40 Acres Sports

The first official college football poll of the 2009 season is out and the Longhorns are sitting at a great position debuting at number 2. They sit between the reigning champs #1 Florida Gators and the hated #3 Oklahoma Sooners in the top 5. This preseason spot puts a lot of expectations on the team but also leaves it where an undefeated season (even with a weak non-conference schedule) will guarantee the Horns a shot at the national championship.

Coaches’ preseason poll top 5

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Alabama

View the full top 25 preseason rankings.

The Sporting News’ 50 greatest coaches of all-time released recently caused a lot of conversation on sports talk radio. They polled 118 ex-players, coaches, and other experts and pegged [tag]UCLA[/tag] great John Wooden as the all-time greatest coach.

Overall it’s a great list, but there’s definitely some names left off and some order problems (Don Shula number 5?) that have people talking. Austin American-Statesman writer Kirk Bohls thinks Texas legend Darrell Royal deserved to be on the list:

But Darrell K. Royal absolutely must be included.

Without question, he has become the most overlooked great coach in the history of the game. He won three national championships, and I don’t want to hear cracks about his UPI title before the Cotton Bowl loss to Notre Dame in January 1971 because he won it under the rules of the day. Think split national titles, LSU and USC.

“No question, Darrell should be on the list,” said former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, one of Sporting News’ 118 voters. “It takes away from the credibility of the list. If Darrell Royal is not on there, it’d be a suspect list, and I’m on the panel.”

What do you think? Is Royal one of the greatest coaches of all time?

ESPN breaks down the schedules of the top Big 12 teams and calls the October matchup between the Sooners and Longhorns possibly the biggest game in college football history. Watch below:

Check out a great, personal video interview with Texas basketball signee [tag]Jordan Hamilton[/tag] as he packs his bags on his last day in Los Angeles before heading to Austin for summer school:

Thanks to mgrads for the link.

College Football News has released their annual list of the players they think will contribute this season as redshirt freshmen. No Longhorns make the top of their list but offensive lineman [tag]Mark Buchanan[/tag] and defensive lineman [tag]Dravannti Johnson[/tag] both garnered an honorable mention nod. Texas fans are hoping that another redshirt freshman, tight end [tag]DJ Grant[/tag] has a breakout season and fills one of the Horns’ biggest offensive holes.

Check out CFN’s All-Americans…

• CFN Redshirt All-America Offense
• CFN Redshirt All-America Defense

Longhorn multisport athlete [tag]Destinee Hooker[/tag] has been honored as the female representative for the 2008-09 Big 12 Athletes of the Year. From the official Big 12 press release:

Hooker excelled in volleyball as well as indoor and outdoor track and field during her junior season as a Longhorn, leading all three programs to top five NCAA Championship finishes. She was a Honda Award finalist for volleyball, named to the AVCA All-America First Team and the All-Big 12 First Team. The outside hitter helped lead UT to the NCAA Championship semifinals where she was named to the All-Tournament Team after earning all-tournament honors the previous week at the NCAA Austin Regional.

Hooker was the 2009 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor high jump champion, the first athlete since 2004 to capture both titles in the same year. She also won both events at the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Championships in addition to the NCAA Midwest Regional. The San Antonio, Texas, native was an indoor and outdoor All-America as well as USTFCCCA Division I Indoor Female Field Athlete of the Year.

Congrats Destinee!

ESPN’s college football analysts talk about [tag]Florida[/tag], Texas, [tag]Oklahoma[/tag], and USC competing for the 2009 BCS title:

Brian Orakpo has agreed to a deal with the Washington Redskins. Terms of the deal to come later.

Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] has done what many other college athletes with lucrative pro careers ahead of them and taken out a large insurance policy in case of career ending injury. From ESPN:

Brad McCoy, Colt’s father, said Sunday that Colt has a policy that would pay between $3 million and $5 million in the event of a career-ending injury. “The premium is astronomical,” said Brad McCoy. “But the payback in the event of a catastrophe puts the monetary value there. We felt it was the prudent thing to do.”

This type of policy typically covers an athlete if he suffers an injury, on or off the field, that prevents him from playing professional sports. They do not cover injuries that merely cause a player to go lower than originally predicted. If you’re interested in learning more about these policies check out this excellent New York Times article from 2007.

Mack Brown discusses football philosophy (with a bit of Nike SPARQ product placement thrown in):

(via)