Tech coach Leach had NYC traders scurrying

By PATRICK REUSSE, Star Tribune

Last update: November 10, 2008 - 9:37 PM

Insight is a tech company that trades on NASDAQ. It also sponsors a bowl game in Phoenix. The Gophers and Texas Tech were opponents in December 2006.

Glen Mason, then the Gophers coach, said: "We were brought to New York a while before the game to be at the opening bell -- myself and [athletic director Joel] Maturi, and [coach] Mike Leach and [AD] Gerald Myers from Tech.

"We had dinner at a very nice Manhattan restaurant the night before. Leach showed up in khaki pants, an Under Armour T-shirt and a sports coat.

"We walked around for an hour after dinner and were headed back to the hotel. Leach said he was going to stay out for a while.

"The next day, we get to NASDAQ, Leach shows up and he's in the same clothes. I honestly think he had been out all night. We all were told to say a few words but keep it to no more than 30 seconds.

"Maturi said something, then Myers, then me and then Leach gets the mike. He says, 'I don't have much to add, so as we say in Lubbock, 'GUNS UP!'

"He shouts it, and people on the floor hear 'guns,' and they are ducking for cover, and security is running around.

"I tell you, Leach ... he's a different sort of cat.''

PATRICK REUSSE

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