Pastors & The Mike Leach Syndrome

I live in Lubbock, TX and over the three years we’ve lived here, we drank the kool-aid and become fans of Texas Tech athletics and Mike Leach.? Over this last week, Texas Tech and Leach have been national news for all the wrong reasons.? A squabble that probably could have been settled,? if everyone had played nice, ended poorly for everyone involved.? The collateral damage is gigantic despite being over something that happened on a football team.

Mike Leach is brilliant – A lot was said by the commentators last night and throughout this week about Mike Leach.? He graduated with his law degree from Pepperdine, has a Masters in Sports ScienceCoaching.? He was only one of four coaches who didn’t play division 1 football. Among the comments you may have heard is that Leach is almost an unparalleled coach when it comes to the “X’s and O’s”.? They talked how he didn’t just change the culture of Texas Tech but also the offensive approach within the Big 12 itself.

Mike Leach is a leader – There is no doubt that Leach leads his team to operate as a unit, to know their goal, trains them to reach their goal and succeed.? His detractors may not like how he leads but he is a strong leader.

Mike Leach has a loyal following – Fans love Leach for a variety of reasons.? He’s had a winning season every year he was at Tech, he is a straight talker, he caused an entire Pirate mentality to infect Tech, he’s quirky if you like him or eccentric if you’re trying to be nice. And who can forget the memorable quotes like “Their fat little girlfriends“?

Mike Leach doesn’t play well with others – He’s a genius but from all accounts and from this last event, it is evident that Leach doesn’t play well with others.

Maybe I’m the crazy one but as I saw more and more of this story unfold? I began to see too many parallels between Mike Leach and how some pastors behave.

Pastors are often smart – It’s not a biblical requirement but with our cultural norms of seminary, especially within the evangelical stream, it’s a pretty good bet that your pastor would score above average on many tests.? Even for those of us that school didn’t come easy, we work in a world that involves hermeneutics, cultural analysis, epistemology, and crafting stories and illustrations to teach principles so people can better understand God’s agenda for their lives. Working in this world can breed arrogance, even if it’s an arrogance in our own small world.

Pastors are leaders – Whether you are the “lead pastor” or on church staff, leadership is part of your role.? Leaders can think too highly of themselves and especially leaders who are isolated and not connected with peers.? If you don’t have someone in your life who serves as your “kick you in the shin” friend, you are more likely to slip into arrogance and think more highly of yourself then you should.? I’m that friend for Adam and he’s that friend for me. I’m blessed, I guess, to have many of those friends but you need to have at least one.

Pastors have loyal followers – Even crazy pastors have loyal followers.? Over time, by being faithful and loving the flock that God has given you, people love you, believe in you and follow you.? Some will even follow you blindly, and that’s not healthy but also may not be your fault.? The danger of having a loyal following is they can think more highly of you than they they should.

Some pastors don’t play well with others – Whether they are domineering, manipulative,? micro-managers, or just think they are always right, some pastors don’t have the best grasp of community and what biblical plurality in leadership looks like.? They see themselves as God’s anointed and they shouldn’t be questioned. Once a counselor? told me in his fifteen years of counseling pastors there wasn’t one them that didn’t deal with being narcissistic or anti-social at some level.? That is anecdotal so take it for what it’s worth.? Here are some better thoughts regarding the potential connection of pastoral ministry and some personality disorders.

I hope that you are known for having all of Mike Leach’s positive attributes and you are able to see the dangers of having those same attributes.