UPDATE: SportsCenter has just reported that Mike Leach has been fired.

SECOND UPDATE: See the “sheds” in question here. Oh, and Leach is still fired.
Here’s the latest on this who Mike Leach/Adam James fiasco: Mike Leach filed a temporary restraining order, which would allow him to coach his team in the Alamo Bowl Saturday. Texas Tech suspended their coach after claims of mistreatment stemming from Adam James, son of some guy on ESPN.

SportsCenter has aired details of an email to AD Gerald Myers–from Tech’s wide receivers coach Lincoln Riley–citing James’ poor work ethic and sense of entitlement. But in fact there have been at least six emails leaked from former members of the Texas Tech football program, perhaps none more damaging to James’ credibility than former Tech quarterback and 2008 Heisman Trophy finalist Graham Harrell:

Adam was on the baseball team his true freshman year at Tech, before he ever joined the football team, and did not make it through the baseball season because of his selfish attitude. After a baseball game in which he felt like he did not get enough playing time, but the team still won twenty to one, he came into the locker room after the game and “pouted and threw a big fit” according another player on the baseball team.

A few weeks later in the middle of the season, he just stopped showing up to practices or game and quit because he was not happy about how he was being treated. One of my roommates was a baseball player on the team and many of my friends were a part of the team that witnessed all of this. These baseball players told me he was “spoiled and selfish” before he ever came to the football team. After quitting baseball he came out for football and his selfish attitude was very evident, as was his laziness. During off-season workouts he often would be caught skipping lifts in the weight room or finding ways to cut corners/get out of conditioning exercises.[..]

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Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach assembles a restaurant-quality rant here, discussing the temperament of his players and how they managed to get utterly destroyed by Texas A&M last week.

“As coaches, we failed to make our coaching points and our points more compelling than their fat little girlfriends. Now, their fat little girlfriends have some obvious advantages. For one thing, their fat little girlfriends are telling them what they want to hear, which is how great [they] are, and how it’s easy it’s gonna be. We had a whole bunch of people that wanted to win the football game, but nobody wanted to play the football game.”

Leach goes on to promise that some of his players will be “inconvenienced” as they prepared to host Kansas tomorrow. No fat little girlfriends were available for comment. Thanks, Brent

Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach is quickly becoming my favorite coach in any sport. If you missed it, here’s what Leach said regarding the Browns and Eric Mangini for passing on Michael Crabtree:

“[Crabtree] has been more successful as a receiver than that guy has a coach at this point,” Leach said to the Sacramento Bee. “Part of the reason is he’s (Crabtree) too shy to be like that…Let’s see how all those non-divas do up in Cleveland this year.”

So one might expect Leach to lighten up some after Mangini invited former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell into Browns minicamp, right? Well…

Leach told the Dallas Morning News he thought Harrell should have been drafted and that NFL teams are missing out.

“The truth of the matter is that the NFL drafts quarterbacks notoriously bad,” Leach told the paper. “That’s indisputable. …

“I don’t have an answer for why they don’t have a skill for drafting a quarterback. Well, I think the priorities are out of order. Accurate and makes good decisions needs to be a priority, not something they need to teach him, because they don’t do that very well.”

It is rather amazing that Harrell wasn’t drafted, but who knows why. Coaches fall in love with players and hate players for seemingly ridiculous reasons. I for one am glad that I don’t pass judgement on human beings with such inhumane objectivity.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach really needs to learn how to form an opinion. Somebody asked him about his prize quarterback’s chances of winning the favor of NFL coaches, despite the fact that Graham Harrell worked almost exclusively from the shotgun while playing for Tech. Leach was asked about whether NFL coaches, who would want a QB to be proficient under center, would have concerns with developing Harrell to do so.

“You bring up easily the most pitiful NFL cop-out of all,” Leach said in a telephone interview.

“And you can send that message to the whole NFL. Any coach who has ever said or uttered those words or considers that a concern, here’s my message for them: How could you possibly look yourself in the mirror and consider yourself an NFL coach and not be able to teach a guy to run back three steps, five steps and seven steps? I can teach a child that!

“Any coach in the NFL who can’t do that ought to be fired!”

“I can do that,” Leach said of teaching a quarterback to drop back. “I only need a three-hour window. I’ll have a great clinic for all the NFL coaches who are so horrible that they can’t teach a guy to take a snap under center and go backwards.”

I don’t know why, but every time I see Mike Leach, I envision a delicious plate of ribs being brought to me. It’s like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I see him, then I see ribs, then I see him again. I wonder if the Texas Tech administration felt the same way. It would certainly explain why Texas choked last fall.

|Dallas Morning News|

Two crazy Mike Singletarys might be more than the world can handle. The sophomore at Texas Tech (no relation, apparently) scored 29 consecutive points in a big second-half run that pushed the Red Raiders over Texas A&M in the Big 12 Tournament last night. He finished the game with 43 points and probably several invitations for sex.

“I was just in the zone, I think,” Singletary said. “We didn’t want to lose this game. We didn’t want to go home.”[...]

The last basket in Singletary’s amazing stretch was a driving layup past Bryan Davis that put the Red Raiders (14-18) up 79-78 with 39.4 seconds left and erased the last part of a 21-point deficit. Alan Voskuil and John Roberson followed with a pair of free throws apiece to push the lead to five.

Singletary, a sophomore whose previous scoring best was 25 points, then iced the game with two more free throws with 2.9 seconds left that provided the final margin.

Video highlights of the run are after the jump. No word on whether Singletary also inspired his team by illustrating their performance in the first half. I have to admit that I’m not sure which inspirational method I like better. Choosing between a man’s ass and basketball isn’t really enticing. Unless you’re Jay Bilas.

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Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell is a surefire finalist for the Heisman Trophy.  That’s him in the upper left of this touching holiday greeting card unearthed by The Sporting Blog.  Yes, that is a cardigan with Christmas presents on it.  Yes, it actually says “Season’s Greetings 2008,” even though it looks like a time warp from 1992.

Your move, Tebow.