Texas AD Chris Del Conte

[idigTexas 2289]

1 hour ago, DFW Horn said:

CDC must think it was important to keep Herman around through NSD1 or he didn't want to fire him until the season concluded. To keep his word? Establish his authority? Who knows.

Otherwise, he should've fired his ass after ISU and rolled with Ash as interim.

Obviously CDC kept Herman around a little longer because it served no purpose whatsoever just to fuck with you.  Have you let him know that he owes you an explanation?  

[Frank Gallagher 97]

2 hours ago, Viper said:

if we need to make a change, I am betting we'll have cause and won't have to pay a buyout

I hear he is required to wear a monitor on his ankle (quite discreet I'm told) and has to be in his home by 9 PM

[GTA-Horn 11]

I speculate but it is obvious to me that Herman's firing wasn't just a W-L decision.  His record on the field didn't cost him the job.  So it must have been his behavior/conduct that the University leadership did not like.  We know about some of this behavior/conduct but I bet there is a lot more that we don't know about.  Given the buyout and related inconveniences, I am sure Herman was given multiple chances/warnings by the Athletics Department (AD) and was either unable or unwilling to comply, resulting in the University approaching Urban.  The flirtation with Urban should have been executed better and none of us should have known about it - this leak is a massive fuck up on the part of the AD.  Herman was certainly pissed that talks with Urban happened and probably thought that the deal with Urban is likely.   Herman got back at the AD by calling Ray Tanner about the South Carolina gig.  The Urban deal never materialized but Herman's reaching out to Tanner probably sealed his fate.        

[Mr. Drummond 2199]

LOL yeah the AD leaked the Urban stuff.   This thread is surly gold. 

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

https://www.burntorangenation.com/2021/1/3/22212055/tom-herman-fired-players-negatively-recruiting-texas-longhorns?fbclid=IwAR3nYylix4C9ko2jxHBw5VeuOyXL0hsRsty-yI435imDLeqwvdX2PJ0-dJA

[TwiceHorn 31496]

Ultimately, the choice of whether to fire mid-season or end of season is kind of arbitrary.  There's pros, cons, ins, outs, what-have-yous to either course.  You just pick one and do it.  Del Conte has been pretty consistent about "evaluating coaches at the end of the season."

And he's had to say that a lot.

Edited January 4, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31496]

25 minutes ago, GTA-Horn said:

I speculate but it is obvious to me that Herman's firing wasn't just a W-L decision.  His record on the field didn't cost him the job.  So it must have been his behavior/conduct that the University leadership did not like.  We know about some of this behavior/conduct but I bet there is a lot more that we don't know about.  Given the buyout and related inconveniences, I am sure Herman was given multiple chances/warnings by the Athletics Department (AD) and was either unable or unwilling to comply, resulting in the University approaching Urban.  The flirtation with Urban should have been executed better and none of us should have known about it - this leak is a massive fuck up on the part of the AD.  Herman was certainly pissed that talks with Urban happened and probably thought that the deal with Urban is likely.   Herman got back at the AD by calling Ray Tanner about the South Carolina gig.  The Urban deal never materialized but Herman's reaching out to Tanner probably sealed his fate.        

On the contrary, this has been the least leaky Texas hire in the internet era.

[Wulaw Horn 19099]

3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

On the contrary, this has been the least leaky Texas hire in the internet era.

Yeah- that's an odd complaint.  I think that the AD bungled the shit out of this hire, and I can't believe that if you had seemingly limitless money that you couldn't end up with Urban Meyer or someone better than Sark, but to complain about leaks is an odd complaint.  Basically, the entire national (and most of the local) media got caught completely fucking asleep and was blindsided by this hire, and the job was open for all of 4 hours before  we were announcing our guy. The only people who knew this was coming in the media were the 9.95'ers and I would bet this didn't come from the administration side- and there is always plausible deniability when you are talking about the $9.95 crowd.  

Honestly, it was amazing how little got out into the public domain/speculation. Anyone who thinks that this was some sort of process with too many leaks doesn't understand that by being engaged with this website (or paying 9.95 a month for another website) they are in a small fraction of dedicated people that are weirdos, and are probably more plugged into what's going on than the simpering fools who get paid to know this shit at places like the AAS. 

[Huckleberry 32997]

1 hour ago, Horn80 said:

I think Texas was reluctantly going to stay with Herman per CDC’s statement only because Urban said a final hard no and there wasn’t a slam dunk hire available but once it got out that Herman contacted SC about their HC job, BMDs demanded he go.  CDC was left with egg on his face and Sark was available.  Fuckery

People who interpreted that statement as actual information that Herman would coach in 2021 were rightfully ridiculed that very same day. Nothing on that front has changed. Your interpretation was wrong then and is wrong now. 

But if you feel comfortable that having the situational awareness and inferential skills of Chip Brown, Cedric Golden, and Brian Davis is where you want to be, you do you.

[jinx 2635]

3 hours ago, idigTexas said:

This is the CDC thread.  You can blame him for the past 25 years if it floats your boat, as that is the Surly way along with evaluating the success of a hire on day 1. 

There are no guarantees in this business, even if we had managed to to land Urban Meyer.  Every coaching hire should elicit a Missouri "show me" reaction from all of us.  Winning is not everything or the only thing, but it will rightly be the primary factor in determining whether replacing Herman with Sarkisian was a good move.  Some of you apparently know the future.  Good for you.  I'm going to give Sark a chance to show me.

As for how much involvement CDC actually had in this hire, it is clear to me that CDC's job is to take all the blame for any program failures, and to get zero credit for the successes, especially when they are not related to football.  

Fair enough, but since he is the public face of the administration at this time, he gets the brunt of my anger.  He may be different, but it feels the exact same as all of the other coaching searches.  Which is exactly my point.

I have no idea of the future, and I will be glad to be wrong.  I was excited about the future with both Strong and Herman, so I hope I reverse jinx Sark into 5 national titles.  I will believe it when I see it.

2 hours ago, Bobby Layne said:

CDC is not responsible for the past ten years in the desert. First: FUPM had a coterie of fanbois w $$$$ to screw up the “Saban deal”. Add, these names to that shit show/transition: DeLoss Dodds, Joe Jamail, Bill Powers, $teve Patter$son 🤬, Mike Perrin (no offense but not all ex-players are good coaches, OR good A. D.s (**sidebar: see Sou Cal here, Mike Garrett, Pat Haden, Lynn Swann) then Gregg Fenves. Now roll tape to CDC, Hartzel and Eltife et al. And then they hire Sark.  As always, time will tell. Hope springs external for all college football fans,  except in Burnt Orange land it means WINNING and winning BIG! That’s also an expectation. It has not been that way for a decade. That changes now. Get onboard. Or don’t. But fat, drunk and cynical is no way to go through life . . .(SWID ...nvm). I’ll close with this Zen moment from my favorite eastern philosopher, Berra the Yogi : “Predicting is difficult. Especially as to the future.” Hook em.   

I have always been on board, and I will be this time after getting over the depression of hiring a guy that was a failure as a head coach.  Like I said, maybe he has faced all of his demons and conquered them all and is ready to lead Texas back to championships.  Nothing on his resume points to that being the case.  And I couldn't give two shits about making a horrible Washington team decent or being a great OC for Saban.

Our administration fails time and time again.  They failed to either motivate or remove Mack before he torched the whole thing.  They failed at luring Saban because they couldn't manage Mack.  They failed at hiring Urban, then fired Herman (after a stupid and unnecessary announcement that they kinda weren't) and hired Sarkisian on unplanned timing because FCB leaked the news.  Still looks like a clown show to me.

Had Sark taken over at Alabama, or been hired to replace Urban at OSU, or hired at OU to replace Riley, I would bet all of those would work.  For whatever reason, that never works for us. 

I will be overjoyed to be wrong. I will eat crow as soon as Sark holds a Big 12 trophy (while coaching for us).

[Horn80 6129]

4 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

People who interpreted that statement as actual information that Herman would coach in 2021 were rightfully ridiculed that very same day. Nothing on that front has changed. Your interpretation was wrong then and is wrong now. 

But if you feel comfortable that having the situational awareness and inferential skills of Chip Brown, Cedric Golden, and Brian Davis is where you want to be, you do you.

I think Texas was confident they could get Urban and he probably didn’t give the final hard no until much later than people think, and giving CDC the benefit of the doubt.  I don’t read the 9.95ers you mentioned so, I have no idea what they said.

[jinx 2635]

3 hours ago, immamac said:

You guys do realize that mack brown wasn't fired for 9+ win seasons and no hardware right? He was fired because he gave up and no one could get him to ungive up at Texas. 

Sark will be mack 2.0, which last time I checked was a pretty fucking dope ass time to be a longhorn fan until 2010+ 

6 CCG appearances and 2 National Championship appearances in 12 years? Sign me the fuck up. More is better, but I won't complain about that level of performance. Nowadays it would have been more like 10/12 appearances if it was the round robin and not divisional format. 

I would be OK with Mack 2.0, but have no clue what people are basing that comp on.

[idigTexas 2289]

1 minute ago, jinx said:

I would be OK with Mack 2.0, but have no clue what people are basing that comp on.

Who would be Mack 2.0 in your "we haven't seen shit yet" eyes?

[jinx 2635]

5 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

Who would be Mack 2.0 in your "we haven't seen shit yet" eyes?

Closest in this currently available group would be Campbell, but I am sure he has seen enough of our fuckery to give a quick "NO!"  Give me someone who has shown some ability to lead a P5 program to or above their potential.  I would have been happier with Fickell or Harsin, because at least they are successful head coaches that are able to win their conference multiple times, even at the G5 level.

Sark has proven nothing.  Like I have already said, He would probably work at a school that is all in on winning.  I'm nowhere close to convinced that we are.

I'm giving up my negativity after this rant, but the announcement on Saturday was like a wet fart in church for me.  I was completely disgusted.

[LTtxfan 49251]

13 minutes ago, jinx said:

Closest in this currently available group would be Campbell, but I am sure he has seen enough of our fuckery to give a quick "NO!"  Give me someone who has shown some ability to lead a P5 program to or above their potential.  I would have been happier with Fickell or Harsin, because at least they are successful head coaches that are able to win their conference multiple times, even at the G5 level.

Harsin may end up as a disaster at Auburn-- winning at Boise is not that impressive.  I like that Sark has a lot more P5 experience.

Also don't be so quick to judge based on past records

Michigan State Spartans (Big Ten Conference) (1995–1999)
1995	Michigan State	6–5–1	4–3–1	5th	L Independence
1996	Michigan State	6–6	5–3	5th	L Sun
1997	Michigan State	7–5	4–4	6th	L Aloha
1998	Michigan State	6–6	4–4	6th

Edited January 4, 2021 by LTtxfan

[idigTexas 2289]

46 minutes ago, jinx said:

Closest in this currently available group would be Campbell, but I am sure he has seen enough of our fuckery to give a quick "NO!"  Give me someone who has shown some ability to lead a P5 program to or above their potential.  I would have been happier with Fickell or Harsin, because at least they are successful head coaches that are able to win their conference multiple times, even at the G5 level.

Sark has proven nothing.  Like I have already said, He would probably work at a school that is all in on winning.  I'm nowhere close to convinced that we are.

I'm giving up my negativity after this rant, but the announcement on Saturday was like a wet fart in church for me.  I was completely disgusted.

Campbell accomplished this season what Herman did in the 2018 season (beat OU in the regular season, lost the CCG to OU, and won a NY6 bowl against an SEC opponent), and has lost 5, 5, 6, and 3 games the past 4 seasons compared to Herman's 6,4,5, and 3.  So I assume that your argument is that Campbell is accomplishing the same exact results as Herman, but doing it with less talent, and thus he has shown you enough to prove that he would be able to succeed to our standards simply by changing addresses?  What have you seen from his resume that indicates he is capable if bringing in the better talent that would presumably make him more successful at Texas?  Why does he get a pass for losing to Louisiana and Oklahoma State?

Fickell?  He has one year of experience at a P5 program, where finished with a losing record at OSU, a place with the same pedigree as Texas.  What do you think our record would have been against this schedule?  Are you sure you want Mack 2.0 and not Strong or Herman 2.0, because the latter is what you are advocating here.

Harsin?  Seriously?  He has shown you more during his very meh career at BSU than Sarkisian has?  Again, Strong or Herman 2.0, not Mack 2.0

I can totally understand not being excited about Sarkisian, especially if you were still holding out hope for an Urban Meyer miracle, but every viable option to replace Herman was going to be a calculated gamble.  The fact that we aren't willing to throw $15 million a year to get Saban, Swinney, or anyone else that you might consider to be a can't miss hire doesn't indicate that we don't care about the success of the program.  It indicates that we aren't completely insane (whatever ludicrous amount we offered Meyer notwithstanding). 

I don't know if Sark is the guy any more than the rest of you, but it's as good of a dice roll as any under the circumstances.  Time will tell.   

Edited January 4, 2021 by idigTexas

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

fucking LOL at being excited if we got Mack 2.0-- boy I hope the 2.0 means he can match Mack's 2.0 conference titles in fifteen fucking years

that attitude is why we are persistently looking up at the top tier and rationalizing our failure

[Pig Bellmont 8719]

A lot of pussy rubbing in this thread. We’re hiring arguably the best OC in college who has experience as HC at two P5 schools and just spent 4 years learning under the best college coach in history. 
 

Waiting until Jan. 2 to announce saved weeks and weeks of coaching search rumors and stories of middling coaches “turning us down” in efforts to get raises from their own schools. And now, we also get some positive press during the title game where Sark will be featured (hopefully) winning the damn thing. Every one should settle down and buy in. Or not- your choice to be miserable is yours alone. 

[Nicole44 22061]

14 hours ago, jinx said:

I had to check to be sure this was the CDC thread...

Just want to chime in on what an absolutely shitatstic job he did in this whole coaching fiasco.  At least he actually fired Herman, but everything else about the “search” was Keystone Cops yaketty sax.  I mean, I get the whole miss on Urban, but I still have no clue why we had to string out firing Herman.  And the public statement saying he was staying was a huge fuck up.  Then we fire him out of the blue and announce the new coach within hours and can’t even get the press conference set up on the network that we fucking own.  Everything Rod B said on the air Saturday was spot on.  

I am fully from Missouri on this hire.  His past record as a head coach is average at best.  Hopefully his lessons learned since then give him the experience he needs to succeed here.  I’ll watch, but I’m me far less than optimistic. 

The sad thing for me is I think he would probably work at a lot of places, but doubt it will work here.  We have 3 conference championships since 1996 while OU has stacked up 14.  Fucking Baylor and Kansas St each have 2.  

This shit show of a coaching search with a far from stellar ending is just emblematic of all of the things wrong with our program.  “We’re Texas” doesn’t mean what we think it does. I mean what other program goes from “Hiring Saban” to actually hiring Chuck Strong and follows that up by talking about hiring Urban only to settle for Sarkisian.   What an absolute joke.

I hope I am dead wrong and Sark knocks it out of the park. After following this program for 30 years, you’ll have to pardon my extreme skepticism. 
 

Yeh. Some rumors I am hearing are squaring with a fairly big fuck up on our part. Will post more details as I feel comfortable that those details are 100% confirmed by my source. Damn. Sending mixed messages to a potential hire would be one thing. Three passes. Fuck a duck. 

[Dbeasy 15068]

The complaints about CDC are pretty much b.s. There may have been a point when the Meyer situation required some more involvement from his superiors, but that was because Meyer ended up being a very difficult candidate. Overall CDC has done a great job and until there is some clear evidence he’s made a major mistake, the complaints are just a bunch of hot air. 

[mwaadeeb 1221]

14 hours ago, jinx said:

I had to check to be sure this was the CDC thread...

Just want to chime in on what an absolutely shitatstic job he did in this whole coaching fiasco.  At least he actually fired Herman, but everything else about the “search” was Keystone Cops yaketty sax.  I mean, I get the whole miss on Urban, but I still have no clue why we had to string out firing Herman.  And the public statement saying he was staying was a huge fuck up.  Then we fire him out of the blue and announce the new coach within hours and can’t even get the press conference set up on the network that we fucking own.  Everything Rod B said on the air Saturday was spot on.  

I

Everybody said the way to do it right was to have the next guy ready to announce before you fired Herman. That was the pro way to do it. That's what CDC did. Should he have fired Herman before Sark had agreed to terms? What if then Sark said no, used it for another pay raise at Bama, and we had no replacement? Save you "Shitastic coaching fiasco" bullshit for an actual shitshow. This one wasn't perfect, but nothing ever is. 

[Nicole44 22061]

1 minute ago, Dbeasy said:

The complaints about CDC are pretty much b.s. There may have been a point when the Meyer situation required some more involvement from his superiors, but that was because Meyer ended up being a very difficult candidate. Overall CDC has done a great job and until there is some clear evidence he’s made a major mistake, the complaints are just a bunch of hot air. 

Sark could very well be a great hire. Risk and reward and all that. As has been mentioned staff is key to his success. And sobriety. He has my support. I genuinely want our Program to succeed. As such I am in his corner. Same for CDC. Just disappointed with some information I heard and once I can confirm to my satisfaction will post. Hook’em. Hope we are finally out of the desert of mediocrity. Go Horns! 

[CycleTex87 2972]

Man, this is going to be a long offseason.

[Surly Bevo 25049]

I will say one thing on the "failure" as a head coach front.  

Right now there are 6 and only 6 coaches with national titles active in the game of college football

Saban....tried and screwed the pooch

Mack....been there done that

Dabo.....not going anywhere but maybe Bama

Jimbo the Hobbit....aggy

Ogre.....caught lightning In a bottle, wouldn't leave LSU, wouldn't want him anyway, probably fired in the next 4 years

Lester....eating grass in Kansas

That's it.  Those are the folks by the success metric we want to shoot for are out there coaching right now.

Then in the realm of even remotely realistic you have

Meyer...took our shot, didn't land him, either probably doesn't coach again or goes to NFL

Pete....yea he seems to be doing ok in Seattle

Stoops...be worth it to hire him to have him die of a heart attack on the sidelines but lots of problems with procuring bags of dicks during the pandemic

Other than those guys the national title winners since the BCS era begin are Fulmer, Coker, Chizik and Tressel.

Who else are non title winning sure things?  Riley? Day? Yea...those guys are not options.  

It's always a crapshoot.  

[Wulaw Horn 19099]

7 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

I will say one thing on the "failure" as a head coach front.  

Right now there are 6 and only 6 coaches with national titles active in the game of college football

Saban....tried and screwed the pooch

Mack....been there done that

Dabo.....not going anywhere but maybe Bama

Jimbo the Hobbit....aggy

Ogre.....caught lightning In a bottle, wouldn't leave LSU, wouldn't want him anyway, probably fired in the next 4 years

Lester....eating grass in Kansas

That's it.  Those are the folks by the success metric we want to shoot for are out there coaching right now.

Then in the realm of even remotely realistic you have

Meyer...took our shot, didn't land him, either probably doesn't coach again or goes to NFL

Pete....yea he seems to be doing ok in Seattle

Stoops...be worth it to hire him to have him die of a heart attack on the sidelines but lots of problems with procuring bags of dicks during the pandemic

Other than those guys the national title winners since the BCS era begin are Fulmer, Coker, Chizik and Tressel.

Who else are non title winning sure things?  Riley? Day? Yea...those guys are not options.  

It's always a crapshoot.  

People make fun of us a lot- and maybe rightfully so, but the fact that the Cookie Monster and the mad hatter were able to win titles at LSU shows you just how much of a fucking layup that job is- and that only gross incompetence has kept them from being a consistent national power for basically the entirety of their program.  

Then, they dabble, for 1 year, in competent and modern offense with a QB that's not a paint chip eating moron and put together one of the best teams of all time. Then, the few bits of coaching competence they have leave and they are back to huffing paint with a guy that McDonalds would look askance at hiring in their give a job to a mentally handicapped person.  All with the greatest party/food/alcohol/hot chick scene ever.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm jealous of hell at those crazy ass cajuns.  

[jinx 2635]

1 hour ago, idigTexas said:

Harsin?  Seriously?  He has shown you more during his very meh career at BSU than Sarkisian has?  Again, Strong or Herman 2.0, not Mack 2.0

 

Please sell me on all of the things that Sark has done that qualify him for this job.  Was it his stellar performance at UW or USC?

And the stuff at Alabama with a semi-pro team doesn't move the needle at all for me.  I have watched Saban disciples fail more than once. Having your Heisman finalist QB throw to your (should be) Heisman winning WR or hand off to your Heisman also ran RB isn't super difficult, especially behind an OL chock full of future NFL starters.  That is almost entirely Saban and no more than 15-20% Sark.  Should we have hired Kiffin?  They seem about equivalent to me.

I'm seriously curious what I am too dumb to understand.  Does hiring Sark mean we are going to load up on talent the way Bama and Ohio State do?

[idigTexas 2289]

8 minutes ago, jinx said:

Please sell me on all of the things that Sark has done that qualify him for this job.  Was it his stellar performance at UW or USC?

And the stuff at Alabama with a semi-pro team doesn't move the needle at all for me.  I have watched Saban disciples fail more than once. Having your Heisman finalist QB throw to your (should be) Heisman winning WR or hand off to your Heisman also ran RB isn't super difficult, especially behind an OL chock full of future NFL starters.  That is almost entirely Saban and no more than 15-20% Sark.  Should we have hired Kiffin?  They seem about equivalent to me.

I'm seriously curious what I am too dumb to understand.  Does hiring Sark mean we are going to load up on talent the way Bama and Ohio State do?

I did not hire Sarkisian, and I cannot point to a bunch of qualifications that you are going to find convincing.  You see his P5 head coaching experience as an indication of his ceiling, and attribute his successes as an OC at multiple P5 schools as purely circumstantial.  I'm more of a glass is half full kind of guy.  Regardless, my point wasn't to prop up Sarkisian's credentials in an effort to convince you that he was an obvious take.  It was to point out that there wasn't an obvious take, and that under those circumstances, I'm relatively optimistic with the results. 

Sarkisian knows the expectations and believes he is up to the task.  The committee that hired him believes he is up to the task.  That is enough for me to give him a chance to prove it.

 

 

[TwiceHorn 31496]

21 minutes ago, jinx said:

Please sell me on all of the things that Sark has done that qualify him for this job.  Was it his stellar performance at UW or USC?

And the stuff at Alabama with a semi-pro team doesn't move the needle at all for me.  I have watched Saban disciples fail more than once. Having your Heisman finalist QB throw to your (should be) Heisman winning WR or hand off to your Heisman also ran RB isn't super difficult, especially behind an OL chock full of future NFL starters.  That is almost entirely Saban and no more than 15-20% Sark.  Should we have hired Kiffin?  They seem about equivalent to me.

I'm seriously curious what I am too dumb to understand.  Does hiring Sark mean we are going to load up on talent the way Bama and Ohio State do?

I would agree that if we hired Sark straight out of USC, two years removed from his UW meh,  it would be a shit hire.

But, first of all, UW and SC were deeply troubled programs when he was there (UW 0-12, SC coming off probation with a 60 schollie roster).  And he was a deeply troubled man.

He took that experience to a five-figure analyst job at Alabama and parlayed that into being the most successful current OC in college football.  And he wasn't just minding the program, he affirmatively improved it.

If we were hiring him on that alone, without the meh head coaching experience, I'd be more skeptical.

I think his background of "failure" and success, in a cycle, and accompanied by sobriety, is a unique and potent combination that has considerable upside.  Probably more upside than Brian Kelly or Dan Mullen.

There's more to be excited about Steve Sarkisian v 2.0 than anyone we could have gotten after Meyer fell through.

[Schulz2.0 28960]

The staff Sarkisian hires is going to be remarkably different from the staffs Strong and Herman hired. JFC people. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Schulz2.0

[UDontKnow 10447]

5 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

The staff Sarkisian hires is going to be remarkably different from the staffs Strong and Herman hired. JFC people. 

I'll only believe it when I see it. And I say this respectfully, because I respect you as a poster.

[jinx 2635]

34 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

I did not hire Sarkisian, and I cannot point to a bunch of qualifications that you are going to find convincing.  You see his P5 head coaching experience as an indication of his ceiling, and attribute his successes as an OC at multiple P5 schools as purely circumstantial.  I'm more of a glass is half full kind of guy.  Regardless, my point wasn't to prop up Sarkisian's credentials in an effort to convince you that he was an obvious take.  It was to point out that there wasn't an obvious take, and that under those circumstances, I'm relatively optimistic with the results. 

Sarkisian knows the expectations and believes he is up to the task.  The committee that hired him believes he is up to the task.  That is enough for me to give him a chance to prove it.

 

 

Gotcha, and I ask because you are asking me to defend my position.  I have no defense, I am just sick of watching shitty football.  And my gut reaction was 4 more years of shitty football when Sark was the name. 

My tangent is that if we had a more cohesive administration, maybe we wouldn't have to watch coaches quit on the job (Mack), fail miserably because they are in over their head (Charlie), or act like 6th graders (Turtle).  Maybe the unity that this admin is showing toward Sark is them turning this ship around.  I sure hope so.  But after being a die hard fan of this program for 30 years, I am fresh out of benefit of doubt to give. 

Here's to hoping we can actually win at least ONE FUCKING CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP in the 2020s.

[Tex-19 2872]

One impressive thing about this process was that any leaks were locked down air tight, at least post Urban. No one knew the timing of Tom's firing (some 9.95ers still thought he might stay) and no one really saw Sark coming either. Heck, BK was seen as the leading candidate at the time. CDC and the others had all that info sealed shut.

[dcar00 14269]

6 minutes ago, jinx said:

Gotcha, and I ask because you are asking me to defend my position.  I have no defense, I am just sick of watching shitty football.  And my gut reaction was 4 more years of shitty football when Sark was the name. 

My tangent is that if we had a more cohesive administration, maybe we wouldn't have to watch coaches quit on the job (Mack), fail miserably because they are in over their head (Charlie), or act like 6th graders (Turtle).  Maybe the unity that this admin is showing toward Sark is them turning this ship around.  I sure hope so.  But after being a die hard fan of this program for 30 years, I am fresh out of benefit of doubt to give. 

Here's to hoping we can actually win at least ONE FUCKING CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP in the 2020s.

this is where I am.  the axis of Mack/Patterson/Charlie set this program back 10 years.  I was hoping we could actually make the move to really fix the problem.  we are rolling the dice again.  Of course I can't imagine he'd be worse or as bad as Charlie but nothing says he will be better than Herman on the football front, even though he might be a home run on the "don't be an asshole/dingleberry" front which could help him get the extra year if he's still at 9-10 wins in year 4.

[TwiceHorn 31496]

11 minutes ago, jinx said:

if we had a more cohesive administration, maybe we wouldn't have to watch coaches quit on the job (Mack), fail miserably because they are in over their head (Charlie), or act like 6th graders (Turtle).  Maybe the unity that this admin is showing toward Sark is them turning this ship around. 

Actually, if you're going to read between the lines (which has to be done at this point), there's maybe more evidence that this was one of the more sane coach searches and hires that we've had in a while.

I think the surest way for CDC to get fired is to try to power-play the other "stakeholders" out of the search.  It appears that he might have herded the cats here about as well as one can.  For that I cite the following:

• Herman was actually fired
• A replacement was named immediately
• Almost no leaks
• An unobvious, but potentially brilliant replacement

That indicates to me that the stakeholders were all mostly pulling in the same direction without a lot of dissent.  I would speculate that it's the dissent that drives the leaks.

[Brothahorn 10087]

36 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

Hugh Freeze minus the prostitutes would have been the closest to Mack 2.0.  “Wow, where did these number 1 recruiting classes come from?  That was quick.”  Followed by, “Wow, I know I shouldn’t complain about a 10 win season, but shouldn’t we be better with all of this talent?  Also, are we sure he’s a nice good old boy Southern gent that everyone likes or is that phony?”

Let's go with 'Try Hard'

[ChickenSandwich 9843]

Pure wild speculation but why not...anyone else hear the rumor of an affair with a Big Money donor’s wife?

[idigTexas 2289]

1 hour ago, jinx said:

Gotcha, and I ask because you are asking me to defend my position.  I have no defense, I am just sick of watching shitty football.  And my gut reaction was 4 more years of shitty football when Sark was the name. 

My tangent is that if we had a more cohesive administration, maybe we wouldn't have to watch coaches quit on the job (Mack), fail miserably because they are in over their head (Charlie), or act like 6th graders (Turtle).  Maybe the unity that this admin is showing toward Sark is them turning this ship around.  I sure hope so.  But after being a die hard fan of this program for 30 years, I am fresh out of benefit of doubt to give. 

Here's to hoping we can actually win at least ONE FUCKING CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP in the 2020s.

I don't think we are that far apart in how we feel.  I asked you to defend your position for the same reason you asked me to defend mine...just to make sure I hadn't missed something.  

One reason to be optimistic is that CDC was not here for any of the previous hires.  I have been of the opinion that he has been criticized too quickly and vehemently, but I certainly understand the source of the cynicism.  One thing we can all agree on is that Tom Herman was not the answer.  The best thing I can say about Sarkisian is that he isn't Tom Herman, and I mean that in a good way.    

[Doc Reeves 6434]

8 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Pure wild speculation but why not...anyone else hear the rumor of an affair with a Big Money donor’s wife?

Yup. Some details I heard was that BMD and wife had an arrangement where they could step out, just he hated Tom so it was a serious slap in the face. 

who knows tho. 
 

*or maybe not an arrangement, but BMD had side action too. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Doc Reeves

[immamac 42865]

1 hour ago, Tex-19 said:

One impressive thing about this process was that any leaks were locked down air tight, at least post Urban. No one knew the timing of Tom's firing (some 9.95ers still thought he might stay) and no one really saw Sark coming either. Heck, BK was seen as the leading candidate at the time. CDC and the others had all that info sealed shut.

Surly knew the night before. 

[Richter 2261]

14 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Pure wild speculation but why not...anyone else hear the rumor of an affair with a Big Money donor’s wife?

Yeah, until Charlene McCombs died...

[Doc Reeves 6434]

5 minutes ago, Richter said:

Yeah, until Charlene McCombs died...

Awww that’s naughty. She was a saint

[orangecat92 306]

3 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

People make fun of us a lot- and maybe rightfully so, but the fact that the Cookie Monster and the mad hatter were able to win titles at LSU shows you just how much of a fucking layup that job is- and that only gross incompetence has kept them from being a consistent national power for basically the entirety of their program.  

Then, they dabble, for 1 year, in competent and modern offense with a QB that's not a paint chip eating moron and put together one of the best teams of all time. Then, the few bits of coaching competence they have leave and they are back to huffing paint with a guy that McDonalds would look askance at hiring in their give a job to a mentally handicapped person.  All with the greatest party/food/alcohol/hot chick scene ever.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm jealous of hell at those crazy ass cajuns.  

I really like this post...don’t forget Saban  won a NC at LSU as well.  What is it about LSU? Do the athletes skip all academics, only do football?  

[Horn Draoi 255]

22 minutes ago, orangecat92 said:

I really like this post...don’t forget Saban  won a NC at LSU as well.  What is it about LSU? Do the athletes skip all academics, only do football?  

Is that what you call a rhetorical question? Forget it, OC92-it’s Louisiana.

[orangecat92 306]

7 hours ago, DFW Horn said:

CDC must think it was important to keep Herman around through NSD1 or he didn't want to fire him until the season concluded. To keep his word? Establish his authority? Who knows.

Otherwise, he should've fired his ass after ISU and rolled with Ash as interim.

Would add to this, the recruiting was allegedly already down the tubes, with the Ewers situation, so I don’t think there was any reason to wait until after signing day.  If there had been decommits,, guess what there is the portal, so there is the makeup opportunity.  There was no reason to keep Tom one minute past the last regular season game.  

Put another way.  When was the last time there was anybody of any consequence in Tom’s corner?  I would hazard a guess it was the day of the OU game, before the eyes incident.  

And CDC let the dead man walking continue to walk all of the way through the bowl game.  

This AD gets an F for that portion of the project.  He knew what was coming, what had to be done, and failed to execute the correct manuever in a timely manner.  If I were on the board, I would say no more extensions or raises for CDC unless/until all three big men’s sports are top ten, and we feel good about the leadership of the three sports.  

[DFW Horn 6124]

3 hours ago, jinx said:

I'm seriously curious what I am too dumb to understand.  Does hiring Sark mean we are going to load up on talent the way Bama and Ohio State do?

We'd better, otherwise this Sark experiment/hire will also fail.

Jimmys and Joes > Xs and Os

[DFW Horn 6124]

13 minutes ago, orangecat92 said:

Would add to this, the recruiting was allegedly already down the tubes, with the Ewers situation, so I don’t think there was any reason to wait until after signing day.  If there had been decommits,, guess what there is the portal, so there is the makeup opportunity.  There was no reason to keep Tom one minute past the last regular season game.  

Ewers can't sign with anyone until December 2021, bc he's a junior.

[TwiceHorn 31496]

15 minutes ago, orangecat92 said:

There was no reason to keep Tom one minute past the last regular season game.  

And what good reason was there to fire him before the end of the season, with replacement wrapped up?

[ClubWhatever 12146]

12 minutes ago, DFW Horn said:

We'd better, otherwise this Sark experiment/hire will also fail.

Jimmys and Joes > Xs and Os

Almost as important as this is getting everyone pulling the same direction.  He can’t have all these guys thinking of opting out and bad mouthing the program, and having everyone in the building except his powerlifting soul mate hating his guts.  He actually alluded to this (being United) in his PC.  Those are generally worthless but that stuck out to me.  Of course Tom went on about alignment but I’m not sure anyone was ever aligned around him.  The reactions to his firing indicate most players and staff were aligned around various other individuals. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by ClubWhatever

[jinx 2635]

One of the things that I am optimistic about is the growth that is likely to have come to Sarkisian after falling flat on his face.  There is nothing like outright failure to make you take a step back and look at what works and what doesn't, and where you need to improve yourself.  Herman just got a large dose of that, we will see where it gets him.  Hopefully it built Sark into a better coach.  

Unity implies compromise and understanding.  Alignment implies my way or the highway.  

[dcar00 14269]

11 minutes ago, jinx said:

One of the things that I am optimistic about is the growth that is likely to have come to Sarkisian after falling flat on his face.  There is nothing like outright failure to make you take a step back and look at what works and what doesn't, and where you need to improve yourself.  Herman just got a large dose of that, we will see where it gets him.  Hopefully it built Sark into a better coach.  

Unity implies compromise and understanding.  Alignment implies my way or the highway.  

Tom stole "Alignment" from Urbs.  to your point, if his failure made him decide to work harder, smarter, and understand the sauce was going to send him down the wrong path then we could be getting someone on the upswing.

Edited January 4, 2021 by dcar00