After the June 1 court ruling by Judge Bill Sowder regarding former Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach’s 11 accusations against Tech, there is more clarity about the future between the coach and the university in the legal arena.
Sowder, of the 99th District Court, ruled against 10 of the 11 claims Leach made against Tech. The university, however, was denied sovereign immunity — a legal protection due to Tech’s status as a state institution — regarding Leach’s claim that his contract was violated when he was fired Dec. 30 of last year.
Leach’s legal team responded to the ruling in a prepared press release.
“The Court’s recent ruling validates Mr. Leach’s legal position,” the team said in the written statement. “While we understand Texas Tech’s desire to enforce the defense of sovereign immunity, we do not understand Tech’s continued refusal to acknowledge its obligations to Mike Leach especially in light of Judge Sowder’s ruling.”
Tech attorney Dicky Grigg also released a statement following the ruling claiming that Leach’s case “has no merit legally or factually.”
The legal team for Tech may still take further action to prevent the case from going to court.
“Texas Tech will appeal the judge’s ruling and we expect the Appeals Court will find in Texas Tech’s favor and dismiss the remaining claim,” Grigg wrote in his statement.
According to Leach’s legal team, “Tech has been proven wrong in its legal predictions and positions and we believe the Court of Appeals will uphold Judge Sowder’s ruling.”
According to Liggett, Leach is seeking $2.5 million dollars from the university in his suit. That figure is broken down into $1.6 million in outside endorsements, $800,000 in a bonus that he was slated to receive the day after he was fired and $100,000 for the team’s accomplishments during the 2009 season.
He said Tech wrote Leach a check for the $100,000 for the team’s 2009 accomplishments but the check will not be cashed until further progression has been made in the case.
The Facebook-born support group for the former coach, Team Leach, continues to post strong numbers with a fluctuating number of members that is currently hovering around 60,000.
In a phone interview, spokesman for the group Charlie Hodges responded to the ruling.
“It’s a win for Mike Leach,” Hodges said. “I don’t care what Dicky Grigg says. If Tech thinks they’ve won out of this, then why are they appealing?”
Team Leach organized a meeting in Memorial Circle in January in support of the fired coach but doesn’t intend on putting anything similar together at this point.
“We haven’t talked about any rallies,” Hodges said. “People know we’re (here). We’re still doing things but we won’t be doing them in an in-your-face type of deal.”
On campus, students continue to be divided about the entire Leach saga and the ruling.
“Having ten out of 11 thrown out definitely looks good on paper,” Jason Flores, a senior education major from Big Spring said. “I’ll be happy when this is all over with and we can just worry about next year and Coach Tuberville. No matter what, I’m behind Tech.”
The Daily Toreador will continue to track the legal proceedings leading up to a possible jury trial.