Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's almost a relief for Texas Tech coach Mike Leach to think about getting back to football practice after a family vacation with his wife to England, Scotland and France earlier this summer.
"I took my family and it was like the movie 'European Vacation,'" Leach said. "It was the wife, the kids, the frequent-flier miles ... the whole thing. It's one of those things that 10 years from now they'll say what great fun they had, but right now they were [complaining] about all of the walking, the tough stuff and the food. It was a great time, and we covered a lot of ground in a sensory-overload kind of a deal."
One of the reasons why the trip dragged at times for Leach's family is because he read several books on English King Henry VIII and Mary Queen of Scots.
"I annoyed my entire family by going through Hampton Court and the Tower of London by reading everything," Leach said. "I read everything and they were very irritated wanting to go get something to eat. The worst thing about it was kind of dark reading it because they wanted to preserve the lettering [on the plaques]."
As part of the team's recent success, Leach saw a few Tech hats while traveling across the continent and was recognized a couple of times during his travels out of the country.
"I met a medical school student at Henry the Eighth's Armory who had gone to Tech's medical school," Leach said. "So it was kind of neat to see that."
Tim Griffin joined ESPN.com in February 2008. He has covered the Big 12 since its inception, among a variety of beats during a 24-year career at the San Antonio Express-News. Griffin, a Memphis State University graduate, lives in San Antonio with his wife and son.
