Texas Longhorn Athletics: It Is Good To Be The King

I asked Santa for a new Golf and MT&F coach….we will see if I have been a good dude this year.

The chicks aren’t bad either.

Not to mention volleyball, who just played in and barely missed winning the national championship.

We just need Goatstinkers to fix the women’s basketball program, and we’ll be perfect!

I’ve ever been a fan of Texas- Big Bend National Park, the Palo Duro Canyon, San Antonio, South Padre (What I can remember from College), Lake Fork Bass Fishing, Rangers games from my youth, Larry McMurtry Novels, etc, etc.

I have always been a Mack Brown fan as well; just can’t help liking some people…particularly enjoyed a post-game interview with Brown and Sims after a loss in Lincoln where Brown thanked Nebraska fans for inviting the Horns up to beat us up.

I’m about to go into my post-college football depression as I don’t follow anything else…

at home in fro[nt] of (what should be) a noisy, sellout crowd.

I wouldn’t bet the farm on that one.

In the same spirit of Gabbert the Eld, Gabbert the Lesser followed exactly in his brother’s footsteps when de-committing from N.

I don’t blame him one bit- Who the hell know what we’re going to do offensively? Pelini just makes deep, gutteral noises when asked about the offense and then punches Watson on the shoulder and immediately punches him twice more for wincing.

We did get that big guy Chase Rome though, so that’s good…Ya’lls class looks solid overall; see you in Lincoln next year.

dang. posted that on the wrong board- ATE UP WITH DUBASS again…my bad.

Great post srr50. Your point about success breeding success is right on the money. Rick Barnes tells a great story about Eddie Reese observing his practices in the early days and then basically telling him something to the effect of “you have no idea how the human body recovers from working out.” It is hard to argue that elite swimmers have not maximized their workout regimens and Barnes credits Reese with totally redoing his practice routine.

Mot only is life majestic for UT, it’s pretty goddamn morose for OU right now. We’re presently being buckfutted in the two major sports this year. Football? 7-5 with injuries to every relevant offensive player and pretty much anyone dumb enough to play on the OL. Men’s basketball? A team that’s not making a lot of positive improvement just got stroked by UTEP. Even women’s basketball is down from its normally lofty place. (/vent)

If there was a better time to be a Longhorn historically, I have a hard time imagining it.

NH,

At the risk of rubbing salt in your wounds, are you hearing anything about Castiglione maybe taking the Michigan AD job?

The quality of head coaches of all sports at Texas is pretty remarkable. They have been terrific recruiters and run good organizations on the whole. They all say that Texas and Austin are easy products to sell and they are right. They enjoy huge resources and solid backing from the powers that be, particularly in the rare tough times. Texas has become the kind of place the best coaches want to be. Pretty much all of them have used these advantages to produce outstanding results. DeLoss Dodds deserves a lot of credit for running a first class athletic department.

Nate,

You’re right. Halcyon days.

I love khakis! Hail to the king!

“If there was a better time to be a Longhorn historically, I have a hard time imagining it.”

In January 2006, we were defending champs in Football and Baseball and we were ranked #4 in basketball. We had the Big 12 player of the Year in both football and basketball (maybe baseball). Our rankings in the big 3 sports added up to 6, right now they add up to 5. OU just finished their Bomar season and were barely ranked in basketball.

I didn’t think then that we would ever have it as good again. I was wrong.

CJD,

No offense taken at all. Castiglione hasn’t given any indication he’s interested in the Michigan job. It’s not a step up from OU in any shape, form, or manner at this point. Like the Notre Dame head coaching job, it’s all pain and no payoff. Much like the tranny dominatrix that Trips “accidentally” sent to my house after I called him a pussy for cutting his whiskey with water. But I digress.

Where’s the upside in taking the Michigan AD job? The money’s not better, the university administration isn’t as supportive, and the level of autonomy Castiglione would retain isn’t as extensive. This is not like the Stoops to Notre Dame situation where, despite all indications to the contrary, it seemed to make sense. Stoops’ ego and Notre Dame’s overinflated sense of self-importance did seem like a fit.

Where’s the upside in taking the Michigan AD job? The money’s not better, the university administration isn’t as supportive, and the level of autonomy Castiglione would retain isn’t as extensive.

I think you are wrong here Nate. The money will be very good, and the administration understands that Michigan’s greatest growth, both on and off the field, was with Don Canham as AD. I hear that they are ready for a Strong Athletics Director again.

That being said, I believe there are a couple of candidates who have strong athletic business backgrounds who are also connected to the Bo Schembechler crowd, so OU can probably hold on hte Castiglione.

Nate, I had just heard some vague scuttlebutt, and I’m pretty damn far away from the Sooners in terms of knowing any inside stuff.

I think your comparison to the Notre Dame HC job is appropriate, though I do think the Michigan AD job holds a hell of a lot of prestige and pull, as srr suggests. OTOH, JC is like Stoops in Norman, he just seems like a good fit.

Still, one has to wonder with OU’s current (most assuredly temporary) woes and what I think is about to be a very tumultuous time in college athletics, if he wouldn’t be tempted, should he be considered. If Dodds were 15 years younger, I’d think he might be interested himself.

From Michigan’s perspective, I’m wondering if they believe they need a heavyweight to come in to deal with the RichRod situation. That could be an unholy mess in a couple of years if he doesn’t produce on the field and quickly. He’s just too much of a prick for people to tolerate losing (see also: Charlie Weis). Michigan isn’t OU or Texas or Bama or Tennessee in terms of a hyper-demanding fan base, but they don’t have endless patience either. Having lived through the A&M years of the ‘80s/’90s and the OU years of the early ’00s, I totally feel their pain on the Ohio State matter.

From Michigan’s perspective, I’m wondering if they believe they need a heavyweight to come in to deal with the RichRod situation.

They do CJD. They are fast moving into a divided program — and we all know where that can lead. Bill Martin, the outgoing AD, wasn’t on the strongest of grounds when he hired RichRod. The fact that Rodriguez came in and acted as if the program needed to be destroyed in order to save it (which was not the case) didn’t make things easier for either of them. It’s one thing to come in and try to install an entirely different system, but to also ignore or change certain traditions at a school like Michigan was just nuts.

If a “Bo Man” is brought in to be the new AD by next September, then Rodriguez had better beat Ohio State next year.

Typically, a coach is referred to as the “dean” of his conference if he is the longest tenured coach in his sport. (Unless you count th split service of Bill Snyder) Currently, I think Texas has the “deans” of Big 12 football, basketball, and baseball. That is exceptional.

And to think they were all hired in ’97 – ’98, after Dodds had two failed football coach hires, and one failed basketball hire and another basketball hire that had to be let go.

Did Dodds discover the magic formula, or did the Big 12 give the programs the extra oomph needed to reach their potential?

Halcyon days indeed. And I quit reading after baseball (indicative of my approach to sports generally).

While tenure does help, Barnes, Brown, and Garrido were all fantastic hires for which Dodds should get a lot of credit. Good people beget good programs. Other than Augie’s incident — which wasn’t recruiting or sports-related — it bears mentioning that there hasn’t been a whiff (knock on wood) of recruiting/payola/grade controversy around any of the three.

Taylor — I do think the Big 12 helped in both football and basketball. As has OU’s return to prominence, making the Cotton Bowl game something of a championship-caliber, mid-season game that draws significant national attention. Likewise, playing KU twice a year and Barnes relentlessly scheduling the Dukes, Michigan States, and UNCs of the college basketball world has really raised the national profile of the basketball program.

@srr:
I definitely see where you’re coming from, but OU went from a low tier 3 school to being in the top 100 of the USNAWR rankings in the last 10 years because Boren figured out that a successful athletic department does two highly necessary things for OU. One, it loosens the pursestrings of OU alumni across the board. Two, it increases enrollment, thus allowing the increase of admissions standards.

That’s what you’re overlooking, srr. In a twisted sense, you’re giving OU too much credit. Michigan is going to be a fantastic academic school regardless of the quality of the football program, and they can hire/fire accordingly. Oklahoma still has a symbiotic relationship between athletics and academics. Castiglione is very aware of this and so is Boren.

@Taylor

In a word, stability. Find a good coach who will commit to the program and be a lifer, and you can build an outstanding program in any sport. Think about it. The great programs with longevity have a singular face/name associated with them.

For football, I think it’s all in the assistants. OU has had, what, 6 assistant coaches hired on as head coaches in football alone? Even Mack Brown coached at OU (under Switzer no less), but, in his defense, it was the 1980’s. Everyone did crazy shit back then. Meanwhile, UT’s turnover has been much more manageable. Thus, OU has up years and down years, and UT wins 10+ games every year.

“In his defense, it was the 80’s. Everyone did crazy shit back then.”

That made me laugh.

Texas Rowing could use some help.

ghost, I think Garrido is much more willing to dance with the Devil than Barnes or Brown. Don’t forget about our little assistant coach brew-haha.