Double-T Nation News:
Last night I went to watch my alma mater Kaufman High School take on the Celina Bobcats. It didn't turn out well for my Lions, but I was intrigued by a certain player, Andy James, spitting image of his brother, Adam James who caught a nice touchdown pass. It appears that Andy is set on following his father's footsteps to the Hilltop at SMU, but I wonder if he could be talked into greyshirting like his brother did and continue the pass-catching tight end position that Leach is developing at Texas Tech. Andy caught at least one touchdown pass and looked pretty good doing it.
Mike Leach Watch:
As Tech92 linked yesterday, Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach was offered a 5-year $12.1 million contract proposal. Here's the breakdown according to LAJ's Don Williams:
The proposal keeps in place contract-completion bonuses of $800,000 for Leach if he stays through 2009 and $200,000 if he stays through 2010.Leach would make at least $2.7 million next season, $2.4 million in 2010 and $7 million over the last three years, Myers said, though he was reciting the figures off the top of his head and did not have the proposal in front of him.
The $2.7 million in 2009 breaks down as $1.9 million in base salary and guaranteed outside income, plus the $800,000 bonus. The $2.4 million in 2010 includes the $200,000 bonus, Myers said.
And here's AD Myers on why $3 million a year is just not an option:
"We just feel 15 million (dollars) over that period is a little stretch for us,’’ Myers said. "For us to be able to be fiscally responsible with all of our other obligations, that was just a stretch for us to go to three million a year.’’
And on the buyout:
Myers said a buy-out clause in Leach’s contract remains unchanged: Leach would have to pay Tech $500,000 to leave early. For Tech to terminate Leach would cost the university 40 percent of the money that remained on his contract.
As easy as it would be to say that the ball is squarely in Leach's court, I think there's still probably some negotiating room both ways, so I think this will still be somewhat of a process.
Personally, I think this falls on both of them now. The tone of the negotiations seems to be that Leach's agent wishes something could have been done sooner, and Myers felt that waiting was in the best interest of the university. If a deal is struck, I'm hopeful that both parties can co-exist, which is somewhat sad, but I have to believe that both Leach and Myers realize that each of them have different interests with different priorities.
I think to Myers is to blame somewhat for not having an offer immediately ready and I think Leach is to blame for wanting to look elsewhere.
Here's some video from KAMC28 on Myers and the extension.
Texas Tech Football:
Hat-tip to The Dagger, Bob Knight asks Dr. Lou hos to fix the college football bowl season:
lou knight.mpg (via billygrayson)