In case you thought that Mike Leach’s harsh comments didn’t extend beyond the four walls of the team locker room, guess again. The Texas Tech football coach went off in another press conference tirade on Saturday as he questioned the officials’ official officiating during the Red Raiders 59-43 loss at Texas.
Last year in this incidence, I bit my tongue and I regret it,” Leach said. “This whole, ‘Do everything status quo’ and ‘Oh my gosh, the conference might fine you’ – you know, sometimes it’s just the right thing to do. Sometimes nothing’s going to get changed until someone steps up and says something.
“I don’t know if this will impact anything or not. I want to make sure that I do my part to impact it the best I can. I’ve got players out there – we work hard, we try hard for years, days, weeks. There’s no defense if somebody doesn’t stand up and say something. People have to know. People have to be aware, and people have to quit being afraid of fines. People have to say something.
Leach was really ticked about a third quarter drive that saw numerous official reviews and calls go against Tech.
Unless this can change, the Big 12 Conference needs to take a serious look at having out-of-conference officials officiate the Texas-Texas Tech games and perhaps other games where there is proven to be a bias by officiating,” Leach said. “It’s unfortunate, and does the bowl picture enter into it? I don’t know. Does the money enter into it? I don’t know.
“Am I condemning the crew? Hell, yeah, I’m condemning the crew.”
Leach said Tech got “atrociously bad calls” in a 35-31 loss to Texas in Lubbock last season, in which the Longhorns erased a 21-point deficit.
“Perhaps there’s [a bias] for Texas,” Leach said. “Perhaps somebody that’s higher bowl-wise gets preferential treatment. I don’t know. I can’t guess the motivations, but I’m convinced it needs to be solved. If we get nicked like this again, we’ll have another talk.
Leach was even defensive about a referee who resides in Austin and who just so happens to have also officiated the game.
That can be argued in a variety of directions,” Leach said. “Maybe it is something as simple as guys sitting over the water cooler in their office, in Austin, talking to their friends about the great game they are going to see, the great players they are going to see. Perhaps a preconceived notion has developed how it’s going to come out.
Players, fans, staff, media, refs: nobody is safe from irate Big 12 coaches this year.
Links:
[Statesman.com]: `Incompetence or bias?’
[DallasNews.com]: Tech’s Leach rips officials after loss to Texas
