Culture

[Stunns38 3357]

Or you know, lacking recruiting chops to land top level talent and settling for backup options that are shitty evals that leave you with CJones, Okafor, Angilau, and to a lesser extent Majors, Kerstetter as your "best" options without even mentioning the real scrubs like Ghirmai.  Other talent like Karic, Hookfin, Tyler Johnson would potentially satisfy a Herman offense but the coaches from Bama on offense want the body types they are comfortable with, who coincidentally are just bodies and no talent for their positions.  Either that or they need each several years to gain competency in what is envisioned of them, so one summer and 2 games leaves us with what we saw last night.  Conner instantly in the 2 deep tells you how bad some of our past OL evals have been.  The development was obviously lacking but it always always starts with the eval.  The overall recruiting class ranking means jack shit.  Go look at OL recruiting over the past decade seriously it's ass especially if you're Flood and Sark and want to play like they did at Alabama

OL recruiting has been ass since 02(I just looked and was shocked). 2007 was highly rated but had major busts. That’s insane. I even have more respect for Colt now.

[hookem48 4631]

1 minute ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

FIFY, and VY rounds out his career at UT with more hollow ten-win seasons.

that would matter if you think Casey is VY, I know one person here that thinks he is. Do you?

[tx 3 putt 76400]

Can they re do the locker room ?

Edited September 12, 2021 by tx 3 putt

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

I really, really hate this idiotic idea that a new coach has to force "his offense" on to another coach's players. It's just really stupid to try it in one fell swoop. Ease into it over a few years if you are that stuck on "your" fucking offense or build a program to fit around the players you inherited and run someone else's offense. 

Mack is a glaring example of the failure of this approach. If he did not give up on his precious offense after 12-0, he would not have survived to see 2006, at the latest, and he would have Jeff Fishered VY. 

[hookem48 4631]

Just now, Stunns38 said:

OL recruiting has been ass since 02(I just looked and was shocked). 2007 was highly rated but had major busts. That’s insane. I even have more respect for Colt now.

yeah, how fast he got rid of the ball was never fully appreciated.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

1 minute ago, hookem48 said:

that would matter if you think Casey is VY, I know one person here that thinks he is. Do you?

No, but it's the same principle. I mean why bother subbing out Card if you are going to force Casey into a square peg.

[hookem48 4631]

Just now, MaybeACoordinator said:

I really, really hate this idiotic idea that a new coach has to force "his offense" on to another coach's players. It's just really stupid to try it in one fell swoop. Ease into it over a few years if you are that stuck on "your" fucking offense or build a program to fit around the players you inherited and run someone else's offense. 

Mack is a glaring example of the failure of this approach. If he did not give up on his precious offense after 12-0, he would not have survived to see 2006, at the latest, and he would have Jeff Fishered VY. 

then give the coach a guaranteed 10 year contract and don't give a fuck about anything until year 6 or so. VY ain't walking through that door

[tx 3 putt 76400]

Someone refresh my memory ….

mack was let go so Saban could get a raise

and Herman was cut loose so Meyer could get more money from Jacksonville ?

Edited September 12, 2021 by tx 3 putt

[Wally Pryor 5244]

35 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Mack Brown's most devastating legacy.

Hardly.

246-65 wins that.  Spread out over 4 disembowelments in the Cotton Bowl.   

[Landomatic 3813]

 

9 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

50

No shit? And you really have that mentality? And don't see this (below)?

32 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

Yeah, and they're right.  

Is there any doubt that there's been an increasing spiral from self-sufficiency into gaping vagina but-our-feelings mentality in a straight line from Greatest Generation --> Boomers --> Gen X --> Millennials --> Gen Z?

[mdmost 42865]

2 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Someone refresh my memory ….

mack was let go so Saban could get a raise

and Herman was cut loose so Meyer could get more money from Jacksonville ?

No Mack stuck around to c-block Saban who was using us to get a raise from Alabama, well Jimmy Sexton was using us for that reason.

Urban turned us down when Herman was still our head coach. 

[BurntOrange&White 39661]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Are we, as fans, ever going to come to terms that we are just a slightly above-average program who stockpiles talent but can't win with it, outside of 3 coaches, one who needed a transcendent QB to win a title and the most accurate passer in NCAA history to almost win another? 

924 wins all-time but 44% of those came from 3 coaches.  Only 4 national titles and 32 conference titles total.    If you take out DKR, Mack and Fred - only a winning % around 65% with 17 conference titles and 0 national titles. 

I'm coming to terms with this is who we are.   We were spoiled by Mack/VY/Colt.  Otherwise - a big fat meh. 

I’d say up to DKR and even Akers we were very good program that had good coaches throughout our history. Since Akers what happened with our hiring process? What changed? If we answer that then we can find the root cause of our programs rot. Is it greed? Arrogance? We’re missing something that elite programs have. 
 

 

Since Akers we are average at best program. 
 

 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

Many of you believe I am an idiot because i was among the last off the Charlie boat. Fucking Vance Bedford himself has told me I am an idiot on that score. (Not in so many words, but that was his gist.) 

We all have our blind spots and that was one of mine.

However, I have rarely felt more vindicated than last night. I was saying Card needed to be pulled after just a few series. Sark waits way too long, and then Thompson does exactly what i saw he could do from watching the same game Sark was watching -- he saw giant running lanes and exploited them and the offense finally started to click. By then it was far too late though. The D was gassed and demoralized. 

Had it started a quarter or more earlier, we would have at least had a game. 

Sark is showing a Herman-like propensity for running inferior personnel out there because his ego needs his guys and his schemes to succeed. I've seen this over and over and over again as a youth and HS player and at other colleges and i've come to realize how powerful go can be, in that it can operate 100 percent against your own success and you will still go with it even at risk of your job. 

 

[Slacks 6791]

2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

The slow vanishing of dynasty inner city football programs in favor of suburban / exurban football factories where a ton of the kids

A) don't need football to make a life for themeselves; they have fallback. They might be kinda dull, but their fallbacks are not apartment complexes in the hood.

B) could be forgiven for kinda dialing it back in college. How much more thrilling can it be in front of larger crowds? Do you really want to put the work in to make it to the NFL, where best case scenario, you play ten years, make a fortune, but trade that for mushy knees and a smooth brain? How much hotter can your college GF be over the tail you were already pulling in HS? 

I think North Shore might be the closest thing left to a Yates or a Carter from back in the day, and guess who is putting the most players in the league? It ain't Southlake Carroll or Stephenville. And when I was in HS, it wasn't just Yates in Houston, it was also Madison, Sterling, Worthing, Washington and later Willowridge. Aldine Eisenhower was the Acres Homes juggernaut and won a USA Today NC.  Now those players get dispersed into the suburban football factories and I think they get spoiled there, same as the White kids. Or, and this is much sadder, the kids left behind in the old neighborhoods are in such hell zones football can't succeed. 

I believe there is a sweet spot where you can have a drive to succeed brought on by the desperation of poverty, but that poverty can't be too terrible, or India would win everything at the Olympics. There needs to be social order, safe places to play and practice, adequate nutrition. You had that in the '80s in Third Ward but now that much of the Black middle class has moved to Pearland and Missouri City, not so much. 

Yeah the Strong era was a failure but one of his minor successes was in bringing out of state kids. Quite a number of times when the D would make a play, it would be a dude from SC blowing up the middle, two dudes from Florida in the backfield causing a fumble, and then another from Louisiana scooping it up or another Floridian picking off a pass. Where would we have been without Poona Ford, to name one?

It's similar to baseball -- suburbanites have taken the sport and made it almost cost-prohibitive for any kid to play whose parents are pulling in $200k ....And so MLB gets ever more international as the number of hungry Americans is choked off at the little league level with rare exception. You've got to be a true prodigy and pick up some street agent types, I imagine. 

Seems like California is going through the same shit....It's a national issue having much to do with gentrification and football is just one of the symptoms. 

What?  Sterling, Worthing, Washing, and Madison weren't shit forever.  Madison was terrible, until VY. 

Willowridge was black suburbia.  Humble became blackish suburbia, then Atascocita.. (which is why they keep building new schools - sneetches gotta sneetch.)

North Shore is in a neighborhood of 3000+ sf homes... I lived there in 2000-2003 when they built the new stadium. What Northshore has is A BUNCH of people all at one school... and they have speed... and a coach that has a system to run...  Just because the people are black, doesn't mean they're poor... not wealthy, sure, but Northshore is suburban. 

Eisenhower is more of a dump now than it was back then (I lived walking distance to Eisenhower 10 years ago - now it's 3 miles away).  All of the players at Eisenhower want to go to the league.  We've had two of their best players wash out at Texas in the last 10 years or so.  Eisenhower has always had talent (speed).

The issue with Texas HS football, imo, is the focus is on QB coaches and 7v7... all skill development and almost no OL development.  hell, even the best DL are (mostly) dudes that were "skill" position players that grew.

This is not difficult.  It's not.  We don't need poverty as a motivator...  that's garbage.

Get smart Centers, strong OGs that can pull, reach, get to the 2nd level, pick up a blitz, etc, and OTs than are strong and can move their feet laterally, have shown it on film... and develop them.

If you want to blame anything societal / cultural... it's that kids don't go outside as much any more.  Digital entertainment means a bunch of dudes sit inside flicking their Dpad.  Find the dudes that go outside and do shit and you'll likely find dudes that can play ball.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

4 minutes ago, hookem48 said:

then give the coach a guaranteed 10 year contract and don't give a fuck about anything until year 6 or so. VY ain't walking through that door

That's kinda what Okie State did with Gundy....at some point we should do this or should have done it already. 

[hookem48 4631]

2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

No, but it's the same principle. I mean why bother subbing out Card if you are going to force Casey into a square peg.

If VY was here I bet Sark would change a thing or 12.

[Landomatic 3813]

8 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Someone refresh my memory ….

mack was let go so Saban could get a raise

and Herman was cut loose so Meyer could get more money from Jacksonville ?

Close...

Mack was let go and Saban peeled back about 2 layers to discover the culture at Texas was fucked, so he got a raise from Alabama

Herman was cut loose and Meyer peeled back about 2 layers and realized the culture at Texas was even more fucked than the last round, so he went to Jacksonville

And none of that is in chronological order

Edited September 12, 2021 by Landomatic

[David Dennison 18660]

1 minute ago, Landomatic said:

Close...

Mack was let go and Saban peeled back about 2 layers to discover the culture at Texas was fucked, so he got a raise from Alabama

Herman was cut loose and Meyer peeled back about 2 layers and realized the culture at Texas was even more fucked than the last round, so he went to Jacksonville

Well, the culture isn't going to change, so I guess that means we're forever fucked.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

1 minute ago, Snacks said:

Madison was terrible, until VY. 

Willowridge was black suburbia.

Dude, Z-Ro went to Willowridge, and he is universally accepted as the King of the Ghetto...Just because they are brick ranch houses don't mean it isn't ghetto. Do you even Compton, bro?

Madison was salty back in the '80s, back when Bill McCartney was sweeping through the Southside and sucking up talent for Colorado. I was playing at Strake back then and we would laugh about how we would crush them in baseball but quaked at the thought of playing them in football. 

[BurntOrange&White 39661]

3 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Close...

Mack was let go and Saban peeled back about 2 layers to discover the culture at Texas was fucked, so he got a raise from Alabama

Herman was cut loose and Meyer peeled back about 2 layers and realized the culture at Texas was even more fucked than the last round, so he went to Jacksonville

And none of that is in chronological order

Fuck Meyer was willing to help us fix the culture too by setting up the program his way. But we couldn’t get out of our way there either. 

[Landomatic 3813]

3 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Well, the culture isn't going to change, so I guess that means we're forever fucked.

[Nivek 16861]

Culture and toughness is the discussion point of dumbasses. When you fail to evaluate your lines and the players on those lines you lose and get fired as a coach.

We recruit paper tigers for the lines and coaches here continue the trend and get fired and then we find someone else that does the same. Maybe because the coaches previously didn’t get high recruit linemen they didn’t have to worry about the paper tiger players, but that is our problem.

Sark is going to need time to get his guys in the program. It almost seems like the guys we are winning battles for are the flyers that Saban was willing to risk, but not the dude he decided he really wanted.

We have 2 receivers worth a shit.

Sarks first fucking job should have been to juco/portal the shit out of linemen. I don’t care if we get Evan. It won’t make a shit if we cannot protect our QB or open holes for Bijan.

This isn’t a single year fix, but a coach that doesn’t start to address it by year two, won’t see year 4.

Offensive genius my ass. Just like Tom Herman.

[Slacks 6791]

5 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Many of you believe I am an idiot because i was among the last off the Charlie boat. Fucking Vance Bedford himself has told me I am an idiot on that score. (Not in so many words, but that was his gist.) 

We all have our blind spots and that was one of mine.

However, I have rarely felt more vindicated than last night. I was saying Card needed to be pulled after just a few series. Sark waits way too long, and then Thompson does exactly what i saw he could do from watching the same game Sark was watching -- he saw giant running lanes and exploited them and the offense finally started to click. By then it was far too late though. The D was gassed and demoralized. 

Had it started a quarter or more earlier, we would have at least had a game. 

Sark is showing a Herman-like propensity for running inferior personnel out there because his ego needs his guys and his schemes to succeed. I've seen this over and over and over again as a youth and HS player and at other colleges and i've come to realize how powerful go can be, in that it can operate 100 percent against your own success and you will still go with it even at risk of your job. 

 

If we see it again, it's a trend.  I was bitching about it last night (and after game 1 - to some folks in person)... I can seeing him sticking it out the first time the team faced adversity... don't pull the young dude too soon.  Let him put it all on film so you can work on it later, etc...

but if we have a problem against TCU and we don't try to make a change, then the die is cast and this season is about the future, not about today...  

Casey would be my starter right now, but I don't go to practice. I just see juice.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

7 minutes ago, Snacks said:

North Shore is in a neighborhood of 3000+ sf homes... I lived there in 2000-2003 when they built the new stadium. What Northshore has is A BUNCH of people all at one school... and they have speed... and a coach that has a system to run...  Just because the people are black, doesn't mean they're poor... not wealthy, sure, but Northshore is suburban. 

It's also like the Golden Triangle or those old steel mill / coal mining schools in PA. You want to play in the NFL, or would you rather work in or near the refineries. It is not suburban in the same way some north Dallas school is. 

[Nivek 16861]

Entitled and soft players attending an entitled and soft university located in an entitled and soft city.
That said, Mack was as entitled and soft as they come and he made it work.  Just need nationally elite QB play. 

^Exhibit A: moron

Ewers couldn’t fix this shit. And he didn’t come here for that reason.

[WhatTheBuck 28713]

2 hours ago, XYZ said:

Yes, the “We’re Texas” culture is a problem. Michigan has the same problem.

That’s not Michigan’s problem at all. 

[Landomatic 3813]

2 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

1.  As others said, the overwhelming majority of it is really just hiring a good head coach.

Yeah, and no head coach worth a fuck is walking through that door if the shit culture of the school won't get out of his fucking way and let him do things his way.

[Slacks 6791]

4 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Dude, Z-Ro went to Willowridge, and he is universally accepted as the King of the Ghetto...Just because they are brick ranch houses don't mean it isn't ghetto. Do you even Compton, bro?

Madison was salty back in the '80s, back when Bill McCartney was sweeping through the Southside and sucking up talent for Colorado. I was playing at Strake back then and we would laugh about how we would crush them in baseball but quaked at the thought of playing them in football. 

Am I falling for the banana in the tailpipe???

Z-Ro was from Southpark, which is the hood... When his mom died, he ended up in Ridgemont... not the ghetto.

Who do you know, personally, from Willowridge that will say "ah, yeah, the Ridge was the ghetto 10 years after it was opened - even though it was in the middle of nowhere..."?  Next you're going to tell me Langham Creek was hood, too?

[Slacks 6791]

9 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

It's also like the Golden Triangle or those old steel mill / coal mining schools in PA. You want to play in the NFL, or would you rather work in or near the refineries. It is not suburban in the same way some north Dallas school is. 

i fucking lived there... next door to a player who came to Texas.

It's nothing like the fucking Golden Triangle...  you have to be trolling me.

[CooterBrown 17913]

We are an attractive and unattractive job at the same time. Sure we will make you rich but we will also end your career. The odds of a coach turning into the next Royal is like 1,000,000 to 1. If you’re not the next Royal, you are getting fired and if you don’t retire, you will wander the coaching wasteland until you do. Who else was knocking on Sark’s door? How many doors did we knock on before we settled on that door?

[David Dennison 18660]

4 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Yeah, and no head coach worth a fuck is walking through that door if the shit culture of the school won't get out of his fucking way and let him do things his way.

u

Correct. But not everyone thinks that is a shit culture if you are talking about the administration.

The University of Texas is a school first. The football team will never, ever be a priority.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

Just now, Snacks said:

i fucking lived there... next door to a player who came to Texas.

It's nothing like the fucking Golden Triangle...  you have to be trolling me.

I am quarter GT by heritage and have spent plenty of time in Beaumont. The nicer parts of Beaumont are not that different from Northshore, and there are parts of the school's zone that are as bad as PA, though usually Mexican and not Black. Does Cloverleaf feed in to North Shore? If so, I rest my case. 

[Slacks 6791]

20 minutes ago, hookem48 said:

If VY was here I bet Sark would change a thing or 12.

Vince would be behind Chance Mock playing for Sark.

[ChickenNuggets 1611]

Mack Brown was the closest thing we've had since Royal. I remember football games before he arrived and people weren't even wearing burnt orange. He did revive the program in a very big way.

I wonder how much of the coaches time is pulled away from coaching and towards donor meetings, fundraising, LHN, etc. 

[David Dennison 18660]

1 minute ago, Snacks said:

Vince would be behind Chance Mock playing for Sark.

Just like he was for Mack.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

Correct. But not everyone thinks that is a shit culture if you are talking about the administration.

The University of Texas is a school first. The football team will never, ever be a priority.

This is not true. It goes in cycles. My great-grandfather was an admin at UT beginning in the 1890 and continuing sporadically for decades after that. When the football-first crowd would come in, usually on the back of an amenable governor, he would be purged along with his buddies, and then he'd get his job back when it would shift back towards academics. It's a devil's bargain, i think. How much are you willing to blemish the school's reputation for football success? Once Charlie kicked off half the team, there were few disciplinary problems. I can't recall Herman having many, either. But back in our last glory day, we were among the Fulmer Cup contenders, and maybe would have ranked higher if we didn't have Joe Jamail pulling strings in the background....So at that time i think the football side was on top. 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

7 minutes ago, Snacks said:

Vince would be behind Chance Mock playing for Sark.

"He scrambles too much and was late for a meeting...." 

[BurntOrange&White 39661]

2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

This is not true. It goes in cycles. My great-grandfather was an admin at UT beginning in the 1890 and continuing sporadically for decades after that. When the football-first crowd would come in, usually on the back of an amenable governor, he would be purged along with his buddies, and then he'd get his job back when it would shift back towards academics. It's a devil's bargain, i think. How much are you willing to blemish the school's reputation for football success? Once Charlie kicked off half the team, there were few disciplinary problems. I can't recall Herman having many, either. But back in our last glory day, we were among the Fulmer Cup contenders, and maybe would have ranked higher if we didn't have Joe Jamail pulling strings in the background....So at that time i think the football side was on top. 

My guy, we’re going on 30-40 years of the cycle this not football first cycle. We’re more content talking about how great we were than actually being great. 
 

 

The schools reputation won’t matter when you’re winning, winning covers up imperfections? Do you think this eyes debate would even be an issue at all if we were winning championships? No it wouldn’t.  
 

 

Who gives a shit about a NCAA slap on the wrist? They have no true power anymore if you haven’t noticed with Baylor, penn state, and etc issues getting slaps on the wrist. 

Edited September 12, 2021 by BurntOrange&White

[Slacks 6791]

2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

I am quarter GT by heritage and have spent plenty of time in Beaumont. The nicer parts of Beaumont are not that different from Northshore, and there are parts of the school's zone that are as bad as PA, though usually Mexican and not Black. Does Cloverleaf feed in to North Shore? If so, I rest my case. 

I remember when Northshore High was in Cloverleaf... 

But go ahead and pick ONE old neighborhood and disregard all the new 'suburban' Northshore.

The rest of that area looks nothing like Cloverleaf...  stop.

[mdmost 42865]

6 minutes ago, Snacks said:

Vince would be behind Chance Mock playing for Sark.

VY wasn't the full starter until OU

[Slacks 6791]

Just now, mdmost said:

VY wasn't the full starter until OU

i'm ok with RS-FR VY not starting the season... 

I still contend VY would not start for Sark.

[SuckitKevin 915]

We didn’t lose this game because we were out talented , we didn’t lose because recruiting sucks, we lost because of a shitty game plan that didn’t adjust and players playing soft. I saw on the first few drives when a defensive player made a tackle they would push our guys in the face mask on the way up just to disrespect them, I saw the same from their offensive players. They played with a hate fueled intensity from the beginning and that helped to set the tone physically for the rest of the game. Our players weren’t ready to play and that is on them to a degree but moreso the coaching staff.

[David Dennison 18660]

23 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

This is not true. It goes in cycles. My great-grandfather was an admin at UT beginning in the 1890 and continuing sporadically for decades after that. When the football-first crowd would come in, usually on the back of an amenable governor, he would be purged along with his buddies, and then he'd get his job back when it would shift back towards academics. It's a devil's bargain, i think. How much are you willing to blemish the school's reputation for football success? Once Charlie kicked off half the team, there were few disciplinary problems. I can't recall Herman having many, either. But back in our last glory day, we were among the Fulmer Cup contenders, and maybe would have ranked higher if we didn't have Joe Jamail pulling strings in the background....So at that time i think the football side was on top. 

Football first ended in the 70s.

[tx ind 7000]

2 hours ago, dcar00 said:

its 3.5 star entitled unfocused woke titty babies matched with abysmal to marginal coaching.  but hey we can be Cal, so there's that.

Cal did lose to TCU yesterday

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

3 hours ago, bschoolprof said:

It's 99% coaching. Mack came in, took Mac II's players and immediately improved the program and the "culture."  Since he left, we've hired 1 terrible coach and 2 mediocre ones, resulting in terrible to mediocre football.  We're really not much different than OU before Stoops got there or Bama before Saban.

Fans overweight bullshit like culture and strength coaches.  It's head coaching. Period. 

If that's the case why do schools like Ohio St consistently have success regardless of who they hire at HC? You'd think by just random chance they'd fuck up a hire every now and then, but they consistently fall ass backwards into head coaches who can consistently muster 10 wins seasons multiple times throughout their stay in Columbus. 

Edited September 12, 2021 by Catdaddyhorn

[BurntOrange&White 39661]

1 minute ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

If that's the case why do schools like Ohio St consistently have success regardless of who they hire at HC? You'd think by just random chance they'd fuck up a hire every now and then, but they consistently fall ass backwards into head coaches who can consistently muster 10 wins seasons multiple times throughout their stay in Columbus. 

Because their athletic department puts football first. 

[bschoolprof 6232]

10 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

If that's the case why do schools like Ohio St consistently have success regardless of who they hire at HC? You'd think by just random chance they'd fuck up a hire every now and then, but they consistently fall ass backwards into head coaches who can consistently muster 10 wins seasons multiple times throughout their stay in Columbus. 

Again, I'd fall back on good fortune in hiring coaches.  They went from Tressel to Luke Fickel, who led them to 6-7.  They then hired one of the greatest college coaches of all time, and now have Day.  We'll see how that plays out. There are some chinks in the armor (no racist).  If they had Charlie Strong, and David McWilliams, and Tom Herman, they would be shitty to mediocre.  

Edited September 12, 2021 by bschoolprof

[Tex-19 2869]

First of all, expecting a culture overhaul 2 games into a new coach's tenure is ridiculous. Cultures take a long time to develop and most of these guys have the Herman culture deeply ingrained. This is a multi-year thing.

With that said, there may be a few structural issues at UT. My hypothesis:

1. Too much media. All these 9.95ers, LHN, etc create a huge distraction for coaches and players. Also gets in the head of players I'm sure. An analogy - NFL coaches hate being on Hard Knocks and there are some stats out there on how those teams typically underperform that season.

2. Fan/booster impatience. Coaches need time to do their thing, and player mindsets don't need the massive ups and downs that come with so much shortsighted praise/criticism.

3. Recruit self-selection. This is more of a far-out theory that may be totally false, but I imagine UT tends to attract recruits who have more well-rounded interests (academics, enjoying where they live, etc). Players who go to a place like Bama care about one thing - football. That's 100% of their focus and they will grind for it. Note: this is slightly different from saying Austin is a distraction. Basically the reverse - maybe it's just that the "less intense" players choose UT, not that Austin is such a distraction itself.

4. Cheating. College football and bball are so fucking dirty. I'm talking recruiting, holding extra practices beyond the NCAA limits (Jimbo got accused of this year 1 by a player and it got swept under the rug), probably roids, etc. Not saying we're squeaky clean bc no one is, but we're sure as hell not an SEC program on this front.

[BurntOrange&White 39661]

3 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

Again, I'd fall back on good fortune in hiring coaches.  They went from Tressel to Luke Fickel, who led them to 6-7.  They then hired one of the greatest college coaches of all time, and now have Day.  We'll see how that plays out. There are some chinks in the armor (no racist).  If they had Charlie Strong, and David McWilliams, and Tom Herman, they would be shitty to mediocre.  

It isn’t just good fortune….there is more too it to consistently do it as well as they have, same with Oklahoma, Bama, and others. 
 

 

Your hypothetical with the names you mentioned that we hired is stupid. They wouldn’t hire those guys. 
 

I agree, good fortune was getting Urban. 

Edited September 12, 2021 by BurntOrange&White

[BurntOrange&White 39661]

3 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Players who go to a place like Bama care about one thing - football. That's 100% of their focus and they will grind for it.

I’m pretty sure mental evaluations are a huge part of Bama’s process. They want the right player mentally