• Your cheatin' heart will cost you a raise. All told, Mike Leach is the most successful coach in Texas Tech history -- he's won at least eight games seven years in a row (previous best: two in a row), been to two straight January bowl games (first time since the 1930s) and last year tied the school record with 11 wins. He's finding out, though, that the wins can only take him so far: Tech athletic director Gene Myers has set a Feb. 17 deadline for Leach to sign his long-negotiated contract extension, a deal the coach rejected last week, or go ahead making slightly less under the last two years of his current deal.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has documents detailing the proposals and counter-proposals between the two sides, which don't reveal much except that Leach wants far more money than the school proposes in potential performance bonuses. But money isn't the issue -- Leach referred last week to "unacceptable" terms in the university's proposal, and the AP subsequently detailed the sticking points, primarily concerning Leach's notoriously wandering eye:

Leach and his agents have taken issue with termination and buyout clauses and a provision that would trigger the coach’s firing and a $1.5 million penalty if he interviewed for another job without permission, according to documents released by the school Friday.
[...]
In his current deal, which has two years remaining, Leach has no restrictions on interviewing elsewhere.

Athletic director Gerald Myers wrote to one of Leach’s agents that approval for interviews "would not be withheld unreasonably, but we want you as his agent to stop shopping Coach Leach everywhere and him not saying anything to deny that he’s looking for another job." [Emphasis added]

The real issue here for Leach is whether his stock can actually go any higher than it is right now, off what looks like Tech's peak. If the Cap'n can't strongarm them now, how's he going to manage it off more ordinary efforts in two years?

• Keiwone belongs to no man, especially not what's-his-name. Among the bonfire of bravado last week from Lane Kiffin's shop was Alabama-turned-Tennessee assistant Lance Thompson's pledge that the Vols would "own Memphis" in recruiting, and that his former colleagues at 'Bama "ain't getting any more" of his targets on the trail. By the end of the week, the Crimson Tide had landed its first commitment of 2010, Keiwone Malone, a wide receiver from Mitchell High in -- all together now -- Memphis. Having struck the opening blow for Nick Saban, Malone twisted the knife a little when he talked to the Birmingham News about the role the turf wars played in his decision:

Malone said, "No," Saban didn't mention the trash talk from the Vols. Then an interesting thing happened. I asked Malone, What did he think of Kiffin's words?

"Well, it's just, I think that Lane ... What's his name?" Malone asked.

"Lane Kiffin," I responded.

"That's just Lane Kiffin's opinion of what he had to say," Malone said. [Emphasis in original]

Well, you win some, you lose some. Anyway, one 2010 prospect who knows Kiffin's name: Nick Montana, son of Joe Montana and current Jimmy Clausen Chair in Spoiled, Entitled Quarterbacking at Oaks Christian Academy in California, was visiting Knoxville over the weekend. I wonder if he stopped by Phil Fulmer's new office?

• Just to be clear: We disapprove. (Vote for us!) While actual anti-BCS legislation remains languishing behind stimulus packages and so forth (priorities, people), Utah's state legislature took matters into its own hands last week by passing a resolution condemning the BCS and urging the NCAA to institute a playoff. The Series is not quaking in its boots over a mere resolution out West, but if nothing else, I think we can assume that Utah attorney general Mark Shurtleff's legal crusade against the BCS won't be stifled from within the Beehive State. Not that anyone else is paying any attention, but it never hurts to have more suits in your corner.

Quickly ... Mitch Albom doesn't like recruiting coverage, a real feather in the cap of recruiting coverage, I think. ... Mega-recruit Bryce Brown is still committed to Miami but will probably visit USC on Feb. 20, along with another as-yet unsigned elite prospect, tight end Orson Charles. In the meantime, Matt Barkley -- the guy Bryce Brown replaced as the No. 1 player in the nation last fall -- is off to a fast start in his first semester at SC. ... Another early-enrolling SoCal quarterback, Tate Forcier, is immersing himself in Michigan. ... Five underclassmen won't be back at Texas A&M, including defensive lineman Kellen Heard, he of the cheap shot that leveled Colt McCoy in 2006. ... Ex-Auburn and new Middle Tennessee offensive coordinator Tony Frankling has to has to sell not one, but two houses in Alabama, in this economy. ... After getting seven last year, Texas landed five 2010 commitments during its first junior day. ... Oregon struck it rich in the Class of 2007. ... Is Tiger Woods' wife a huge GNR fan or what? ... And you said it, brother.