I live in Nashville and have observed James Franklin, he has a fired up coaching style I think Texas would need if and when Mack leaves. He has done some great recruiting at a school that has been historically a SEC doormat and has changed that school's won loss record significantly. I think he could do wonders at a school like Texas with our resources.
I was engaged in a similar, but somewhat different conversation on another forum and I'd like to share some thoughts that occured to me. As most of you know or have heard, Texas has a fanbase that has historically fractured into warring factions. One thing that Mack Brown has done very well is mollifying all of those factions into a unified body of support. In other words, he made the right people happy. [As an interesting rabbit trail you might want to consider how difficult it must be to find a coach who can both kiss the right asses and kick ***. Seems like those two abilities might be mutually exclusive which could explain why our Program has such a tendency to go soft. But I digress...] The thing is, I'm just not sure the best in-the-box choices to replace Mack have the right temperment to be everything to everybody. Take Charlie Strong. Is he going to like simpering around billionaires? That's why I suggested Bill Cowher. Yeah, he seems unlikely. He quit coaching a few years ago and he's refused to even consider coaching since. But we know the sad reason why and maybe getting back into coaching could be a good way to heal. The thing is: if you bring in a strong coach like Cowher, who won a Super Bowl and eight division titles, the big money donors might be impressed enough to support him even if doesn't kiss their asses. On the other hand, if you bring in somebody whose claim to fame is going 11-2 at Louisville, he'd better be ready to kiss some ***. I just can't see somebody like Charlie Strong liking that or doing it very well. Thoughts to consider. Hopefully these opinions aren't too strong for this polite board.
this is way out there... what if we get slaughtered by ole miss and mack hangs it up. we would probably name applewhite interim hc with the rest of the season being his audition for the full time gig. i'd rather a big, proven name but is this a possibility? i'm not sure mack can take another embarrassing loss.
I like the idea of hiring Sumlin, mostly because losing a coach to Texas would make all the aggys I work with suicidal.
Leach or anyone's grandmother before Sumlin. Sumlin is probation waiting on a missed FedEx delivery. Sarkisian is the assumed Kiffin replacement.
Fitzgerald, Franklin and Strong intrigue me but, how about a wildcard? Gruden. There are a bunch of compelling reasons: Young, sharp, DRIVEN, media savvy, connections, Super Bowl winner... That would be a headline.
A lot of folks believe A&M is just a stepping stone to the NFL for Sumlin. Someone with those aspirations wouldn't be at the top of my list.
Sumlin has never indicated that the NFL was his aspiration. He was offered the Eagles job this past offseason and didn't go. I'm sure if Chip Kelly has success, it could certainly be a possibility because lots of teams would have interest. Having said that, I don't think he's leaving A&M for any other school.
A&M is very much a stepping stone program and not at all a destination. Just isn't. Even with their best year in who knows how long when they finish fourth (?) in their conference it's a rest area for a career.
The SEC is a game changer. A&M is the only team from the state that has the best talent in the country that resides in the best conference in college football. Maybe you haven't noticed, but College Station is the center of the football universe right now. You have your head in the sand if you don't think A&M is a destination job at this point.
Sumlin makes 2.5M at A&M. You better be ready to pony up some bucks if you think you are going to keep him. Sumlin has been there a little over 1 year. Why do you think he has this great affinity to A&M? No real reason to.
"Maybe you haven't noticed, but College Station is the center of the football universe right now. You have your head in the sand if you don't think A&M is a destination job at this point." Damn aggy delusion knows no bounds. CS is getting big media play this weekend and deservedly so. However, if Bama spanks that *** and exposes the weak aggy D, the losses could very well mount this season. Then with Johnny bolting after this year, the media will find its next flavor of the year. Not a destination job, unless just the perfect fit for a particular coach. I don't know that it is a perfect fit for Sumlin. We will see.
Sumlin is just waiting for the right offer with the right payday to come along. To think any up and coming head coach would want to spend his career at A&M is delusional. It's College Station for Christ's sake.
Third, Take a long hard look at Brazos County and A&M. Does any school have stronger fan support? Austin has no country club to compare to Adams tribute to himself. It is as nice as any club the in the state. Want big city amenities? Houston is an hour away. The old crowd that ran off the winningest coach in A&M history are almost all dead. The younger crowd has little to no knowledge of the problems of those generations and the way they could screw up a train wreck. George HW Bush will soon no longer be a factor. Governor Goodhair is their biggest problem and he continues to **** in his own mess kit, so he may have to be satisfied with trying to f**k us with his appointments. All in all, A&M is a more appealing job than many of the larger programs in the country who have unrealistic expectations. (Not the Aggies are not dillusional in their expectations.) I'm not saying that A&M is the end all, be all of jobs, but at present it is a lot more attractive than many. I. however, see little appeal to coaching in the NFL; talking about a stepping stone. You are one bad performance away from filing for unemployment.
Sabre has is right. BTW, Sumlin makes 3.1M, but yes, A&M will have to pay him quite a bit more if the success continues and I'm sure they will be happy to do so. Look, College Station is no paradise, but neither is Tuscaloosa, Norman, Ann Arbor, or Baton Rouge. A&M is a Top 20 historical program in all-time wins, has a huge fan base with a Top 10 Endowment, top notch facilities, and has one of the largest stadiums in the country (which is about to get larger and much nicer to the tune of a half billion dollars in renovation). And now A&M is the lone Texas school in the SEC? Sure, a coach could always make a jump to the NFL if he has those kinds of aspirations, but as far as college jobs go and the A&M job being a stepping stone? That's ridiculous.
JM, Thank you for the affirmation, but history says that A&M is only a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Consider the following: Last coach stepped up from A&M to 20% the salary as an NFL assistant. Fran step all the way up to the job he had in San Marcos thirty years ago. Jackie stepped up to Starkville, a place so wonderful that his wife had "Daddy" make sure that Bud Adams Citation was always available to get her back to the civilized world. Emory stepped up to Starkville after being the most successful coach in A&M history. RC is A&M's David McWilliams, although he didn't play for the Aggies. We have all been to Starkville and know it for the garden spot it is and the center of the football universe. The last coach to "step up" from A&M was Paul Bryant in 57 and probably Dana Bible before that..
When the Money Badger takes off, so may Sumlin. He knows who his success it tied to. Same reason he rolled out of Houston when Keenum graduated. Sumlin is a good coach, but it will look a lot different without Johnny Autograph. He knows that. Only delusional aggy doesn't. And someone hit the nail on the head regarding the sanctions coming. The Ricky-Seals Jones signing may come back to bite him.
Aces, You may be correct, but I seem to recall everyone saying something similar about the departure of Kevin Kolb at the University of Third Ward. I fully expect that Sumlin's system and success will attract his kind of QB. Will it be a Hype$man winner? Doubtful, but like Mike Leach at Tech, it will be a serviceable winning QB.
SabreHorn - stronger fan support? fans are no different than any other large school they show up when winning and don't when they lose. Texas a&m-college station has sold out 34 games in 26 years. Take away the 13 games for Texas and then 8 from last year, and you are left with 13 sell outs in a 25 year period that aren't Texas.
back on to UT topics, Al Golden is interesting, as is Gruden, Franklin and Strong. just got a tweet that says DeLoss will step down by the end of the Calendar year. so - start thinking of replacement ADs. And yes, they need to come from outside the program. total reboot.
The Powers' faction is looking at Bob Bowlsby (current Big XII commissioner/previous Stanford athletic director) for AD and David Shaw for HC. The Dallas faction thinks they have a shot at Saban.
The Shaw name that keeps coming up doesn't compute to me. He basically inherited a well oiled machine from Harbaugh and has kept it going. What we need is a proven REbuilder. Not someone who can take a great thing and keep it great. I mean... isn't that what Diaz was? he was great at coaching those who already were sound and had good fundamentals. But poor at building up the fundamentals. We need someone who can REbuild. who has done that lately? Not Strong.... He slowly rebuilt Louisville... but not fast enough for a TX fans timeline. And in '11 he went 7-6 in the big east. They lost to Marshall and FIU and that was his second year there. Not gonna cut it. In 2010 Strong-led Louisville went - 7-6. 2011 - 7-6 In 2012, they went 11-2 but lost to UConn and Syracuse. Just not enough of a big boy football track-record for me. What about Petrino?? He put Louisville on the map in the mid 2000's. Then he took over a poor Arkansas team in 2008. 2008 at Arkansas they went 5-7. 2009 - 9-5 2010 - 10-3 2011- 11-2 IN THE SEC West!! Only losses to Bama and LSU he leaves after a scandal... they have pretty much all the same pieces including Mallett for 2012... and they go 4-8. Petrino CAN rebuild.... just has a horrible stigma because of the scandals. Hmmm... what about Tressell? I didn't like Or Bringing Pete Carroll back? They have rebuilt before.
