Someone asked Sark about attrition at the Monday presser. While trying not to make excuses Sark says that 50% of the 2018/2019 recruiting classes are no longer on campus, be it due to portal, NFL, medical or whatever. 30% of the 2020 recruiting class is no longer on campus. It's going to take awhile and a couple of recruiting classes to get this back on track.
So who are the players on the sideline? Where did they come from? Does this mean we can sign 70+ new players this February? Recruiting confuses me.
This is why I hope Sark gets five full years. Not four, not 3. And regardless of his record. ( if recruiting does a nose dive that is another matter) and I am not confident in him at all right now. (Actually I am pissed at him) firing everyone every 3 to 4 years in is not working. Players don’t stick if the coaches don’t stick. This turnover is precisely why we are considered a “young” team year in and year out.
It's the difference between Jimmy Johnson and Jason Garrett. Jimmy's first two years were horrible but he and Jerry knew the roster was a dumpster fire. They stuck it out and we know what happened; Super Bowl glory until Jerry grabbed the wheel. Conversely Jason comes in being trained on the job. He needed time. And more time. And more time. Then it became obvious he had peaked. So now he's gone. We know we have to rebuild. It's very obvious. And the injuries are a fact; not an excuse. The question is this: to all those who really know the game (and I'm not putting myself in that category), inside the program and out, is Sark top shelf or not? If so, we wait it out. If not, then we wait until we can talk Elon Musk into doing the buyouts!
I think he's a top shelf play caller. Will be he be a top shelf HC, TBD... But we need D players. We have a converted WR that shouldn't be close to starting have the chance to make the biggest play of the game and then drop the ball. At some point players have to make plays. Also we have zero pass rush and a particular LB would have been better to just not be on he field. Finally replaced him but too late. You just can't be this bad across all 3 levels of your D. Least last year we had a dominant pass rusher. Just watch the bowl game. We have nothing like that today. Our corners are adequate and that's about as good as it gets on D. Even during the Mackovic years, we had some very good D players on the line and at CB. There's no Rogers/Hampton/Brackens on this team. Nothing even close. I just don't see how we can evaluate Sark until he either does or does not get some talent on this team. Too bad we didn't put something up there this year and get Ewers. He'd bring more talent with him. Not sure how we ever get over the hump at this point. Mack inherited way more talent. This is the most devoid group of talent I've ever seen at Texas and I'm in my 60's. If BR leaves, I'm done. Least the Cowboys are very good and Mavs are a fun watch so I still have something.
Wadster, The lack of overall talent is on previous coaches for being too lazy to evaluate HS kids and taking the word of recruiting services. That was Mack's downfall as well. We have had to live with other schools scooping up the talent that DKR & Akers previously brought in while facing schools that perfected cheating. What's killing me is the lack of desire, lack of pride, lack of hunger that Herman left behind. It will require running some people off, perhaps even talented people to instill the pride. This team is the poster child for Bear Bryant's Junction Boys. They need to be shocked/whipped into shape.
Now there's an important "recruit". Get the world's richest man, who now happens to reside in Texas (I think near Austin) to be a Texas Longhorns fan. For now, I hope he likes basketball and baseball... (I think they're really good at rugby in South Africa. That's kinda like football...)
I could be wrong but my understanding is you can have no more than 85 kids on scholarship at one time. Does that mean if you currently have 50 you can sign 35? I'd think so. But then again, the NCAA is in charge so who knows?
It wasn't obvious, though, a month and a half ago. It was only obvious when Sark started losing over and over. He was not hired to rebuild, he was hired to turn good-but-not-good-enough into great. Now he has to rebuild his own structure.
0855, The 85 cap has been increased as well. Not sure the temporary cap. I think back to the days of DKR getting 50 a year, cap of 150, academic scholarships didn't count against the cap. One year Coach Royal had 3-4 new QBs on academic scholarships.
well, Herman's teams never quit on him like this. They could not finish games, but they sure tried. They also seemed a lot more resilient. It was frustrating to have a setback loss every time we had momentum, but they never strung together losses like this.
Herman's team had leadership though. I'm. not making excuses just fact. Sam had some limitations but leadership wasn't one of them. This team has no leaders really. Hard when you don't even name a starter at the most important position of the field until late and then replace them 2+ games in. Then have that QB hurt his thumb.
On the player count, Sark said in the presser that of their 85 scholarship players next year, 33 will likely be “new” to the program. That number, 33, will be comprised of recruits and transfers. Totally agree. And therein lies the fundamental concern I have with Sark. Class act, but his team — and thus “he” — has shown us nothing on the field this year except regression. He may end up being the answer but to have that expectation based on what we have all observed this year would be based on hope, not logic or rational thought.
You passed over the problem. This IS Herman's team made up of Herman's players, Herman's culture, Herman's attitude, and it would appear that Herman's arrogance rubbed off on some of the players, or perhaps was absorbed by osmosis when he kissed them.
Anybody really think we beat OU, OSU, Arky, Baylor with Herman. I don't. Kansas is the WTF moment that generally gets you fired. Just not in year 1. Personally I think we gotta roll this dice in year 2 and then evaluate at the end of the year.
Two years will tell you nothing when 20 to 25 of the 33/35 newbies will be freshmen. We actually know nothing about Sark and Staff working with their recruits (most of the 2020 class were leftovers from Herman's last "effort". Chin, Bijian is hurt and will miss the remainder of the season; not to give him a rest per se. If you haven't watched the presser: He acknowledged the number of systems everyone but current freshmen had been coached. Didn't use it as an excuse, but went on to explain that football is a reflex memory game so when what you expect isn't what you get there is an instant of hesitation filtering what you have been coached instead of doing what you have been taught this season. The domino theory then takes place so when one hesitates that affects the other 10. Sark acknowledged the issues with the defense and said that was a "Spring issue" and he would be involved in that process. The refreshing quote was when he said the plan now was to put the best effort over the last two games and to use that as the springboard to the Spring. He didn't say anything about a bowl - which s a good thing. He took the heat and handled himself very well.
And you know this how? Were you there when he was interviewed for the job? Or in the room when he accepted? Sark has always tried to put lipstick on this pig but more and more he seems to be letting on that he knew what a cluster f**k he was getting into. And if he knew then I'm pretty sure that would've been discussed with CDC. They may not have expected it to get this bad. But I'd wager they knew it was a possibility.
I don't know if Binder's guys ever quit on HIM, but they sure as hell on quit on the fans and the traditions of the school giving them their free *** ride to potential glory and an education, at the least.
It's not the 23 freshman that can make the difference, it's the 10 upper class men that need to be hits. I'm surprised how bad the LBs have been. What happened to the 2 Bama LBs that came in the portal? We're not supposed to call out players so I won't. But there was one LB that never set the edge and Baylor just ran the same damn play over and over. And another LB consistently took bad angle's. LBs just killed us. That and getting zero pressure on the QB. I don't think we ever got a sack. That's just inexcusable.
No I do not believe we would have won them all but I do not believe we would have lost them all either. No I’m not defending nor promoting TH just answering the question.
IMHO, the TH culture of wokism. It destroyed the desire of this team. There is too much attrition. Players appear to be ignoring their coaching. Then they just leave or get hurt. I don’t entirely blame Sark. He needs to clean house. The bad apples are ruining this team. This looks like a crumbling culture, which must be rebuilt! It could take until 2023 season to show results. Unfortunately! This looked like a top 15 team in September.....now they’re doormats! That’s culture!
This is football. When it comes down to it, it’s not that complicated. Not to imply it’s easy. But you try to recruit the best players, hire the best coaches, and you win enough games, everyone’s happy. when you don’t win enough games people are unhappy making it harder to attract talent snd keep it. I don’t think it has all that much to do with your political talking points. I think you all might be overthinking this just a little bit conflating this with your culture war crap.
Thought it was interesting he said he was looking for a best effort the last games and didn't mention anything about becoming bowl eligible. He knows we are going o-fer.
I think he wants to shut down any "bowl talk", and focus on the last two games. These kids won't focus on their second steak at the training table much less the game on Saturday. I have already posted that I do not want a bowl game. This group (notice I didn't call them a "team") can practice twice a day from now until hell freezes over and it won't help them. Let the puppets focus on finals to make transfer easier IF anyone is stupid enough to take them.
