He is not as good as DKR. No one disputes that. However, he is the second best coach in school history.
Conference titles by UT head coach:
DKR: 11
Dana Bible: 3
John Mackovic: 3*
Mack Brown: 2
Fred Akers: 2
Clyde Littlefield: 2
Ed Price: 2
David McWilliams: 1
Blair Cherry: 1
Berry Whitaker: 1
Bill Juneau: 1
Eugene Van Gent: 1
Charlie Strong: 0
Jack Chevigny: 0
*In 1994, A&M had the best conference record but was on probation, and an 8-4 Texas team shared a conference title in a 5 way tie with Baylor, TCU, Tech and Rice. One of the problems with conference titles as a standard is they are inconsistent and screwy. Are the 8-4 1994 Texas Longhorns who finished ranked #23 (and ironically beat Mack Brown in the Sun Bowl) better for falling into a situation that allowed them share a conference title with four other teams than the 11-1 2004 Rose Bowl Champ Texas Longhorns that finished #4 and lost the conference to 12-1 OU which played for the national title? Which was the better team and coaching job? The 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2008 Longhorns are better than a lot of UT teams that won conference titles. The 08 team actually tied with OU and Tech and should have been at least co-champs, but got screwed because people like Art Briles voted us low and we lost the BCS tiebreaker.
In general, only DKR has won a bunch of conference titles. That’s what makes him the best. After him, Mack Brown is easily the second most accomplished coach. For third, it is debatable between Akers, Dana Bible and possibly Blair Cherry.
Overall win % on coaches since the 1930s:
DKR: .774
Mack Brown: .767
Blair Cherry: .756
Fred Akers: .731
Clyde Littlefield: .691
Dana Bible: .665
Tom Herman: .640 (so far)
John Mackovic: .592
Ed Price: .549
David McWilliams: .544
Jack Chevigny: .483
Charlie Strong: .433
Yep, Brown is the second best coach we have had.
On a side note, if Herman wins Saturday, Charlie Strong will be the only Texas head coach without a conference title since 1936.
Last edited: Nov 28, 2018