Defensive Coordinator Changes
We’ll find out after the Holiday Bowl whether or not Mack Brown makes any changes on the defensive staff. Other teams don’t have the luxury of waiting that long and so there has been some changes in the past couple of days.
Defensive Coordinator Ron English and every other Michigan assistant was fired by Rich Rodriguez yesterday. English was the secondary coach at Michigan, and Lloyd Carr promoted him to defensive coordinator to keep him from taking another job. Sound familiar? English is a good recruiter, i.e. young and black, but he has yet to figure out the spread offense. Also fired was former Oklahoma State and current Michigan secondary coach Vance Bedford.
Arkansas defensive coordinator and interim head coach Reggie Herring is rumoured to be the next Texas A&M DC. At least that’s what the Aggie boards are reporting, and they’re never wrong.
Georgia Tech DC and interm head coach Jon Tenuta won’t be retained by new coach Paul Johnson. Johnson instead went with some guy from Southern Miss so it’s possible that Tenuta already has something else lined up. LSU?
UCLA DC and interim head coach Dewayne Walker is one of the candidates for the head position, but if he isn’t hired he may decide to go back to the NFL.
Former Texas and LSU defensive coordinator Carl Reese is still a Walmart greeter in Missouri.
December 21, 2007 at 7:26 am
Question - is Texas now approaching (or even reaching) the point at which up & coming defensive coordinators are no longer interested due to the perception / reality of Mack’s interference? My belief is that when young assistants/coordinators are no longer interested in your program, a head coach is on borrowed time.
In opposition: Texas is still one of the biggest of the big, and Chizik managed to leverage a two-year stint as DC into a Big XII head coaching job. Still a lot of visibility and talent/recruiting upside.
In favor: Chizik, after winning a NC, could only manage a head coaching job at Iowa State. Belief that Mack micromanages the coordinators - including player personnel/depth chart decisions - that hamstrings the ability of the DC to do be successful. Perception that Mack doesn’t trust young, aggressive coaches due to his own aversion to risk.
Thoughts?
December 21, 2007 at 7:40 am
Duane Akina is the man. Always and forever. It is not his fault that they did not play good defense this year. It is part of his 5 year plan to lull everyone to sleep. For the most part they good defense (well the majority of the games (at least 3 out of 12 games they played good defense.)
December 21, 2007 at 8:36 am
The earth version of me sucks.
December 21, 2007 at 8:37 am
This site is nothing but haters.
December 21, 2007 at 8:43 am
I’ll be laughing at you all when the season ends and we have nine wins, again.
December 21, 2007 at 8:44 am
Hate is good. You ever hear of countries being rebuilt and modernized after a peace?
All love’s ever given us is the shittier Beatles albums.
December 21, 2007 at 8:53 am
I started this whole imitation echeese mess.
And now I cant figure out whose fake and whose real.
I asked Coach Davis last night if he could help me sort it out but my question was muffled by the pillow and he did’nt answer.
December 21, 2007 at 9:03 am
Levander -
I think attracting coaches is one area where we are still strong. We are still UT. We are still big. We are still rich. Not too many jobs of a place with our statute come open from year to year across the county. We might not get the lateral transfer very often, a la Chizik, but we still offer an undeniable promotion to a DC of any of about 100 D1 schools.
December 21, 2007 at 9:04 am
*statute is the new stature
December 21, 2007 at 9:05 am
LW,
I’ve heard from a reliable source that both Chizik and MacDuff were unhappy with the linebackers they were forced (maybe too strong of a word) to play.
Coaches talk to each other so I wouldn’t be surprised if potential candidates are aware of it.
December 21, 2007 at 9:12 am
Mack told me he was tired of having his assistants poached by other programs. I told him if he hired me as the coordinator, he wouldn’t have to worry about that at all. He immediately stuck out his hand and said “You’re hired, Greg!”
December 21, 2007 at 9:23 am
Outsider’s opinion:
Mack’s heavy-handedness is reactionary.
The downside of being a power program is that you are inevitably used as a springboard for coordinators to get a HC gig.
Mack has to force a level of consistency between coordinators. If not, you have new guys coming in and implementing completely different schemes every few years and Mack loses control of the ship. After 5 scheme changes in as many years, Texas loses its identity.
Take it or leave it, I just don’t think Mack is at the stage in his career where he wants to grant much autonomy to a coordinator who, in all likelihood, is out the door in 2 seasons anyway.
December 21, 2007 at 9:35 am
But Mack is the Mac Daddy of CEOs! He has to keep his bitches in line! Give him his fazizzle to his nizzle.
December 21, 2007 at 9:45 am
Fazizzle to his nizzle? I said that because I heard some my boys use it and thought it was cool. They’re gonna love me at Arkansas, I’m hip!
December 21, 2007 at 10:09 am
Well, Mack’s mercenary defensive coordinators looking for HC jobs led to the two best years of his coaching tenure. More scheme changes please…
December 21, 2007 at 11:00 am
Mack has refined the “Peter Principle”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle
December 21, 2007 at 11:30 am
I don’t think the schemes matter as much to Brown as it does that the coach who is implementing them is the same. We’ve run at least 4 different offenses since Brown has been here.
December 21, 2007 at 12:46 pm
My name is Mack and I’m a micro-manager.
…I realized I hit rock bottom two weeks ago, when I woke up in a dumpster behind Bellmont……
December 21, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Conservative play calling in the RRS during the Simms era. Personnel on the field. VY’s initial offensive mismatch.
Mack has his hands in everything.
Look at Fran in T+1. It was quoted in the paper that he allowed his Aggie assistants to turn things loose and let the players play.
That offense opened up plays the kids had only seen on white boards. His assistants were allowed to do their jobs for the first time in Fran’s tenure. No more ball control to the point of paralysis. No more wait and read defense.
December 21, 2007 at 12:58 pm
“That offense opened up plays the kids had only seen on white boards.”
Like the widely touted “forward pass.”
December 21, 2007 at 2:19 pm
It is all the players fault.
They fooled Mack into believing that they were good players so he recruited them.
When they played for us they weren’t any good.
Then they played in the NFL and were good again.
Thats because they lacked talent. Its not Mack’s fault his players didn’t have any talent when they played at Texas.
December 22, 2007 at 1:57 pm
That echeese is a genius; just like the Hildebeast.
December 22, 2007 at 3:34 pm
part of the problem is that mack needs to quit recruiting kids who havent reached puberty yet. i would like to see how some of these kids look in their senior year of high school before giving them a full ride.
December 23, 2007 at 7:37 am
That echeese is a genius
He will argue, to his dying day, that the Longhorns’ defense lost the 2001 Big 12 championship game to Colorado. His “logic?” The D didn’t prevent Colorado from scoring after turnovers by the offense. Brilliant!
December 23, 2007 at 8:11 am
UCLA looked like crap last night. of course it’s not easy playing a wide receiver and a 4th string walk-on at QB. but they still almost beat the mormons.
December 24, 2007 at 8:49 am
Other news outlets are now reporting that Akina may be on thin ice. Of course, the worthless AAS is silent. Guess their orders from Belmont are to “keep quiet”.
December 25, 2007 at 7:25 am
Drumbeats grow louder. Link.
The Holiday Bowl may well be the coup de grace.
I of course think it’s too soon for a change.Why not allow a little time for on the job training? I’m available if _uane’s’s probationary period doesn’t work out
December 25, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I love this guy:
December 26, 2007 at 5:53 am
I know Jim Rackley. What you see is what you get.
December 26, 2007 at 8:06 am
Could he take Bob Knight?