 years. If this was the case, I wouldn't be completely distraught. I think Ruffin is a capable coach, and has obviously helped Tech become more Defensive-minded over the last few years. Alot of us over at DoubleTNation have been calling it the Defensive revolution. Bottom Line: This whole thing isn't good for recruiting, but I'm confident the truth will come out and the James fam will never set foot in LBK again. Guns Up!!