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// My Take on the TTU Football Twitter Ban

Yesterday, the Texas Tech football team made national news. Not for a big win, or anything directly football related for that matter. They made news for one big call made by Head Coach Mike Leach. He banned all players and staff from Twitter.

Almost immediately, the news swept the major outlets. It was picked up by sports experts (ESPN), social media experts (Mashable) and even the front page of Yahoo. Also, it was all over my own Twitter stream, though that could be because I know many other Tech fans.

I have two viewpoints on this. One as a Texas Tech alum and fan. The other as an avid social media user.

First, as a fan, it concerns me about the internal workings of the team. Right now, there is some ugly dissent among the players, and this could harm the team more than any injury.

Mike Leach has always been wary of media, so it’s not a big surprise to see this carry over to social media. He likes to keep things internal, allowing only a select few to talk on behalf of the program.

But this concerns me even more as a social media user. What right does Leach have to ban his players from Twitter just because they posted negative views? Can a company ban its employees from social media if they post negative comments? Or staying at the university, can a professor ban her students for the same thing?

Of course, for the team and a business, there needs to be a policy in place that outlines what can and cannot be said. But how can you claim transparency (the whole point of social media) if you ban all negative points?

In my view, Leach should have suspended players temporarily from Twitter until the time the athletic department could create a solid set of standards. This, people would have understood, and there would have been less controversy surrounding the program.

As it stands now, Leach either has to stand by his guns and be the bad guy, or backtrack and admit he overreacted. Neither are good options.

What do you think would have been the appropriate reaction? And now that the ban is in place, what would you say is the next step?

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Post a comment — Trackback URI RSS 2.0 feed for these comments This entry (permalink) was posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 10:41 AM by James Hodgins. Filed in Education, Social Media, Solutions.
  • not_so_madman
    We can debate the actions of the coach and the players but the outcome Saturday night spoke volumes.
  • I think it's a lack of understanding how to handle the situation. If a player had said those things in a press conference, he would (rightfully) be banned from press conferences for the rest of the season. Leach is trying to treat this the same way. But it's not the same. Banning social media is like banning conversation. Will he ban players from talking on cell phones if they give a negative phone interview?

    This is an extreme and very public example of how all entities are trying to catch up with how to use social media and the fears that come with it. Good points, and thank for the comment.
  • wes_w
    James, you raise interesting and valid points. I, too, feel that Leach's decision was an overreaction and he's left looking like the grumpy old man telling "those damn kids" to get off his lawn. I believe he was also quoted yesterday as saying (I'm paraphrasing here) that social media was for narcissists.

    The problem with that mentality is what does that say about him? He certainly had no problem being on 60 Minutes and the cover of Texas Monthly. I think that might be viewed as being a little narcissistic. So is shopping yourself around to any football program willing to give you a listen. Leach has no problem with the praise, but he can't handle the negativity.

    So, what about the players? Requiring that they not tweet (Twitter) or post (Facebook) about internal team matters would be appropriate, as I don't think we should see their dirty laundry. Banning them from social media altogether - that's neither Leach's prerogative nor his right. Those account belong to the players, not the athletic department.

    By the way, I see the athletic department still has no problem using Twitter to send out PR messages. Perhaps Leach has no problem using Twitter as a megaphone - a monologue he can handle, but a dialogue he can't.
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