The theme for this issue is “judicial.” Since my articles arise from the world of college sports, the topic was a no-brainer: it has to be the Mike Leach saga. For those that do not follow college sports, Leach was the head football coach at Texas Tech University. He is no longer its head coach because he was fired. That doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with the theme of “judicial,” but I assure you it does. Bear with me.

Now, at the end of every college football season there are a lot of coaching changes. It is often referred to as the “coaching carousel.” This year was no exception. However, rarely does the coaching carousel include an attraction as tumultuous as the Leach firing.

Here’s the back story in a nutshell. About a year ago, Leach and the Texas Tech administration engaged in prolonged and heated contract negotiations, which led to Leach getting what he wanted because he was the most successful coach in the history of Texas Tech’s football program.

It was well-known that some parties on the administration side were unhappy with Leach and his new contract. The story then fast forwards to the end of this past season. One of the players on the Texas Tech squad was a wide receiver named Adam James. Around mid-December James was diagnosed with a concussion that he got during a team practice.

That, in and of itself, is not unusual. Players get hurt sometimes. However, in this case the common occurrence of a player getting hurt in practice set of a chain reaction of events that made headlines on sports media outlets across the country for weeks.

It turns out that James is the son of ESPN analyst Craig James, who was a standout college player himself and who played in the NFL. Craig James did not approve of how Leach handled Adam James’ concussion. Craig James’ employment threw an interesting twist on this whole mess because it raised the issue of whether he used his position at ESPN to not only air his grievances, but also to influence how much playing time was given to his son. Some argued that there was reason to believe that Craig James was not happy with Leach before the concussion issue.

Each side has its own version to tell about what happened. The truth is somewhere in the middle. What seems clear is that Leach did not think much of Adam James as a player due to his attitude and work ethic, and Craig James did not think much of Leach as a coach due to Adam James’ lack of playing time in games.

The actual details of just how Adam James was treated are actually fairly inconsequential for my purposes, so I’ll skip that. The bottom line is that Craig James made accusations, which Mike Leach denied, but which led to the administration suspending him. This is where the judicial element comes in.

You see, Leach has a law degree. So, predictably, after he was suspended he went straight to court to get an injunction that would allow him to coach in Texas Tech’s bowl game. He sued his employer to force them to let him do his job. So, they fired him. Leach’s attorney actually received the official notice of termination at the courthouse where they were set to hold a hearing on the issue of the injunction. In hindsight, Leach probably could have thought that through a little better.

So, in the end, there are numerous subplots roaming around. Was Adam James mistreated after he got his concussion? Did the Texas Tech administration use the Adam James situation as an excuse to fire Mike Leach because they were still unhappy with the contract issues from a year before? Did Craig James use his position with ESPN to push Leach and his coaching staff to give his son more playing time or preferential treatment? We on the outside don’t really know.

This simple coaching change has turned into a circus that has sucked in nearly everyone involved. Coaches and team trainers are already on record with statements that they gave. A court hearing had been scheduled. Will we ever know what really happened at Texas Tech over the last year? We might. Predictably, Leach has filed a new lawsuit against the administration. Time will tell if he thought this one through better than the first one.

Written by Matthew Welde, 3L Senior Staff Writer

BY Matthew Welde, 3L

As of this writing, we’re three weeks into the 2009 college football season. What used to be preseason aspirations and hype are now being molded by the actual games into cold reality. Each college football season bestows upon us a whole bevy of upsets and unexpected turns of events. This season is no different.

Now, I could write all day about all of the unexpected things that have popped up so far, but I’m too lazy and there’s not enough room in the paper. Instead, I’ll regale you with a handful of exceptionally startling and unlikely twists of fate.

I’ll start off in the oft-ignored world of Ball State, alma mater of David Letterman. I’m pretty confident that Ball State’s football team doesn’t show up in The Commentator all that often, and I don’t expect it to become a regular practice, but the start of its year warrants some attention.

Ball State’s story is one of monumental collapse. For those that don’t know, which is probably most of you, Ball state went 12-0 last year for the first time ever and was ranked in the top 25 for the first time ever. Life was good.

Then they lost to Buffalo in the MAC Championship Game. Then their head coach resigned to take the job at San Diego State. Then they lost their bowl game. Then they opened the 2009 season at home against North Texas, who was 1-11 last year, and lost. Then they lost to New Hampshire, which is not even a Division 1A football program. That is literally rock bottom. I’m going to venture to say that a team has never before fallen so far so fast . . . ever.

My next stop on the tour of crazy things happening is the very scenic Boulder Colorado. Colorado is in its fourth year under Dan Hawkins, who previously enjoyed great success as head coach of the Boise State Broncos. This past off-season, after a mediocre 5-7 record in 2008, Hawkins proclaimed that anything less than 10 wins would be a disappointment.

Hawkins had reasons to be confident. He had 17 starters returning and an experienced quarterback, which is usually a recipe for improvement. A few pundits were even talking about Colorado as a dark horse candidate to win the Big 12 North.

That sort of talk ended when Colorado State strolled into Boulder and walked out with an impressive win. That sort of talk became the basis for humiliation when Colorado was pasted by Toledo, who themselves had been pasted by Purdue. While the Buffs did manage to beat up on Wyoming, their 1-2 start is a far cry from their lofty dream of 10 wins and caught most of the college football world by complete surprise.

The last stop on this tour of the wildly unexpected is the rainy Pacific Northwest. I think you can all see where this is going. In 2008, the USC Trojans won the Rose Bowl. In 2008, the USC Trojans beat Washington 56-0. In contrast, Washington went 0-12 in 2008. In the process, Washington tied the record for the longest Pac-10 losing streak.

In the second week of the 2009 season the USC Trojans traveled to Columbus and walked out with a win over a highly ranked Ohio State team. That same week Washington beat lowly Idaho to snap a 15-game losing streak that dated back to the 2007 season. The following week the USC Trojans traveled to Washington, and the Huskies sent them home with a loss. . . .Seriously. . . For real.

Some unbelievable things have happened in just the first three weeks of this season. I can’t wait to see the rest of it.

Boomer Sooner