Mack Brown.....

[Doyouloveit?]

Appears to be stepping down as Longhorns HC.

Let the speculation begin.

Les Miles? James Franklin?

[akh]

Appears to be stepping down as Longhorns HC.

Let the speculation begin.

Les Miles? James Franklin?

Oh man, Les Miles at UT would make me want to either laugh or hurl...or both. I pretty much despise the arrogance of each one.

I'm afraid UT may think their job is better than it really is. They may expect the Class A candidates to line up and fight it out for the job, but find themselves having to hire the best Class B guy that is willing to take the job. They think they can get Saban, but reality is a *****. Maybe someone like David Bailiff, who's done wonders with bringing Rice back to respectability...maybe Mike Gundy from OK State?...would David Shaw (Stanford) consider this a step up?

[PDC]

Are they still wearing Nick Saban shirts in Austin? Or are they not as keen on him since the Auburn game?

[Doyouloveit?]

Oh man, Les Miles at UT would make me want to either laugh or hurl...or both. I pretty much despise the arrogance of each one.

I'm afraid UT may think their job is better than it really is. They may expect the Class A candidates to line up and fight it out for the job, but find themselves having to hire the best Class B guy that is willing to take the job. They think they can get Saban, but reality is a *****. Maybe someone like David Bailiff, who's done wonders with bringing Rice back to respectability...maybe Mike Gundy from OK State?...would David Shaw (Stanford) consider this a step up?

There are now conflicting reports that say Mack hasn't decided about his future. The next 48 hours will be a fluid situation I'm sure.

Look, Texas is a BIG TIME job, tons of money and the state of Texas to recruit. Brown just hasn't been recruiting the right guys for the right position...see RGIII and JFF, plus he has struck out with assistants.

Maybe David Shaw would take the job, but a lot people belive his next step is the NFL.

Is there an NFL assistant out there that hasn't been talked about?

Will Muschamp is a dud.

[mesquite]

The talk on the radio last week was Nick Saban. The money being mentioned was disgusting - it even involved oil wells and shares of the LHN. Wowzaaa..

[Vasserfan]

The UT alum really want Nick. But there was a rumor going around yesterday that they would make a run at both Briles and Sumlin if they can't land Saban or Gus.

[mesquite]

The UT alum really want Nick. But there was a rumor going around yesterday that they would make a run at both Briles and Sumlin if they can't land Saban or Gus.

Former (back-to-back) UH coaches....

And Levine's team looks pretty good for next year too. Might as well pencil him into whatever program's looking in 2015 I guess.

[rodneyh]

Isn't there some guy down in Gainesville about to get tarred and feathered and will claim rightful ownership of the job if indeed Mack Brown steps down?

[jkg]

Isn't there some guy down in Gainesville about to get tarred and feathered and will claim rightful ownership of the job if indeed Mack Brown steps down?

[Vasserfan]

Mack is denying the rumors. All he needs now is a vote of confidence from the President or AD and we know for sure he's out.

[akh]

The guy who broke the story today was the same one that said DeLoss Dodds was leaving. Dodds denied it vehemently for a couple weeks and then announced he was stepping down. Dodds was Mack's protection. Without him to run interference I think Mack leaves, but I expect him to try and play the sympathy card and get the team riled up to "win one for Mack".

[Jim Wilke]

Saban is reportedly going to sign an extension with Alabama for $7 million per year.

[AGRiculture]

Oh man, Les Miles at UT would make me want to either laugh or hurl...or both. I pretty much despise the arrogance of each one.

I'm afraid UT may think their job is better than it really is. They may expect the Class A candidates to line up and fight it out for the job, but find themselves having to hire the best Class B guy that is willing to take the job. They think they can get Saban, but reality is a *****. Maybe someone like David Bailiff, who's done wonders with bringing Rice back to respectability...maybe Mike Gundy from OK State?...would David Shaw (Stanford) consider this a step up?

UT is one of the top jobs in the country. A coach will have all the resources, ready access to some of the best high school talent in the land, top notch facilities, and one of the largest fan bases around, plus he gets to live in Austin. And there's no probation or a toxic situation like there was at Penn State.

And yes, Mack has had all of that, but his teams have underachieved, which is why we've been a bit frustrated with him at times.

[StatMan]

Maybe someone like David Bailiff, who's done wonders with bringing Rice back to respectability...maybe Mike Gundy from OK State

Bailiff could be an interesting dark horse, but a lot of the big boys seem to want guys like that to jump up to a mid-tier school first. Gundy is a good coach but consider this - the #1 thing that's gotten Mack Brown in trouble is losing to Oklahoma. Brown is 7-9 vs OU and Gundy is 1-8 vs OU. Of course part of Mack's problem wasn't just the losses, but that four of them were blowouts, but Gundy has lost by 4+ scores to them 3 times with most of the rest of the losses being games they choked or flubbed away so much that it's starting to become a verb, e.g. "Okie State is going to Okie State away the Bedlam game yet again."

The guy who broke the story today was the same one that said DeLoss Dodds was leaving. Dodds denied it vehemently for a couple weeks and then announced he was stepping down

He was also the guy who broke the story that Texas was going to leave the Big 12 and join the PAC-10. The problem with "X is going to happen" reports like this is that it's pretty easy to say that when you know something is likely, and so when it ends up happening, you look correct for saying it was a sure thing, even if it actually wasn't certain at the moment you reported it.

There's every reason to believe that Mack has no plans to step down, meaning that he's not going to do it of his own volition, and until somebody tells him directly "Either step down or we'll fire you", he's going to conduct himself as if he's the coach of Texas - which he is. There's a good chance that will happen on Thursday, but it's not a sure thing as far as I can tell, the Board of Regents meeting could end up with some surprises because the big donors influence a not, but ultimately it's not their decision (a lot of them wanted Gary Barnett back in 1997 when Mack ended up getting hired).

But there was a rumor going around yesterday that they would make a run at both Briles and Sumlin if they can't land Saban or Gus

I'd actually rather have Gus than Saban, personally, but I wouldn't expect either of them to stick around for a decade, much less 16 years like Mack did. Briles and Sumlin both seem unlikely - Briles has a grudge against Texas and Sumlin would probably consider it a lateral move at this point given his mindset towards USC.

Brown just hasn't been recruiting the right guys for the right position...see RGIII and JFF

I don't think those are fair criticisms. The reason RG3 went to Baylor is they were just about the only ones to offer him as a quarterback; almost everybody else wanted him to play safety, plus at that point they had Garrett Gilbert, and every single coach in the entire country would have taken if they could have had him. Manziel was never projected to be this great, lots of guys missed out on that one.

, plus he has struck out with assistants.

An accurate criticism but part of the problem is Mack here in the sense that he seems to need really good assistants to do well. Greg Robinson has been a lifesaver (for the 2nd time, he was huge improvement the last time we hired him back in 2004), but Major Applewhite, although a great recruiter and individual talent developer, is a poor offensive coordinator, especially in comparison to Bryan Harsin.

[hdolan]

I think UT would do well by hiring Gary Patterson, the coach at TCU...he's relatively young (53) and has done quite well without 5 star recruits...