We are doing great aren't we?

Sorry to derail this thread, but why are people down on Mackovic? I've never understood it. I remember it being a welcome change at the time. Yes, there were some eggs laid, but bringing in a soon to be Heisman trophy running back? That single recruit changed Texas football forever. Before that Mackovic had Texas in the top 10. He won the last SWC championship and the first Big 12 championship. Not bad.

James Brown, Priest Holmes, Ricky Williams, Chris Carter, Bryant Westbrook, Phil Dawson, Tony Brackens, Blake Brokermeyer, Mike Adams, Casey Hampton, Wayne McGarity, Major Applewhite, Pat Fitzgerald? I'm sure I'm missing some. All of that was in six years. Some of those guys seemed to do well on Sunday.

I don't think a lot of people remember that Texas hadn't won a bowl game in 7 years before the Sun Bowl victory against Mack Brown (who I miss) and had only played in two bowl games iirc. 1997 was horrible, of course.

/rant off. It probably deserves it's own thread. :smile1:
 
Hoop said:
Sorry to derail this thread, but why are people down on Mackovic?
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Bad fit and that didn't work well for him when he floundered. Have a family member who's an influential booster and I remember talking to her after the disastrous 97' season. She related how they were trying to work with Mackovic and asking him what he needed to succeed and how he stiffened and brushed off any assistance. He alienated a lot of people, a trait that followed him to Arizona as well. If you win 20 in the show you can let the fungus grow on your shower shoes. Otherwise, you're just a slob.

As generally average as we were in those years, damn that man could recognize and develop talent especially on offense. He really brought in some fantastic players to this university. I still have a soft spot for the pro-style offense that he ran and I get a little nostalgic when I watch Chryst’s guys up at Wisconsin play :hookem:
 
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Take these two to another thread if you like, Dion

Hoop said:
Sorry to derail this thread, but why are people down on Mackovic? I've never understood it. I remember it being a welcome change at the time.
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There was a "committee of 300" to help with the search, and also deflect blame from Deloss. I'm not sure how many were actually on the committee or how many attended the meeting. Of course this was years before ZOOM.

One of our former players said he heard Mackovic was buckin for the job. That led to discussion about his past at Illinois & the Chiefs, where some of our former players were on roster, and the issues with players going to Lamar Hunt saying if Mackovic came back they wouldn't. Why would Texas consider a guy like that. There were rumors, but no proof that Coach Landry warned Deloss. Cunningham hired Mackovic on his own, I have not shook his hand since.

WHY?

First of all, Herman is a novice in arrogance compared to Mackovic. I think I made it pretty clear that I wanted Herman more than anyone, but he has completely changed my mind. That said, Herman has yet to leave his team on the sideline (see Rice & UVA losses), nor has Herman's team quit on him YET (see A&M game, after which I called RC and apologized for Mackovic's team quitting)

Yes, he had some masterful moments on offense, but what kind of coach goes through 5-6 weeks of the season without ever speaking to his defensive captain? Rick Lantz is one of the five best (for me second only to Leon) DCs ever. He asked me why Mackovic never made adjustments during a game. I told Rick is was because his plan was always infallible; no one could possibly stop it.

Yes, I celebrated his wins, but refused to be in the same room with him, except the locker room at UVA.

:hookem2:
 
Hoop said:
why are people down on Mackovic? I've never understood it.
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Over the year's I've come to decipher it as he wasn't Texas. Not from Texas, didn't respect Texas values, didn't value Texas high school football, drank wine/ate cheese and didn't care for beer, alienated historical Texas players, really didn't understand the relationship between the team and fans and on and on. It really wasn't because he was a terrible coach although that last year was terrible.

That's why Mack was so popular right off the plane because he just absorbed and reflected everything Texas.
 
Ok back to the thread....

Texas football is supposed to provide enjoyment. Last minute heroics, close games and losses against inferior opponents is not fun. Dialing it down to then have to make big heroic catches necessary at the end may be exciting to the players but sucks for the fans. Last years TCU game was a complete debacle as the team put it in cruise mode and then got out played and lost momentum.
Herman needs to show them that it is more fun to Intimidate and Dominate!
 
I wouldn't mind seeing this on the jerseys -
s-l300.jpg

Just need to give Ben Grimm some "icy white" shorts
with burnt orange trim
 
I noticed that Joseph ossai was coming off the edge on our right side to harass the QB. Then that would be going against the offenses best lineman.
So, maybe I'm a little naive but why don't we put Ossai on the other side so that he's not facing the opposition's best lineman?
 
Giovanni Jones said:
This is what sticks in my craw. Too many seasons with mediocre results. No Big XII Championship since 2009 (and only 3 championships since the conference began). It's not like we aren't throwing $$$ at it.
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It is pitiful isn’t it? Texas has 3 B12 titles in 22 years. OU has that many in the past 3 years.

Someone was asking about why fans didn’t think much of Brown and GD till 2005. It was because they didn’t win a conference title the first 7 years they were here. And Brown only won 2 in total - each year needing to have the best QB in all of college football to win it. There was no coaching up on an average team to win a championship.

That’s why it’s critical for Herman to win one this year. If he can’t do that with the best QB in the conference and top 3:in the country, will he ever.
 
Duck Dodgers said:
It is pitiful isn’t it?
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Duck Dodgers said:
Someone was asking about why fans didn’t think much of Brown and GD till 2005. It was because they didn’t win a conference title the first 7 years they were here. And Brown only won 2 in total - each year needing to have the best QB in all of college football to win it. There was no coaching up on an average team to win a championship
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It’s stuff like this that gets to me. With respect to Brown, for example, here are a few stats, which personally I think impressive:

1) Brown‘s record at Texas was 158-48, which translates to a winning percentage of .767.

2) Brown won 10 or more games each year from 2001-09, which happens to be the longest such streak.

3) Brown was 32-17 against Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas Tech, and was 10-5 in bowl games.

I get the jury is still out on Herman, but it’s so interesting to me that people are willing to rank him right now while at the same time complaining about the premature rankings of football teams generally. Let’s wait and see what happens this year. If the team runs the table, I trust the cynics will say its pure luck. If the team doesn’t, folks can re-evaluate then.

As for the embedded side thread, I guess I view the Mackovic years like my golf game — one good shot can erase 80 bad ones. For me, the 4th down call at Nebraska will forever be one of the gutsiest and greatest all time calls by any coach under the circumstances. There are handful of Texas plays I can remember precisely where I was and how I reacted. That’s one of them.
 
2 conference championships. 2 in 16 years. Each time, he needed not just the best QB, but the best player in all of college football (Vince in 05 Colt in 09) to do it.

He even had those same players the year before and could not win a title.

Brown was a good coach overall. If he had left after 09 with 2 cc and 1 NC in 12 years you could have called him great. But the next 4 years were a total waste and brought him back down to good overall.
 
Mack Brown's greatest accomplishment was not 2005, nor his recruiting, but rather his ability to do the impossible - reunite the Longhorn Nation, which was the most fractionalized in the nation, maybe all of history.

Herman seems to be on road to "correcting" that.
 
Vol Horn 4 Life said:
Over the year's I've come to decipher it as he wasn't Texas. Not from Texas, didn't respect Texas values, didn't value Texas high school football, drank wine/ate cheese and didn't care for beer, alienated historical Texas players, really didn't understand the relationship between the team and fans and on and on. It really wasn't because he was a terrible coach although that last year was terrible.

That's why Mack was so popular right off the plane because he just absorbed and reflected everything Texas.
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Should be firing Herman soon then ..... Look what he has done....
 
moondog_LFZ said:
About the same as Fred Akers.
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SabreHorn said:
Big difference is that Fred was 5-4-1 against Barry & OU at the height of cheating
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You guys are a tough crowd. Mack certainly better than Akers in lots of ways and stats and it really can’t be that seriously debated overall. Eg, Fred won more than ten games in 3 of 10 seasons.

That said, I always thought Fred Akers got a raw deal but don’t know much about it other than thinking how cool the Scholz’s scene was to a 9 year old and loving watching Kenneth Sims eat whatever he wanted on the field. I definitely know his replacements left something to be desired, and that’s definitely my concern now too. Moving on only works when you move on to something better.
 
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