From the student section to the Big 12 spotlight

Thursday, October 23, 2008

From the football coach who brought you tips for a first date and performed the worst weather report ever seen comes a story you wouldn’t believe. Until you heard it was Mike Leach.

During Texas Tech’s Sept. 20 game against UMass, Matt Williams, a Texas Tech student, drilled a 30-yard field goal to win one month’s free rent. On the way back to his seat, an assistant told Williams that coach Leach would like to meet with him the following Tuesday.

One month later, Williams will suit up and start in Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium. No way? Way.

“So you got free rent, and maybe at the end of the year he might even have a scholarship,” Kansas coach Mark Mangino joked. “That’s a great story. I think that’s awesome.”

Williams hasn’t suited up yet because he’s a transfer student from Tarleton State, where he kicked for the Texans. Special teams coordinator Clay McGuire initially didn’t think Williams would qualify because of transfer rules, but earlier this week he was cleared.

“That is the way I understand it, yeah,” McGuire told RedRaiderSports.com on Tuesday. “He’s got a real good shot. Only Mike Leach could bring a guy out of the stands and make it work.”

Williams isn’t the only regular student to start at place-kicker. In 2006, Steve Aponavicius of Boston College played his first game of organized football against Virginia Tech and hit two field goals. A graduate assistant spotted Aponavicius kicking field goals in 2005 and invited him to join the team.

However, rarely has a student been pulled from the stands and added in the same season.

“Mike wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think the guy could kick the ball,” Mangino said.

Leach was searching the stands for a kicker because his have been worse than awful. Senior Cory Fowler and freshman Donnie Carona have combined to hit only 4-of-8 field goals and missed six extra point attempts.

Mangino said he’s been so frustrated that he considered grabbing someone from the stands, but never acted on the impulse. Still, he understands the logic.

“Hey, in this profession, you do what you’ve got to do to win,” Mangino said. “If there are a couple of guys running around our stadium here that can cover Crabtree, we would invite them to come down.”

You hear that wannabe Jayhawk athletes? Show the man what you’ve got.

Lubbock is becoming the haven for walk-on athletes. Former basketball coach Bob Knight opened his roster for one walk-on in 2006.

The difference was that the Red Raiders’ fiery coach used a reality show on ESPN to find his lucky man. The spacey football coach opted for an in-between quarters giveaway contest.

“That’s vintage Mike Leach,” Mangino said.

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