Very interesting interview. I didn’t realize that Saban went 7-6 in his first year at Alabama, and lost to Louisiana Monroe at home that year. Start at the 4:50 mark.
Thank you for posting Watching those clips it more than ever looked to me like the defense just stopped. The locker room crap must have been uglier than we knew. Great interview! I am so glad he is our COACH
I don't get angry or upset by much..... But it really pisses me off to no end to know -with all that so many people invest into this program and efforts made- that some new age punks were so selfish, ignorant and delusional that they thought it OK to undermine, consciously or unconsciously...maliciously or just lazily, what so many others were working so hard to accomplish.....and they did it while on our dime and wearing our colors.
Rain, I totally agree but imagine that you spent over three hours of your life with one of the "offenders" answering his questions about The University of Texas, his "dream school". I knew his HS coach, who asked me to meet them for lunch because he knew I would shoot straight with the kid. I saw NO indication of what was to come but would love to meet the worthless piece of **** that "took control" of his thinking and cost him an eight figure NFL contract.
During the anarchy, I referred to them as "puppeteers" - plural. In the REAL world, people that undermine their employer, are fired and attempts made to make sure they never work in the industry again. The fairytale world of educrats knows no bounds, at least since Frank Erwin died.
So many come to mind, Pickney, Eagles, Foster, Sterns, maybe Hadnot. Pickney especially- that kid was incredible but then he suddenly became disinterested. I never understood what happened to Hadnot, that kid was like Ricky then suddenly he started talking to Aggie well before this portal circus. I had a kid that I hired, he started listening to this troublemaker revolutionary ( had nothing to do with race, he was anti management) - called the kid in and told him if you keep following this jackals lead- you’ll end up getting fired like him. Kid turned it around that day and now is a superstar in our organization. Some people use others for their own agendas.
NR, What happened to Butch was academia. Some kids don't try, some don't put in the time, and unfortunately there are some that just can't. Talk to the old Ags; many will swear I took his SAT. Rod Dockery was banned from Aggie athletics by the NCAA over the payments to Murray. Rod grew up in Kirbyville, where his dad was once principal of the HS, and later Superintendent of the district. (Think how RC snuck Bubba Bean out the back door and hid him for two weeks.) I never heard he talked to A&M after he left, but it would make since that he would reach out to the Dockery family to explore his options because Kirbyville is not a bastion of athletics. (FWIW, I have about 20 relatives buried in Bean's Cemetery there.)
Thanks! I always wondered what happened to Butch. With that talent, I would have hoped UT would have provided tutors.
I did some searches and found this interview with Hadnot. Episode 80 with Butch Hadnot, Texas Longhorn running back great - Stories Inside the Man Cave
I have to ask this because I'm so curious, and maybe someone "in the now" can answer. Foster is the only def. starter from the TH coaching era that is now gone. I'm having a hard time understanding how 1 player can make the whole team lay down and give up? What is going to be so different this year? We had the same talk before the 2021 season, "now that TH is gone". What am I missing?
Nothing. If fans will believe that narrative then Texas/Sark should sell it, (to get them back in the stands.
You gotta like Sark mentioning the Director's Trophy and giving props to all the other sports that won it for UT
Like almost evrrrbody here, this is complete conjecture and the only thing I can be sure of is that some of my conjecture is wrong. It wasn’t about 1 player- but people outside of the team that encouraged players that they needed to make a stand against things theses interlopers had as a hidden agenda. I know that happened to Pickney based upon his comments at the time. During Herman’s time here.. I don’t know. Please take this with a grain of salt, but what I am very sure of is that this wasn’t one bad player. Even though, and now I’m shifting gears, some portaled players via the Bo Davis one way ticket bus needed to go because of a lack of desire and teamwork, is something I feel confident about. And that’s based upon Bo’s speech. That kid who recorded it thought it would go differently. I’m happy to say the opposite happened. Last WAG from me is that 95%+ of the players were bought in. I loved X Worthy’s instant support of Bo Davis and Moros comments were telling as well. Warts. Never liked em and I hope these portaled players- some still not picked up by anyone else will grow because of this life lesson. The tail cannot wag the dog. Life’s unfair, get used to it and overcome like a man. (Speech over as applause starts slowly to a smattering of slow claps)
Run, There was no "one player", but rather multiple. There were also some players that wanted change but thought the best way to accomplish that was to work with coaches & administration to foster change. One of Deloss' biggest fears was street agents, as well as professional agents getting inside the programs. He even went so far as to have some come talk to the kids. This was using athletics to accomplish political agendas and Herman fostered that. Loved the interview with Hadnot. I did not realize that he returned and finished his degree. Major kuddos for that. He mentioned his cousin Bubba Bean. Couple of things of note with Bubba: (1) Bill Yoeman parked two red Cadillacs out in front of his house; (2) RC "kidnapped" him for a couple of weeks before signing date (see also Johnny Hector). If you ever meet Bubba, ask him about his official visit to Colorado and HC Eddie Crowder - priceless.
This all started when Mackovic was threatened by a group of players before the Rice game debacle and he caved. He should have packed their bags for them kicked them out the door. Instead, it started the unravelling of his program.
Disagree. He didn't "cave" in KC and lost his job. His belief that his plan was infallible, coupled with his "abandoning" his team to "be alone" pacing between the bench & stadium wall (Rice & UVA) did little to inspire confidence. That's ok because Willie Cunningham thought he was great in spite of being forewarned by several former players
I like when Sark talks because I think he's a pretty honest guy but I didn't hear **** about the defense. Discussing QBs and Bijan and surrounding them with weapons is... fine? We were #27 in the country in yards per play. We had untimely offensive play against a handful of teams with a sore-thumb QB and that cost us for sure. But the #100 defense didn't help, especially when they'd be called upon to stop the run in crunch time and we'd give up historically-bad plays.
I’m expecting the defense to be better this year, and it should have to do with a modified scheme, better suited for the personnel, and the second year in a new culture. I also believe the talent has been upgraded, but not significantly. Some of the analysts that I respect believe that PK didn’t modify his system for the obvious deficiencies: no outside rush and a very weak second level. Unfortunately, most of those same deficiencies are going to exist this year as well. I believe that if you understand your weaknesses and game plan around them, the odds of having a better outcome are reasonably high. However, we just don’t know. We’re going to learn a heckuva lot on September 10th, and it might not be pretty. Let me add that while we lack elite players, Alfred Collins has the potential to be special. So does Byron Murphy. I think that Watts will be an upgrade and a stabilizing force, and we all continue to hear very good things about Jahdae Barron at nickel.
Thanks so much for posting that. I had no idea what happened to him, and it is nice to know what he has done with his life. Rumors and unverified stories around him at the time were totally unfair and it is too bad what happened at Texas. No bitterness. Hats off to him!
I know Chin, I was wrong about what happened. What’s funny is I remember the DE #1 Watkins, Norman that was outstanding and he faded as well. Butch mentioned him in the video as one that Macovich said he wasn’t going to play. I think he mentioned Watkins, maybe it was McElroy. Man, what was Macovics problem?
At least he had the wisdom or guts to address the elephant in the room. Remember we were a CFP team for 2.5 quarters.
