Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and New Mexico first-year coach Mike Locksley have had a few unwarranted distractions at the wrong time: the middle of the season.
Leach’s recent suspension of offensive lineman and team captain Brandon Carter has raised questions from the media and his Twitter ban made waves this week as the coach’s latest act in keeping his players focused.
Locksley’s week has been surrounded by the fallout from a physical altercation with UNM receivers coach J.B. Gerald, which surfaced after the Lobos lost to New Mexico State on Saturday.
For both coaches, a win when the teams play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium could be a step toward solving a few problems.
“I think coaches and players need to be stable and just improve for the sake of playing football,” said Leach, whose Red Raiders are looking to end a two-game skid — the first since the 2007 season. “Just be excited about it. We just have to raise the confidence level. We have a bunch of young guys playing that are better than they think they are and their abilities are at higher level than some of them think.”
It seems the Red Raiders (2-2, 0-1 in Big 12 Conference play) have seen how dangerous they can be with solid performances in a 55-10 win against Rice and a 34-24 loss to No. 2 Texas.
It’s the 29-28 loss to then-No. 17 Houston that has Tech searching for answers.
Tech failed to win the game when a quarterback sneak on 4th and goal at the 1-yard line was unsuccessful late in the fourth quarter. The score would have put Tech up 34-23. Instead, Houston’s defense stifled Tech quarterback Taylor Potts, which allowed the Cougars to hang around long enough for a 95-yard scoring drive to end the game, led by Houston’s Case Keenum.
After the game, Carter used Twitter to express his disappointment at Tech’s season so far.
By Sunday, Carter announced on his Twitter account he was no longer a captain or a part of the team, bringing about speculation he had been suspended, which later was confirmed by Tech Athletics on Sunday evening.
During his weekly press conference Monday, Leach chose not to comment on why Carter was suspended indefinitely, only saying he broke a team rule. In addition to that, Leach banned his players from using Twitter, which grabbed the attention of sports news outlets nationwide.
Although Tech players said it may be tough to take the field without Carter, what they’re concerned about is making things right after Saturday’s loss.
“You could see it (Sunday) in a lot of down faces but it is something that happens with football,” Tech cornerback Jamar Wall said. “That suspension thing, I am not too sure about all of that. But we just have to keep going, we can’t let anything hold us back from the suspension to the two losses. We’ve got to keep on pushing forward.”
The Red Raiders have been looking to move on to the game against the Lobosp since Sunday.
Tech center Shawn Byrnes and Wall said Monday they were anxious to face New Mexico, in hopes of erasing last Saturday’s game from their memories with a win.
That may not be too difficult, considering how much the Lobos are struggling at this point.
UNM (0-4) still is trying to find out what it has on its roster, as Locksley said 22 first-year players are still trying to gain experience. The Lobos have lost all of their games by an average of 24 points. Their closest game was a 20-17 loss to New Mexico State on Saturday.
Things haven’t gotten any easier for the Lobos this week either.
Lockesly was reprimanded Monday for reportedly grabbing Gerald by the collar and punching him in a coach’s meeting on Sept. 20.
It is not the first time something of this sort has surrounded Locksley and New Mexico. It was reported in May that Locksley was accused of age discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation by a former administrative assistant in the New Mexico football offices.
During the Mountain West’s weekly teleconference Monday, Locksley said the altercation happened last week and is new to the media. He said his players and the program are past it and it should not prevent his team from focusing on the task at hand Saturday.
“As far as the distractions, some things are out of our control,” Locksley said. “The recent distraction is definitely something that I could’ve controlled, which is why I have no problem with taking the responsibility for my actions.”
Leach and Locksley are quick to point out the positives about each program.
Locksley said the most noteworthy thing about Tech is how much the defense has improved under defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill. Leach credited the New Mexico defense, as he said the Lobos are aggressive and tend to blitz more.
Byrnes said Monday that Tech may not be where it wants to be right now, but turning things around starts with the Lobos.
“I think we’re just going to try and stay focused we’re not going to let distractions get to us,” Byrnes said. “Our main focus is New Mexico. We haven’t had the best start. We didn’t want this, 2-2 isn’t what we saw, but we are just going to try and fix that and stay positive and go into this week with a good mindset and good attitude.”
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