The legal wrangling in Mike Leach‘s lawsuit continued on Tuesday as Texas Tech filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit filed by their former coach against the university and against four Texas Tech employees.
Thursday was the final day filings could be made ahead of a May 14 hearing on Tech’s claim of sovereign immunity, which the Associated Press describes as meaning a state agency or entity can’t be sued without permission from the Texas Legislature or without a waiver based on a defendant’s conduct.
Leach was fired on Dec. 30 following an “investigation” into the alleged mistreatment of Adam James, son of ESPN college football analyst Craig James. Leach has claimed that he was slandered and libeled by Tech officials, and that Tech officials conspired to have him fired in part because he was due to receive an $800,000 bonus on Dec. 31.
In a press release, Tech said their new filings do nothing but further bolster their case, and that there was no conspiracy to have Leach fired.
“This information leaves no doubt that what we have been saying over the past four months is true: Coach Leach’s case has no merit, either factually or legally,” said university attorney Dicky Grigg.
"[Chancellor] Kent Hance, [President] Guy Bailey and [athletic director] Gerald Myers repeatedly tried to get Coach Leach to address the issue constructively in order to move forward, but he refused. What Leach did was too wrong to ignore. His mistreatment of a player was - as Dr. Cantu said - unconscionable. Despite the numerous efforts of the administration, Leach refused to take responsibility for his actions and refused to work toward resolving the situation.”
Also contained in the new filings is an affidavit from Dr. Robert Cantu, one of the nation’s leading neurological surgeons who has served as an expert to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL’s concussion committee.
From the press release:
After reviewing the evidence in the case, Dr. Cantu found that the student athlete had sustained a concussion, and that, in his expert medical opinion, Leach’s actions “constituted totally inappropriate management and care for a concussion” and called the mistreatment of this athlete “unconscionable.”
Dr. Cantu went on to say, “I am troubled to think of the extremely negative effect that this humiliating treatment of Adam James by Coach Leach most probably had on other members of the football team. The treatment of Adam James would have a chilling effect on teammates reporting their own concussion symptoms and in my opinion was an entirely inappropriate message to send to these student athletes.”
Head athletic trainer Steve Pincock submitted a new affidavit as well, stating that Leach had told him to “tell the doctors that we don’t have any more concussions around here.” Adam James was diagnosed by team physicians as having a mild concussion before Leach had him sequestered in a shed/electrical room.
Another athletic trainer, Buzz Chisum, stated in his affidavit that James’ concussion was “a bunch of f------ b-------.”
Interestingly enough, Pincock had originally stood behind Leach publicly. A day later, however, Pincock had very much changed his public stance.