There are some people who just see the world different and therefore have an unorthodox way of expressing their views.Then there is Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.
He is, without any close challengers, the Big 12's best-rehearsed resident oddball.
When Leach has been at this best over the years, he's filled up reporters' notebooks with gems like his fascination with pirates, tips on dating, his ability to predict the weather better than the local meteorologists, his views on world piece and his wacky approach to offensive football.
This past Saturday, when his 21st-ranked Red Raiders were stunned 52-30 by struggling Texas A&M, Leach delivered some sound bites that won't soon be forgotten.
Leach accepted blame for himself and the coaching staff for not preparing the players well enough to overcome the ego-inflating talk of their "fat little girlfriends." He reiterated his point during the team's weekly press conference Monday.
"We didn't coach well enough to beat A&M, and we didn't play well enough to beat A&M" to "We're not gonna listen to our fat little girlfriends," Leach said Monday.
This little diatribe has been picked up on airwaves all across the country. At face value it seems quite offensive to the would-be girlfriends of the Tech football players.
But when you know Leach you know not to always take what he says at face value. Let's go back to the outcome of Saturday night's game and the outcome that led to the seemingly politically incorrect tirade.
The Raiders were coming off a defeat of an A&M team that had suffered three straight losses, including a 62-14 plastering at the hands of Kansas State a week earlier. That's the same Kansas State team Leach's Raiders had destroyed two weeks earlier 66-14.
If scoring means anything in college football, it seemed that the Raiders should have been a real threat to put 100 points up on the Aggies last Saturday night in Lubbock, a place where A&M hadn't won since the early 1990s.
Certainly fans and friends were telling the Raiders players they had nothing to worry about last week. Just maybe they began to believe that if they simply showed up against A&M the victory would be hand delivered.
Consider this as a reasonable explanation. Just maybe Leach's "fat little girlfriends" reference was a metaphor for the friends, fans and family members he believed had pumped so much sunshine in his players ears that it drowned out the coaching staff's warnings about taking A&M too lightly based on their past?
"I think between a guy looking at the score themselves and then going out into the community and being told how great they are and how easy it's going to be, I think somehow you have to have the ability to overcome it," Leach said during Monday morning's Big 12 coaches' teleconference. "I think we have to find a better way to do that."
That's considerably toned down from the Saturday night rant that got the controversy started.
That was following this postgame rant after Saturday's stunning upset.
"We pound on Kansas State, so A&M looks at the film all week," Leach said last Saturday night. They strut around and laugh. And, you know,ho-ho-ho, ha-ha-ha, and they listen to their fat little old girlfriend, and, then pretty soon they -- you know, what happens in Manhattan happens."
Leach, a law school graduate, who enjoys being the smartest guy in the room has flat out refused to apologize for Saturday night's comments and to make his point, he said it again Monday. But that's classic Leach trying to keep the focus off his team and the potential problems.
Instead of news gathering organizations examining why the Red Raiders fell apart against a mediocre Texas A&M team last weekend or trying to figure out whether Taylor Potts or redshirt freshman Seth Doege is going to start at quarterback against Kansas on Saturday, there has been the fixation on Leach's alleged offensive remarks aimed at his players girlfriends.
In Leach's twisted mind, he has fooled everyone. Well, almost.
But just for fun, let's take a look at some of Leach's more compelling diatribes.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Yea, motivating 20 year old guys is difficult, but it's his job. You can't say things like this and not pay a price. Lost a lot of respect for this guy after I saw it on TV. I can't imagine the powers that be at TT are very happy, and if I was the parent of a young woman dating a TT player, I'd be furious. Smarten up Leach.
coach Leach is Great his way of thinking is diffrent than anyone else's... And his sound bites make good ringtones...
Coach Leach shouldn't be talking about fat with his own fat chipmunk cheeks and a sack of hickory nuts for brains. Leach is a disgrace to coaching and continually tries to act like a pathetic comedian to make up for his poor coaching.
Mike is probably counting on there not being a fat little girlfriend that will take the heat by identifying herself as a fat little girlfriend. As a lawyer-type, he understands ego a lot better than most people think.
I seriously doubt that any of the Tech boys have Fat Little Girlfriends....but no matter !!! They need to stop listening to them...Fat or not !!! Tech does this, just about every time they get ranked...or when the media hype gets really strong In their favor ! Once Leach gets a handle on this problem....It's Katy Bar The Door !!!!
Diarrhea of the mouth seems contagious in the Big 12. Last year there was Gandy making an ass of himself passionately badmouthing OSU's critics. Then this year's Mike Leach's "Little fat girlfriend" speech, and now its KU's Mark Mangino topping them all with his "I'm not the players babysitter" speech. I guess it's stress, but coaches need to stay cool even during hard times.