Loather

"At the beginning of the year, everybody thinks you're going to go undefeated and win a national championship. Right? So anything short of that, you're going to be disappointed" - Chris Del Conte He thinks fan's expectations are foolish. Even though you and I know most fans would be pleased with an occasional conference championship, a less than humiliating showing in the RRR game, a coherent offence, a team that plays hard every week, our expectations are pretty low at this point and they still managed to get under them. "Darrell Royal is not walking through that door.” - Chris Del Conte He does not have any confidence that he can find a successful head coach. Darrell Royal or Urban Meyer are not walking through that door, but a $2,500,000 AD should at least be able to find a competent coach with the money and prestige this position brings with it, if he can't find a coach for the football program what exactly is the university getting for its money?

"At the beginning of the year, everybody thinks you're going to go undefeated and win a national championship. Right? So anything short of that, you're going to be disappointed" - Chris Del Conte "Darrell Royal is not walking through that door.”" - Chris Del Conte

Hey Mate, let me get this straight. You are a 30 something, British expatriate living here in Texas. You feel comfortable coming on this site and lecturing all of us fine folks on how the Texas fan base is dysfunctional and responsible for all the problems with our school's football program. Well, how fortunate for us that you have made the odd decision to take an interest in our team. And you are going the extra mile by taking the time to come here and offer up your well considered views. You're neat Bob. I must commend you for your smugness, I mean confidence. You showed no hesitation weighing in with your opinion on the school song controversy over whether the players should be required to stand with the team and participate. This is an issue with complex racial sensitivities, mostly unique to America's history, and one that serious people on both sides are struggling to find a balanced position on. A more tentative man might have deferred to others with a deeper understanding of the topic. Bravo. You know Americans, and especially American men are used to being lectured about our ignorance on different issues. From what I understand we don't have any knowledge or curiosity about other cultures. We are frequently reminded that we are a bunch of loud obnoxious boors that don't respect local customs. So, in that spirit, let me ask you, how do you imagine it would go over for a 30 something American to sit down in a British pub and commence explaining to a group of guys, many much older than himself, the proper way for them to support their favorite Premier League team. How they are fucking the whole thing up, and have brought failure and humiliation upon themselves? I know what I would do to that young man. He might get a Glasgow Kiss. Your opinions are received here with the equal enthusiasm. Your points have not been especially inciteful. In fact, your very presence on this site is gratuitous, I really don't get the point. So, piss off now and go watch some "football" I doubt you have missed anything exciting while you were here. Maybe come back in ten years. No, scratch that, just piss off

I think we should at least give some thought to the coach CDC is most familiar with, he would have an idea of whether he's interested and if he would work out - the Fort Worth Fat-ass, I would take him, at least he would have some passion and demand something from his players

We are acting like there are only two options available. Either we snag the greatest college football coach of our era or we might as well ride it out with a guy that has proven he can't get it done. I guess If those were really our only options, I would agree that there is no point in paying the huge contract buyouts. How about another option. How about doing a serious talent search for a guy that has at least proven himself competent as a head coach? I don't care how much Tom Herman was being pursued by LSU. I don't care that his Houston team beat the Sooners. After the failure of Charlie Strong, to hire a guy with one and a half years head coaching experience was foolishness. The Charlie Strong hire was even more inexplicable. Those were not professionally done coaching searches. There are schools out there like Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Clemson, and yes even Texas A&M that take their coaching searches more serious than we do. Who should we hire? I don't know. It's not my full-time job to know. I haven't made it my career to find and analyze coaching talent. I don't keep a current list of potential hires in my desk. There is such a person. He makes over $2,000,000 a year because he is supposed to be one of the best. He also gave our current failed coach a contract extension for no apparent reason. So, if he doesn't know where the next Nick Saben is, or at least the next Lincoln Riley, he better find him. There are athletic directors all over the country that probably have some dream hires that they would love to make for their football program, but salary restrictions or the prestige of the college just make it unrealistic. That is not the case for CDC. With the exception of 4 or 5 coaches, he can literally choose anyone he wants. If he can't find someone that will at least be moderately successful why did we bring him in as our AD? If I were going to pinpoint one thing this program has been lacking the last ten years it would be accountability. Someone needs to be accountable for this mess. Many people need to be accountable. From the players all the way up to the administration. Why are we letting CDC off so easy? Well, he tried to get UM so what else can he do? Bullshit. He was hired for this. CDC go find us a coach.

A competent coach can turn a program around in two or three seasons. It's repeatable. Meyer has done it in year one. Another thing Matt Rhule, Urban Meyer and Jimmy johnson all have in common besides kickin' ass is degrees in psychology. Jimmy has attributed much of his success to this. I think Urban coaching the Horns may not be in the cards, and everyone else is a distant 2nd, but I kind of like that Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell, he's putting together a solid record and if nothing else seems like a genuine guy. That woud be so refreshing after four years of this peckerhead.

This guy is the author of an article on the very sketchy website Austonia.com. He discusses Urban's wife doing some real estate shopping down here in Austin. This may in fact be the origin of this canard, and if it turns out to be true congratulations to this young man for breaking the story. The fact that Andrew Zimmel is an alumnus of Texas State, and his having what I would call a less than serious appearance, make me question whether he is just trolling already well beaten down Longhorn fans. If that is the case, I hope that something equally unfortunate befalls this rotund writers' big fat ass.

I remember wondering what Aaron Rodger’s problem was with Mccarthy, he said after the game that the fake punt was obviously a solid call, yes obviously Mike, how foolish of everyone to laugh at you, the runner got the ball twenty yards from the first down marker, I guess the reverse was supposed to leave the entire Redskin defense frozen like WTF just happened?

I agree with the points in the video. The stink of losing that surrounds this program is making every issue more difficult to manage. Having a lame duck coach could be catastrophic. If CDC is as smart as some of you think he is, he will put this fire out quick. Tom has to go. Allowing any financial considerations to come into play here would be short sighted foolishness.

If it never made sense to you why CDC gave Tom Herman that extension, why he would do that for him? That's because he didn't do it for Tom Herman, he did it for himself, so he wouldn't be forced to do his job, he wanted it to look impossible to fire him right now, unworkable, Thank You Chris, really appreciate it, if you are unsure of this just drop him a line and ask him yourself

This team has lost faith in Tom Herman. It is unimaginable that he turns this around. One of the coordinators needs to be used as interim until the end of the season. Mike Stoops was fired mid-season with no real plan in place. They just made do with who they had. I respected the hell out of that. But then, we don't have the balls or aversion to humiliation that the Sooners do. You get what you tolerate.

Fuck You Futureman, I've always thought that retarded picture is so perfect for you, CDC came in and immediately starts saying "the fans expect a championship every year" and other condescending BS, It was only due to pressure from the fan base that Herman had to make the staff changes, CDC made it clear he was fine with everything as he held a press conference in the recovery room, Texas is dysfunctional probably past being fixable

Texas is not very good at rating talent on or off the field. Why did they think Chris Del Conte was such a stud? I guess we all got fooled by the success that they've had with two and three star athletes. I think somehow CDC got credit for that. Well, as it turns out, we can look forward to them whipping our four and five star recruits for the foreseeable future. It never had anything to do with the empty suit that slithered down to the Forty Acres. It was always that fat slob screaming on the sidelines. That has become painfully obvious now. There has to be an effort to get Urban here. If the last decade has taught us anything, it's that coaching at the University of Texas takes a big personality. He is the closest we are going to get to a sure thing. And that is what Texas needs right now, they cannot afford to make one more bad hire. The next one has to be out of the park. If CDC is not up to it, then he needs to step aside.

Some of you morons are still acting like Urban Meyer is not up to the standard. I don't think most of you even came up with that thought on your own. You mean our standard of hubris and laughable incompetence? He is this only coach out there that could immediately put an end to the humiliation. This program is teetering on no longer even being among the top tier. Ten years is a long time. The only question is if we would be fortunate enough for him to consider coming here.

Does being a spineless follower make you feel righteous? You must be one of the Good People. Congratulations. What these players are doing requires no courage. it's the current fad. Black people in the 60's in Alabama speaking out - that's courage. What these guys are doing is making a mockery of the civil rights movement. Claiming people are "ignorant" is so tired.

I am really sorry everyone, but I still remember a few months ago. When people were not intimidated and afraid to even speak. What a bunch of scared little ladies we've become. So a few spoiled athletes with a free ride through college are digging around, just trying to find something to be offended about? You mean that same bunch of kids that quit on us last year? The group that watched the Big 12 Championship on TV? They are throwing down ultimatums? Well, don't let the door hit you in the ass. What a bunch of ingrates. I would rather watch a bunch of 2 star walk-ons that at least give the game everything they have. BTW, there is nothing wrong with the school song. That's really a stretch. By that standard just about everything is racist. I say piss on their demands.

I really wish we had gotten him.

I don't think I have seen even a single comment from anyone on Surly that said they expected Tom Herman to be fired this year.

Kirk Bohls: "Del Conte firmly remains in Herman’s corner, and it’s hard to blame him since he was the one who mistakenly extended the coach’s contract by two years after last season’s Sugar Bowl victory. Del Conte craves continuity and said Monday from his hospital bed after surgery for a torn labrum, bicep and rotator cuff, “We’ve got to create some stability, and we are. We’ve got work to do, and that’s what we’re doing. You have to trust the plan. We have to work our way out of this. Darrell Royal is not walking through that door.” First off, Kirk is right that Chris Del Conte mistakenly extended Tom Herman's contract. That is apparent to everyone at this point. It makes this whole situation more difficult to address. But these comments by Chris Del Conte are just ridiculous on so many levels. "You have to trust the plan"....Why?....What is the Plan? "Darrell Royal is not walking through that door" Really? That is your statement to the media? That is the message you want the fans to hear from the administration? I don't see how that comment sits well with anyone, especially Tom Herman - what a bode of confidence for your head coach. It says he made these comments from his hospital bed. I have had surgery for a torn bicep, without the labrum and rotator cuff repair. Let me tell you, just the bicep repair is no minor surgery. Perhaps this helps to explain these bizarre comments. It's his business if he wants to address the media under those circumstances, but if he does I think he has to take responsibility for the outcome. The bottom line is that he is apparently experiencing some significant health issues, and this probably explains the lack of leadership we are seeing right now. But of course, his health is more important than a football team. He must be under tremendous pressure, I hope he is able to take whatever time he needs to fully recover.

The last championship is getting to be a while back now, and our storied football program is going through a multi-year dry spell. Every year we get sucked in thinking that we will finally turn it around. This arrogant and dysfunctional organization has failed with several head coaches now. The current coach is a lame duck. Teams seem to have figured out our conservative offense, it has even been suggested that we are giving tells on run and pass plays. We have a quarterback that some feel could be elite. He can run the ball pretty well but he does have a noticeable weakness in arm strength. In fact, our entire roster is viewed as pretty talented, although this hasn't translated into much success on the field. Our special teams are bad and the coaches don't seem to be teaching some of the fundamentals of football like tackling. We have lost some close games this year, we seem to find creative ways to screw around and lose. The team is literally being laughed at around the country. If the coach is fired, some people (Including Myself) would like to see Urban Meyer brought in to see if he can turn this thing around. - Dallas Cowboys or Texas Longhorns?

"These were very difficult decisions and certainly not an indictment of them as coaches," Herman said in a prepared statement. "I just believe we need a fresh set of eyes and infusion of new ideas and energy to help us grow across the board." Nothing wrong with Orlando. we just need a fresh set of eyes, that's the whole justification for letting him go - and now we're considering hiring someone already in the building....

It's hard to put your finger on it, but when you watch teams like OU, Georgia, Clemson, or even the way LSU looked when they played us, the other players seem different. They obviously play better, more aggressive football. But beyond that, they just look more serious, mean, just look like men. Then they run the camera down our sideline, and our players look like boys, not intimidating at all, many times smiling during losses, no concern on their faces. It's not as apparent now as it was the last few Mack years or with Strong, but this team is soft. I remember one time I was watching some behind the scenes type show, maybe something on Longhorn Network, Mack is speaking to the team, and he says "We got macaroni and cheese for you guys today!" with a big smile on his face, I was wondering if this was happening at Alabama? I put this squarely on the coaches, but Texas plays like pussies and has for ten years. I don't even care about their record anymore, I would just like to see some aggressiveness, guys leaving the ground and knocking the hell out of people, what is wrong with this program?

I guess so, but i think I agree with Huckleberry that the term has lost some meaning at this point. Whatever offense it is that Oklahoma State runs I want that one. Instead of a slow paced, inflexible, unimaginative one, lacking aggressiveness or innovation - you know, Tom Herman's Offense

Maybe someone could explain this, but it seems like there have been reports of us going with a spread offense many times over the last few years. Strong said he was changing to one in 2015 but I never saw it. Sterlin Gilbert came in and ran a Veer and Shoot version in 2016, and now Tom has his "pro spread" Maybe it's just that our QB play has been so dismal and our OCs sucked, but I have yet to see what I think of as a spread offense. The kind that Tech and Baylor have destroyed us with. Or the kind that Oklahoma State seems to have no trouble finding a new QB to run every year. It doesn't seem to matter who we have or what kind of offense they purport to be running it still looks the same. All we get are screens, and desperate bombs down the sidelines. I see nothing across the middle. If we go no huddle it's not ran consistently. And of course we see no wide open receivers like OU has on every play. Have we ever really run a pure spread offense? If Graham Harrell does come in will he be allowed to run the Air Raid? Or will Tom want some kind of mutated version of his inept scheme. If Harrell is not going to run his offense, what possible reason would there be to bring him in?

Exactly. CDC wasn't even going to insist on Tom getting new coordinators. This guy is a classic bureaucrat. His only concern is keeping his job. Texas winning or losing is secondary. Bureaucrats live by one credo - Don't make any real decisions and you can't be blamed for anything. So he will see which way the winds are blowing and take the least controversial path. At some point that may be firing Tom. These guys don't make bold moves.