Many fans want the head coach, Mack Brown, to step down at the end of the season. The 2011 turnaround was ushered in with a host of new coaches and a rejuvenated Mack Brown. This 2012 season is under scrutiny because of the horrible loss against OU, the lack of defensive presence and the perceived lack of fight with this team. Mack will eventually leave, but he plans to stay as long as he can while posting winning campaigns. (what is a winning campaign?) Mack Brown says that he has the support of the administration, the athletic department and most of all the big money boosters. Problem is that the people that need to work on this situation may not be on the 40 acres right now. Mack Brown will be the head coach at least until after 2014 season. Let me count the ways:
DeLoss Dodds – Will not end the Mack Brown era because he wants to end his legacy with hiring the second greatest coach in the program history. DeLoss has a $1 million buyout that goes into effect after August 2014. The next AD, which will not be Mack Brown, will have to make the call on the next coach.
Big Money Booster – Will not fire Mack Brown because of all the relationship building and the good will that he has established. They want Mack to retire when he is ready. The word around the program is that the 2013 season is supposed to be the year for a BCS trip for the Horns. A total collapse (another 5-7 season) is the only scenario for them to act.
President Powers & the Regents – Read the latest edition of Texas Monthly and you will see that these two entities have plenty to deal with that has nothing to do with football.
Longhorn Network – This entity does not have control over the coaching decision, but they can certainly influence it. The network would not be here unless Mack Brown was present. Even though, the coach is quick to criticize the amount of time he spends with LHN.
Mack Brown – He is too much of a competitor to leave the ship. He wants to fix this more than anyone, but unfortunately his desire to go out on top may further erode the program. The spirit is willing for Mack but the flesh is weak which means he does not have the energy to reach the high standards that he has set to turn this program around.
Side Note: If Gene Chizik is fired from Auburn, get ready for him to join the defensive staff to try and correct the ills that many people blame Manny Diaz.
I agree with every one that says if you are going to point out the problem you better have a solution. Everyone has names that they want to throw out. I have to give credit to my friend Country Ham that came up with this coach as we were brain storming for a possible candidate for next year or more likely in 2014 if the luster has not left this coach. My suggestion is Dan Mullen who is the head coach for Mississippi State Bulldogs. He has a .622 winning percentage in the SEC over the past four years. He currently has an undefeated team which he will eventually secure his third winning season at MSU. The 40 year old coach will bring the edge, youth and program selling approach like Mack. He has a no nonsense approach with the media, and I think he would gravitate to the big stage which includes LHN. Mack has set the tone by recruiting coaches from the SEC, and Dan Mullen fits right into that direction. Dan does have credibility with 2 National Championship rings and comes from the Urban Meyer coaching tree if that does anything for you.
Mack will eventually leave because he will not want to pass Darrell Royal’s all time record for wins which is at 167. (Mack has 142 wins to date). The biggest issue is where is the program headed more than what is Mack Brown want to do.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on Twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas game against the Baylor Bears.
QB David Ash had a solid performance for the Longhorns against Baylor.
1st Quarter (14:43) WTH Lighting?! Mack Brown needed a quick start to avoid most of the 101,353 fans turning on him and the team. Well, Daje Johnson took care of that with an electrifying 84 yard touchdown run on the FIRST play of the game.
1st Quarter (2:42) WTH Williams?! The Big XII leading receiver took the defense to task especially on a simple stop and go for an 80 yard touchdown to give the Bears their first lead of the game. Manny Diaz does this count as an explosive play?
1st Quarter (0:00) WTH Students?! Well, if you ever wondered where the student section is at DKR, you found out before the 2nd quarter. All the students broke out black Livestrong shirts to support the 15th anniversary of the organization. It’s interesting the salute with all that is swirling around Lance.
2nd Quarter (6:18) WTH 50 Shades?! Could not pass up the chance to report on the first touchdown of the season for one Johnathan Gray. He put a move on safety Sam Hall that left the defenders clothes on the ground. At this point in the game, BU Coach Phil Bennett and Manny Diaz were getting ready to work on their resume at halftime.
3rd Quarter (12:55) WTH Okafor?! Alex Okafor called out the defense to play tougher after last week’s game. He needed to be called out for a crucial offside on fourth down that would have ended the Baylor touchdown drive.
3rd Quarter (6:31) WTH Black Swan?! The highlight of the night on the Godzillatron and the television broadcast was a shot of Natalie Portman. Wonder why she was there… who cares!
3rd Quarter (5:56) WTH Sooners?! OU fans in the stands wearing a Beat Texas shirt. Looks like these two guys forgot that the Red River Rivalry was last week in Dallas. Longhorn fans are still trying to forget.
3rd Quarter (2:17) WTH Mad Hatter?! Art Briles threw his ball cap so high in the air in disgust over the late Texas timeout on fourth down that WR Tevin Reese had plenty of time to make the fair catch signal when he caught his hat.
4th Quarter (2:34) WTH Mulligan?! The head referee announced to the crowd that Texas would get a “Do Over” to match up with the substitutions that Baylor was implementing. Mack Brown hopes next time a “King’s X” will be called when he needs to surrender.
Next up for the Longhorns is a trip to Kansas to play the Jayhawks on October 27th.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at @40AcresSports or follow me at @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
Texas head coach Mack Brown didn't have any answers for the Sooners. (AP Photo/Michael Mulvey)
You will not see the normal WTH article this week from the Red River Rivalry because there was nothing good to report. After being annihilated for the second straight year from your biggest rival, it’s a reminder of where the program stands.
The players and coaches talk about needing to get to work. Mack Brown said that I know what is wrong and I am the man to fix it. Unfortunately, we have been down this road before and the culture is not in place for this to be fixed. Sure the Horns can rally from this huge let down and win a couple of more games but the underlying problem is still there.
The problem is the culture that has been established on the 40 acres. Fans enjoy hearing how recruit after recruit say that they love the family atmosphere that Mack Brown delivers. Many coaches say that you have to de-recruit the player when you get the kid on campus. The UT staff may want to rethink how they de-recruit a player. A high school kid feels like he has already made it when he sees the facilities, the opportunities playing in front of so many people, and the fact that they are on television all the time not to mention that the LHN is there to record their every move. It is very hard for a head coach to legislate the discipline when times are tough while the team sees the head coach as more of a father figure. The last time Coach Brown, who is 61 years old, unloaded on his team and the staff, he had his first losing season and lost most of his coaches.
When Texas has won conference titles, the leadership has come from the players (McCoy & Young) themselves. Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama take their direction from their head coach. You will get a Tebow and a Bradford that will step up and take a lead role, but you know that Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops have their finger prints on their teams. Players and coaches take the identity of their head coach. Right now the identity Mack Brown exudes is an exhausted, questioning and apologetic leader.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at @40AcresSports or follow me at @Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
What little respect I had for Bob Stoops goes right out the window at about the 0:45 mark of this University of Oklahoma rap video:
I particularly liked the fingerless gloves and letterman’s jacket with the sleeves cut off. Classy. There’s also an extra rare non-awful YouTube comment that I needed to share: “Just in case anyone was wondering just? how white OU is.” Haha. It’s also funny how scared and embarrassed the girl that they’re trying to convince to go to OU looks the entire video.
I’m so glad Texas hasn’t yet had one of these videos pop up anywhere.
WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Wildcats.
Pre-Game Respect. A great decision by the UT brass to have a moment of silence before the game for the Oklahoma State’s tragedy of losing two of their women’s basketball coaches in a plane crash. Nice touch with the OSU logo on the Godzillatron.
1st Quarter (11:03) WTH Ash?! David Ash needs to realize that you do not need to jump when you throw the football. He has a tremendous upside but the decision making is suspect. Wildcats put the first points of the game after the turnonver.
2nd Quarter (3:02) WTH Blue Chip?! Way to take the momentum right out of the stadium. Coach Brown decides to go for it on fourth down at their own 41 yard line. Tray Allen false starts which kills the drive and ends up leading to a punt and the turning point of the game.
2nd Quarter (2:51) WTH Refs?! I am getting sick of these judgment calls! The KSU punt returner, Tramaine Thompson, fumbles the ball and the Horns recover in great field position. The ref felt that the returner was scared of the oncoming pressure and decided to throw the flag. Best Mack Brown meltdown ever.
2nd Quarter (:57) WTH Mack?! KSU was trying to get into position for a score before the half. Wildcat Sheldon Smith did his best tight rope act along the sidelines with a 24 yard catch which the refs really enjoyed by deciding to make the judgment call that it was a catch. Mack you have got to challenge that call. You do not need the timeouts so why not get the booth to review it.
3rd Quarter (3:43) WTH McCoy?! I guess the golden horseshoe is back in place. Case McCoy steps in an orchestrated a 6 play – 79 yard touchdown drive. Great designed play by Coach Harsin for McCoy to hit senior Blaine Irby for his first touchdown of the year.
End of Game (:00) WTH UT Defense?! What an incredible display of domination by this unit. It was sad to see the effort was wasted with a loss. The Horns held the Wildcats to 121 yards of total offense. Collin Klein, aka Honey Badger (please), had 4 net yards of rushing on 26 carries. The other telling stat is that the Wildcats had 9 series which they had 3 plays and punt.
Next up for the Longhorns are the Aggies for the final time? at 7PM on Turkey Day.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Sooners.
Pre-Game (15:00) WTH Defer?! Is it me or do we lack that killer instinct? What a great opportunity to take a young team and attack on offensive first after winning the coin toss. Horns chose to defer to the second half. I will defer to the 96,000 plus in attendance, but I believe no one liked the choice of shirt by Mack Brown with the Longhorn on the pocket.
1st Quarter (9:30) WTH McCoy?! This would be the first of many turnovers for the Longhorns. A sack and subsequent fumble by Case McCoy was later turned into an OU field goal. I guess Case forgot his horseshoe. Great job by the defense to bend but not break in the first quarter, but that was about the change quickly.
2nd Quarter (15:00) WTH Diaz?! Understand that you were trying to play coverage most of the day, but there were no blitzes of memory that were up the middle to disrupt the timing of Landry Jones. An easy lob over the UT defense to Kenny (crazy hair) Stills was a sign of bad things to come to start the second quarter.
2nd Quarter (2:50) WTH Ash?! The Horns are a young team… young team… young team (trying to justify the mistakes). I just wish they had not made a whole season’s worth in one game. David Ash was trying to make something happen by throwing across his body to the waiting arms of OU Demontre Hurst who rambled 55 yards for the first of three defensive touchdowns to establish the Red River Rout.
2nd Quarter (2:38) WTH Cap’n America?! One of the few bright spots was Fozzy Whittaker (aka Captain America) 100 yard kickoff return to bring the north side of the stadium to its feet. Thanks Fozzy for the highlight.
2nd Quarter (:31) WTH Dagger?! After the kickoff return by Fozzy, the OU offense dialed up a quick 8 play drive to the end zone to retake the mojo for a 34-10 lead into halftime.
This year's OU game quickly slipped away from Mike Davis and Texas.
3rd Quarter (8:12) WTH One Play?! I have heard of offensive efficiency but this is ridiculous. OU Dominic Whaley takes the hand off at its own 36 and is never touched for a 64 yard touchdown. I guess every play is drawn up to score… this one did.
4th Quarter (12:29) WTH Davis?! I am sorry kid but I am going to have to bust you on this one. The OU defensive back rips the ball away from Mike Davis and takes it 56 yards to the house. I thought our problem was not catching the ball, now we have to hope you hold on to it?!
Next up for the Longhorns are the Cowboys as they host to Oklahoma State for the game on Oct. 15th.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
Who knew Mack Brown was such a Dancing with the Stars fan?
I want a TV hidden behind a painting in my office.
Video from Mack Brown’s Monday press conference:
Update: For some reason the embed is only coming across as 3 minutes long. Watch the whole thing here.
I wanted to use a phrase for this football season similar to what Mack Brown uses for his team. This
year’s moniker is “Brick by Brick”. Mack wants to rebuild this program back to where it belongs. I
would like to refer to this upcoming season as PAIN. Not the type of Pain referenced by Clubber Lang to Rocky. (Check out the 2011 Longhorn Football Preview – Rocky Version.)
This season will be more like “Growing Pains” for the Longhorns this year. Did you know that during
this great television show (tongue in cheek) from 1985 through 1992 that the Longhorns had four losing
seasons? After painstakingly finding that crazy stat, I realized that it will be difficult to get back to
the greatness that the Horns had just experienced. Again, I know that the Horns have more talent than
probably most schools in the country, but the ability to beat teams on talent alone went out the window
with last year’s 5-7 season. It was painfully obvious that changes needed to be made.
A new coaching staff, plus a new strength and conditioning coach and a new sense of involvement from
the CEO was taking place. The future looks bright with the young coaching staff and the talent that
should be developed and utilized. Wonder when the first fan will say I am glad we got rid of that pain in
the ass Greg Davis? But it pains me to say that all this hope and new attitude does not always equal more
wins.
Remember that every team that was once the South Division had a better record and you can probably say
that every one of those teams has improved. OU, OSU, A&M, and Baylor all have returning quarterbacks
and their leading receiver. The quarterback position at UT is still a question mark and the offense has to
learn a whole new way of operating. The defensive staff has a new set of cornerbacks and hopes that a
defensive tackle will step up. There are so many more question marks than answers that UT fans need to
up their pain medication for this year.
You need to ask yourself will this team be above or below the 7 1/2 win mark at the end of the regular
season. Give me the under at 7 wins with the hope that we will be inflicting more pain than receiving
towards the end of the season. I know that this prediction was painful to read.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991. HOOK EM!!
This post is supported by Sonic. Log on to flavortouchdown.com to enter for a chance to win the Sonic Flavor Touchdown Sweepstakes.
WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Wildcats.
Start of the Game (15:00) WTH Little Apple?! A whopping 46,734 fans is the most intimidating place in the conference for UT? Seeing the Horns walk down the curved ramp, did they have to go through a turnstile to get onto the field. It’s still hard to believe a team from Manhattan Kansas has such a stranglehold on this team.
1st Quarter (14:07) WTH Defense?! The entire defense needs to be called out giving up such a quick score. It is also disturbing when a backup QB Collin Klein racks up a team high 151 yards of rushing and only 9 yards of passing. You know the run is coming and you cannot stop it?!
1st Quarter (9:28) WTH Mack 1?! I need to call out the gambler who has been quite successful on calling 4th down plays. The Wildcats have one of the worst rushing defenses in the country so the decision is to run a trick play which calls for a 5 yard snap back to the kicker in order to just gain one yard on 4th down.
1st Quarter (5:08) WTH Glee Club?! UT should employ K-State drum major CJ Longabaugh for his motivational speeches. Coming back from commercial, ESPN showed his final home game senior speech to his band members by ending it with “…Let’s finish Right 1, 2, 3!”
1st Quarter (4:04) WTH Kirkendoll?! James Kirkendoll had a good night with 6 catches for 72 yards. But the receiver had a once in a life time blunder when he was called for pass interference while he was run blocking his defender. When it rains it pours…
2nd Quarter (6:52) WTH Mack 2?! Are you trying to tell me that you designed exotics (trick plays) for punter Justin Tucker, but did not have one single play call designed for DJ Monroe. It’s amazing that you try gaining 10 yards by starting off with a reverse which gives way to an option to only get 7 yards. To add insult to injury, the team had a holding penalty that would have wiped out anything remotely positive on that play.
2nd Quarter (3:14) WTH Trey?! I know that you are just a freshman, but Trey Hopkins will have to serve as the poster boy for the failures of the offense line. The biggest pass play of the night (a TD) to James Kirkendoll was wiped out by your holding penalty. ESPN cameras throughout the night captured the UT fans in all of their anguish and disgust.
2nd Quarter (:20) WTH Grape?! One of the many hardships that follow Gilbert Grape (I mean Garrett) is the desire to force a throw. With the Horns on the doorstep of ending its sour first half, Gilbert launches an ill advised pass to the K-State defender Ty Zimmerman in the end zone. Grape will end up dishing out 5 INT’s without a hint of sitting him down to let him clear his head. I hope the coaches were right for leaving him in there for his sake.
3rd Quarter (1:19) WTH Goodwin?! I know that are special teams are not even close to being special. But Marquise Goodwin did not even look like he knew what he was doing when he plowed into the punter to extend K-States drive for their final touchdown of the night. Who is our special team coach!? Mike Tolleson? The same coach that takes care of the defensive tackles needs to work on both job titles this week.
Next up for the Longhorn’s are the Cowboys of Oklahoma State in Austin on November 13th.
Thanks for following my WTH articles throughout the season. I appreciate the opportunity to rant about the greatest University sports program in the country. You can continue to follow comments on all of UT sports on twitter at 40AcresSports or follow me at Horns1991.
Log on to flavortouchdown.com to enter for a chance to win the Sonic Flavor Touchdown Sweepstakes. You could win a prize package and a VIP football trip for 6 to the bowl game of your choice. Hopefully the Longhorns win at least two more games this season and make it to one of them. HOOK EM!!
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