Love me some Leach

I’ve never hidden the fact that I love Mike Leach.

The reason: the Texas Tech coach speaks his mind.

The good news: he actually has something intelligent in there to talk about.

Leach is not only candid but also smart in what he has to say. Some coaches run their mouth because they have a platform, but nothing substantial comes out. Leach, on the other hand, is always coming up with something worth sitting up and paying attention.

His latest focused on the officiating crew during Tech’s game at Texas. Leach railed after the game Saturday about how the referee is an Austin resident. Perhaps it escaped Mike that there was a Lubbock resident on the crew, too. Perhaps it also escaped him that he wasn’t exactly complaining about the refs two years ago when Tech beat OU with a disputed last-second touchdown.

Sigh.

I never said the guy was perfect.

Anyway, Leach has sparked a debate about officiating, and I say it’s great. The Big 12 — and every conference — needs to look at its rules for officials. Why not do away with the practice of officials calling games involving teams where they live?

I know that similar rules exist for other situation. Richard Brown is a Big 12 football official. He’s usually in the umpire spot. His daughter, Brittney, played basketball until last season at OU, and while she was a Sooner, he did not call an OU football game.

Could he have been fair in a game involving the Sooners?