Alex Harkaway – For the Review. Barack Obama used it for publicity during his presidential campaign. Iranian protestors used it to relay information to the outside world after their government blocked several other methods of communication. Astronaut Michael Massimino even used it in outer space.
Today, it seems as if all of mankind is using Twitter. That is, except for Texas Tech football players, who have been banned from using the social networking system by head coach Mike Leach.
After the Texas Tech Red Raiders lost a close game to Houston on Sept. 27, linebacker Marlon Williams tweeted, “The head coach can’t even be on time,” during a team meeting that Leach was apparently late for. Also that day, team captain Brandon Carter was suspended indefinitely after posting, “This is not how I saw our season,” on his Twitter page. It is hard to disagree with Carter’s assessment: The Red Raiders, coming off an 11-2 campaign last season, have lost two of their first four games and sit in last place in the Big 12 South.
Coach Leach neither addressed his tardiness nor the team’s poor start with the media Sept. 28, but he was happy to talk about his new policy regarding Twitter. In banning his players from having an account, he said, “Anybody that wants to play for us doesn’t have a Twitter page.”
He called it a “stupid” distraction and added, “I think that a guy who plays college football gets enough attention.”
Well, Coach, perhaps it’s just me, but I think presidential candidates receive a tad bit more attention than underachieving college football players. And while you are certainly not the only coach who is not a fan of today’s social networking sites, others, including coach Mack Brown, have realized that attempting to ban players from these sites is illegal.
You should be familiar with Brown; he’s the coach of the Texas team that beat you two weeks ago. Texas is undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation, all while allowing its players to have Twitter accounts. Imagine that.
This is a classic example of a thoughtless football coach overstepping his bounds and running his players’ lives off the field. Situations such as these can be overlooked when a team is successful but become magnified when it struggles. Leach’s team is certainly struggling, but his attempt to blame these hardships on a Web site is absurd.
Leach’s team now faces an uphill climb to become a contender in the Big 12 Conference, a task that will only prove more difficult without Carter, one of the offensive line’s best players. Preventing frustration within his locker room will be just as difficult for Leach.
With such brutal tasks looming, Leach will surely need some support. Perhaps loyal Texas Tech fans could bring endearing pro-Leach signs to the next home game or show their love by leaving Leach a basket of flowers on his front porch. Just don’t hit him up on Twitter.