I'm not going to go through all of the posts above to confirm or dispute the many things said. But I can tell you what are facts (I have first-hand knowledge of exactly how it went down with Hance and Leach):
Leach was the only one on the coaching staff who wanted to offer Adam James. NONE of the other coaches wanted him. I wish he had listened to them.
Leach was job shopping the last two years. This is fact. This did not endear him to the administration or to the big cigar supporters, especially after he was given a very, very hefty contract.
Adam James was a spoiled rotten brat and none of this would have escalated up to the Chancellor's Office if his dad hadn't gone on ESPN national TV to whine about how his son was treated.
Hance wanted to get Tech off the headlines, and wanted to appease Craig James so that James would quit talking bad about Tech. He offered a letter for Leach to sign that was NOTHING. A true nothing burger. It literally restated what was already in his contract...that the safety and well-being of the student-athletes will be honored. That's it. That's all it said. Leach refused to sign it. Hance, however, should not have cowtowed to the James' family like he did. He just hated Tech getting bad press, so his solution blew up in his face.
Leach literally, and by literally, I mean he said these exact words to Hance after refusing to sign the letter: "You and the Board of Regents can go fuck yourselves." I don't care who you are, you don't do that.
In response, Hance suspended Leach for the Alamo Bowl.
Leach turned around and sued. And it was his filing of the lawsuit that triggered his firing. If he had just taken his suspension, he would not have been fired. If he had just signed the damn letter, he wouldn't have been suspended. If he had listened to his coaching staff, Adam James would never had been on campus, and this whole episode would have never happened. All of this has one thing in common: Leach's stubbornness was his ultimate undoing.
Leach WAS offered his pay and bonus. This little fact keeps getting dismissed. He was offered "everything owed to him" and refused because he wanted his day in court to air his grievances. Bad move on his part (and his attorney should be disbarred for professional malpractice). Again, Leach's stubbornness to refuse the settlement and go to court is what kept him from his payday. Once he said "see you in court", the offer was off the table.
Here is my opinion and not fact: I think Leach wanted out, and this was a convenient way to make it Tech's fault. He just didn't count on losing in court. But you could tell the last two years he was more interested in testing the job market than preparing for OU or the bowl games or recruiting. It was obvious to anyone paying attention.
The greater sin committed by Tech after this fiasco was hiring Tommy Tuberville and then Kliff and then the lump on a log Matt Wells. What they should have done was what they did when they hired Leach...hire a professional search firm that can find good fits for Tech, the level of talent Tech is able to get, and that fits where the program was in 2009. Tech screwed up on the post-Leach hires so bad someone should do a case study on it.