At the OU Club of Austin's Brut Sun Bowl watch party Thursday, the talk wasn't all about the bowl game between the University of Oklahoma and Stanford.
Instead, much talk centered on Mike Leach, a former assistant coach at OU who was just fired from his job as head football coach at Texas Tech.
"Sure I care about it," said Rick Williamson, who graduated from OU in 1970. "I'm going to be following it right to the end. That's why we're here. That's why we follow college football. There's nothing as great as college football, and nothing as great as Big 12 college football."
Williamson says he remembers the season Leach spent as an assistant coach at OU.
"I think he's a great, wonderful coach," he said. "I wish we still had him as our offensive coordinator. That's how we won our national championship and we haven't won once since."
Texas Tech University fired Leach Wednesday amid allegations he mistreated a injured player by confining in to a small dark space after he was diagnosed with a concussion. The player is sophomore Adam James, the son of former NFL player and ESPN analyst Craig James.
The firing came just two days before Leach was to collect an $800,000 bonus if he were still head coach.
Williamson echoed many of those at the OU Club's watch party at the Austin Marriott North when he said he wanted to hear more about exactly what happened before deciding whether the firing was justified.
"I don't begrudge Texas Tech for what they did, nor do I necessarily begrudge Mike for what he did when we don't know all the facts. I think he's a reasonable man, if a little unorthodox," he said.
Fellow OU fan Lee Lanham said he was sorry to see the coach fired days before Tech was to play in the Alamo Bowl.
"From what I hear, it wasn't really a good thing that he may have done," Lanham said. "But I don't know that it was a good idea that he got terminated right before the bowl game. I kind of hate to see anyone terminated right before a bowl game."
Lanham says he has always admired Leach's "small playbook."
"He seems to be able to do a lot with just a few plays," he said. "He sure thumped us this year."
OU Fan Mack Palmer, who attended OU alongside former University of Texas Coach Darrell Royal, says the firing may well affect Tech's efforts to attract top notch players in the immediate future.
"I think it will be difficult for Texas Tech to recruit after losing this great coach with a great record," Palmer said. "It's bound to affect their performance next season, so this is going to be a plus for Texas and Oklahoma."
