Texas: The Best Job In The Country?
Posted on: December 15, 2013
Apparently “We are the Joneses” isn’t good enough. Everyone in burnt orange is going to be incessantly reminding you that following the resignation of Mack Brown on Saturday night, they’re looking to fill “the best job in the country.”
I suspect, even if you’re not an OU fan, you don’t require actual evidence of Texas’ arrogance. But in the interest of full disclosure, I give you this insanely arrogant tweet from Orangeblood’s Geoff Ketchum:
Yeah, um, hyperbole much?
The greatest college coaching search of all-time?
It’s a ridiculous statement in and of itself, but it’s important to the point of this post because that’s the attitude so many in burnt orange are taking with respect to this hire.
The presumption of Texas being “the best job in the country” is only true if you’re willing to make the claim that whoever is eventually chosen for the job is inheriting it under ideal circumstances.
And even the most ardent UT homer can’t possibly be willing to make that claim.
The program is shrouded in turmoil with the ugly and unceremonious ouster of Mack Brown and, perhaps even more importantly, a somewhat unstable administration at odds with a number of prominent boosters following said ouster of their proverbial golden goose.
That’s what the new Texas head football coach will be walking into and by all accounts, it has already cost them the name at the top of their wish list, Nick Saban.
So I ask you, if it were in fact “the best job in the country” would they have missed on the guy who was so far and away their No. 1 candidate that they were willing to tarnish Mack’s legacy in the process only for him (Saban) to say “Thanks, but no thanks” and leave them hanging in the wind?
I think not.
No one is denying the resources. We all know how much money they have, and how top-notch the facilities are, and how they believe Austin to be the greatest city on the planet. We know because they’re constantly reminding us of it and if they’re not, the local and national media are doing it for them.
But you know what nobody is talking about? Stability.
If you allow yourself to be, you’re about to be subjected to countless lists about who should be the next head coach at Texas. Some will have logical and realistic candidates, while others will be just as ridiculous as the tweet mentioned earlier.
You’re going to hear/read justifications for why Texas can get anyone on any of those lists, no matter how unrealistic, because “they’re Texas.”
And while I suppose on some level that may be true (it isn’t), for all the things they can offer they don’t currently offer much in the way of stability.
And if you think that won’t affect a potential candidate’s decision on whether or not they want to be the next head football coach at the University of Texas, just ask Nick Saban.
Opinions expressed by Brainiac Buddies do not necessarily reflect those of The Football Brainiacs
60 Comments
The fact is, whoever comes in has to produce, and produce immediately. It’s great that you make all this money, have great facilities and pretty much get the best high school players a football crazed state has to offer, but the guy that comes in has to produce a winner, or get blasted by those same people that declare Texas the best job in the country. I can’t wait to sit back and see what happens. BOOMER!
To me Texas is just soft and they always will be because there is a culture in Texas that propagates that. That’s why Oklahoma continues to wean itself off of Texas kids. And no where is that soft culture more prevalent than it is in Austin. Tell an SEC kid to eat dirt to play ball and he’ll do it. Tell a Texas kid that and he’ll saying “you must be joking”…in a British accent while he stirs his tea.
100% Accurate. I covered Texas football for several years. Attended practices, Pressers, banquets, the entire enchilada. For the past week, the world has seen just how dysfunctional and entrenched this administration actually is. SOFT. Government bureaucracy in the purest form. If you really believe one man could change the culture that has exisited for the past forty years at UT, think again.
I don’t think that is why OU has gotten away from Texas kids at all. Especially when we’re recruiting more in Cali, which I would say has softer kids than Texas by far. I really don’t think that is a factor at all, but I do agree that once kids get to Austin, the atmosphere kind of lends itself to being soft.
I agree with the eat dirt analogy for some parts of Texas, but I grew up in north eastern Texas and the mindset there is different than in other parts of the state there is a toughness there & They would eat dirt there without being asked and just for fun : ) probably why several OU greats are from that area!
I don’t think the soft mentality has any specific georgraphic roots, so much as it is always present in the absence of accountability. To me, Mack Brown has never been one to demand accountability from his players or staff. If Texas can find the right coach, like a Jim Harbaugh for instance, let him run the program the way he see fit, then Texas can be as tough as anyone in the country.
And UT fans think their poo poo doesn’t stink. Geez, if any school not named USC needs to get over itself, its UT. Yes the resources are magnanimous. Aside from that, wtf is there??? So how’s having all those 5 star kids workin out for you? Overrated comes to mind, just like the job. When Dick Cheney, I mean Deloser Dodds is out of the picture, it immediately becomes more attractive.
He is already out of the picture, just fyi.
The irony of it all is that they had Shaw and Harbaugh as the next choices on their list from what I have heard and both have no interest in that circus. I’m sure they’ll get a good coach and will also overpay. It makes them feel better when they overpay for a coach I think.
Makes me feel better when they overpay also.
I agree with the eat dirt analogy for some parts of Texas, but I grew up in north eastern Texas and the mindset there is different than in other parts of the state there is a toughness there & They would eat dirt there without being asked : ) probably why several OU greats are from that area!
Oh btw, this is an OU site right? Why in the heck are those horns not upside down??
True that bro. We will fix that!
Yeah, what kind of a mickey mouse outfit are you guys runnin ;-D
You sure that is a “bro”? Never know….. 🙂
Unintentional rhyme…I do it all the time…
I thought I replied to Super “K”….
No big, seems like some familiar names over here… 🙂
Hey Learguy,
What kinda Lear do you fly?
Just been fixing airplanes for over 30 years, Lear’s mostly the last 25 or so…
I fly King Airs and CJ’s out here in Cali. I’ve been trying to find a good flying job back in Oklahoma or Dallas. Pretty tough market.
In LNK now
I was just thinking the same thing!
Just saw my rhyme, duhhh!!! LOL!!
Fixed bro! 🙂
And the world is right again:-p Thank you. Mo betta!
…this kid of talk sounds veryyyyy familiar. Me likes it!
Every time I hear a Texas fan say they “deserve” a coach that will “get them back to where they belong”, I chuckle. Where, exactly, do they belong? It’s not as if they have a strong history of national titles. Mack was still giving them 8-9 win seasons, What, exactly, do they think they “deserve”?
I completely understand why they wanted Mack gone. However, that’s where my understanding of horn fans stops. They, by and large, are a delusional lot.
Yep. Hear from a ton if coaches including ones who coach in Texas.
I have a good friend that coaches in a big time high school in west Texas and more or less has shared these same sentiments …. I think what needs to be remembered is that its easy to judge the whole and to stereotype all players … The fact is there are tuff kids in the state but its a small minority….. To much entitlement comes with these kids when they are considered a d1 prospect and are recruited heavy. The best example is the Texas program. … In top 5 every year because the kids they get are entitled punks….. The worst of them is jackson jeffcoat … And it’s a crime he got any post season accolades … I saw that guy quit on plays on a regular basis ….. I could go on and on but I think I’ve said enough, # Boomer
Thanks for sharing Jesse! Always love to hear people’s personal experiences.
This is just a complete joke! This notion that Texas kids are ‘soft’. Texas HS football players litter every roster across the country. Florida State has them, Alabama has them, Auburn has them Stanford has them and Ohio State has them. The NFL is full of kids who played high school and college football in Texas, and they aren’t soft.
Derrick Johnson isn’t soft, Adrian Peterson isn’t soft, Brian Robison isn’t soft, Daryl Washington isn’t soft, Von Miller isn’t soft, Justin Blalock isn’t soft, Trent Williams isn’t soft, Eric Winston isn’t soft, Marcus Cannon isn’t soft, Michael Brockers isn’t soft either.
Everyone in the country believes that California is full of nothing but soft laid back people, yet Stanford is as physical as any team in the country and has been for the last half decade. And before that USC was running college football with a roster full of California kid.
That type of mentality and mindset is something that is cultivated and practiced throughout the entire program. Maybe Mack just was a tad soft in how he did things, but this notion that Texas is soft as a state is a joke. It’s like saying Oklahoma is poor or trashy as a state.
Paul
My reference was to the UT, not Texas high school players in general. Adrian Peterson, Derrick Johnson, Justin Blalock and Brian Robison are players I personally dealt with throughout their recruiting process, and you are correct, they’re not soft. All mentioned do or have played in the NFL. Mack Brown had a soft mentality in dealing with players. I saw it in practice every day.
I agree that UT is typically soft. I don’t think it’s a Texas HS issue, just an Austin/UT issue.
4 National Championships in the schools history. Underachieving is a very good indicator of a programs personality.
I agree with you on the Paul. I would gladly see half of the Texas HS top 100 go to OU.
Texas HS coaches will be the first to tell you that in recent years Texas HS play has been soft. But what they mean by that is particularly on the D-line (and perhaps more particularly – interior DL – A and B gap players) and folks who have been on the site for a while know that that is the context in which I meant the statement. Most of the players you mentioned aren’t Dlinemen and they aren’t what we mean by recent players. The last great interior lineman from the Big 12 was from the state of Oklahoma. Even this year the interior DLinemen of any note in the Big 12 we’re Pierson and Barnett and neither of them are from the state of Texas. I know coach Montgomery is consciously working to grow/build interior DL in-roads in other places (specifically Louisiana and other parts of the deep south and within the Samoan community), in part, because he has the same concern. It’s almost comical when I ask Texas coaches about DL in Texas that OU might be able to get in on and they laugh and respond “c’mon K! you know Texas don’t have no DL!”. That doesn’t mean Texas doesn’t produce a single DL…it just means it’s not the forte of the state. Like an SEC coach told me a couple months back “name me all the Texas HS DL that have been drafted in the first 3 rounds in the past 3 years”. It’s slim pickins’. Obviously when one speaks in generalities…the statements are general. And for future reference please refrain from calling anyone’s post on here “a joke”. Disagreeing respectfully to peoples posts will suffice. The unnecessary and deprecating additions won’t be tolerated.
How much will Mack Brown resigning affect their 2014 recruits?
Go up and down their commitment list, are there any players OU actually want?
Think Texas HS skill players are really good, have my doubts about the DL and OL recruits.
And to make the job even better, let’s not forget just how much time and energy the new coach will be allowed to dedicate to the LHN that all of about 34 people can watch.
+1
4 National Championships in the programs history hardly makes for the best job in college football. UT is the king at underachieving. Every year we hear about the limitless talent pool from which Texas has to recruit from, and the success of their annual recruiting drive, yet they fall short year in and year out.
True. Evidence of that is the best 4 to 5 players at any position in college football that also went to HS in Texas did not play for the Shorthorns.
Remember when that Bible kid said that UT was going to win a NC every year he was there? Don’t think they even won a BIG 12 Title. SMH
I can see Texass becoming like Tennessee- a revolving door of coaches. Any lack of immediate success will not be tolerated as the TU fan base believes they are already loaded with championship level players and that they have only been mismanaged by Mack. The fact is Texass is reaping their practice of gaining commits early in a players’ junior year of high school and then either have made a poor assessment or did not develop the player much when they got to Austin. They were able to get away with that when the best players in Texass still chose Austin but not when many of them began to go elsewhere…thank you Adrain Peterson. I also think its no coincidence that Texass began to crumble with the launching of the Longhorn Network as it seemed to be a major hassle.
Texas boys are not weak…the ones at TU maybe. Same goes for boys out of California. I served with several a Cali lad that were steely eyed killers who could endure physical hardships and pain that mere mortal men cannot comprehend let alone set out to endure.
So go ahead any prospective Texass coach..take the job and prepare to get the wheels of the Schooner driven over your sorry team and the tune of Boomer Sooner will be your funeral dirge.
People are really over-reacting to this whole fiasco, especially Paul Finebaum after Brown resigned. Texas is the best job in college football because of all the money, recruiting, resources, city, etc. Just because they’ve not been winning as much in the past 5 years doesn’t mean they’re “the next Tennessee” at all. The boosters behind the scenes are making the job seem less appealing to the public, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not the best job in the country.
I’m born and raised an OU fan so I loathe UT, but I’m also a realist. Once Texas gets a solid QB it will be a VERY desirable place for recruits again.
On this issue, Finebaum is not wrong. I don’t care about the money, resources, etc..this administration is a cancer. Mack’s saving grace was back- to-back Vince Young and Colt McCoy.
If you go back in history to 2004, we had just shut out the Vince Young led Horns 12-0, then Missouri had them on the ropes at halftime at home, the fans booing and Mack squarely on the ropes. They wiggled out of it to win, Young after the game basically told Brown and OC Greg Davis to “shove It”, I’m going to run the offense “my way” and the rest is history. Mack then parlayed that into a multi-million dollar contract. Everyone now knows just how successful Brown has been with the loss of Young and McCoy.
And Brown “back-doored” in getting Young. He wanted to go to Miami. I know. I spoke to Vince about it at the time.
Finebaum is really sour that Bama fans had to endure the rumor of Saban possibly leaving for Texas, so when it didn’t happen he got on his Bama high horse and then talked down about Texas. His only job is to talk about how Alabama schools/SEC is better than everyone else.
And I forgot about Vince Young saying “Shove it” to the coaches, good point. He and Colt were amazing, so once they get a solid QB again they’ll be rolling again big time…until the RRR that is.
Trust me, I don’t buy in to much of anything Finebaum has to say, but I do agree with him on this point. As far as his daily radio show goes, I’d rather listen to the sound of fingernails going down a chalkboard than to listen to his callers!
I don’t really have any thoughts on this, the soft texas theory, or the fact that texas fans have an ego bigger than dallas. All I know is, Texas Sucks!
Boom! Money comment!
Gotta agree that texass is just soooo discombobulated, it has to scare away some quality canidates
This is off subject but, I hear Ijalana re-committed today???
Isaac Ijalana has recommitted. Are we gonna get some info on that here soon? Man, I love this site. You guys reported that it was a miscommunication and that he could be back in the fold and sure enough, he is. Football Brainiacs rock!
With over half my family being Texas fans/alumni I must say their arrogance is unmatched. They should have a lot of candidates but as you showed….they have about as much stability as the Iraqi Navy. It will be interesting to see who they hire….You think they will go for a young up and comer ( I think that would be the smarter route) or get an older experienced coach?
Tex hubris, is a cancer. Their history is evidence of this. For example, the SWC and the this !@#$%^ conference we have now.
Was not the pundits’ former consensus that ND was the best CFB HC job? Right now the UT position just looks like a quick sand pit ready to devour anybody who steps in. Who would want that soap opera and those politics? (Not that I’m upset by their troubles heh heh)
Left out a couple of things:
1. President who may not be there at any time
2. Board of Regents that is divided among itself as to direction of football program
3. Top Booster in Jamail that didn’t want Mack to leave
4. Boosters who leak everything they can to try to form public opinion and get coach/admin to follow that spin
5. Relatively inexperienced AD, who also may be gone at any time.
6. Osmosis from the stink of the basketball and baseball programs
7. Fans who come late, leave early, and are not loud
8. LHN obligations (at least 3 shows a week by the coach, plus practice video, news, etc)
9. Program more desirous of making $$ than winning titles.
10. The roller-skating, dancing, transvestite on Congress with his boom box. IIRC, his name is Leslie.
add the 8-person search committee, comprised of regents, boosters, a professor, a federal judge, and a former ambassador. Please a headhunter from Korn Ferry