Leach team files suit against Texas Tech to obtain records in firing
LUBBOCK — A Houston-based investigative journalist is suing Texas Tech for records he believes prove the school’s 2009 firing of longtime Tech football coach Mike Leach was without cause.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Lubbock County’s 99th District Court, Wayne Dolcefino alleges Tech officials are refusing to comply with their obligation to produce public records he sought between September and November that included emails and phone records of the Board of Regents and then-chancellor Kent Hance that would show they bowed to pressure from a former football player’s parent threat of negative publicity for alleged abuse. In December 2009, Tech officials fired Leach for his role in which a football player suffering a concussion claimed he was made to stand in a dark room during practice.
Leach’s termination came days before Tech was due to pay him $2.4 million as part of his contract with the university. He began coaching for the school in 1999.
Leach, who holds the distinction of being the winningest coach in Tech’s history, sued the university in January 2010, alleging he was fired without cause and was denied due process. However, Tech’s invocation of sovereign immunity shielded the university from paying him, according to court documents.
Read more: http://amarillo.com/news/sports/texas-news/2018-01-08/leach-team-files-suit-against-texas-tech-obtain-records-firing
