Retiring Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance recalled his early days as a youngster in Castro County in regards to one of several breaking points in the ouster of former Red Raiders football coach Mike Leach in December 2009.

"When I was in the third grade in Dimmitt, I knew if you told your boss to go 'f' themselves, you were probably going to be dealing with your former boss," Hance said. "Mike didn't realize that, and so we parted ways. And I wish him the best."

Hance, in Amarillo on a farewell tour this week, spoke with AGN TV's Jay Ricci on a wide range of topics.

Hance's seven and a half years as chancellor is marked by a record $1 billion endowment in the Tech system, and a system-wide enrollment increase of 45 percent, including 12 percent in the Amarillo branches. But the former U.S. congressman, the only candidate to defeat George W. Bush in a political race, will forever be linked with the departure of Leach.

Leach, who compiled an 84-43 record from 2000 to 2009, was fired Dec. 30, 2009.

It stemmed from the treatment of junior receiver Adam James in December practices leading up to the 2009 Alamo Bowl. James, whom a doctor said had a concussion, is the son of former ESPN broadcaster Craig James.

Leach denied any mistreatment of James, who had reportedly upset some coaches with a cavalier attitude. James spent several hours alone in an equipment shed as well as a darkened utility room during practices.

"We begged him (Leach) for 12 days to work with us to solve the problem, and he did not," Hance said. "The result was the athletic director (Gerald Myers) made a recommendation to the president (Guy Bailey) that he be terminated. They brought it to me. And I approved it."

Leach's fate was likely sealed Dec. 28 when he was suspended from coaching the Alamo Bowl and Leach sought an injunction against the suspension. He was fired the next day. Tech, in a statement, called his refusal to apologize to James "a defiant act of insubordination."

Leach, who will begin his third year as head coach at Washington State in the fall, would eventually file a lawsuit against Tech three times.

"And he's lost all those lawsuits," said Hance, who will leave office in June. "He's now got a job - he went two years without a job, and I'm all for him having that job at Washington State. That way, he's not sitting around messing with us the whole time. But I wish him the best and hope he learned from what happened at Texas Tech."

Leach elevated Tech's profile with a revolutionary passing attack that put up points and yards in record numbers. His teams won four bowls, and his 2008 team was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country. Leach's staff spawned head coaches Art Briles at Baylor, Dana Holgersen at West Virginia, Sonny Dykes at California and Ruffin McNeil at East Carolina. His first quarterback, Kliff Kingsbury, is Tech's current coach.

But Hance noted his teams never played in a BCS bowl and won only 20 percent of 20 games with Oklahoma and Texas.

"But that's not it," he said. "Mike would still be here today, but he punished a player that was suffering from a brain concussion - and you can't do that."

Hance's first years as chancellor overlapped the last two years of head basketball coach Bob Knight, whose career was marked by three national titles at Indiana, but also a long history of controversy.

Hance said he never had any issues with Knight, who, unlike Leach, would often perform public relations duties beyond coaching.

"I never asked him to do anything that he didn't do," Hance said. "If you asked him to go see an alum to help you raise money, he would do it. If you asked him to go to the hospital and see sick children, he was the first. But he didn't want anybody to know about it."