Whenever you hear Herbstreit talking about a "cess pool" in Austin and Zubin Mehenti mentions Charlie in the same sentence as "dead man walking" we know things are going to be different
I think change is inevitable but I am not real confident in those in charge will make the RIGHT change ...
True dat Horn87. The decision to hire Charlie was obviously wrong and who knows if the same decision will be repeated?
I think it was a stroke of genius and fortunate timing to get Mack when we did. Inside the ACC, anyone with a pulse knew that he would never be able to compete with Bobby Bowden with UNC's limited appeal and resources. Outside the conference, anyone with a pulse knew that Mack could go into momma's houses throughout the recruiting season and woo them with talk of family and maybe parlay his double-digit wins at a basketball school into something greater at a football one. It was the perfect score. I don't really feel that way about any candidates out there any longer. I think the college football coaching thing was more "linear" in 1997, if you know what I mean. Resume building, relationship building, team building, mild successes, getting those bigger jobs and paydays, etc. Now it seems like more of a crap shoot. Unless your last name is Saban or Meyer, you're only as good as your last game (or hell, even your last tweet). I don't think we'll have a wonderful time getting someone to come to Austin and be the savior. I think people might like the change in how the new guy handles the press or honesty or sugar-coating for a while. But as soon as a 40-point, 500-yard dismantling of the defense happens again, it'll be back to the "not our standard" talk and grass is always greener snide remarks. If you really think about it, we could just be ENTERING our Franchione/Sherman phase.
It could be argued that such an individual "does exist today" and his name is Charlie Strong. What he did in the off-season, coming off back to back very poor campaigns was nothing short of miraculous. He "can get the players" against all odds, but that's not the issue here.
I really like your message H11. I have some similar thoughts in that Texas is no longer Texas in the sense we fans regard it. Top athletes have choices across the country that they view with more opportunity and appeal which are hard for us diehard fans to appreciate. This will not change with our current on field performance. No one likes to join a loosing program, period. One can say that this makes Charlie's recruiting success even more remarkable but the immediate results show no proof that his recruits are as good as published. Personally I think the powers that be realize this and know that to get this program back is going to take some time, hence I feel Charlie will be here, if not through his contract at least one more year. He will get a full four year recruiting cycle. My personal opinion is our talent is not that great. Watching other teams makes me feel that though I glorify everyone in the b orange, only D Foreman is among the college football elite.
I think results at other schools where they consistently rank between #15 and #30 in recruiting classes every year confirm that it's "something else" that isn't getting it done at Texas. Look at WVU this year. They still have their alcoholic coach and mediocre playcalling, but the defense really turned it around this year and they're undefeated. I don't think Strong had built a system at UL yet when we hired him. He had Teddy Bridgewater saving Shawn Watson's playcalling prowess and a bunch of tweeners who changed positions and turned into NFL draft picks. I think he was just luckier and playing in a worse conference. At the time, I said "well that applied to Sumlin too and he did OK to this point at A&M" and this season's results show the difference between someone who knows how to overcome adversity (lost his 2 starting QBs and all recruiting momentum in late 2015) and someone who doesn't. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that A&M has a freaking pass rush.
I agree with several here. 1 Getting Mack was very lucky/serendipitous 2 Charlie has a similar recruiting touch, but that isn't the issue here 3 you can't compare to a single season performance of a team though. Sometimes the right group can come together and rise above. We have way too much in our favor to have a listing record though
