Mike Leach has been checking items off his bucket list since he was stunningly fired as coach of Texas Tech after the 2009 season. The pirate-loving football coach is traveling around the country promoting his book "Swing Your Sword," in which he defends himself against ESPN.
The Houston Chronicle reports Leach has the No. 1 sports book this summer thanks to the final 75 pages, which detail his fight against Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance and ESPN's Craig James.
"Their smear campaign has had a chilling effect, no question about it," Leach told the Chronicle. "I didn't have any choice except to set the record straight. What's powerful about those last chapters is that it's all out there, in the words of the perpetrators themselves. And they're embarrassed about what's out there."
In addition to the book, Leach filed lawsuits against ESPN and Spaeth Communications, a Texas company hired by James family to put pressure on Leach in the media.
Leach's doings since being kicked out of the coaching fraternity are even more interesting than his legal battle.
"I'm checking out a lot of different things I might never have had the chance to do," he said. "Or, really, that I might never have known that I wanted to do."
Leach's adventures since being fired as coach of Texas Tech:
• Barge trip down the Canal du Midi in the South of France's Languedoc.
• Coaching consultant for a French American Football Team.
• Watched director Peter Berg make the "Battleship" movie.
• Hunted wild pigs from a helicopter above south Texas.
• Spoke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston.
• Hung out with actor Matthew McConaghey and reality star Donald Trump.
• Picked up sportscasting gigs at Sirius/XM Radio and CBS College Sports.
• Moved his family from Lubbock, Texas, to Key West, Florida.
