Mack Brown, CEO
It has never failed to amuse me that Mack Brown is characterized as a “CEO football coach.”
OMG! My staff and I are BFF
For critics, “CEO coach” - said with a roll of the eyes and quote signs in the air - is a nice way of saying he is a figurehead who hasn’t paid attention to the X’s & O’s of the game in twenty years. The phrase often also suggests that he is a necessary figurehead for Texas football who, if we can only get the right people under him, will create a well-oiled machine and potential dynasty. For his advocates, the phrase is praise for the fact that he represents a new breed of gridiron executive who transcends X’s and O’s, delegating details to assistants, focusing on “the big picture”, bringing to bear organizational acumen and expansive resources to win 80% of his football games.
The problem is this though: Mack Brown isn’t a good manager. Of people. Or systems. I suppose one could still argue that he’s an ineffective CEO, but if the purpose of comparison is to illuminate or instruct, CEO - whether meant posititively or negatively - doesn’t cut it.
Part of this misconception arises from the popular confusion of what a CEO should be. In today’s starfucking business press, where thoroughly incompetent bedwetters are featured on the cover of Fortune magazine with rolled up sleeves and folded arms conveying that They! Mean! Business! and CNBC covers Wednesday’s trading breathlessly like paparazzi camped outside The Viper Room, the true role of manager has been completely forgotten. The average Joe thinks of a CEO as a glib promoter with solid organizational skills, good outreach, and quick spin. Nice skills to have, but ancillary to the work of real management. The primary obligations of senior management are to enforce a vitality curve, create efficiencies, develop others, call out and address poor performance, mobilize the disparate to a common goal, and work diligently, if not ruthlessly, to increase the dynamism of the total organization.
Mack does one of those things well (bringing different camps together) and the rest horridly. He ricochets between micromanagement and absentee delegation (The classic Hersey S1/S4 managerial swing), hires within a narrow comfort zone of yes-men, can’t bear to make the tough call, indulges nepotism in himself and his staff, has skin as thin as onion paper, evidences shoddy results in grooming others, stifles staff dissent and necessary creative tension, and values tenure over talent.
These aren’t the hallmarks of an effective senior manager. Unless you’re a Ken Lay devotee.
Brown plays Akina for a lifetime DC appointment
Partly, the top manager characterization arises from Mack’s aptitude in managing the myriad cultural and social obligations that come with being Texas Football coach. But there are other organizational monikers that capture his greatness there more adeptly - we call these people Marketing/Public Relations Managers (i.e. salespeople). They are functionaries in need of direction: not CEOs. A strong and knowledgeable athletic director who didn’t gauge all success on Taco Bell gongs per minute and suite waiting lists could do wonders for someone like that. But Mack Brown CEO remains a lazy part of our vernacular. It shapes how we concieve of the program and it even forms how we view the solutions available to us.
9-3 is a solid record, people!
Like all great salespeople, Mack Brown’s first and most necessary sale is to himself. Like most marketers, his vision far exceeds his technical and managerial acumen. When his ambitions are thwarted, and absent the gift of ruthless self-appraisal, he looks externally - to the fans, to football mysticism and cliche, to specious and deceiving benchmarks that suggest that he’s not really failing at all. Good organizations are about solid systems, not personality cults. Being bombarded with the notion that Mack is a tremendous CEO doesn’t make it so.
Bill Little benchmarking at its best
November 25, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Fascinating read.
November 26, 2007 at 4:36 am
Who’s program would you have emulate? What coach would you rather have? I offer this not as bait or flame, but as a legitimate question seeking an honest answer.
I’m right there with you when it comes to all of Mack’s flaws and failed potential, yet I find it hard to believe that there’s a truly better alternative. Perhaps I’ve drunk too much kool-aid. Perhaps the Mackovic era has left me a cold and bitter coward, unwilling to risk the grotesqueness losing season for the glory of a college football dynasty. I don’t know. Perhaps all I really need is a little encouragement that there’s something better availabe. C’mon Scip, I’m practically begging here, bring me to the light.
Great stuff as always.
November 26, 2007 at 4:41 am
His most damning trait is his seeming blind loyalty to his dysfunctional and upderperforming staff (staph/MRSA) and/or his apparent inability to purge the staff (staph/MRSA) of incompetent members. Mack, IMO, can only function in a cocoon of silk insulated comfort. It all goes downhill from there.
And it isn’t just his coaching staff (staph/MRSA) that causes observers to come to that conclusion. It’s Mad Dog, Cleve Bryant and his wife, Bill Little, et al, that Mack surrounds himself in his Bubble Boy world who are always there to console and protect him from any mean fans and critics of his program and himself. They are the MRSA staff/staph, and we are the impotent, over-used, and outdated wimpy penicillin.
I long for the day when the slob Fat Dog no longer represents my University in any form or fashion. I yearn for the day when Cleve Bryant’s smirk disappears from any involvement in my alma mater. We’re Texas. They aren’t.
Nice job, Scip. Whatever goodwill Mack accumulated after riding the broad shoulders of Vince Young to 2 Rose Bowl wins, 1 National Title and 1 (and only 1) conference title has been totally squandered. One of our mutual friends wrote after the 2006 Ropse Bowl that the last tiny simian had been removed from Mack’s neck and back. Well, the 800 lb Gorilla has returned with a vengeance and a powerful strangle-hold. I fervently hope that Mack has the gonads and the foresight to remove him. History dictates otherwise. We’ll see.
November 26, 2007 at 5:25 am
The man’s never lost more than three games in a season and just recently won a national championship for you, and yet if I didn’t know better, I’d think this was a Baylor site bitching about another miserable season. Go look at the other national football powers and there’s only a couple of programs in the entire country doing better on a ten-year basis. You people are spoiled beyond belief. Personally, I hope you fire Mack and your program goes back down the toilet but, in the meantime, try joining the real world…….
November 26, 2007 at 5:26 am
Scipio, spot on as always. What the average fan doesn’t get about Mack is that he is at heart a massive control freak. That would be semi-ok if he were an astute judge of talent, made decisions on a rational merit basis rather than a seniority and loyalty basis, and was an up-to-date Xs and Os guy.
As you point out, he is none of those things. But he is a great salesman, and so we end up with a program stocked with outstanding raw talent and highly rated recruits; but we saddle them with irrational and ineffective schemes, and don’t get the best players on the field.
Everyone in Longhorn land right now is clamoring for new coordinators, especially on the defensive side of the football, and rightly so. But we need to realize that any new hire on either side of the ball will only make a significant impact on the program if Mack can make himself but the hell out of the decision-making process.
I don’t expect that to happen. I can’t really imagine why anyone would.
November 26, 2007 at 5:44 am
Another management principle that people often get wrong applies here as well. You hear people say ‘we learn from our mistakes’ when learning from your successes is often more difficult, for a number of reasons. What Mack failed to do was capitalize on the NC like Ohio State, OU and USC have done. Rather than retool the offense that was designed for a once in a lifetime qb, and a defense that gave up over 500 yards in the title game, Mack did nothing except continue to recruit based solely on Dave Campbell Texas Football preseason ratings. Good CEO’s study their successes as much as, if not more than, their failures and adapt their organizations depending on what they learn. We’re still trying to run the zone read with Colt McCoy for crying out loud.
November 26, 2007 at 5:50 am
Jerry, I’m not going to try to explain to you that 1+1=2. If you don’t already agree to that, then it is hard to have a discussion. Being happy with scraping to 9 wins is something the baylors and aggy of the world would do.
Great read as always scip.
November 26, 2007 at 5:56 am
HAHA. Scipio still goes to the Viper Room.
November 26, 2007 at 7:05 am
“He ricochets between micromanagement and absentee delegation (The classic Hersey S1/S4 managerial swing), hires within a narrow comfort zone of yes-men, can’t bear to make the tough call, indulges nepotism in himself and his staff, has skin as thin as onion paper, evidences shoddy results in grooming others, stifles staff dissent and necessary creative tension, and values tenure over talent.”
If you add “recent loss of a desire to do the necessary job requirements of a college head coach” then you have the perfect description of Mack. I think he will be gone in a couple of years because he has just lost he desire to recruit, put up with the media/fans and maybe even has become disillusioned with the criminal issues surrounding his team.
November 26, 2007 at 7:07 am
You have to put 9-3 in context. The 9 wins did not include a victory over a top 25 team. It included close wins over teams that got blown out multiple times this year. Other than OU, both KSU and A&M finished 4th or worse in their own division.
When you compare it to teams like Florida or Auburn the season looks even worse. Florida lost 3 games, but all were to top 25 teams, all were relatively close games. They also have wins over Tenn., a then #8 Kentucky teams, and FSU. Auburn had two early loses and lost to two teams in the top 10. All games were fairly competitive, they beat a then top 5 Florida team on the road and their primary rival. I’d personally rather have Auburn’s 8-4 season.
November 26, 2007 at 7:15 am
The primary obligations of senior management are to enforce a vitality curve, create efficiencies, develop others, call out and address poor performance, mobilize the disparate to a common goal, and work diligently, if not ruthlessly, to increase the dynamism of a the total organization.
Throw in the phrases “win-win” and “leveraging our core competencies,” and that might just be the most perfect douchebaggy MBA-speak sentence ever written.
November 26, 2007 at 7:17 am
Thanks for coherently and succinctly stating the assessment of so many, Scipio.
I think the ugliest truth that you and other Defenders like to gloss over, Jerry, is that we could have been getting the same results from most of Mack’s tenure for about half as much money.
The Deloss Department has gotten to the point where they are basically in the CYA business - they will not take even the slightest chance on an up-and-comer for any program of ours with a national rep. Barnes was the biggest roll of the dice Dodds & Co. have made in the last dozen years, and that had more to do with the Bball program’s lack of stature than with Dodds having an actual eye for young talent.
If Mack were to leave or be canned, rest assured we’d start with the Carrs and Meyers and skip right over the Petersons and Leavitts.
November 26, 2007 at 7:21 am
“specious and deceiving benchmarks”, I don’t think it could be described any better. As I said in another thread, Mack is the problem. If he doesn’t change his MO then hiring the best DCs will do little.
November 26, 2007 at 7:31 am
One thing everyone is neglecting to mention is that, under Mack Brown, the Longhorns have played more 13-game seasons than under any previous coach.
Also, Mack has more Big 12 titles than all but one other Texas football coach.
Furthermore, the Texas Longhorns under Mack Brown have yet to lose a night game at the Horseshoe in Columbus.
November 26, 2007 at 7:35 am
flamingmonkeyass:
I don’t know if it’s a question of emulation (I don’t pretend to know the dynamics at Florida/Ohio St) so much as pointing out the fact that Mack demonstrates the characteristics of a struggling middle manager. He doesn’t have anything like a CEO temperament or a CEO set of tools. He needs guidance and mentoring. He can’t solve his own problems.
Brick:
I blame it on the fact that I’m writing year end reviews right now. I wanted to work in “BUILD SYNERGY!!!” as well, but lost my nerve. Thanks for the appropriate slap.
November 26, 2007 at 7:37 am
“specious and deceiving benchmarks”
November 26, 2007 at 8:59 am
Mack Brown teams are undefeated when wearing throwback uniforms.
UN. DE. FEATED.
November 26, 2007 at 9:18 am
“Being happy with scraping to 9 wins is something the baylors and aggy of the world would do.”
I can assure you this is not now, nor has it ever been, the case. As a lurker on this site, I never come on here just to stir shit up, but suggesting that the most hopelessly devoted and optimistic fans in the country are ok with mediocrity is ridiculous.
Sic ‘em Bears.
(OK just kidding I’m obviously not talking about Baylor.)
November 26, 2007 at 9:52 am
[...] some of the best analysis of UT sports this fall, bar none. I especially like today’s post, Mack Brown, CEO, by Scipio Tex: an insightful look at the Texas coach and his management style. There’s never [...]
November 26, 2007 at 10:46 am
So this is where the realists hang out. It is at least refreshing to hear people admit that our problems go beyond the OC/DC and straight to Mack. Even moreso, the “specious and deceiving benchmarks” fall right in line w/Dodds and the administration’s MO. They’re a perfect fit as long as we win 9-10 games. It’s pretty obvious now that the 05 season was a gift from the football gods as well as a byproduct of having one of the gretaest players of all time.
So where do we go from here? Depending on who we draw I think we might have a Freedom Bowl type game coming up. That could start some dominoes falling.
November 26, 2007 at 11:06 am
The problem with any Freedom Bowl type scenario is that we’re likely to get a vaginal-like Oregon State in the Bryant Bowl. And even with the ineptness that permeates our coaching staff, we may well beat them. And the 10-win season drum pounding will begin and it will all be rosey in Bellmont.
November 26, 2007 at 11:16 am
Maybe the problem this season was Mack’s team motto. “Earn the Right” is definitely no “Take Dead Aim.”
A&M whipped our ass much worse than the score indicates. There are problems with this program. The frustrating thing is that the head coach won’t make the changes to correct the problems. Either that or he really doesn’t think there is a problem. Which may be true considering he really doesn’t see a difference in his first and second team linebackers.
November 26, 2007 at 11:45 am
9 wins is only mediocrity to UT (and disillusional A&M fans). It is a good season to most programs (mmm…9 wins), but UT is not most programs . I expect better of UT and I’m not even a UT fan.
As for Mack the CEO. Watching the A&M game and seeing the look on Mack’s face, reminded me of US automaker CEOs. “What do you mean we are losing market share, that’s not possible, we’re GM, don’t they know we’re GM?”
November 26, 2007 at 11:48 am
This team is just like the pre-Vince teams but the talent level is just a notch below what it was.
Take Simms Sr year on offense:
-J Finley is the only player I’d take over B Scaife
-That OL vs current OL?
-Simms vs Colt? I like Colt and all, but come on.
-Big 3 WRs vs current corps? Nope.
-Benson vs Charles?
Mack Brown without extremely superior talent=Alamo Bowl.
November 26, 2007 at 11:56 am
Always thought the ginormous Red River practice bubble was Mack’s perfect legacy.
November 26, 2007 at 11:59 am
Mack is with us through the 2009 season to collect his contract bonuses. Since GD is immune, it looks like Akina/MacDuff will be sacrificed. I’d personally like to see Akina return to coaching the DB position and bring in a competent DC. Did MacDuff contribute anything?
November 26, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Benson was just as much of a non-entity in big games as the coaching staff. I’d take Charles any day of the week and twice on Sunday over Benson.
November 26, 2007 at 12:15 pm
FT,
We got blown out at home by KSU(now sub .500)… we beat a Big 10 cellar dweller by two in our own backyard last year… why couldn’t we get pasted by Oregon State or whichever PAC 10 team we get? Assuming the Holiday, the fan support will be nil this time around, and I think the players will respond accordingly. Hell, any average passing team can get 400 yards on us. We’ll see, I kind of think we’re on a ledge right now and there are definitely some 1984 comparisons which can be drawn.
November 26, 2007 at 12:31 pm
High expectations will normally lead (at least ultimately) to better results and change. So while I can’t always subscribe to the sometimes acrimonious attitude in the barkingcarnival, I do think blunt criticism plays an important role. And humor.
I was sitting in Kyle Field, and the first comment my buddy made about 3 plays in: “Why do our guys look flat?” That is most damning of all in my mind. Why we weren’t up and ready to play with all that was at stake is beyond me. Screw the bad coaching. If these guys were hungry and pissed and ready to kick Aggie ass, then it might have been better on Friday.
Need a new DC. Need to replace mad dog.
November 26, 2007 at 12:57 pm
ok lazlo you can have Charles but do you not get my point?
November 26, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Just to remind Jerry, we went 9-5 in 1999, the last team that was considered marginally talented.
The “biggest” win we had this year was over UCF. That shouldn’t blow up the skirts of any Texas fan. We made Stephen McGee look like Peyton Manning, and we got drilled by a now terrible Kansas State team.
This is not the most talented Texas team, but the reality is that there was only one game in which we were the least talented teams — Oklahoma. And that happened to be one of our better overall games. Were we less talented than Arkansas State? Nope, but we needed to cover an onsides kick to ensure victory. Were we less talented than Central Florida? Nope, ditto. Were we less talented than Kansas State? Nope, but that didn’t stop us from getting beat by 20 at home to a 21 point underdog. Were we less talented than Nebraska? Nope. Oklahoma State? Nope. Texas A&M? Nope.
Unfortunately, there were several games in which we were “out-coached”, from game-planning, to talent utilization to in-game strategy to adjustments.
Our parting shot in a season that still offered almost a sure-fire appearance in a BCS bowl was to get out-coached by Dennis Franchione and Gary Darnell as they googled realtors.
November 26, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Getting out coached by Franchione and Darnell is the ultimate insult. I have never seen our guys get kicked and slapped around for 4 quarters like that since UCLA visited Austin in 1997. By the way Mack. . . nice on side kick at the end of the game.
November 26, 2007 at 3:37 pm
You can never go wrong with Dilbert!
November 26, 2007 at 4:14 pm
“Why do our guys look flat?”
The one telling parameter that sticks out and has a correlation of 1.00000 is leadership.
Vince provided leadership and everybody elevated their game, and played as if they cared. No leadership means lackluster effort. The only other leader was Major. Simms, Ricky, DJ, Roy, Benson, Colt and others were/are great players but not leaders.
Mack has said that he leaves it to players to provide leadership. He should see it as plainly as his nose that if no one is stepping up, he should fill that void. Sadly, it hasn’t happened and it results in losses at best and arrests at worst.
November 26, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Scipio has failed yet again to work in some form of the word cunt (cunty, cuntiness, cuntly, Cunt Shabbaz) into a piece.
But, I liked it anyway.
November 26, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Your post revealed a cuntocentric bias.
November 26, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Now then, tell me. What did Miggs say to you? Multiple Miggs in the next cell. He hissed at you. What did he say?
November 26, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I would like an Anton Chigurh vs. Hannibal Lecter movie. Sort of along the lines of Freddy vs. Jason or Alien vs. Predator.
November 26, 2007 at 6:57 pm
“He ricochets between micromanagement and absentee delegation (The classic Hersey S1/S4 managerial swing), hires within a narrow comfort zone of yes-men, can’t bear to make the tough call, indulges nepotism in himself and his staff, has skin as thin as onion paper, evidences shoddy results in grooming others, stifles staff dissent and necessary creative tension, and values tenure over talent.”
Other than that, he’s a dandy.
November 26, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Mack will solve everything by flipping a coin.
Heads - Akina lives, er, stays.
Tails - piston via compressed air for ol’ Duane.
November 26, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Scipio you’re a heck of a writer. Any current UT profs responsible for developing your style?
I’m still enjoying “ancillary”.
November 26, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Breathtaking insights, Scipio. Would you care to move on to the claim that Brown is a great recruiter?
November 26, 2007 at 9:36 pm
CEO? Let’s bring in some hot shot head coach prototype that in 3-5 years will take over the program. During that time, change Mack’s title to “figurehead.” Let him continue to stand on the sidelines, but give him a couple of energy drinks so he looks engaged and fired-up for his team, let him continue to recruit, and let him continue to say “it’s my fault” when things get FUBARed. Let the new guy bring in a DC & OC with some testosterone and creativity and let him run the show otherwise. In 3-5 years (by that time, as sleepy as Mack is now, they will be having to prop him up, administer oxygen, and have him on a sugar IV drip on the sidelines) Mack can be put out to pasture.
November 26, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Holy shit Scipio - you are hillarious.
Although I think your post a bit extreme - I think it hit the nail right on the head.
The thing that annoys me the most about Mack is that he can be such a cunt when questioned. I remember when he used to take live calls during the weekly radio show on Wed night. Then somebody did a bait and switch and asked him a tough question. Mack was pissed, and that was the end of that. Email questions only…
November 27, 2007 at 3:58 am
what drugs are you “all” on?
not nearly as articulate as you believe you are…nor as insightful…
in organizational behavior….your strengths tend to be your weakness….yes, the UT Football team and its leadership suffers from that….but, the criticism should have been on “training and development or the lack thereof in 2006″ so that the 2007 team would have been prepared for the season….
And, as difficult as it may seem, the coaches, for the most part had the players lined up and in position to make plays, and the players did not make plays. As in 3rd and 20 against A&M and a missed tackle and two defensive backs running into each other….I doubt any coach in the country could have prevented those plays going for touchdowns and you cannot blame coaching for that…the players simply did not execute what they were taught.
If they do next year….well,,,,all this under the bus bs will be forgotten or you will take claim that “MB listened to us and made changes.”
November 27, 2007 at 5:10 am
Pantangeli–Thanks for the reminder. Here’s a first-grade math refresher for you, too:
1) Texas has now won 9+ games 10 straight seasons. We’re the only D-1 school with an active streak that long. To put that streak into perspective, only 12 other schools have had 10+ straight winning seasons, much less 9+ wins, and only 5 of those have had the same coach through that streak. Texas had 9+ wins in just 10 of the 26 seasons before Mack arrived, and hadn’t won 9+ 4 years in a row since 1961-65. Granted, there are more games per season now than in the 60’s & 70’s, but put in the perspective of how peers are doing today, I think that’s still a meaningful stat.
2) Mack’s worst season at Texas, in terms of total losses, was 1999, when we lost 5. The second-worst was 3, several times. We only had 4 seasons with fewer than 4 losses in the prior 15 years.
3) Coach Royal’s record over his first 10 seasons at Texas was 82-23-3 (77.30%). Coach Brown’s is 102-24-0 (80.95%). Over Coach Royal’s first 126 games he was 94-28-4 (76.19%).
4) With the first game of 2008, Coach Brown will become the only coach other than Coach Royal to last more than 10 seasons at Texas. Only Bible & Akers previously lasted 10.
5) Texas has been ranked in the AP Poll for 119 consecutive weeks, and the USA Today poll for 147 consecutive weeks. Both streaks are the longest in the nation, and the longest in Texas history.
6) According to Texas, we’re now 3 wins behind Notre Dame on the all-time chart. According to Stassen, we’re tied. Stassen awards us a forfeit from 1997 (Colorado), 1993 & 1994 (Texas Tech), and 1910 (Baylor). When Mack took over in 1998, we were 9 wins behind Nebraska, and 33 wins behind Notre Dame according to Stassen. We’re now 11 ahead of Nebraska.
7) Coach Brown now has 188 career wins. That ranks him 26th on the NCAA all-time list.
November 27, 2007 at 5:12 am
Sorry, Pantengeli, my previous was directed at Lowery…….
November 27, 2007 at 5:29 am
Asking your defensive end to tackle Michael Goodson in the open field one on one with no back up is not having your players ‘lined up and in position to make plays.’
Asking Scott Derry to defend a wheel route to Goodson is not having your players ‘lined up and in position to make plays.’
Repeatedly running your MLB into the LOS is not having your players ‘lined up and in position to make plays.’
November 27, 2007 at 6:54 am
What about Foster vs. Kelly one on one? What position is that?
November 27, 2007 at 7:10 am
That position is called prison rape.
November 27, 2007 at 8:44 am
Without claiming any detailed knowledge of the UT situation, it does sound as if your program is inching down the ‘Bobby Bowden’ path. That is NOT a path you want to be on.
Also, I take exception to the comment lumping Carr and Meyer in the same class of ‘establishment’ coaches as opposed to the young vital whipper-snappers from the mid-majors. Carr is the definition of establishment, but Meyer’s a whipper-snapper who’s made good. (Can you imagine Carr introducing something like the spread-option to a major conference? The mind boggles.)
November 27, 2007 at 9:11 am
“3) Coach Royal’s record over his first 10 seasons at Texas was 82-23-3 (77.30%). Coach Brown’s is 102-24-0 (80.95%).”
And DKR had won the SWC 4 times in that stretch.
Come back with some more unimportant stats and numbers once Mack has won a CC more than once in 20 years as a HC.
November 27, 2007 at 10:42 am
Mack used to say he was asking the team to “play to a standard”. I think we played to a high standard (win or lose) in the following games (or portions thereof):
Second half of TCU
Rice
Oklahoma
Iowa St
Fourth quarter of Nebraska
Fourth quarter of OSU
Last 9 or so minutes of TAMU
It’s interesting that he does not say that anymore. Instead, if we win ugly, give up ~500 yards, etc. he criticizes the fans and says we’re never happy with a win.
November 29, 2007 at 4:28 pm
“I had to show Vince a tape of himself to get him to play like the guy we recruited.
Mack Brown translation: “Vince wouldn’t be Vince if it weren’t for me”.
Vince Young translation: “Get out of the way, You’re stepping on my cape”.