Saturday night ESPN enjoyed its highest rated bowl game telecast ever as Texas Tech defeated Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl. The game was played immediately following the unpopular firing of Red Raiders coach Mike Leach, and Tech fans made it clear during the broadcast that they were extremely unhappy with the decision to jettison the school’s winningest football coach.
(“Team Leach” sign appeared on NBC’s Today show this morning)
But while the Tech administration that made the call to fire Leach can live with that embarrassing, nationally-televised outrage, it can’t live without money, and apparently donations to the school have dropped off a cliff since Leach was terminated.
What’s worse is donations to Tech’s largest private benefactor, the school’s alumni association, uses those donations to primarily fund academic initiatives. Classroom programs that because of the backlash over Leach’s firing are now in jeopardy.
Responding to fan outrage, the Texas Tech Alumni Association sent out a somewhat panicked-sounding letter to members noting that “failure to renew their memberships” will cause significant cuts to:
• over 600 student scholarships
• support for academic recruiting
• support for faculty
It only gets worse for the Tech administrators who decided to throw Leach under the bus, as the LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL reports, “Bill Dean, the association’s executive vice president and chief executive officer, said administrators need to reveal more information about the circumstances surrounding Leach’s abrupt suspension and termination.”
Dean also told the Lubbock newspaper that Tech alumni, “are almost 100 percent opposed to the university’s firing of Mike Leach. They’re angry and they’re mad and threatening to withdraw support from every aspect of the university because of this.”
Again, Dean runs the largest private benefactor of academics at Tech, and he and his members are universally outraged over the school’s opaque representation of the Leach dismissal.
Not surprisingly, sentiment is now growing among prominent Tech academic donors for the ouster of Tech Chancellor Kent Hance and Athletic Director Gerald Myers.
Tech Alumni Association donor Dan Atcheson said the Leach saga has been a “worldwide embarrassment” for Tech.
“I would like to see (Tech Chancellor Kent Hance) go and I would like to see (Athletic Director Gerald) Myers go - and anybody else who they can prove was part of this,” said Atcheson, now a resident of Venice, Fla. “Again, it just comes back to the administration. If they can’t shoot straight with the coach, they can’t shoot straight with anybody.”
In response to the Alumni Association letter to members and the article in the Avalanche-Journal, the school’s Board of Regents (Directors) posted a letter tonight on the Alumni Association’s website.
The letter was a response to CEO Dean’s desire for, “more information about the circumstance” surrounding the Leach dismissal.
But instead, the Regents memo rehashes the Tech administration’s already-public party line on why Leach was fired, with no new details. Of course, because Tech is facing a massive legal battle with Leach, that was probably advisable, but in the meantime donations will continue to disappear and there isn’t much the Tech administration can do about it until next football season gets underway. (On second thought, Hance and Myers could always resign.)
Hance and Myers and school President Guy Bailey have painted themselves into a corner with the school’s largest private donor and the relationship only figures to get worse if the school ends up having to pay out a multi-million dollar settlement to Leach for wrongful termination, which is a distinct possibility.
8:25 am on January 8th, 2010
Great article. We’re mad and can’t wait for Our Captain to see his day in court. Lots of people behind him! Somebody’s walking the plank, and the sooner the better!
8:57 am on January 8th, 2010
I’m still confused… no matter how much you love a coach or how winning he is (and trust me, I love my school’s coach and what he has done for the school, the program, and our team), isn’t there a level where you go “hey, maybe he shouldn’t be putting people in sheds?” Even if that particular person in the shed is a little whiny bitch.
10:06 am on January 8th, 2010
Let the private donor who was colluding with the univeristy administrators to fire Coach Leach make up the difference from the rest of the Alums
11:16 am on January 8th, 2010
Please don’t forget it was THREE Stooges who mishandled this matter so horribly…..Myers, Hance AND university president GUY BAILEY. All three must be held accountable and hopefully replaced ASAP. What a total embarrassment for our beloved school.
1:52 pm on January 8th, 2010
The Board of Regents’ Fact-Free Response
This is worth your time.
http://www.doubletnation.com/2010/1/8/1240600/the-board-of-regents-fact-free
1:55 pm on January 8th, 2010
Think of all that money the new stadium expansions are going to bring in next year.I mean if Coach Ruff runs the offense as well as the defense,…………Oh never mind.
4:27 pm on January 8th, 2010
Wow. Shame on those people. Football > Academics ? Stay classy Texas Tech.
7:52 pm on January 8th, 2010
Great article. And, by the way, to the other commenters that think we can’t get over Leach–this has less to do with the actual firing of Leach and more to do with seeking the truth. We have an interest as students, alumni, and donors for the administration to appropriately use OUR money. Firing Leach was a monumental mistake. They basically threw away our winning lottery ticket.
8:10 pm on January 8th, 2010
Thanks for reporting our story. We are mad as hell and we won’t take it anymore. Hance and Myers are antideluvian antqiuarians and need to fade away. They blew it, and guess what. TTU is not getting my money until they’re gone. P.S. I’m 66 years old, and the Hance and Myers guys are older in their thinking than I am.
6:27 pm on January 9th, 2010
Why was the coach not repremanded if in fact the admin though he got out of line. The over-reactive result indicates that someone wanted him gone. I believe coach Leach’s story.
6:52 pm on January 9th, 2010
The administration did not act in the best of interest of the school. The had a personal grudge against Leach from day one and denied him due process. After 10 years at the helm Leach deserved the benefit of the doubt and should have coached in the Alamo Bowl. The school could have conducted a full investigation to get to the truth. Instead they took the word of daddy’s little girl Adam James and declared Leach guilty without a trial.
6:11 am on January 10th, 2010
Like many others, I am done giving money to the school. The gross display of neolithic incompetence simply staggers my imagination. Meyers, Guy and Hance need to be replaced and I for one wont give another penny to the school until they are gone. There is no point in donating to a program that will take that money and pay Coach Leach with it. Dont get me wrong, I believe the school is in material breach of contract with Mike, and he should get his day in court. I just cant see sending in money that will automatically go towards payment of his contract.
So much for being a Tier-1 Program. This action by the schools administration ruins the actuality and perception of Texas Tech as anything but a second rate school run by the “Good Old Boys Club” in Lubbock.
Hance, Meyers and Guy should all be terminated, and be culpable for repayment of the contract they themselves violated.
4:58 pm on January 10th, 2010
I have given large sums to my alma mater TTU (not to brag but it approaches seven figures) and this is an outrage. No more, not a dime. (I only wish I could take some of it back.)
10:23 pm on January 10th, 2010
WELL SAID!!!! GUNS UP, YA’LL!!! RALLY@ TECH 1/14/2010 1:00pm