Hank Chinaski

Well, everyone hated that coach too.

Sure, if he’d rather live in Austin than Columbus, then they could probably make it happen. I thought by “money whip” we meant make him an unmatchable offer.

Because they’d gladly match or exceed any amount that we’d pay him?

Terrific. He was still a mediocre coach at Texas, as is Sark. Neither is good enough, which was the point.

Meh, he won a few more coin flip games than Sark has so far (with a much better QB); maybe he’s a little better but the difference seems mostly negligible. (note: that’s not a defense of Sark, just saying that Herman sucked too.)

Same. I love JV and hope he returns, but guaranteeing him $130mm at this point seems likely to bite you in the ass. Maybe he’ll be 1989-1991 Nolan Ryan and we’ll all be pissed if he does that as a Yankee…I wouldn’t be shocked by that but I wouldn’t bet on it either. (Not to mention the opportunity cost of that kind of deal - when we still have Framber, Javier, LMJ, Garcia, Urquidy, Brown, etc.)

Oh, Angels.

And I still clearly remember Orakpo getting bear-hugged, tackled, etc repeatedly in a certain game that year, and I don’t think there was a single holding call… Honestly the only game I recall Texas getting obviously and egregiously fucked by the refs - to the point where it seemed like some shit was going down - was the ‘15 Okie State game. I didn’t see all of the game in Stillwater a few weeks ago, but 14 penalties against UT and 0 against OSU was certainly…curious.

Deciding to abandon an analytical culture that he implemented and which has resulted in an historic and unprecedented run of success would be quite a decision.

I love Pena, but his .289 OBP ensured that he wouldn’t fare well in voting.

I’d guess they’d be exactly what they used to be in the B12, which was exactly what they’ve been in the SEC, which is exactly what they were in the SWC.

Haha yeah, reminds me of this scene where Costanza rejects a woman because she’s bald…

“bashing team and coaches is not”…one thing?

I could see giving him $45mm for 2023. But yeah, not sure I’d guarantee anything beyond that. I’ve been hoping for a 2 year / $75mm type of thing. Sounds like that may not be happening.

Is it? We’re starting 2 true freshmen on the OL, a freshman QB, and we have holes all over the defense (i.e., players who aren’t close to “wildly good”). From a skill position a standpoint, I agree. But as an overall roster? Nah, this isn’t anything close to Mack’s rosters in the 00s.

You know, I generally try to ignore bullshit narratives that writers build around sports, especially baseball (baseball is a bit sacred for me). I love the numbers, the right ones actually do tell the story (the real story, not the editorial). Call me boring, call me robotic, call me “rain man”, whatever - you wouldn’t be wrong. Because of this, I really haven’t historically had any hatred for other players/teams in baseball. Even when I was 9 in 1986 and was heartbroken by the Mets, I still though Strawberry and Gooden were cool as hell and fun to watch. But then the sign-stealing story dropped, and we witnessed the most absurd, sensationalized, disingenuous media response I can recall (about sports). The writers clung to the story because it was easy material and got clicks. It gave them a heel, which baseball writers have sought throughout history. And of course the fans of all other teams ate it up. Even other players were clutching their pearls publicly when they knew goddamn well that they’d participated in something very similar. And it’s been going on for 3 years now. We’re talking about sign-stealing, but it’s continuously referred to as “scandal” like this was Baylor football or something. Not only is it just sign stealing, but the statistical evidence strongly suggests that it didn’t make any meaningful difference in production or outcomes at the team level. And anecdotal evidence suggests that it was widespread across baseball. The writers’ willful ignorance on this has been egregious. All this is to say that I have to admit to feeling a bit giddy that the Jeff Passans and Buster Olneys of the world have to come up with new material, have to admit that maybe sign stealing wasn’t the story of 2017, have to tell the actual story of a franchise that has been the best in baseball for almost a decade now and isn’t slowing down. They have to tell the story about how Jose Altuve is a goddamned baseball unicorn. They have to change the narrative. So this is all to say - go fuck yourselves, you lazy, unimaginative hacks. And to all the moronic fans who have berated these guys for 3 years…I’m not offended because you’ve been “mean,” I’m offended by how fucking stupid and, again, willfully ignorant all of it is. I told my brother after the sign-stealing story broke that the positive side of it all is that, when we win it again, it’ll kind of feel like the first time again because of everything above. And goddamn, it kind of does. So I guess that’s the gift we all get here.

I agree, but I also want to see how it plays out with a consistent QB. QE is clearly very talented but his last 2 games have been shaky. It’s ok, he’s a freshman, but I still want to see what Sark does with a good (and more experienced) QB. At the risk of sounding like a Sark apologist, I still think there are a lot of plays that just aren’t being made due to poor execution. He’s not blameless, of course. (For the record, I have little faith that Sark will become a great coach; I do think there is a chance that he can be a good one.)

I don’t think it was “laziness;” I think there is a reasonable strategic logic to being conservative when you have superior talent. Mack just didn’t seem to get that it didn’t work when the talent disparity wasn’t great. (In fairness, I think he eventually did get it, but it took a while and lots of losses to OU.) Herman’s problem was that he’d switch to totally conservative within the game as soon as he had a little bit of a lead. And he wasn’t playing with superior talent like Mack was.

Again, he had no upperclassman talent at all on last year’s roster (not a single player drafted) and had 2 QBs who were bad and never played before. That’s different than being 5-7 in your third year. I think people still don’t fully accept just how bad that roster was last year. Right now, it seems like the team is a bit better than last year’s even with a freshman QB who has done some freshman things. We’ll see how they close this year. My guess is that they’ll split and finish 7-5, which, while not thrilling, isn’t a terrible outcome. If they fall apart and end on another long losing streak, well, Sark will be on the hot seat probably. I think the off-season and next season will tell us what Sark will be. If he signs a good class, keeps talented players out of the portal, attracts talented players from the portal, and wins 10 games with a more experienced and talented roster, then perhaps he’s not a lost cause. If it’s the same bullshit, where every conference game is a coin flip, then yeah, we’ll know.

Yeah, I’ve wondered if this is changing/different than it used to be. We just had an off-season in which the successful coaches at Notre Dame and Oklahoma just voluntarily left - not for the NFL, but for other college jobs. That doesn’t seem like something that would have happened in years past. With that in mind, maybe it is more realistic to think that Texas could bring in a very successful HC from a top-tier program. I’ve always assumed that the pool is confined to coaches from lower tier/non-blue blood programs or coordinators. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I still think that Sark could end up being successful, for all the reasons listed here - recruiting (especially QB), offensive scheming (he needs to figure out second half strategy better, but there is enough poor execution that I’m not convinced it’s really on him, at least not completely), bringing in respected coaches, etc. I’m willing to accept the possibility that the results will improve as the QB and young OL gain experience, the players continue to learn the schemes, and more talent is accumulated on D. And I think there is something to be said for continuity. But if not, I wonder if the landscape has changed enough for the next coaching hire to be what you’re describing/hoping for.