Coaching To A Standard

There’s definitely a difference between “tightening up every little thing” (e.g. attention to detail and consistent execution) vs playing tight – I read that as he felt that players started playing too tight because he started harping on mistakes made in that game.

Obviously it’s an art to strike the right balance between demanding the kind of attention to detail and consistent execution that delivers excellence and overemphasizing mistakes and negative thinking (causing players to play tight). While that’s not coaching 101, it’s not doctorate level-stuff either. It’s one more element of a big communication disconnect between the staff and the players.

I also wonder at this point if Mack is able to differentiate between A) independent player error, B) player error brought about by the challenges of being placed in a poor scheme and C) players correctly executing as they’ve been taught but still looking like shit because the scheme/design is unsound.

Good conclusion. The truth is, it was beyond stupid to not pull GG after the third interception. Rubbing his nose in the fact that he is just not very good is far more harmful than sitting him down.

“Coaching is exactly about ‘trying to tighten up every little thing.’ As best you can.”

As Mike Krzyzewski says on the Duke “Training Days” show on ESPN: When you work, work with precision.

Or as Jack Nicklaus used to say, practice does NOT make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Nice work.

According to Mack, the players’ sense of entitlement has been the problem all season long. And now he wants to fix it by playing the role of little league team mom and handing out participation ribbons after skin-of-their-teeth victories over horrible opponents?

Mack’s bizarre theorizing on the source of the team’s failures is troubling. It may betray utter desperation to save Greg Davis. There simply are no more reasonable alternative excuses, as they’ve all fallen victim to a process of elimination – a process that is quickly narrowing in on the proverbial elephant in the room. Or, Mack’s comments may simply reveal that he honestly has no fucking clue.

Whatever the case, he’s feverishly grasping at straws now. I just hope he’s purely spinning and not sharing his actual strategies for resolving the program’s current crisis. Tossing around cockamamee theories in a press conference is one thing. Trying to implement counterproductive voodoo horseshit is another. This team has real, identifiable, quantifiable problems. We need real solutions, not Tony Robbins-style “Power of Positive Thinking” snake oil.

In yesterday’s press conference, Mack also threw his players under the bus. Did you see this line: “Unlike the NFL, we can’t have a waiver wire. The players we’ve got are the ones we’re going to keep working with.” If I was a player or a recruit, I’d have a hard time wanting to play for a coach who publicly says things like that about me while he keeps some of the coaches he does on staff. I’d want to take my blue-chip self to TCU or LSU or OU.

One of Mack’s stated goals when he first arrived was to have UT place “somewhere in the top ten” every year. This has always bothered me in that it implies that MB thinks #10 and #1 or #2 are somehow about equivalent. Well, there’s a big difference.

Akers once said, “It’s better to shoot for the moon and hit an eagle than to shoot for an eagle and hit the ground.”

Hopefully, the things coming out of Mack’s mouth now bear no relation to what he is thinking or what might help the team. Those things would require him to be quite critical in public. Mack doesn’t do critical in public.

We will find out at the end of the year if he is actually aware of the problems leading to our record or if he really believes in bad luck and trying too hard.

I was struck today when Alfred Williams (former CU and NFL player) stated that CU should NEVER lose more than 5 games in a season.

The Pope and Greg Davis are upstairs in the box with a huge crowd at DKR.

Greg Davis and and The Pope, however, are used to big crowds.

To make it a little more interesting, Greg Davis says to the Pope, “Did you know that with just one bubble screen pass I can make every person in the crowd go wild?”

The Pope doubts it, so Greg shows him. Sure enough, the wave elicits yelling and screaming and cursing from every Longhorn fan in the crowd. Gradually, the noise subsides.

The Pope, not wanting to be outdone by such a level of arrogance, considers what he could do…

“That was impressive Greg,” the Pope says, “But did you know that with just one little wave of MY hand I can make many people in the crowd seeing it on the Jumbotron and on TV, and many around the nation watching on ESPN, go crazy with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display like that of your subjects, but will go deep into their hearts, and they will forever speak of this day and rejoice.”

Greg Davis seriously doubts this, and says so. “One little wave of your hand and so many people will rejoice forever? Show me.”

So the Pope slapped Greg Davis.

Akers is wrong. Shooting an eagle is a violation of 16 USC 668.

JR reality dictates that no football team in the NCAA will finish 1 or 2 every year. That’s just not reasonable. Should it be a goal for the team—sure.

Should Mack Brown publicly state that we need to be 1 or 2 every year? Probably not, that would just provide a ridiculous amount of ammunition to the fan base every time we finished in the top 10

Simon, you’ve got to be kidding, Mack doesn’t throw the kids under the bus, that was a mild generic criticism of the entire team. Certainly not to the standard of certain other big 12 coaches north of the red river. .

Brickhorn: It was actually a duck, disguised as an eagle.

Simon, also I note your selection of OU and worse LSU as places you think coaches don’t throw kids under the bus.

Ask your boy Les Miles why he told his QB to spike the ball with 1 second left on the clock.

I laughed.
 
(DISCLAIMER: Barking Carnival does not advocate physical violence against Longhorn coaches. Only rhetorical or metaphorical violence, generally in funny ways, like being hit by a lemon meringue pie. Offer void in Maryland, where prohibited.)

Hey Roach, and who evaluated those high school players and offered them scholarships to play?

I shouldn’t have griped at them for beating Rice. I’ll never gripe about a good win anymore where we didn’t think we played great. I’ve gotten over that. It makes everybody want to tighten up every little thing.

and

The standard can’t be winning. That’s meaningless.

Compare Mack’s current attitude to Nick Saban’s. Saban speaks constantly about the “process” and how it’s more important than the end result in a lot of cases. Get the correct process down and the results will come. It seems like common sense but apparently it’s not. It’s getting to the point where I believe that if Mack turns this thing around it will be due primarily to luck.

And I don’t want to depend on luck going forward.

The difference between Florida and us this year is coaching. They went through a 3 game slump (against much better teams) and have now rebounded and will win the East. Meyer is a prick but he can coach and patched things up in order to win games. Mack can’t coach and has lost his team and is now circling the drain. He’s already admitted he can’t fix it this year. To me that means he has no clue how to fix it.

I agree with everything with roach wrote.
 
I think some of you are focusing too much on trivialities. Of course we want to be in the Top 10. And he’s not throwing anyone under the bus. His point is that the players we have are the players you coach. And he’s well aware that he selected them.
 
I was just really struck by his comments about Rice. There’s no public value to those comments. I think they’re sincere – a real look inside his head. I truly believe when he talks about standards, we’re not on the same page.
 
Anyway, I found it interesting. The point of this thread is not “Everything Mack has ever said no matter how trivial that bothered us.”

Mack was right to be upset after that game.

Yes, but now he’s lost the team, so he’s second-guessing himself. There’s no sense in trying to parse this or tease a philosophy out of it. The man’s snake-bit.

Spot on, Scipio. I’ve come to the conclusion that Mack is in deep, deep denial, and we’re watching it play out right in front of us. Mack is not dumb, and deep down, I think he knows GD is the problem, I think he knows Madden didn’t get his guys in shape, and I think he knows change is in order. However, it’s going to take a couple more beat downs before that subconscious realization comes to the surface, and he makes changes. This is the result of his attachment to “his guys” for so long, Davis in particular.

I equate it to thinking that your long-time wife/girlfriend/whatever might be cheating. You see the signs around you, but you refuse to acknowledge it. You’ve just been together too long for you to believe that she would do such a thing. Then when you finally walk in on her betraying you (read: losing to ISU, Baylor, KSU, etc.), you finally admit to yourself that you’ve got to make a change no matter how much it pains you to do so.

I hate saying this, but I don’t really want us to make some sort of dramatic turnaround in our remaining games. The season is lost anyway, and any glimmer of hope might just keep Mack in said denial. He’s needs a full-born realization of how bad things are—and how much worse they can get.

Savage Henry -
 
Florida also slumped because they lost their entire staff to head coaching jobs. And Charlie Strong and Dan Mullen are currently coaching their asses off at Louisville and Miss State, respectively.
 
We slumped because of coaching retention.

spider -
 
it’s not a parsing. And I found it revealing. It’s not about being snake-bit or losing teams. It’s about a coach losing sight of the difference between process and result. Standard and achievement.

You also forgot, stupid penalties that extended or enabled touchdown drives, that came to light in the Rice game.

This team is mentally fragile. All it took was one kick-off return in the KSU game and they were done. Maybe he recognizes that, but I generally think Mack is full of crap during his in-season press conferences.

You say it better than I could. You’re right. They lost more pieces than we ever had and are having a good season. We just shit the bed and have a guy leading the team that has no clue how to clean it up.

“Just win, baby!” – Al Davis
“A win is a win, baby!” – Mack Brown

Do you think we could convince Dana Holgerson to come to Texas to be the offensive coordinator? Or is there a better choice out there for our program?

I watched the HBO documentary about John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty.

I was struck by one part where Dick Enberg said that in all the years he spent broadcasting UCLA games and talking to Wooden, he never once mentioned winning.

Wooden had an uncompromising standard and, not surprisingly, dominated basketball for a generation.

The one thing that truly irks me about this years Texas team is the lack of what Wooden called “competitive greatness.” That comes about by setting expectations every day.

I wouldn’t compare Mack Brown to Nick Saban. We will lose that comparison.

Both Muschamp and Applewhite have coached under both Brown and Saban. Funny how they get singled out as the two assistants most deserving of being back in 2011.

IMO, Saban has won TWO natl championships—the 2003 one with Muschamp, and the one LSU won at the end of the 2006 season was Les Miles lucking into a Saban-recruited and Saban-disciplined set of upperclassmen, the likes of which LSU hasn’t seen since.

Saban will win at least one more. Maybe two more.

The biggest differences between Saban and his assistants and Mack and his assistants are (1) intensity; (2) disciplined players; and (3) nationwide (non-regional) recruiting.

TRIVIA QUESTION: who was a DB at Georgia + DC at Valdosta St + asst coach at LSU under Saban + an asst coach for Miami Dolphins under Saban?

ANSWER: both Alabama DC Kirby Smart AND Texas DC Will Muschamp.

It’s time for Greg Davis to go, Mack to move into special ambassador/Darrell Royal status, Muschamp to take over and hire Applewhite as OC and Kirby Smart as DC. We sign whatever recruits we want, our current players are forced to lift weights and run til they vomit, and have their Xboxes and PS3’s taken up, and we win at least 10 games next year and smash some opponents’ players teeth in even in losing—-guaranteed.

“Treat the game right, the game treat you right.”

Mack do not understand…

Scipio, I think your right in any football sense Mack is not Saban’s equal.

However, Mack is not a huge massive prick either, so in the grand scheme of things I’m going out on a limb and saying Mack might just be a better fit for Texas. I don’t know how well over signing and skirting the edge of the rules would play at Texas. The signing good kids who graduate part resonates with both the alumni base and the academic side of the university.

Also our recent past leads me to believe that being a massive prick to the high school coaches in Texas would be a major future problem for this university. Maybe Saban saves his asshole tendencies for the press. His record on over signing leads me to believe he doesn’t.

I’m pretty certain, Nick Saban would generate a ton of animosity among a certain set of the alumni base. Maybe that’s ok as long as he’s winning.

I realize you weren’t commenting on the suitability of Saban for Texas, but I do think that Mack’s personality or some form of it is a necessity at UT.

Mack is the guy who was thrilled to be rid of a conf championship game and is happy to load up with creampuffs even in the lackluster big xii. Maybe the emperor is aware of his lack of clothing.

Actually, I don’t read the statement the same way you did. I don’t think he is second-guessing his standard, I think he’s second-guessing how he handled delivering his criticism of not meeting the standard to the team. I think he feels he misjudged the psyche of this team and that by coming down hard on them with the goal of motivation, he further killed confidence and lost their trust.

I think Mack realized this a few days after ISU when after saying he could not trust the team, he turned to the crumpled-up $20 bill to try and show them they are the same value as after beating Nebraska, regardless of what everyone, including himself, says about them.

Many are saying the team has given up and I can understand where that comes from but I don’t think that’s exactly the case. I think Mack is right that there are a lot who are still trying. Those individuals who are not giving effort are some of the same ones who were not giving effort when things were good. What I see is a split of players who are playing without confidence and thus are tentative and fragile with players who are pressing and trying to turn it around alone. Both result in compounding mistakes that only furthers the loss of confidence on both sides.

Mack thinks he could have averted the drain of confidence if he had handled the early criticism differently. I’m not sure if he’s right but I can’t blame him for idnetifying that as a possible critical miscalculation.

In all of this, and even when I read that article at the beginning of the year, I was surprised Mack would allow a public look into what he has upheld as a private matter for the team, especially when it was in such a negative case. Part of me wonders if he felt so strongly that he needed to shed the nice-guy image that he let everyone see him hard on the team against his better judgement and now he thinks that back-fired.

Comparing Florida and Texas this season I think really cuts to the heart of how really SOL we are.

Florida at the beginning of the season seemed to be in a much worse position than we were offensively, hell they couldn’t even snap the ball correctly. I remember plenty of people after the Rice game saying “at least we aren’t in Florida’s shoes.” Yet, look where we stand today.

Meyer knew what they had wasn’t a viable solution and things were only going to get tougher so he took some risks and made some major changes, and by God he’s made serious progress and has salvaged their entire season. He identified the problem, addressed it, and wallah – real live coaching!

Compare and contrast our gooftroop of coaches, who have done nothing except abandon and retreat into a shell of an offense thats substantially inferior to the crap we rolled out against Rice. We have no identity. No players or plays to rely on. We’ve accomplished absolutely nothing on that side of the ball except make things worse. It’s like we’re wandering around in the desert without a compass looking for some spring to save us.

We haven’t identified the real issues on the offense, and we sure as hell haven’t addressed anything other than to sink into this pathetic fetal position. We’ve wrecked our players’ confidence and now they know what should be obvious to us – our coaches have no idea how to fix this shit. We have salesmen trying to do a coach’s job.

Roach: You missed my point; I wasn’t suggesting that Mack should shoot for #1 or #2 every year. The point was that if you aim higher you will likely end up higher. Put another way, it’s better to shoot for perfect and hit excellent than to shoot for excellent and hit good (or mediocre).

roach -
 
I assume your comments aren’t to me, but to The Wizard.
 
BurntOrangeBen -
 
I appreciate your interpretation, but I’ll stand by mine. If a coach regrets coaching the team when they play like garbage and think that is in some way why the team then went on to lose 5 of their next 8, then he has issues beyond just cognitive dissonance. He really has lost his way.
 
So, in short, I’m hoping my interpretation is right, because yours may be more damning.

Further to the concept of Mack cannot coach, while watching the beginning of the KSU game, I immediately called for a time out after the initial kick return into Longhorn territory. Gather the troops, reiterate what was discussed during the week about facing adversity, let Will go through the progressions before the defense hits the field with the mindset “already on their heels”. Nope. The formula does not call for this action. Save the timeouts until 1:00 or less is left in the half when this team will already have hung it’s head for 25 minutes plus. Mack is not facing the reality of what his team is giving him. He either is incapable of adjustment or does not care. W’s, L’s, or the LHF be damned.

JR69 -
 
That’s just semantic bullshit that you hear in a Zig Ziglar sales conference. It means nothing. There’s nothing wrong with Mack saying his goal is to make us a Top 10 program year in and year out.
 
C’mon.

Scipio: You also misunderstood. Mack didn’t say his goal was to have a top 10 program. He said he wanted to finish “somewhere” in the top 10, implying equivalence of the positions. Compare Stoops’ goal to win championships. He hasn’t won them all, but he has 6 of 11 where Mack has 2 of 13.

As a Cowboy fan, I can’t wait for this weekend. But I must admit, deep down, I fear that the Texas players will wake up Saturday morning, look in the mirror, and realize that they are just as big, probably faster, and more atheletic than us. Then I think about Mack and Greg and the things I have learned from your excellent blog and smile.

Here’s to a good clean game with no injuries.

Scip-

I don’t think he regrets coaching the team, he regrets how he coached them. He publicly humiliated them multiple times which is something he has never been known to do before. Yes, they earned it but that doesn’t mean his approach was the best way to coach them out of it. I think that’s what he regrets.

BurntOrangeBen-
 
Yes, I understood your comment. And I disagree. If he thinks his treatment of the Rice game is contributing to all of this, then he’s totally lost in the wilderness.

A thought provoking read.

Re the OP: So when Mack says they didn’t pull Gilbert because Case McCoy wasn’t warmed up, that’s a botched way of explaining that the coach’s felt it would set back Gilbert’s development to give him the hook and insert a freshman while still trying to respect that Case probably deserved a shot in the game for his own development. After living through Simms-Applewhite, Brown is sensitive to that issue, particularly if Case came in with energy and scored some cheap points on a KSU defense playing prevent. Suddenly, you’ve pinned your systemic issues on one player in the mind of fans and press

I’m not convinced that pinning systemic issues on one player isn’t the acceptable alternative for the OC. With this team and state of affairs, the more likely outcome is Case comes in and the offense is as hapless, unprepared, and ineffectual as it is with Gilbert. The resultant outside view is not ‘what might have been if Gilbert were replaced’ , but ‘holy shit, the coaches are undeniably derelict’.

I think Mack should tell Deloss he wants to transition into the Darrell Royal ambassador role—-while that option is still available to Mack. Royal had one 5-5-1 season and quit. A second or third such season could’ve left a different taste in the mouth on departure. Mack will end up 6-6 or 5-7 this season. I don’t think we’ll lose to Florida Atlantic, but don’t you think Mack worries about even that a game a little?

“When I was teaching basketball, I urged my players to try their hardest to improve that very day, to make that practice a masterpiece.

Too often we get distracted by whatbis outside our control. You can’t do anything about yesterday. The door to the past has been shut and the key thrown away. You can do nothing about tomorrow . It is yet to come. However, tomorrow is in large part determined by what you do today. So make today a masterpiece. You have control over that.

This rule is even more important in life than basketball. You have to apply yourself each day to become a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better. Only then will you be able to approach being the best you can be. It begins by trying to make each day count and knowing you can never make up for a lost day.

If a player appeared to be taking it easy in practice, I told him, “Don’t think you can make up for it by working twice as hard tomorrow. If you have it within your power to work twice as hard , why aren’t aren’t you doing it now?”

If you sincerely try to do your best to make each day a masterpiece, angels can do no better."

John Wooden

WOODEN
A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court
by
Coach John Wooden with Steve Jamison

The again he did only win 8 straight national titles and 10 in 12 years whic I think is akin to win I think in today’s world to winning three conference titles in 13 years.

Urban Meyer turned his season around by revamping the offense, going to a 3-QB rotation and forcing the defenses to adjust to an up-tempo, no huddle offense. In comparison, Mack makes weak, false excuses about why C.McCoy didn’t get some meaningless minutes. When did we last make significant improvements to our offense? The comparison is like Alpha and Omega.

Mack’s words are consistent with his habits of learning his lessons late and then over-learning them.

Pokey,

They did that against Nebraska. It won’t happen again. If you lose it’s all on your boys. It would take 9 turnovers and 4 defensive td’s to pull this one off.

38-6 end of third
45-20 final

Scipio-

Another interpretation of the comments is that Mack has fully embaced the CEO role and is leading his team like an administrator leads a business unit. Mountains of data support the use of positive motivational techniques over negative, especially when the receivers of the counsel are well-meaning and interested in the message. I don’t think this is the problem.

There are problems with your team, and the lack of focus of your coaches is a principle one. The focus on the “process” is something that is shared by Chip Kelly, Saban, Meyer and Stoops, different leaders all with great success with teams that had the potential to crater like the Horns are this year during “bad” seasons. OU’s debacles in 2005 and 2009 could have been a lot worse. If Jones could be a care-taker QB OR the anger-lineman hating god of Norman would take a rest (DL edition), this year would have been far better this year too.

just got an e-mail about $25 tickets for FAU. bellmont is getting nervous.

don’t you think Mack worries about even that a game a little?

I think at this point, every game keeps him up nights. It should, too.

The Horns as I have seen them this year are fully capable of falling for this play.

Florida Atlantic is a de facto middle school team and probably competent enough to execute it.

Scipio, what do you see as the root cause of the problem? As far as recruiting goes you mop up every Feb. after signing day with a good chunk of the top 20 Jr’s for the next year. These are guys everybody offers and would like to sign (for the most part). There are some questionable takes every now and then but they are in the minority.

1. Is it strength and conditioning?
2. Are there more misses due to choosing players based on their Jr year performance?
3. Are your position coaches not teaching them the basics?
4. Are your schemes viable?

My Take
1. I’ve never been impressed with Mad Dog as an S&C guy. To me it would be like getting diet advice from a fat nutritionist.
2. You might have some misses but getting 1st choice should give you a good core of players every year. Sometimes you load up on certain positions, which might leave holes elsewhere.
3. Don’t have any inside info on this one.
4. On offense, I think all the DC’s in the league knows GD better than he knows himself. I think they can pretty well predict the play options based on the formation you line up in, and thus equilize the talent discrepancies that may exist. I think GD likes broken plays as the random nature of what occurs does actually confuse the defense and lead to “explosive plays”.

This football team is the end result of failing to follow a Wooden axiom, namely, don’t mistake activity for achievement.

Re Mack’s quote: Sometimes you take your darkest times and they can help you fix some things that end up appreciating winning more. I shouldn’t have griped at them for beating Rice. I’ll never gripe about a good win anymore where we didn’t think we played great. I’ve gotten over that. It makes everybody want to tighten up every little thing.

There’s nothing wrong with griping provided you identify goals, clearly define standards, and provide the teaching to accomplish it. When you assume a critical tone making demands of players, or call them arrogant, coaches MUST hold up their end of the deal or you risk losing trust and it all falling flat.

The last sentence about “it makes everybody want to tighten up every little thing” almost sounds like he’s channeling the Vince era when loosening up control on how Vince executed ultimately delivered a national title. But without a transcendent player, you can’t take a step back and expect success to sprout like Chia pet.

I have always defended Mack. I remember all to well the end of the Akers regime, McWilliams and Mackovic and it was those memories that had me defending Mack during the 0 and 5 OU run when the calls for his head were getting louder.

The success of the VY-McCoy teams was a simple of case of tremendous talent, much of which is currently playing on Sundays….that level of talent overcame the shortcomings of a pretty mediocre staff, most notably Davis, McWhorter and Madden.

The O-Line has been a issue for 3 years now….GD has been an issue since he set foot on the 40 acres and I have never believed our team was well conditioned. I remember when Defense was an issue and we went out and got Greg Robinson, then Chizik, then Muschamp. Why he refuses to replace staff that consistently under-develops and under utilizes talent puzzles me and drives me nuts. With the number of longhorns on NFL rosters today, Saban, Meyer and a few other coaches would likely have 8 or 9 conference championships and 3 NC’s.

This year there are no leaders, no special talents to mask the shortcomings of a poor staff. Its hard for me to call for Mack to step down. I still remember the McWilliams -Mackovic era all too well, but if he doest not clean house with his staff at years end. I can no longer defend coach Brown. Mack’s loyalty to his staff has been his ultimate shortcoming.

Kilgore-

I’ve heard one of the hallmarks of intelligence is the ability to recognize your own short comings. Speaking to your fourth point, nothing Greg Davis has publicly stated leads me to believe that he is capable of this type of self-analysis. Like (frankly) most football coaches, he merely repeats the offensive system he was taught or copy what works for other programs. With the right set of circumstances, you can wins games because the system is not inherently flawed. But when the entire conference is clutching the blue prints to an effective counter-attack, GD simply can’t adjust mid-drive/mid-game/mid-season because he cannot see what isn’t working.

His mental operating system has crashed and is frantically smashing the keyboard hoping something—anything—will put things right again.

RE: Gilbert

I made the mistake today of watching highlights from GG’s high school career. The touch, the accuracy, and the skill I saw far exceeds what I’ve seen from him this year. At this point, he has been psychologically damaged. I’m not sure benching him or playing him will make a difference. Winning would, but he can’t create Ws on his own.

Scip, I’m with you on not parsing Mack’s statements at his pressers because we don’t know who he is speaking to or for what purpose.

Beyond specific statements, I have the general impression that Mack is lost. He doesn’t know what the problems are and therefore can’t address them. He just seems to be floundering. His confusion has a psychogenic cause. A people-pleaser like Mack is made anxious beyond tolerance by the notion that one of his best friends is the root of the problem.

I searched the other K-State related posts and I can’t find it… Is Case still eligible for a redshirt? While it bothers me that Garrett was hung out to dry, it’s semi-justifiable if it preserves Case’s 4 years. Can one of the barkers please address this and put it to rest? My apologies if the answer is obvious. I’m out of town on business, bored in my hotel, and drinking excessively.

Anyway… I’m completely fed up with Mack’s BS in the pressers. It’s one thing to not be critical of specific players and the team. It’s another to spew a load of shit about both the offense and the defense and passively throw the incorrect team under the bus. Based on the quote, Mack is over-correcting like he’s new to coaching. Or perhaps he’s trying to take on more responsibility than he honestly knows he deserves to protect Greggors. Either way, it’s just more of the typical BS.

It’s mystifying. Frankly, one thing you could generally count on from a Mack Brown team is that they would play hard. This current bunch has quit more than all of his prior squads together. It has got to have him stunned.

Case played against Rice and will be a true sophomore next season.

Some of these players remember the “not Our standards” deal. Then they get to watch the Greg Davis play calling game after game, year after year. Then after each game is over Mack talks about every problem imaginable but Greg Davis. And some wonder why the team has quit on Mack Brown?

I just watched the game (couldn’t on Saturday) and anyone blaming GD for the loss is mistaken IMO. Yes, I do blame him for the shitty running game. However, what’s bigger is Muschamp’s D which gets absolutely OWNED against any team with a decent running attack – see Ohio State ‘08, Alabama ’09, Aggy ’09, and virtually every game this year. Muschamp shows MacDuff like ability to stop a running game. The sole exception I can think of is against Nebraska and I think Rat Pelini gave up on the run too early in that game.
Look at Gary Patterson’s defense if you want to see an ELITE defense.

CA_ Longhorn, It’s important to take the whole season to date in context. If you still see it the same way after doing so, then I guess you need to sit down and watch it again with Scipio.

We’ve got an undersized defense that was designed to destroy spread passing attacks. Unfortunately, nearly all of the teams on our schedule this season found a rushing attack, that, when coupled with our turnover-happy offense (and ST), could beat us.

We knew coming in to the season that we were weak up the middle and that Chykie and Gideon could be exploited. Go back and re-read if you don’t remember. The defense has performed as expected.

The units that have surprised are offense and special teams… The result of the 9th game of the season, when we came in 4-4, with the season essentially over, means very little to me. I do find it humorous that Garrett threw 50+ passes (again) when we were supposedly going to a power rushing game, and the offense turned the ball over 5(+?) times, resulting in an absurd average starting field position for K-State…

Were you trolling? You must’ve been. Dammit.

I see this press conference as a whole as Mack Brown searching for an answer and this comment in particular preparing us for a narrow win vs. Florida Atlantic. Sad it has come to this.

“Suddenly, you’ve pinned your systemic issues on one player in the mind of fans and press”

Ah, yes, but we’ve since determined that having success with Greg Davis’ system may well be dependent on one or two transformational players. So if he’s going to keep Greg, then he will need to find those one or two players (and one obviously has to be the QB) so swapping players until you find them may be the only option.

Re: It’s mystifying. Frankly, one thing you could generally count on from a Mack Brown team is that they would play hard. This current bunch has quit more than all of his prior squads together. It has got to have him stunned.

The causes for the collapse in spirit are multiple, but the biggest red flag to me has been the brewing disparity in style/emotion/competency between the DC and OC that is not being dealt with effectively by the HC. Our DC brings a lot, but it also shines a bright light on what the OC doesn’t bring. It creates a split that is not easily resolved in players’ heads and that split becomes crippling when compounded by adversity on and off the field. There is no unified reservoir from coaches right now to regain confidence and restore fight.

Mack is still very important to the program, imo, and I believe he recognizes the value of the DC and potential for the future of the program he represents. If Mack can reconcile The Split and retain the half that truly represents the future, and part with the half that doesn’t, I believe this team can bounce back quickly and powerfully and Mack will be able to claim genuine credit foremost from his players but from fans as well.

It begins. From an email I got today for UT athletics

For a limited time, we are offering $25 tickets to Texas Football vs. Florida Atlantic (Saturday, Nov. 20; 2:30 p.m. Central). This is an Internet-only promotion and is available until Sunday, Nov. 14 at 11:59 p.m. Central. All tickets are reserved and based on availability.

This my friends is Greg Davis soft underbelly (insert mental picture here). If we can hit the school in the pocketbook no amount of MB-GD man love can save his ass.

After the third game of the season, coach Mack Brown of the #7 Longhorns (3-0) said:

“Weird things happen in Lubbock,” Brown said.

At the time it sure sounded credible, didn’t it? Well, notwithstanding the opinions of Scipio and the rest of you people with unrealistically high expectations at the time.

HA HA HA HA HA

(cue requisite misinterpretations of an intentionally incoherent post)

So if he’s going to keep Greg, then he will need to find those one or two players (and one obviously has to be the QB) so swapping players until you find them may be the only option.

It depends on what you want to salvage: the season or the program.

I know I’m preaching to the choir when I say the season is shot. Even if Case is the second coming, the best we can hope for is a 7-5 record, a middling bowl berth, and a little momentum moving into next year. I worry any signs of life from the offense could be enough to postpone any significant change to the coaching staff. A couple transcendent players will only put off another regression back to this point.

So, a few minutes later – what I meant was kind of making fun of any real “fan”. You’ve got to be unrealistic; at least to some degree.

Hey, a win in Lubbock’s a win, right?

Yes, people. A win in Lubbock is a win now. And, (is this the red herring?), hasn’t it always fucking been during our so-fucking-awesome streak?!

Or did it just become a thing to be thankful for after (most of) the talent band-aids that Mack was once able to recruit and foster could cover the festering wound of incompetence that is GD?

I offer this as inspiration. I plan to effect (yes) change by not paying to see us lose to FAU.

Sunrise,

Even if Case is the second coming, the best we can hope for is a 7-5 record, a middling bowl berth, and a little momentum moving into next year

I hope you’re making rhetorical points. Even if Case is Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and the 1988 AND 1989 49ers’ entire rosters in place of this team, Greg Davis is still the OC and Mack has still lost the team.

Prepare yourself for 2-3 more losses. There simply is no other possibility.

I was excited to see a rising post count in the hopes of some late night Horns conversation.

Turns out it was just this dude talking to himself.

Yes, it was meant as a rhetorical point. I have no hope of upsetting Okie Lite, tempered expectations for FAU, and serious thoughts about what to do with my Aggie tickets.

Anyway, it’s all likely for not. Scipio hit it on the head that Brown is looking to avoid a QB controversy. I don’t think we’ll see Case for more than a few snaps against FAU (if that.)

Gotta say I completely disagree with you Scip. I don’t believe any of Mack’s post-game comments have been taken out of context on this site, at least not that I’ve read yet. I’m a little confused by your stance honestly. If someone references as I have, Mack’s comments in response to why he didn’t pull Gilbert, what other context needs to be there to convey what he is trying to say? I understood Mack’s comments much as you did, but I still don’t really get it – seems like more psychiatry than coaching. So in order to not create a possible team rift, we’re gonna sink this whole damn ship and we’re all going down together. We’re gonna be 4-8, but by God Gilbert’s gonna lead us there hell or high water. Not saying I want Gilbert removed as starter – (just relieved during the Kstate game), but assuming the current trend continues, when does Mack try something else? I understand you have to have your whole team on the same page, but what message is sent by continuing to play a guy that is giving you no shot at scoring, much less winning – given all of our handicaps (Davis, scheme, receivers……etc…). Again, I’m not saying to remove Gilbert as starter, but when someone’s having the worst night of their athletic life – when do you pull them? According to yours and Mack’s reasoning, the kid could have thrown 5 MORE interceptions and he’d still be in the game….No?

Gilbert threw a lot of good balls during both the Baylor and KSU game. There are still way too many tips at the line and drops and tips at the WR position. Gilbert is also a much better runner than most of us expected. I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing Case play if Gilbert throws 3+ interceptions on Saturday, but GG is still our best chance at winning. There are so many things wrong with this team that it’s hard to pin it on GG at this point.

Ha. You geniuses are actually idiots, saying Colt/Young won despite GD and Mack. Yet we shouldn’t try a new QB because a QB alone can’t change things. In this era of spread offenses, the QB is everything. Example 1: team falls apart after Colts injury in MNC. Example 2. The resurgence of Auburn, Stanford, Ohio State. And right in your backyard, under your nose Example 3: ATM dramatic improvement across the board with a new QB.

A great QB can turn the whole program back on. We have 2 that we haven’t seen. I’ve seen what GG can do, which is pretty bad. Sit his butt on the pine and find someone that can win football games and quit protecting his ego. The unwritten rile on a team is if you suck you shouldn’t start- If you do than it creates dissension and lack of effort. Sherrod? Are you still in Austin???

Check this out. Even Texas Monthly is blogging this morning about UT dumping Fla Atlantic tix at $25:

http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=8404

Anyone think this comment is the rift? Mack, Greg and the lackeys happy at getting wins over Rice, Wyoming and Tech. Muschamp and Major pissed at poorly the team was playing despite the Ws? It just seems so odd that Mack would bring this up publicly right now. I fear he is setting us up for some major disappointment after the season.

Muschamp and Major want to play to a standard and be the best team they can be. Mack happy with just out talenting bad teams and winning while playing like crap. Then we start losing and Mack thinks it’s because Will and Major were banging on the team to do better. Mack believes that this caused a lack of confidence which led to the losses and collapse rather than it being piss poor play from the opening kick at Rice to now.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but something is off.

Undoubtedly, the issues that have been brought up by the fans are also known by the coaching staff. I can’t imagine that issues dealing with scheme, strength and conditioning, depth chart, etc. have been ignored by the coaches. I speculate that there are two sides to an ongoing debate among the coaches: the “spread” camp stressing finesse and speed vs. the “power” camp that pushes for more of an SEC-like approach. I further speculate that GD is in the spread camp and WM is in the power camp. Maybe, Major aligns more with Will, but I really have no idea. Mack should be in the middle, listening carefully to the two sides because he is responsible for the ultimate decision.

I can imagine that maybe Mack sided once more with the spread camp despite being warned of impending disaster by the power guys. Hey, the spread has worked in the past, and who knows what will happen if a new approach is adopted. He made the most conservative decision.

Mack saw tons of problems in the Rice game, but he wasn’t going to doubt his decision until the contrary evidence was overwhelming, as would be the case if we had lost to Rice. He was probably in denial at the time. The UCLA game ended his denial as he admitted that the Bruins beat up his guys physically.

Going back to the Pat Forde ESPN series in early Sept. we had this:

“I didn’t see as much fun as I thought I would,” he says. "We’ve got a little arrogance about this bunch right now. I shouldn’t have said this could be the best defense we’ve ever had because right now we’re a long way from that. I talked about the physical run game; we need to stop talking about that. “This isn’t a 10-win team right now, much less a championship team. We need to get better for next week, not down the road. We won’t beat Wyoming playing like that.”

Contrasted with this week:

“I shouldn’t have griped at them for beating Rice. I’ll never gripe about a good win anymore where we didn’t think we played great. I’ve gotten over that. It makes everybody want to tighten up every little thing.”

Considering Mack’s shift in stance, I don’t think he believes in his gut what he said in the last quote. He’s pinning blame on himself, but is manufacturing something to be critical about himself other than what is really to be blamed.

Anyone think this comment is the rift?