NCAA Football

texas’ Mack Brown keeps going amid job speculation

AUSTIN—Texas coach Mack Brown has had a running joke all week: He is the only coach in America playing for a conference championship while also shrugging off speculation that he could be replaced.

That perfectly sums up the drama surrounding Brown and a team who have fought their way through a topsy-turvy season of embarrassing losses and big wins and now find themselves on the verge of a Big 12 title in the final game of the regular season.

The No. 23 Longhorns (83, 7-1) play at No. 9 Baylor (10-1, 7-1) with at least a share of the conference title at stake. For either team, a win coupled with an Oklahoma State loss— the Cowboys beat both in November—will earn the victor the crown outright.

For Brown—and Texas fans—the bigger drama may be what comes after the game.

Brown's future has been the subject of intense speculation nearly all season. A 1-2 start with a team that even Brown expected would contend for a national championship was coupled with revelations that as far back as January, some top school officials and donors were courting Alabama coach Nick Saban through a meeting with his agent.

Texas President Bill Powers, who has been one of Brown's strongest allies, wasn't part of the talks with Saban's agent. In a Thursday meeting with the editorial board of the Austin American-Statesman, Powers said he has never met or talked with Saban and denied the school had reached an agreement to hire him.

“Mack's our coach, and I can say flatly that the rumors we have hired or come to an agreement with Nick Saban or even talked to him are false,” Powers said.

—THE ASSOCIATED PRESS