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 Cowboys.
Pre-Game (15:00) WTH WHY-O?! Not exactly a uniform statement like Oregon. The Cowboys had the letters WYO on the front of the jerseys. Way to step out on the cool side. While on the subject of uniforms I hate the Longhorns practice jerseys. Never replace the Storm Trooper White uniforms when we go on the road.
1st Quarter (4:02) WTH LHN?! The LHN camera crew had a rough night. The Godzillatron went pink, then fuzzy, then out for a few minutes. The camera crew kept missing highlights of the plays for the video board. The LHN group must have been partying the night before after AT&T U-Verse decided to pony up for the network.
2nd Quarter (15:00) WTH Putters?! It was great to recognize the UT Golf Team for their accomplishment of winning a National Title. Glad we can beat Alabama at something.
2nd Quarter (9:40) WTH Vaccaro?! Kenny Vaccaro was all over the place, and he picked off his first of many footballs this season when he jumped the route to get the momentum back for the Horns.
2nd Quarter (4:48) WTH Statue?! The play that keeps OU fans up at night. Nice execution by David Ash to Malcolm Brown. It was great to see Joe Bergeron and Malcolm Brown each post 100 yard games.
2nd Quarter (3:44) WTH Tightrope?! It was nice to see the Wild Formation which Bergeron gave the ball to a streaking DJ Monroe for a touchdown. Are we going to call it the Wild Joe?
4th Quarter (14:50) WTH Ash?! The only turnover of the game put a little scare into most of the 101,142 fans in attendance. David Ash did have a solid game 20-27 for 156. If only one of his long distance connections to Mike Davis would have made the state line look a lot better
4th Quarter (4:28) WTH Jordan?! We are going to have a lot of sleepless nights if the field goal kicking does not get better. Nick Rose can definitely handle the kickoff duties, but so far Nick Jordan leaves something to be desired when trying to split the up rights. Misses of 46 and 44 plus a botched extra point is not the legacy of kicking on the 40 acres.
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!!
It was rumored on Orangebloods and Hookem.com earlier this week but early this morning the Longhorn Network went live for AT&T U-verse customers across the country. Longhorn fans everywhere are dancing in the streets over the news that they’ll get the chance to watch the season kickoff tomorrow against Wyoming live on LHN.
There wasn’t an official press release until late this morning, but LHN started showing up as channel 1609 (standard def 609) sometime overnight and by the 8am Twitter was blowing up with fans and former Horns fired up about getting access to the network.
Adding U-verse probably triples the number of people in the state of Texas that now have access to the network and gives them a second large national carrier (along with Verizon FiOS.) This is great news for Texas fans and could help nudge Time Warner, Comcast, DirecTV, et. al. into adding the network as well.
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 Aggies.
Pre-Game WTH 118 years?! I agree that egos have caused this rivalry to end. The Aggies says “It’s time for Texas A&M”… to slug it out with the SEC. The Horns have their path to blaze (LHN). Divorce is tough. Let’s reunite for the kids’ sake.
1st Quarter (7:26) WTH Tucker?! The 31 yard punt by Justin Tucker was making every Longhorn fan pull out their hair. The only good outcome was that most of his punts were never returned. He definitely made up for his punting woes at the end.
2nd Quarter (12:13) WTH Refs 1?! Keenan Robinson was called for roughing the passer when the QB Ryan Tannehill landed on him? Keenan must have pissed off the entire officiating crew because he also got called for a horse collar penalty in the third quarter when he clearly just had the jersey.
2nd Quarter (9:31) WTH Shipley?! This is not for the pass play to Irby for the first score. Before that play and the muffed punt that caused all the electricity for the Horns, Jaxon Shipley I think had the play of the game. On third down his bad knee gave way and he barely got a hand on the ball to knock it down. An Aggie defender was there ready to make the interception and take it to the house. Close call!
2nd Quarter (1:47) WTH Harsin?! Coach Harsin I am going to blame you for this interception thrown by Miles Onyegbule. Your innovative play calling gets this Horn team so fired up that they will throw into triple coverage to please you.
Short gameday feature on Case McCoy and Jaxon Shipley from the Longhorn Network.
Who knew Mack Brown was such a Dancing with the Stars fan?
I want a TV hidden behind a painting in my office.
The University of Texas has a contract with ESPN for the Longhorn Network that pays it at least $300 million over the next 20 years.
A contract.
For those who don’t know what that word means Wikipedia defines a contract as, “a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties with mutual obligations.” You can’t just decide you don’t want to be in a contract anymore because you feel like it. There are penalties and repercussions.
What no one (both journalists and message board experts) seems to mention when they suggest Texas should head to the new Pac 16 and dump LHN is that it may be worse than sacrificing millions in possible revenue. Texas might owe ESPN some huge sum of money for breaching the contract if they want to kill it.
Not only do UT, DeLoss Dodds, Bill Powers, and the BOR need to decide to modify Longhorn Network but ESPN would as well. What’s in it for them to do so when one of the reasons Texas got such a good deal on LHN was ESPN didn’t want super conferences??
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 Rice Owls.
Pregame (15:00) WTH LHN?! C’mon ESPN I know you want the biggest bang for your buck, but you are pissing off Longhorn Nation without letting the fans see the game at least on pay per view. The 101,624 in attendance saw the Longhorn Network studio set up in the Southeast section of the stadium. Coincidence that it chose that location?
1st Quarter (1:18) WTH QB Controversy?! I guess you can eliminate the controversy when you have 6 players line up to take the snap. Fozzy Whitaker had the most success in the wildcat formation when he wowed the crowd with his exploits (88 all-purpose yds. & 2 TD’s). QB David Ash will not redshirt this year because he has a package… giggle.
2nd Quarter (13:03) WTH Crime Dog?! Rice RB Sam McGuffie took a wicked shot from S Kenny Vaccaro and managed to gather himself to complete a 15 yard pass which was the longest pass play for the Owls. It was a great job by the UT defense all night in keeping Rice out of the end zone.
2nd Quarter (:35) WTH Special Package?! Guess no one was missing Coach Davis after all the different packages of players that came running on and off the field during the game. I was tired just watching the players run back and forth. Get used to the illegal motion penalties with all the different packages of players getting familiar with the new system installed by Coach Harsin.
Halftime WTH MOB?! Great job by the funniest band in the land. The Rice band made fun of the Aggies leaving for the SEC. The line of the night was when the Rice announcer said that the Big 12 and the SEC were both raising their IQ points by that Aggies move.
3rd Quarter (12:15) WTH Grape?! Garret Gilbert had a solid night for the Horns (13-23 for 239 1 TD – no turnovers). The dumbfounding play was when he was being chased out of the pocket and he flipped the ball backwards that thankfully Fozzy landed on the fumble.
3rd Quarter (5:32) WTH Out of Bounds?! I have heard the saying that a player has a nose for the end zone. Never heard of a player that is attracted to the out of bounds line. An earlier run in the first half by Jaxon Shipley was negated by him touching the end line. Thankfully his aerobatic catch for the touchdown in the third quarter was not wiped out by an apparent end line violation. Dare I say that Jaxon looks faster than Jordan?
4th Quarter (1:00) WTH Rugby?! Justin Tucker is such a great field goal kicker that I wonder about the decision to use him as a rugby style punter. Justin’s final punt only traveled six yards to set up the Owls at mid field. Great job by the UT defense and non-scholarship player Cody Ramirez to recover a fumble to end the drive.
End of the Game WTH UT Band?! It’s a great moment when the tower is lit orange and the band plays the Eyes of Texas after a win. A new wrinkle was added before the traditional ending to a game. The entire football team was serenaded by the Band’s rendition of DJ Khaled “All I Do is Win.” No one can deny that this is a brand new season.
Next up for the Longhorn’s are the Mormons from BYU at 6pm on Sept. 10th.
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!!
Not everyone (maybe hardly anyone?) will be able to watch the Longhorns’ debut today against Rice but we will be watchig live thanks to Verizon and their deal with Longhorn Network. We’ll be posting frequent updates here to help you keep up with the game that you can’t see.
Follow along live with @40AcresSports on Twitter and below for our coverage of tonight’s season opener versus Rice on Longhorn Network. We’ll be live right around kickoff so join us to discuss the game at at around 7pm Saturday.
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You think you are excited for the new Longhorn Network, Bevo can barely contain his excitement in this new commercial for the network:
Welcome everyone to our live coverage.