...let Mack Brown (and what so many don't like about what he didn't do and what he did, like clapping) go. All the posthumous analysis and commentary on Brown is meaningless in the present, and that goes for 'these are his recruits', too. The team is what it is, and the coaching staff is what it is - in the here and now. As BIS would say - focus. And focus on what we have.
Agreed. The result of this one and going forward...good or bad...is all on Strong. Last game there were some grey areas. This one is very black and white for me. He had options this week and made the decisions to face UCLA exactly how we are going to do so tom. If we shock UCLA and show toughness again...it's all praise to Strong. If we get ****-hammered a 2nd straight week, same goes the opposite way. We shall see. I'm walking in expecting us to be the punisher and redeem ourselves. Only way that changes is if this team/staff proves that to be a fool's game repeat. Some of us still remember sweating our *** off to 66-3. Still looking for payback. Giving this version their first defeat would achieve that to a high degree.
Agree. This is Strong's team and coaches. Strong's performance and results including recruiting is his and he strikes me as a no excuse type.
What happened here? We're all... suddenly.... cool? About BOTH Mack and Charlie? Even Taps? What's going on here? [For a while I have felt that I was the only one here who REALLY liked Mack and really didn't want him to go, but also one who REALLY likes Charlie and wishes his classy ways would succeed at Texas like Mack's classy ways succeeded for a very long time. So, I hope you understand my confusion when everybody just goes "we are cool". Or may be I misunderstand the thread... ]
as far as I'm concerned Charlie took over an expansion team. Starting from scratch you can read into that whatever you want in ref To Mack
It'd be interesting to see what the message boards looked like in 1997 during the implosion and the ongoing Mackovic criticisms into Brown's first year. Since Ricky was on a Heisman campaign, that kind of sweetened the honeymoon, much like Manziel helped Sumlin's first year be such a raging success. I know austin360.com and a few other boards were kickin' it. I didn't start perusing Hornfans until 1999 probably. I guess one of the major differences between Mackovic's final year and Brown's final year was the situation in which the OL/DL were left. Mack inherited an OL with 4 senior starters, two of whom were obvious all-conference candidates. Mack inherited a DL that was shallow at DE but had two of the greatest DTs who ever played here. The criticisms would be less about the cupboard being bare and more about why we weren't performing better when Johnny was roaming the sidelines. I almost wish I could say the same now.
Yeah I'm not about to write this off as a good coach can't change the culture of a team in a single off-season and jack the current players' performances way over their past standards. 2011 tOSU finished 6-7. Urban Meyer took over and had them 12-0 the very next year. Sure the player details differ. But many of those same players sucked bad enough to lose 7 games in 2011. And they lost none the very next year with a great coach. Many of the same guys had to play very well to go undefeated. That's a cop-out not to expect to win at least one more game than last season with a new coach who knows what he's doing. Especially if you return a ton of guys like we did. I'm not writing off Strong already, nor am I writing off the expectation that his persona overhaul should exceed Brown's last year win total. You think Meyer here this year would have standed pat or lost more than Brown did in 2013? Careful writing this off as some complete rebuild that will require a step back. That's bs and excuses. It wasn't like we lost some stud QB between years...we had Case for crying out loud. Strong's staff should be able to match Case level QB play with an off-season to do so. He had a full team to work with starting when he got here. It's all on him what he does with these guys . Many of them were part of winning 8 games last year. If they regress, Strong deserves all the blame and harsh criticism he gets. Just as if they win 9 he deserves vast amounts of praise. But I'll be damned if he gets let off the hook as a rebuild year that more losses are acceptable. Good coaches get it done and improve players who aren't performing to the best of their ability. Excuses are just that...empty words.
Non, I am with you on this. Sadly anonymous forums provide opportunity for sad sacks to look smart. Somehow being negative gives some the false impression that they are the "realists" when in actuality none if us know much about what's going on at the 40 acres. Do you know how much dumbassery was spewed over Mack by some asshat that will never reach anywhere close to his success? But I digress, new head coach, new AD, new players ... asshats unite, the time has come to change the names- but the whining can continue as usual.
Hornfans- On The Field-Talk about Longhorn Football. I hear there is this football board where everybody thinks just alike and it's called texags. You should really go there if you would like to call posters names that don't fit your little personal beliefs. Heaven forbid that someone in a high position ever be crititcized for doing things that by their own admission help caused their fall from that position as being lazy in recruiting. Then trying to become Alabama with a power rushing game which totally failed. Meanwhile Baylor is becoming a power by going to the spread which is a staple now as an offense in Texas high schools. Now Baylor is beating us on a regular basis with those type recruits. Also see Aggy's offense the last few years and now even without Johnny Football. This is football talk and these are facts. You can ask or read Hpslugga's posts on this who is a coach. I thought group think was one thing that separated us from Aggy. I have heard that even talked about at length on this very forum. This forum should probably just be shut down as there should no longer be any discussion other than the knodding of heads.
I think it's time to move on unless the criticism's of Charlie get out of hand. Think about it; Mack Brown, a man beloved by many, who presided over some the greatest football seasons and victories in the history of the program was pushed out against his will. There must have been some reason for it right? Well the foundation was cracked. The roof was leaking. Now Charlie has moved in and OF COURSE there's problems. What could anyone expect? Add to that the dscipline issues/suspensions and losing Ash again and here we are. I admit to being disappointed about the performance of the defense against BYU. I thought we had some talent over there to work with and given Charlie's rep as a defensive guru it was not unrealistic to expect a solid performance. As for the offensive side of the ball, that is where we have been gutted right? Three starting offensive linemen? A totally inexperienced quarterback (thanks Mack?). The loss of some key wide receivers? Ok, so that's the biggest problem. But, I do recall some "MEH's" when we didn't bring in a name Offensive Coordinator. I don't believe Watson was considered to be a "guru" by any means so that's on Charlie if it doesn't play out once he gets some talent in there. Yeah, I can let it go but let's give Charlie some time.
