Show of faith might be misplaced
Golden
on the back to a beleaguered head coach at midseason only to whack him at the end of the year. This is different because Powers believes everything he wrote. He thinks his $5.4 million-per-year coach will turn it around and get people excited about Texas football again.
While you can applaud Powers for his faith in Brown, it’s fair to question if the statement of support was done to merely quiet the rumor mill or just to give Mack some public show of assurance amid growing dissatisfaction after another so-so season.
Want some more Powers?
“Coach Brown restored Texas’ winning tradition,” he wrote. “He embodies the Texas character, is a superb ambassador for The University of Texas, and runs a program that is both winning and clean, a program that all alumni and fans can and should be proud of. Mack cares about the young men on the team as people, as students, and as players, in that order, and he models the kind of leadership that will serve our players for the rest of their lives.”
Translation: Powers and Dodds are comfortable with Mack. They still view him as the burntorange tie-wearing pied piper/CEO who returned the program to national prominence after taking over for John Mackovic 15 seasons ago. A firing is unwarranted because it would not only hurt Mack’s feelings but harm a valued friendship. Besides, what other coach would continue to do three weekly shows on the Longhorn Network at a time when his team was putting up the worst defensive numbers in school history?
Here’s what the Prez didn’t say:
If Kansas cornerback Greg Brown doesn’t drop a pass that 90 percent of the corners in the country catch, then the Horns lose to the lowly Jayhawks, and things could have gone south in a hurry. As a result, our conversa- tions are much different and the administration’s faith in Brown is much shakier.
Powers is smart enough to know this isn’t 2004 and 2005, when the Horns went 24-1 with Vince Young leading the way to a national title. It isn’t 2008 and 2009, when the Colt McCoy-led teams went 25-2 with a pair of BCS bowl appearances, including a title game his senior year. Yet Powers has no problem believing Brown can still make moments like those live again.
It’s an admirable show of faith, possibly misplaced. It’s 2012, and the Horns don’t scare anybody on a national level. The fan base is a bubbling cauldron of anger and apathy because Texas just finished a third straight season without a BCS bowl appearance.
Plus, Brown has lost traction within his own state. Texas is 21-16 over the last three seasons, including an 11-15 mark in conference play with three straight losses to Oklahoma. Over the same time, Baylor is 24-14 overall and 14-12 in conference play, including a 2-1 record against Texas and a win over Oklahoma. What about Texas A&M? The Aggies are 26-12 overall and 16-9 in conference play, which includes this season’s amazing inaugural marks (10-2, 62) in the SEC. And while Texas goes back and forth between unspectacular quarterbacks, Baylor and A&M have produced the last two Heisman Trophy winners at the position, giving those programs a nice recruiting boost in the state.
Baylor successfully returned to a bowl game post-RGIII, while A&M got worked by the system after it was not selected for a BCS bowl game, even though the Cotton Bowl clash with Oklahoma promises to provide fireworks. Conversely, TexasOregon State at the Alamo Bowl doesn’t exactly stimulate the senses. If this is coffee, we’re talking Folgers instead of Starbucks. Decaf, at that.
As for Powers, we can only hope that he’s right about Mack. But if Texas turns in another 8-4 finish (or worse), he and Dodds had better wake up and smell what’s been brewing on campus for a while.