Mike Leach was fired this afternoon. The Texas Tech head coach is accused of abusive treatment of a player, WR Adam James. The fact that ESPN’s Craig James is the player’s dad sensationalizes things, but really should not enter the discussion, in my opinion. After years of what was a contentious relationship with Texas Tech administrators, Leach gave them the ammo they needed. I will wait to hear more of the full story before I pass any kind of judgment on Leach, but it brings up a real and difficult issue.

In our not so brave new world, where political correctness is king, how does a high level coach in a highly competitive sport motivate and discipline his players?  All sports, but football in particular have always called for mental and physical toughness. It is the ultimate “team” sport, and the good of the individual has always come second, as it should.

Coaching Division 1-A(FBS) football is a high paying, high profile and highly pressurized occupation. Graduating young men does nothing for your job security, winning does. Motivating 100+ 18-22 year olds to all focus on the same goals and working together to achieve those goals is all that matters.

When a player consistently pulls in a different direction, he needs to get back in line or hit the bricks.  For the kid that has a selfish attitude or is a cancer on the team, many times a coaching staff will try and run that kid off. The players offense may not rise to the level of kicking him off the team, but applying pressure and even ill treatment can give that player the needed motivation to leave on his own.

It’s the old, “You don’t have to go home, but you have to get the hell outa here”!

That being said, there is a fine line as to how to get that kid motivated to leave. Running sprints, stadium steps, up-downs, and bear crawls are all well known behavior modifying activities. A lack of playing time can also be a part of the process.  Abusive language and yes, even embarrassing a player to get right or get gone is all reasonable to expect, even on the high school level.

But Mike Leach may have crossed the line by putting a kid in what amounted to solitary confinement, even if just for a few short hours. You can bet he will fight this decision, as it was timed just when he was to receive an $800,000.00 bonus tomorrow.

It’s just one more example of how difficult a coaches job is. Back in the day, a player would never dream of talking back to a coach for fear of the repercussions. It happens more than you realize now, even to the point of physical altercations. It used to be that parents and teachers/coaches were on the same page, but now parents excuse bad behavior by their kids and blame the other adults in the scenario.

I’m not saying that’s true in this case, but it happens a lot. I would not want to be a coach or teacher today.