That cartoon pirate is Captain Skyhook.  For those of you who don’t know, Captain Skyhook was the villain in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon “The Space Kidettes.”  It was a late 60’s cartoon that was re-ran in the 80’s on USA Network when it still broadcast cartoons.  The jist of the show was that the Kidettes, a group of small children who’d formed a club and had a clubhouse, had a treasure map.  Space pirate Captain Skyhook, along with his flunky Static, wanted it.

Each week, they’d come up with various schemes to try and get the map.  The thing is, Captain Skyhook would never want to do anything to permanently injure the kids.  It’d be more along the lines of stranding them on a deserted planet, kidnapping one of them and using a “nuclear feather tickler” to get them to talk.  Whenever Static would come up with something violent, the conversation  would go something like this.

Static, “Let’s boil them in moon oil!”  Captain Skyhook (after hitting Static on the head) “You can’t do that!”  Static “You can’t?”  Captain Skyhook “No!  They’re just a bunch of itty-bitty kids!  You can’t do that to a bunch of itty-bitty kids!” 

Captain Skyhook, for all his evil intentions, knew there were lines that couldn’t be crossed.   He realized that there are some things that were just not right.  No, he never got the treasure map, but he tried to come up with ways to get what he wanted without doing permanent harm to the Space Kidettes.

How does this apply to Mike Leach?  Besides the obvious pirate reference, Leach needs to realize that there are things you simply cannot do.  He got away with the “fat girlfriends blast” after a loss this year but a coach who’s supposed to be responsible for the physical and emotional well-being of a bunch of college students cannot  force a player to stand in a darkened room for hours.  Especially one who had been diagnosed with a concussion.

If Leach felt Adam James was faking his concussion, he could’ve sent him to the dressing room.  He could order James out of the practice facility and back to his dorm room.  There were other options Leach had for dealing with James if he felt James was being insubordinate.   Other options which would not have resulted in the scrutiny and controversy that ultimately cost him his job.

In a year that Mark Mangino was forced out at Kansas because of alleged mistreatment of players and heightened awareness of concussions, what did Leach think was going to happen when he did this?  Sure the story caught fire faster because of whom James’ father is, but it could’ve been any player.   What kind of “discipline” involves making a player who might be suffering physical symptoms from a concussion stand and be uncomfortable for hours on end?

Maybe Mike Leach was going to be fired anyway.  He and Texas Tech had been arguing over money, and the university almost let him go last year before they agreed to an extension.  But he has no one to blame but himself in this case.  He acted irresponsibly.  He handled the situation with Adam James wrong.  Whatever problems were occurring, he should’ve chosen a different way to make his point and enforce whatever discipline he felt Adam James needed.

Mike Leach will probably get another coaching job.  His success on the field cannot be questioned .   He turned Texas Tech into a perennial power.  When that happens, Leach should go on YouTube and watch an old Space Kidettes episode or two.   Let a fellow pirate show him that there are simply some things you can’t do.