LHN debuts ‘05’ to celebrate storied win
Three-episode series goes deep with Young, Brown to break down Longhorns’ last title
Since the Longhorn Network launched a decade ago, the 2006 Rose Bowl has been ubiquitous, the channel’s version of “Law & Order” or “Seinfeld” reruns.
So it would be natural to be skeptical about what else could be mined from that epochal time in Texas football history.
Enter “05,” a new series that premieres at 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday on LHN in three hour-long episodes that peel back the layers on Texas’ lone national championship season since 1970.
Inspired by “The Last Dance,” last year’s documentary on the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, “05” offers a similar treatment from LHN producers Nick Hetherington and Michael Holmes, who co-directed the series.
Thanks to reams of footage — much of it aired for the first time — shot in the locker room and at practices, “05” offers a new look at the 2005 season. It’s complemented by 40 new interviews with Texas players, coaches, celebrities (rapper Bun B, actor and Texas alum Matthew McConaughey, director Richard Linklater) and national and local media, including the Chronicle’s David Barron, Joseph Duarte, and Jerome Solomon.
Hetherington, a Houston native and graduate of Episcopal and UT, said he was inspired watching “The Last Dance” when it premiered in April 2020. He requested and received special permission from parent company ESPN to go into the LHN offices to review footage and start work on the project, which was completed despite logistical challenges brought on by the pandemic.
“We had to postpone interviews because people were not comfortable talking to us because of COVID, we had to come up with concepts and guidelines (and) safety regulations to make these people comfortable enough to talk to us,” Hetherington said. “The fact we did all this within the past year and a half is a true testament to how dedicated our group is in Austin.”
The central figures in the series are quarterback Vince Young and coach Mack Brown, whose stories get fleshed out in the first two episodes.
Young discusses growing up in Houston’s Hiram Clarke neighborhood and his days starring at Madison High School and the city-wide legend he created before the advent of social media are chronicled.
The close relationship between Young and late NFL star Steve McNair — who met at the latter’s football camp when Young was in high school — is also documented, with Young revealing how McNair talked him out of leaving UT after the 2003 season.
“What I definitely did not know was the extent of Vince’s relationship with Steve McNair,” Hetherington said. “I had never heard before that Vince was planning on transferring and it was Steve who made him turn that car around.”
Brown’s story is told through the prism of the game against archrival Oklahoma, which had beaten Texas five straight years entering 2005, subjecting Brown to the label of “Coach February,” a master recruiter who couldn’t win the big one.
Memorable 2005 games, including the thrilling win at No. 4 Ohio State and victories over archrivals Oklahoma and Texas A&M, also get expanded treatment during the first two episodes.
The buildup to the Rose Bowl, with the media’s over-the-top comparison of two-time defending national champ USC to history’s great teams, and the pulsating national title game itself comprise the final episode.
It includes a little-known fact: Jordan was in a suite at the Rose Bowl, with Texas superfan Lance Armstrong saying the NBA great “was there watching a kindred spirit” in Young. The episode has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clip of Jordan at the game shooting a cameo for another ESPN program.
“We did not know he was there,” Holmes said. “(Armstrong) mentioned it and that was the first we’d heard about it.”
The final episode, unfortunately, doesn’t have any USC perspective despite the directors reaching out to members of those Trojan teams. And the most notable Texas player missing is receiver Limas Sweed, whose last-second touchdown catch won the Ohio State game.
“We exhausted multiple avenues trying to get a hold of him,” Holmes said. “That would’ve been a huge add because he was instrumental in so many big plays.”
Still, the series should hit a sweet spot with Texas fans. And given LHN’s history, “05” figures to be found on the cable/satellite guide for quite a while.
“I think any person who’s affiliated with the school is proud of their school’s greatest moments,” Holmes said. “I don’t know if there are any moments much greater than that one.
“The good thing about this documentary is it provides more insight and paints it in another light. It gives you more than what you’ve seen before.”