By now, most folks who follow college football know that Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach received a record fine and public reprimand from the Big 12 Conference for his post-game comments questioning the integrity of the referees who officiated last weekend’s Texas-Texas Tech game in Austin in which the Horns hammered the Red Raiders, 59-43.
But not as well publicized as Leach’s outburst is Leach’s hypocrisy in making the remarks in the first place.
One of Leach’s main gripes with the officiating crew last weekend was that one of the officials on the crew was from Austin, referee Randy Christal. However, what Leach failed to mention is that the last two Tech-Texas games also have had a Lubbock resident as an on-field crew member — Tim Pringle last year in Lubbock and Kelly Deterding this past weekend in Austin.
Moreover, this week’s Tech-Oklahoma game in Lubbock renews a similar controversy after the controversial ending of the 2005 Tech-OU game in Lubbock, but Leach wasn’t complaining about the referees after that game.
Both Lubbock resident Deterding and Austin resident Christal were on the officiating crew during that 2005 game when the officials flagrantly missed a spot on a key fourth down play that kept a last ditch Tech drive alive and then allowed Tech to win the game on a disputed Taurean Henderson touchdown run on the final play of the game.
The video of the blown spot call that kept the final Tech drive alive is below.
It’s 4th down and 3, Tech QB Cody Hodges’ pass is batted in the air and Tech WR Danny Amendola and an OU defender come down with the ball well-short of the first down mark. After the play, both television announcers observe that, even if Amendola caught the ball cleanly, he was stopped well short of the first down marker. The announcers are incredulous when the officiating crew spots the ball and gives Tech a first down:
Of course, that play is followed by the last play of the game where the video shows Tech RB Henderson s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s the ball over the goal line. At least Henderson’s TD stretch was a closer call than the Amendola “phantom first down” catch.
To his credit, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops didn’t make a public issue of it at the time even though he had a better case than Leach did after his recent outburst in Austin. Stoops’ maturity is one of the many reasons that he is a better and more successful coach than Leach.
By the way, that controversial 2005 Tech-OU is also famous for the following video, which establishes that Lubbock is not only one of the toughest places for a visiting team to play, but also one of the toughest places for a visiting player to give a post-game press interview:
Update: Tech upset the Sooners, 34-27.
you have some sick obsession with tech bashing apparently. perhaps you should look more closely at the video and you will see his forward progress had him at the marker when he first caught the ball. as you even say lubbock is one of the toughest places to play for a visiting team and that is because of our fans and the team that mike leach has put out on the feild. something you fail to point out. the guy is messing with the media so what? how many times have the media trash talked tech? well your page makes one to start with. and stoops maturity?? please!! the reason he is successful is because norman is a big media outlet and its easy to get big recruits there. he is a good coach yes but mike leach had a biog part in that too. all you have to do is watch either of the last 2 texas games and you will see at least 20 blown calls in favor of texas. all you can dig up in a faint attempt to back your incorrect position is 2 calls that video evidence proves correct. i could come up with many a calls in other games that go against us. i would challenge you to come up with any other games besides your disproven ou game that show evidence of us being given calls. also YOUR LUBBOCK REFS WERENT THE CREW CHIEF!!! randy-i must save the horns bcs hopes-christal was!! that makes a huge difference. i would agree that no officials from the city or with ties to the team should work the game but i would like you to show me video evidence that any one of those lubbock officials gave us the benefit of an incorrect call! i will be eagerly awaiting your video evidence.
Wow.
So that’s what the world looks like through red and black glasses.
Sounds like someone needs to switch to decaf.
BTW, regarding Norman being “a big media outlet”
Norman population 103K – one newspaper, no TV stations.
Lubbock population 258K – one newspaper, 4 TV stations (5 if you count PBS).
Even if you include OKC in the analysis, Lubbock has as many “media outlets” available to Leach as those in central OK which Mtarch says are responsible for Stoops’ success. Personally, I tend to think that Bob’s advantage is superior coaching skills, but then I am biased.
jrb
perhaps you arent familiar with the term big media outlet. its has nothing to do with whether or not the city has a tv station or a newspaper any city has that! a big media outlet means that the media focuses on what happens there in the world of sports or anything much more than another place. take for example notre dame. they are 1-9 but do we still here about them? ALL THE TIME! duke is 1-9 but does anyone know about it? no! high school grads want to go where places they have heard a lot about and know they will get attention. and to disprove your point about the population– lubbock county and its 9 surrounding counties population is 355,681 in 8408 square miles for a density of 42 per sq mi (also-nearest city of any size,120 miles away) cleveland county (home of ou) and its surrounding 5 counties population is 1,098,055 in only 4659 sq mi for a density of 235 ppl per sq mi. now do we still have questions as to which city will have the bigger media draw? would it be the city with a surrounding density of 42 per sq mi or the city with 235 per sq mi? even an aggie could figure this one out!
also i never claimed stoops wasnt a very good coach i just argued that he is by no means far superior to leach. he inherited a big market program that was already successful and leach did not.
It appears that Coach Leach is not the only Red Raider to be burdened with a selective memory.
In regard to the assertion that Stoops “inherited a big market program that was already successful and Leach did not”…
Texas Tech record in the 5 years preceding M Leach – 35 wins / 22 losses – winning percentage of 61%
OU record in the 5 years preceding B Stoops – 23 wins / 33 losses / 1 tie – winning percentage of 40%.
These data would argue that Leach took over a program that Spike Dykes had left in much better shape than the mess that Stoops inherited.
As much as I would like selectively to forget OU football from 1994 to 1999, we are stuck with the legacy of John Blake and Howard Schnellenberger.
Nonetheless, those debacles just make the job that Stoops has done in Norman that much more impressive.
If you want to offer Mike Leach as an equal to Bob Stoops, come talk to me again after Leach has taken teams to 3 National Championship games in 7 years – make that 4 in 8 years if OU takes care of business over the next 3 weeks.
jrb
again you missed the point…and no its not selective memory its factual data. the oklahoma program has been successful over the long haul more so than tech. if you would like to bring me numbers that show otherwise go for it you wont find them. hes inherited a much easier program to succeed with. a past history of winning and an easy to recruit to location. next time read more the stance someone is taking before trying to rebutt something that wasnt said.
For an attorney, you sure do have poor deduction skills.
Quite frankly you have no idea if Leach voiced a concern over last years UT-Tech game and the local officials. Perhaps he expressed concerns through the proper Big12 channels and the Big12 chose not to make those grievances public. This years outburst could be the culmination of many ‘proper channel’ beefs going unheard.
I suggest your clients are better served by someone with a little more insight into situational awareness.
sl4ppy, as a matter of fact, Leach publicly criticized the officials after last season’s UT-Tech game (albeit not as vociferously as he did after this year’s game) and reported what he thought were bad calls in the game to the Big 12 Conference office. It is the Big 12 Conference’s policy generally not to disclose such matters publicly unless some conference action is taken against an official or an officiating crew. Leach should know by now that impugning the integrity of good referees (Christal grades out consistently as one of the Big 12’s best) is neither in the conference’s nor his team’s best interest.
tom as far as saying ‘what leach thought were bad calls’ what you meant to say was what WERE bad calls as PROVEN by video evidence. dont buy it still? take a look (i know this might be hard since you dont like to go by facts but just give it a shot)
and i completely agree with sl4ppy. this has been an ongoing problem with ut getting bad calls to help them win when they need it. just ask mark mangino from 2004. as for jim bob…how you like ur sooners now? they got some schooling in lubbock on how the pass is done..forget that title now.