Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Mark Adams has been on the hot seat this season for his team’s poor performance. His seat just got hotter after he was suspended for comments made to one of his players.
The Red Raiders got off to a hot start this season with a 10-2 record, but things have took a turn for the worse. They finished the season with a 16-15 overall record and they went 5-13 in Big 12 conference play. Adams signed a contract extension last spring that runs through the 2026-27 season. The extension was for five years and worth $15.5 million over that span. He would be owed a little more than $7 million if he were to be fired.
Motivation or Over the Line?
Adams had an intense one-on-one coaching session between him and player.
The university released the following statement about the incident:
“Adams was encouraging the student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters. Adams immediately addressed this with the team and apologized. Upon learning of the incident, Hocutt addressed this matter with Adams and issued him a written reprimand. Hocutt subsequently made the decision to suspend Adams effective immediately in order to conduct a more thorough inquiry of Adams’ interactions with his players and staff.”
Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt stated he was informed about the incident on last Friday. He issued Adams a written reprimand, but decided to suspended him shortly afterward, according to CBS Sports.
Adams did apologize to the player and spoke with the team, but hasn’t issued a public apology. He will not be coaching the team in their first round matchup of the Big 12 tournament on Wednesday.
Other Incidents That Crossed the Line
Texas Tech Football
Mike Leach and Texas Tech football is one of the first things that probably popped into people’s minds when discuss the subject of college athletics incidents that crossed the line comes up. Leach was fired in 2010 after it was reported he locked wide receiver Adam James in a shed for over three hours.
Rutgers Women’s Basketball
The Rutgers women’s basketball program were victims of someone’s nasty comments about them. In 2007, radio host Don Imus joked live on air of his nationally syndicated radio show and called the young ladies “nappy-headed h***”.
Imus show was suspended for two weeks off air and he did sit down with the women to explain his comments. He said that he was joking and the comments were taken out of context.
1993
It is nothing new for old school head coaches to talk to players Inn ways that tiptoe the line, but in 1993 two universities had enough of two men’s basketball head coaches. Former Army head coach Tom Miller and California head coach Lou Campanelli were both fired for after treating their players in a manner that was deemed inappropriate by both universities. The details of the treatment weren’t highlighted, but they were brought to the universities’ attention by several former and current players at the time.
Bob Valvano was fired by Catholic University a year earlier for putting tampons in his players’ lockers and told them they were playing like girls.
Bobby Knight
Legendary college basketball coach Bobby Knight is the king of crossing the line. He has put his hands on players, thrown chairs, called timeouts to publicly belittle players during games, and the list goes on. Ironically, he also coached at Texas Tech like Leach and Adams.
1978 Gator Bowl
Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes went overboard and attacked Clemson defensive lineman Charlie Bauman after his interception return with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter and the Buckeyes down 17-15. Bauman was hit on the Buckeyes’ sideline and stared at their bench before Hayes put his hands around his neck and threw him back onto the field. A scuffle broke out between the two teams and it cost the Buckeyes two penalties as well as the game. One day later, on Dec. 30, 1978, Hayes was fired by school he had led to three consensus national championships over 28 seasons.
