Leach unapologetic about ref rant

By Associated Press     Nov 13, 2007

Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach speaks at his weekly news conference. Monday in Lubbock, Texas, Leach defended his comments critical of officials after Saturday's loss to Texas.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach was unapologetic Monday for comments he made about officiating in the Red Raiders’ 59-43 loss to No. 12 Texas.

After watching film of the game, he held his ground on the thrust of his postgame comments Saturday about bad calls that went the Longhorns’ way.

“There’s a certain amount being taken out of context but the full context of what I said, yeah,” Leach said. “I think it speaks for itself.”

Saturday, Leach condemned the officiating crew and called their work during the game “a complete travesty.”

Leach was upset officials disallowed two Tech touchdowns in the third quarter. The first was overruled when video replay clearly showed the receiver let the ball hit the ground. On the next play, a touchdown pass was negated by a holding penalty. Leach also wanted, but didn’t get, a flag for roughing the quarterback.

Bob Burda of the Big 12 Conference said Monday that league officials were continuing to review the incident. Leach said he hadn’t talked to anyone in the conference office.

He qualified some of his responses Monday, emphasizing he wasn’t commenting again on officiating. One reporter asked if he would prefer there be no replay.

“I’d almost need an attorney to figure out whether I’m supposed to answer that or not,” Leach said. “Suffice it to say, referring to nothing even remotely related to officiating, I think as far as how we do instant replay maybe ought to be looked at, maybe other systems looked at.”

Tech players said they liked knowing Leach would stand up for them.

“If we got a coach like that, that’s somebody we can go to war for,” Tech linebacker Brian Duncan said. “It feels real good.”

PREV POST

6Sports video: Reesing guides Hawks to victory

NEXT POST

26398Leach unapologetic about ref rant