Posted January 31st, 2013 by J
Filed under: Feature, Football

Major ApplewhiteThe Texas offense will be better in the next season due to the departure of offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin and his manic, almost bi-polar play selection. Major Applewhite remains Co-Offensive Coordinator, but will now share the role with wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt. What will make 2013 better than 2012 is that Major Applewhite will be doing what he should have been doing for the last two seasons: calling plays and coaching quarterbacks.

The Alamo Bowl is a small sampling to draw conclusions from, however, it showed that Applewhite has the ability to maximize the talent on offense. He crafted roles for guys based on their unique skill sets. Absent from the Alamo Bowl was Harsin’s dogged insistence on forcing round pegs into square holes. Applewhite didn’t try to outsmart anyone; no mass substitutions, no multiple shifting at the line of scrimmage, no trickery. The game plan wasn’t perfect, but it showed one key element that seemed absent for much of the past two seasons: the ability to adjust when the original plan wasn’t working.

Simply put, Harsin wasn’t a good fit at Texas. The players didn’t respond to him. They didn’t relate to him. Harsin wasn’t a Texas guy. Major Applewhite is Texas. Every recruit in the Southwest knows the name. Their mothers and fathers remember the Big XII Championship game and the Holiday Bowl. Applewhite has the infamous “It” factor that Harsin lacked.

Please don’t get me wrong… I don’t think the 2013 season will be all sunshine and rainbows, but we will see a more cohesive team. We will see more discipline. We will see more accountability. We will see more heart. The old saying, “Attitude reflects leadership” certainly applies here. I don’t see this next iteration of Longhorn football cowering to Oklahoma or self-destructing against West Virginia.

I heard Trent Dilfer last week discussing the Harbaugh brothers and he said, “they get the most from the least and the best from the best.” This immediately made me think of Applewhite’s Alamo Bowl press conference quote when asked about the differences between his offense and Harsin’s. He replied, “…I’ve always felt like even as a player this game is about players, put [the ball] in the best guys’ hands and let them make plays. I think sometimes we over think it a little bit as coaches, so I’m excited to watch these guys go play.”

I’m excited to watch these guys go play as well.

Watch this video below and it will give you a taste of what the players think of Applewhite:

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4 Comments

  1. reply to  #1

    Ben

    Harsin wasn’t the problem. He wasn’t bipolar. Watch how well he does at Arkansas State. The problem is Mack Brown. No one knows the Boise offense better than Harsin, but he had Mack ordering him to call games a certain way throughout the season to protect the defense. Want proof? See the Ole Miss game. Insiders said that was all Harsin.

  2. reply to  #2

    Brian

    @Ben: Do you think Mack went to Harsin and told him to stop calling jet sweeps? Or that Mack told Harsin to get the ball to Goodwin, Monroe, and Daje Johnson less?

    And I was harping on his playcalling all year where we’d run it down a team’s throat for 50 yards on a drive only to call a slow developing play that would put us at 2nd and 14. Was that somehow Mack’s fault too?

  3. reply to  #3

    Jeremy

    Harsin’s problem (and to a large extent Diaz’s as well) was that he tried to outSMART everyone instead of out manning them. When you have superior speed-use it. When you have superior size-use it.

    Play to your strengths.

  4. reply to  #4

    Brian

    @Jeremy: Well said. It always felt like Harsin thought he was the smartest guy on the field (which he probably was at Boise State). I said similar things on Twitter all year long. From the KU game for example:

    Atrocious play calling. Harsin outsmarts himself and looks stupid doing it.

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