TTU coach Mike Leach wants to put the 'student' back in student athlete

Tired of jocks getting everything they want as they skate through school?

So is Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach.

See, Leach's Red Raiders found themselves in a three-way tie in the Big 12 South with Texas and Oklahoma after Saturday's action. TTU beat Texas, but fell to Oklahoma. Oklahoma beat TTU, but was dropped by Texas.

See the confusion?

And while the Big 12 uses BCS ranking to choose the division champion that will represent in the conference championship game, Leach himself provided a pretty good idea for a tiebraker.

"I think they should break that three-way tie based on graduation rate. I think the Big 12 Conference should have an executive session [immediately]," Leach said. "When they do that, they will find that no one's more deserving than the Red Raiders."

When you're done laughing and ridiculing this thought, you can refocus and realize why this idea makes perfect sense.

Seeing that TTU graduates 79 percent of its football players (tops in the Big 12) while Texas (50 percent) and Oklahoma (46 percent) rank 11th and 12th, respectively. Maybe Leach has a point.

The NCAA shoves the idea of "student athletes" down your throat 24/7 365. Think about it.

According to commercials, Coach K doesn't just arm you with a jump shot. He arms you with what you need to succeed in life. There are a billion NCAA student athletes and most of them go pro in something in other than sports. At least that's what those March Madness ads say. Heck, the NCAA's top reason for not having a FBS playoff system in place is because they don't want student athletes missing classes.

Bull-loney!

So it would only make sense that the No. 1 tie-breaker should be graduation rates. Right?

Logo courtsey of Chris Creamer's sports logos