LUBBOCK, Texas — Fired Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said the father of the player he was accused of mistreating after a concussion meddled more than any parent he’s ever come across.
Leach also denied Friday he mistreated Adam James.
Dismissed Wednesday, two days after being suspended by Texas Tech, Leach said it was indisputable that James’ father, ESPN analyst and former NFL player Craig James, lobbied frequently to get his son more playing time.
Leach said James meddled “more than any parent I’ve dealt with my entire career.”
“I can understand a father being a fan of his son, rooting for his son, being supportive of his son,” Leach said. “But at some point coaches have to be allowed to coach. . . . Just because you have influence, power and a microphone in front of you doesn’t mean that your son should have any more right to play than the other guys.”
The school suspended Leach while it was investigating Adam James’ allegations that the coach twice had him confined to a small, dark place after being diagnosed with a concussion.
Leach said James, a sophomore receiver, was “never” locked anywhere, by him or by team trainers. Leach told The New York Times he ordered James be taken “out of the light” and did not know specifically where he went.
“I was busy coaching practice,” Leach said. “He was never locked anywhere. At no point was he locked anywhere.”
A statement by team physician Michael Phy said: “According to the information given to me, no additional risks or harm were imposed on Adam by what he was asked to do.”
When asked about claims that he meddled, Craig James called them “absurd,” an ESPN spokesman said.
“Coach Leach has made damaging and untrue comments, about my actions, about my son, and about a business relationship — which does not exist — between me and the leadership of the university,” James said in a statement. “He’s simply trying to shift attention from his own actions and from the findings of a university investigation which we believe was fair and thorough. As we have said over and over, our concern was about the safety and well-being of our son.”
Leach curtly dismissed James’ statement.
“I don’t care what he thinks,” Leach said. “I know what the truth is, have from the beginning, and it doesn’t matter what he thinks.”
Leach said he suspects the $800,000 bonus he was to have received Thursday was the reason he was fired.
“It’s either power or control, or they didn’t want to pay,” he said.
Leach called the relationship between James and a few Tech administrators “an unholy alliance” and said the group could have begun aiming to remove him before negotiations on a contract extension began late last year.
