When word hit my Twitter feed yesterday that Washington State football coach Mike Leach was hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit, I was super excited. “Here,” I thought, “will be the ultimate no-holds-barred takedown of Craig James. The uncensored, gloves-off thrashing that college football fans have been waiting for.” Of course, then I realized that would never happen.

On one hand, you have James, the candidate for the U.S. Senate from the great state of Texas so blinded by his own ego and ambition that he doesn’t even want to admit that he stands a snowball’s chance in the Alamo of winning his election. Still, he’ll talk about his destruction of Leach’s career at Texas Tech at any opportunity, because to him it was all politics. Otherwise, he might have done what his son, Adam, once did and admit that Leach didn’t do anything wrong.

On the other hand, there’s Leach. He just wanted to coach college football again, after having his reputation smeared by James and a few years stolen from his career. Once that thought crossed my mind, I realized that we were in for more of a pep rally. And I don’t have a problem with that, because the result was Leach showing that he really does seem like a good guy. Maybe he’s a politician, too, but at least he does a better job at hiding it.

But don’t worry, he did talk about James, and after the jump, I dug out some of the better questions and answers, as well as some questions Leach didn’t answer that might have yielded more entertaining responses.

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If you’re not familiar with the story of U.S. Senate candidate Craig James, it really is quite a tale of scandal, intrigue and unbridled arrogance. Just to catch you up to speed with a dummy’s version – James was a talented running back and attended Southern Methodist University in the heyday of the program’s paid player scandal, and his NFL claim to fame was being ousted by Peyton Hillis as the last white running back to rush for 1,000 yards in one season.

After his short NFL career ended in 1988, James spent the next 20 years as a college football analyst, bouncing around networks, but always having a connection to ESPN, where he would eventually end up. In fact, he thinks so highly of his broadcasting skills that he founded the Craig James School of Broadcasting. And apparently the first lesson you can learn there is how to coddle your underperforming son and use your TV power as leverage in creating and promoting a scandal against a college football coach like Mike Leach.

In 2009, Leach allegedly forced Craig’s son, Adam, to sit in a dark electrical shed as punishment. Leach was eventually fired, and Adam later admitted that he was never forced to sit in a dark shed, was actually told not to sit in that shed, but he did so anyway because he thought it was “funny.” Alas, that is not a story that Craig will ever tell, because he stands by his version and believes that recaps like mine are pure propaganda in a vast conspiracy against his good name.

Or so he basically said in a recent interview (with his daughter) about his current 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, in which he is polling a whopping 4% among voters. Because if you want people to like you, go back to the ground zero of why people hate you.

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Patrick Knight, who took the reins of the Texas Tech men’s basketball team when his famous father quit midseason in 2008, was cut loose today. Knight, son of three-time national championship coach Bob Knight, and his staff will remain intact through Texas Tech’s run in the Big XII tournament this week.

“We’ve lost seven games in the last minute,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “This program is competitive. But that’s not for me. I mean, honestly, I’m going to be coaching here, I’m going to be coaching somewhere else. I’ve proven I can coach. I run a clean program, I don’t cheat, my players graduate and we have discipline. So if you don’t want me here there’s going to be someone else that wants me.”

Patrick Knight obviously knows nothing about college basketball, because none of those things he listed are “win lots of games” and “compete for Final Four appearances.” In three full seasons, Knight amassed a 16–42 conference record and only made the NIT once. But he never physically assaulted any of his players, either. It’s tough to keep a job without occasionally choking your subordinates. Especially in Texas.

Baylor and Texas Tech played each other in basketball last night, and obviously we’d be apathetic if Baylor sensation Brittney Griner hadn’t punched some white girl in the face. This gives the coaches of women’s basketball their chance to fire up that little Play Doh machine and push out righteous indignation in shapes of their own choosing.

Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey said she’ll deal with Griner. But Baylor and the Big 12 Conference likely will consider their own punishments as the team prepares for Sunday’s season finale against Missouri.

“There’s no place for that in sports,” Mulkey said. “It was ugly for women’s basketball. It was ugly that coaches were on the court, that benches cleared, and I will take care of that with my team.” –Rivals, via Sportress of Blogitude.

Whatever. I say let them go at it. If the men’s tournament field expands to 96 teams, they should take the Baylor women’s team. It’s just another part of rough play in the post. Ooh, you like it rough, don’t you? Yeah, I thought so. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s some video of Craig James’ kid getting thrown out of a Texas Tech practice (presumably) in an undated video, with former Tech coach Mike Leach taking bites out of his ass along the way.

I can’t even stand to watch you f!cking stumble around [with a] sh!tty f!cking effort like you f!cking accomplished something.

Oh heavens! Leach swore at one of his players! He wasn’t nice to him! That’s odd, because I thought that Leach was a football coach and not a cruise director, and that letting one idiot skate with half-assery could undermine his authority with the entire team. Whatever, dude. Yuk it up now while you can, because by the time we get a playoff in college football, it’ll be two-handed touch so that we don’t hurt any of these precious snowflakes. Or at least the douchebag coaches’ kids will be exempt from tackling somehow. Parents ruin everything. –Deadspin.

ASYLUM POLL: Should Mike Leach have been fired?

If you’re wondering how Mike Leach got himself fired from Texas Tech, stop and realize that this guy was his lawyer. That’s funny, I thought it was Spencer Hall, from 30 years into the future, coming back to warn his former self about the impending doom of undercapitalized media. But no, it is Ted Liggett, giving a tour of the two areas where Adam James was…uh…kept? after being diagnosed with a mild concussion. They’re not exactly luxurious, but whatever. Just be sure to credit @RockMNation with this zinger: “The Craig James University Death Toll [now stands at] two.” Indeed.

Vid from KCBD.com, via@BradKernan