Sandbagging Steve

What they did isn't illegal and it's not even against the rules, for the most part. NCAA has made rulings on some of this stuff in the past and has left loopholes in the rules even after some reform bills. It's not illegal. There's only one place you're getting that line of thinking but unfortunately they're off limits for discussion here without a Firestorm.

You've been around Texas long enough to know this answer. It may not be zero, but it is very limited at best.

Crazy times. FAT?

Five star like recruits win games. They mask your weaknesses Everything else is a crapshoot in evaluation.

Truth doesn't register with many fans. It's always the damn coaches fault. WE ARE TEXAS and LOADED with talent all over the field. Just have to hire better corches, they say. Got to develop them boys! /sarcasm No matter how many times the numbers say otherwise, the same excuses decade after decade. You would think after 4 decades more people would learn not to be brainwashed. Fortunately, the power is slowly being taken away from the real issue. It would speed up the progress if some wouldn't treat their school like it's God's church that can do no wrong. It's okay to callout the school for doing a terrible job. Hard to fix otherwise. You should forget the numbers. If the fanatics don't like the truth, they'll just ignore it.

Question: Why has Texas sucked since 1984? A whole bunch bad coaches? The players were just so fucking talented but weren't developed? The only short spurt of winning was during a time when the SWC got in trouble and the system had to find a new way to pay players legally. That ended by the mid-2000's. You really think this admin cares about football? Or just the money? Disclaimer: I had two family members who worked up there from the late 1970s-1990s. It was almost comical listening to some of the admin talk about sports. Completely clueless.

It's only because that's what the administration has been preaching for eons. They've created this culture. Kids don't deserve to get paid and it is immoral to think otherwise (LOL). It's breaking but it's going to take time and then it's hard to turn it around when you're losing. I guarantee you there are many administrators who are putting on an act in public but bcd hate the new system that is coming in place. It's not that way at most other blueblood programs.

It's amazing that fans, after all these decades, continue to blame the wrong people. Getting close to 50 years and no one ever blames the corrupt administrators for this mess. It's not a surprise we didn't get him. Texas is an unorganized mess of greedy, bloated administrative failure. Capitalism as its finest. In fact, all of academia in this country is in the same boat, it's just that Texas wants to collect their athletic dollars and spend as little as possible on the kids who assist in making the money (football players). That's insane and very few other universities who think the same way. The reason it works is because the fans and alumni of this university don't hold their administrators accountable for their transgressions. Here's a couple of links today on university corruption: Student loan forgiveness is nice; nicer would be holding colleges accountable for the student debt crisis (msn.com) The Fall of the Faculty: Ginsberg, Benjamin: 9780199975433: Books (amazon.com) We were outbid, as usual. It's that simple. It happens all the time. You can't blame coaches until the administration starts giving staffs everything they need to succeed. That's never happened at Texas. Not even under Mack Brown. Why do any of you donate to this mess? There's employees in this administration that get paid six figures to twiddle their thumbs all day.. They just keep adding more and more of their friends to the bankroll as more money comes in. It's been this way for decades and decades. It's all about adding bogus expenses so they can claim "amateurism!!!" and "student-athlete!!!". It's like rising tuition all in the name of increased power and greed. The only difference is when they raise tuition, they at least attempt to stay near the top of public education. The bloat is still wrong and needs to be corrected all across the land, but at least they are competing in academia. They don't do that at the football level. Ever. When will the alumni step up and stop this mess? All universities do it, but most of them actually want to WIN so they make sure to stay competitive. Texas is a Title 9 apologist (not a good thing considering the law needs adjustments; as written, with 85 football players counting against the male side, it is reverse discrimination) and hates their students making money while on campus. We went through this same mess during Jim Crow. Different issue, same desired result: power and greed.

Good points, especially on Sark and culture. Herman had a lot of that in place (even if some didn't like his personality) but he's too much of a blowhard to see his mistakes in scheme and coaching hires. He also didn't receive near enough pushback and assistance from administration in getting it right. He was an up and coming coach that needed a coming to Jesus moment from day one. It's the administrations job to make sure that is ironed out. He needed better assistant coaches. There's no excuses for the administration allowing some of those dudes to be hired. Other schools would have ironed all that out before hiring him. At the end of the day, Herman didn't land the right players. I've never seen a coach give away top recruits like Strong and Herman. Their recruiting issues weren't helped by the administration but much of it was their own undoing. The recruiting services way overvalued those classes. Development is an issue but that is discussed here all the time. It's always the coach's fault. Is that really the only issue? Even the main issue? Let's look at it from another viewpoint: 3 RECRUITS I MENTIONED BEFORE: Eagles left Texas early with very limited success to...declare for the draft. I think that tells you something about Brennan Eagles. I seriously doubt he develops in some alternative universe. He's just another school's deadweight. He can't sink his hips and change directions. It was an issue in high school. There is not a miracle pill. Washington is a wide receiver that runs over 4.7 in the 40 (yikes!). Moore was also a high 4.6 to low 4.7 kid coming out of high school (lol at him telling the world he's the fastest man on the team). Moore was a mental headcase in high school. I'm not sure how many schools were really pushing for him down the stretch. It's almost like he was starting to run out of options. But that recruiting ranking! How many successful receivers at blueblood programs, while also being skinny as a rail, run 4.75? 4.65? Our rosters over the years are littered with players like that on both sides of the ball. I'm glad to see Sark upping the game at receiver. We still need more there, and not just transfers. Even back in the mid-2000's, I'm of the opinion that Greg Davis, his biggest issue, was laziness in recruiting and pay for play. We'd get some top recruits but way too inconsistent, especially on the o-line and at receiver. And then when school's started paying players in the state again, it was all downhill from there on out. The defense needs a huge shot in the arm in that department as well. It lacked speed and athleticism in a major way in the past few years. Doesn't excuse the lack of toughness last year. That's a culture issue. HOW MANY GREAT COLLEGE COACHES ARE OUT THERE? Coaching has definitely been an issue, and corch Meh was incompetent, but if you don't have the talent then it's harder to evaluate a coach one way or another. Talent being equal: Herman or Cookie Monster? Herman or Les Miles? Herman or Cristobal? Herman or Kirby Smart? Herman or Jimbo Fisher? I would take Herman in every case with equal talent. I can tell you how every one of those other coaches was so successful (at least in stretches) and I think you already know the answer. Just a wake up call: There aren't very many great coaches in college football. That's why we have such a hard time hiring one. It's been that way for a 100 years with only a few exceptions. Bear Bryant would like to tell you how he won. Go look it up. "IF HE BITES YOU AS A DOG, HE WILL BITE YOU AS A PUP" - Darrell K. Royal An influx of 5-star "type" talent spread out over the various position groups has always been the championship winning formula at this level. This is not the NFL. Coaching is important but at a blueblood program it is more about talent acquisition than we want to believe. The 250th "ranked" recruit in a class is a crap shoot and the kid ranked 900th may be a significantly better player and athlete. Of course, if he commits to Texas he goes from unranked to probably 500th in most cases. And many times much higher than that. He also comes to Texas with way more pressure on him than at TCU. He's not just going to be thrown on the field in front of small crowds, and against weak out of conference opponents, and given the chance to learn on the job. It doesn't work that way here or any other blueblood program. TCU taking a QB and turning him into a linebacker is a good way to find a plus athlete at the linebacker position, if you know how to evaluate the right talent and they have the right mental approach to make the switch. That's more evaluation than development. It also helps if they're willing to inject steroids into their system. And as I stated the previous paragraph, the pressure is much greater here. Saban has a lot of top ranked talent that ends up being worthless (a lot higher ranked than the kids Texas is landing). He just keeps landing enough of them. I'm not saying he's not a good developer, just making a point. Many of his good players bite as a pup. How is that development? IF OUR PLAYERS ARE SO GOOD, WHY AREN'T THE TRANSFERS KILLING IT ELSEWHERE? Why aren't all these players that transfer from Texas going on to great success elsewhere? If they can be developed then why aren't they being developed at their next destination and then off to the NFL? There are a few that were decent elsewhere, but very few of them over the years. And that's something that needs more attention. Maybe a lot these kids with questionable speed and measurables, or with limited flexibility and very little desire for success, maybe they just aren't that good? Where are the complete players? The near finished products the day they arrive to campus? The sculpted clay that just needs some small details? I will repeat: Darrell Royal said a great player will bite as a pup. I don't see many of those landing here. Why? How is that a development issue? How many of our frosh and sophomores pop off the page when they get on campus? At the spring game? In practice? Not stupid fake reports by "journalists". DO SOME OF OUR CLASSES EVEN LOOK THAT GOOD ON PAPER? Texas lands way too many 4-star kids that finish 200-400 in the so-called "rankings". EVEN COACHES WITH AN ELITE SPECIALTY STRUGGLE HERE AT THEIR SPECIALTY Strong was a really good defensive coordinator but suddenly can't coach defense? He was a terrible head coach but he can coach defense. How is that development? Sark tore it up at Alabama but struggled last year on offense. I think he showed a lot of promise on that side of the ball. But we didn't exactly tear it up last year on offense. He's cleaning house on that side of the ball. Bringing in more dynamic players. Why? Because we were so talented?? IT'S LIKE A DOG CHASING HIS TAIL. A CONSTANT LOOP THAT NEVER ENDS. FOR NEARLY 40 YEARS. This is a recurring theme here since I've been alive. There was a 7 or 8 year stretch since 1983 where the talent was good, right after the cheating in the SWC was temporarily halted. The talent was probably elite for only 4 years or so. You could see 2010 from a mile away. We didn't recruit on offense after 2006. Thank you for the two man show of Shipley and McCoy. Total disaster. We did still land players on defense for a few more years. All I know is for 40 years I keep hearing the same damn thing from the administration and the fanbase. Why hasn't it been fixed then? Talent Kills. You know when you have it.

I'm guessing he will no longer have the time to sweep shenanigans under the rug for his buddies Saban and Jimbo. It will be someone else's job until the big school breakaway

Over half the 2019 class was nothing but recruiting deadweight. The 2018 had way too many players without a position (or not willing to change positions) as well as just not being talented enough. For example, the wide receivers in the 2018 class were pure trash. Eagles had some talent, but was a well known one trick pony in high school. He was worth a shot with the testing numbers, but well known to be way too heavy-footed to ever be more than a one trick pony. Yes, sometimes the shuttle time isn't a real reflection of agility. The other two receivers should never, ever play at a blueblood program Ever. Washington? A combo of lack of strength and SLOW. Moore? Good explosiveness out of the box but weak, SLOW and a known headcase. We desperately needed receivers and that's all we got? Not good. Rinse and repeat with many other positions in the class and over the years. There were some talented pieces at the top of the 2019 class (we got unlucky there) but it just wasn't a deep class. Average for a blueblood. Fans have to stop being fooled by the recruiting services who need to sell subscriptions to the largest fan base in the country. The recruiting services create a false sense of security because the fan base thinks we always have the talent. Back in the 80's, before the internet, there was no fooling anyone. The fanbase was well aware that the cheating in the SWC had eroded the talent level on the 40. The 2022 class (and transfers) is a nice start. Texas still need to step it up a couple of notches to compete with the best. Hook' em

He said the parity wasn't so bad but could get worse. He's wrong. The new system has more teams scrambling to compete and pay players in order to make a run at titles. Before NIL, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, LSU, USC, tOSU..may have missed one or two but the list of teams really competing to buy the top players was very small. Now, the new system will eliminate the leech programs that don't belong at this level and that's going to healthy for the sport.

It literally can't get any worse. That's all I'm saying. It may help some like ATM join the list, but it can't get any worse. It may actually bring more parity than the past ten years. Yes, smaller schools will be eliminated but they were never winning it all. Texas was never winning another title in the old system, and it's going to take a mini alumni revolt (already happening IMO) for them to win in this era. The below isn't directed at you but just an overview of the situation. (The below also isn't an excuse for Mack's laziness, which also hurt) Mack was able to recruit in the late 90's and early 00's because Texas (w/ the assist of a journalist) had shutdown the gravy train by ATM and the rest of the SWC. In that era, assistants on college campuses were just paying high school coaches, parents, and recruits in person: "Here ya go. Have some money." When that ended, there was a decade stretch where teams were hesitant about cheating in the state of Texas. SEC slowly started creeping back into the state with a new strategy of 3rd party payments made thru lawyers to evade any possible sanctions. And ATM bought a DE (can't remember his name) in the early 00's and slowly built their way back. By the turn of the next decade, it was legal to pay players while following these guidelines. Add in the advancement of the internet and social media to advance national recruiting and no one but the programs willing to pay top dollar were ever going to win a championship. Over the past decade those programs are: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, LSU, Oregon, Clemson, and USC (they are an unorganized mess, though). There are others playing this game, but they aren't paying top dollar. With the addition of NIL, there's actually been more teams willing to enter and compete for these five-star players. It is making it more competitive. Texas administration better wake the F up. But I've been saying that my entire life and I'm mid-40's now. For over 100 years, many elite recruits have been receiving way more than most want to admit. It's printed in the history books. Go read them. College football was never an amateur sport. It was once significantly larger than pro football back in the day and elite recruits were getting paid. The 200th ranked recruit in the country isn't an elite recruit, BTW. They don't move the needle. The 200th ranked recruit usually needs major development on campus and many of them don't even have the talent to develop. We humans are terrible evaluators and predictors of the future.

The administration has shown a significant lack of competence for decades and decades and decades. It will continue to be much of the same until the alumni make it known. Parity level isn't so bad that it has ruined the yearly chase for titles? You need to wake up on this one. That ended when payments met the internet. Parity left the door a long time ago. We can easily predict the very small pool of teams capable of winning a championship in today's college football. There will never be less parity than there has been the past decade.

For the first time in a very long time, I like the overall talent in the starting lineup (excluding defensive end). It's not national title good, but it's Big 12 Champ good. The biggest issue for 2022, outside of getting a very inexperienced Ewers ready to play, is going to be depth. Texas doesn't have the depth to sustain many injuries. Can Texas even get through the Alabama game healthy? It becomes a bigger issue when you're the one playing the hardest schedules year in and year out. The rest of the Big 12 and much of the country (aggy) play a weak overall schedule and that helps their depth chart. Depth has cost of us a lot of games over the past few years. The loss of Whitt and Jones last year was huge. It's very conceivable Texas wins 9+ games last year if both of those guys stay healthy. Don't get me wrong, Texas wasn't a good team but 9 wins probably happens with both of those guys healthy.

The bluebloods let him go. Ohio State giggled and laughed and made fun of Texas for taking him. Marcus Washington went to camps early in the process and got a very high ranking. Teams "recruited" him until they found out he wasn't the real deal. He didn't have talent. And then they let Texas win the recruitment. The coaching staffs kept their mouths shut and hoped he ended up over-ranked. It just helps them negative recruit Texas. Rinse and repeat. Why do you think Saban recruits everyone across the country? 1. He wants to be in a good spot if the kid blows up and becomes an actual freak athlete. It really doesn't matter here because he's going to pay top dollar at the end of the day. 2. He can eventually weed out the busts without necessarily letting you know he doesn't want that kid. Saban isn't a great coach. The NFL would kick his ass left and right. It took him over a decade just to bring his schemes to the modern era. He just pays the most for the 5-star type recruits. It's not any different than the NFL. That's the entire history of college football from the beginning of time. Most winning coaches across college football history have the intelligence of a chimp. (It I'm not mistaken, the Fat Ketchup over on the other site once witnessed Saban offer Charles Rogers and another top athlete a huge amount of money (over the phone) back in the 90's while Saban was at Michigan State. Weirdos playing journalist aren't allowed to report this kind of stuff to the public. Anyone with skins on the wall can sniff it out all over the internet today. You can also just go read a number of books on college football history and witness the old time coaches brag about it in interviews.) Saban is big buddies with the current and long time NCAA President, Mark Emmert. Emmert, Saban and Jimbo Fisher know each other well from their days at LSU, who has actual immorality issues beyond your wildest dreams (paying players is not a moral issue). TEXAS ISSUES SINCE 1984 (actual issues started a few year's earlier) Development is an issue, but the talent deficiency is the bigger issue. It's not hard to figure this out. Talent wins. Five star talent wins. Bums like Polonsky spread through the culture like a disease. They've brainwashed our big money boosters over the past 30 years to believe in the administration's way of doing (athletic) business. It's a catastrophic failure. Back to Marcus Washington He did drop in the rankings (that's not always the case; many overrated recruits stay highly rated but the losers who attempt to rank them), but was still way overrated. Texas wasn't willing to pay the price that it takes to land top recruits. The result is reaching for too many overrated 5.8/5.9 4-star recruits that none of the other bluebloods want on their roster, all in the name of perception. If the staff doesn't take them, our recruiting ranking drops out of the top 10 and they get fired in short order. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. There's a false perception that big, bad Texas recruits out of this world talent and the coaches can't develop them. That's false. Development isn't rocket science. Schemes and organization are a different matter. But if you aren't sending boatloads of players to the NFL, then you're not landing the right recruits. Period. The administration at UT makes the job an uphill battle. Legitimate 5-star talent scattered throughout the roster win championships. It needs to somewhat consistently spread thru the roster, typically. Add in a bunch of top 150 talent and some well evaluated raw athletes with high ceilings. There will be many busts. And there just aren't that many actual blue-chips coming out of high school. TCUs and Oklahoma States of the world can outperform Texas because they don't have to live up to the perception. They don't have to land the overrated 270th ranked recruit. They can recruit a high ceiling raw athlete who fits their scheme. And if the talent on both rosters is close, who's going to usually win? The team full of 20 year old kids that don't have any pressure on them? Or the team full of 20 year old kids with a huge amount of pressure on them? Not hard to figure this out. Go land the 5-star talent. You must invest money in order to make money. Coaches can't pull miracles out of the bag. Saban has a long list of top ranked players who were busts. You must have the talent in order to develop the players. Last year was a good start in recruiting, but we must do much better. The 2021 class, and the transfers,, was the best in ages for the Horns.

You're guaranteeing the greatest recruiting class in history?

If I make a post concerning The Great Red Spot on Jupiter, someone on Surly will let me know they either grew up there or live there now. It's a given.

futureman guaranteed he would never make it to college, which sealed his fate as an early enrollee.