Rumors flyin' that Mack's retirin'...

[SoonerCLF]

after the Baylor game this weekend.

Does Urban suddenly come down with a heart condition (again) that an only be cured at a medical facility in Austin?

Who else would be top Candidates to get in down there?

Saban?

Peterson from Boise?

Some NFL hot shot coordinator.. Gruden's little bro?

Texas says it's bogus..

[Mississippi Sooner]

This is the best article I've seen on that subject.

http://www.ology.com/sports/random-dude-jake-lebahn-says-mack-brown-will-retire-weekend

[badger]

I think Mack was convinced after the Colt injury that 2010 (2009 season!) game wasn't his last shot at glory.

After two mediocre (Texas-sized standards) seasons, he's realizing it was.

It's time to retire and hope people remember you for the 2005 title, not the RRS losses, the 5-7, the soon-to-be 7-5...

[Jacie]

It's time to retire and hope people remember you for the 2005 title, not the RRS losses, the 5-7, the soon-to-be 7-5...

At least he can say he turned things around before he left . . .

[MyT Oklahoma]

Say it ain't so.. please just stay Mack.. stay. LOL

[Boomer.....]

He's our secret weapon against uterus.

[Bxbysooner]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is true that they go after Patterson at TCU or even Briles at Baylor

[oumartin]

Brent Venables to Texas!!!!

[Curly Bill]

Brent Venables to Texas!!!!

Praise to God if this would happen. We'd be getting better as Texas gets worse. What we call a "win-win" situation. :)

[Lott's Bandana]

Clap! Clap! Clap!

JoePa needs work?

[swardboy]

Ha...Leach missed out.

[Sooner_Tuf]

Clearly Will Muschamp would take over.

[SoonerCLF]

Another rumor starting to swirl - aTm decides to can Sherman but hasn't notified him yet

[marfacowboy]

Who knows, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Saban went to Texas at some point. It will be easier to get to national title games, he'll make more money and live in a better city. He tends to stay somewhere four or five years (except for Miami) and moves on. Texas has everything he needs and would be a good place to retire. Texas can afford the buyout of his Alabama contract.

[Keller Sooner]

Nooooooooooooooo! Please let this be an unfounded rumor. We need the clapper in Austin.

[SicEmBaylor]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is true that they go after Patterson at TCU or even Briles at Baylor

The UT fans HATE Briles for voting OU ahead of UT a few years ago in the balloting when they got left out of the BCS.

[soonerinabilene]

Alabama to Texas is not a step up. Saban only moves up. (yes, I believe going from the dolphins to bama is a step up). The Cowboys, Steelers, or Packers are about the only real upgrades from being the man at bama. OU, Nebraska, UT, TOSU are all lateral moves, imo.

[VA Sooner]

Best thing for him is to retire now. Would have been better had Colt played in the national championship game... I think they had a very good chance of taking it. But he can retire now with less shame than last year.

Best thing for us... have him stay on and hire more young coordinators from vastly inferior conferences in hopes of rebuilding.

[mdklatt]

This would be almost as terrible as Greg Davis getting fired.

[Herr Scholz]

Not happening. Be happy.

[8timechamps]

Alabama to Texas is not a step up. Saban only moves up. (yes, I believe going from the dolphins to bama is a step up). The Cowboys, Steelers, or Packers are about the only real upgrades from being the man at bama. OU, Nebraska, UT, TOSU are all lateral moves, imo.

Yep, Saban's already in one of the few top positions in all of college football. At the very best, it would be a lateral move. I think Saban's going to end his career at Bama. As you mentioned, the only move up for him would be some NFL teams, and I think Saban learned he doesn't belong in the NFL.

[Sabanball]

Saban makes $5 mil/yr here at Bama, and he is currently in the middle of an 8 year guaranteed contract. He just turned 60 years old and he and his wife Terry are treated like royalty in Tuscaloosa. His next move will be to Lake Burton in Georgia. Yes Texas is bigger than Bama but he cannot improve his lifestyle by moving to Austin.

Even though I think Mac would be smart to get out now I don't think he will. Remember he still has the support of Deloss Dodds, DKR, and all the important Texas people. As for these rumors, I'll believe it when I see it...

[Jacie]

Want to convince Saban to not move to Austin? Just show him hornfans.com . . .

[okiedokie]

Want to convince Saban to not move to Austin? Just show him hornfans.com . . .

Or channel 998 The Longhorn Network:excitement:

[Herr Scholz]

Or Austin.

[LASooner]

This is the best article I've seen on that subject.

http://www.ology.com/sports/random-dude-jake-lebahn-says-mack-brown-will-retire-weekend

So it's BS basically?

[sooneron]

Say it aint so, Joe!

[TXBOOMER]

Mack...Please don't go....Don't go away...I'm begging you to stay.

[Sooner70]

Mack needs to stay a while longer.

Maybe Kevin Sumlin takes over? He runs the winningest team in Texas right now, bar none.

[TXBOOMER]

Kevin Sumlin taking over texass is OUr worst case scenario. They guy has been recruiting the State for many years and he is good at it. He has proven to be a really good head coach and he coaches very aggressively. We do not need that type of a coach in Austin. I hope he takes the UCLA job.

[Herr Scholz]

Doesn't Mack have as many national titles as Bob? Also, if Les wins this year, will he be declared a better coach than Bob over here? Just curious.

[En_Fuego]

Doesn't Mack have as many national titles as Bob? Also, if Les wins this year, will he be declared a better coach than Bob over here? Just curious.

Lester The Molester............The Mad Hatter....is what he is.......NO Les...No More

[sooneron]

Let'er rip!

[picasso]

Doesn't Mack have as many national titles as Bob? Also, if Les wins this year, will he be declared a better coach than Bob over here? Just curious.
Mack or Bob, who do you think is better? pfft.

[sooneron]

They have shared the same division in the same conference. Which one has been more successful? Easy answer.

[picasso]

They have shared the same division in the same conference. Which one has been more successful? Easy answer.
Which coach has dealt out more lopsided victories? I tend to agree with Switzer on that one.

[47straight]

Doesn't Mack have as many national titles as Bob? Also, if Les wins this year, will he be declared a better coach than Bob over here? Just curious.

Head-to-head is what UT cares about. Unless it's bob vs mack. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Say it ain't so.. please just stay Mack.. stay. Mack is too good of a Texas coach to leave. Mack! pls stay until you get one more victory over OU, at least.

[AceSooner]

Head-to-head is what UT cares about. Unless it's bob vs mack. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches.

why in the HELL did I just read that?

[Soonermagik]

Doesn't Mack have as many national titles as Bob? Also, if Les wins this year, will he be declared a better coach than Bob over here? Just curious.

The problem is Mack only has a few Big 12 championships. Also, Mack has lost more to Stoops than he's won. We recognize that and want him to stay for a long time.

[soonerlaw]

The rumor way back when was that Deloss was going to retire and Mack was going to become AD and Moosechamp was going to become head coach. That didn't work out very well, but I still don't see Mack "retiring" from Texas. He will be there in some way to attract all the donations. Maybe "AD in Waiting"?

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

The problem is Mack only has a few Big 12 championships. Also, Mack has lost more to Stoops than he's won. We recognize that and want him to stay for a long time.You needn't argue that with Scholzy. He appears to agree with us. He WANTS MACK TO STAY!

[fwsooner22]

Herr always makes the argument that works for him. Brilliant. Except he is putting it in writing and you can document him arguing both sides from time to time. Oops, Not Brilliant. He could obviously run for public office.

[TUSooner]

At least he can say he turned things around before he left . . .

How many stars can you give a single post?

Awesome. :biggrin:

[jkjsooner]

I don't understand our fascination with keeping Mack Brown at Texas.

Someone please tell me who has done a better job there since DKR left? If it's such a great place to coach and if the recruits just flock there then why did they have so many problems between Royal and Brown? Mack Brown has had a lot more success than Akers, McWilliams, and Mackovic.

I'm not saying a great coach wouldn't win big there but they have a track record of picking good but not great coaches.

The Big 12 probably did help UT. It's easier to keep guys in-state when you play in the Big 12 vs the SWC. But, still, the common theory that UT would take off once Mack Brown leaves seems to ignore history. (I'm not saying they won't but it's a crapshoot.)

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I don't understand our fascination with keeping Mack Brown at Texas.

Someone please tell me who has done a better job there since DKR left? If it's such a great place to coach and if the recruits just flock there then why did they have so many problems between Royal and Brown? Mack Brown has had a lot more success than Akers, McWilliams, and Mackovic.

I'm not saying a great coach wouldn't win big there but they have a track record of picking good but not great coaches.

The Big 12 probably did help UT. It's easier to keep guys in-state when you play in the Big 12 vs the SWC. But, still, the common theory that UT would take off once Mack Brown leaves seems to ignore history. (I'm not saying they won't but it's a crapshoot.)We know what we have with Mack. He gets excellent recruits, and produces just above mediocrity, on the average, except when he got lucky with getting Radio, who almost singlehandedly won the NC after the '05 season.

As an OU fan, I like our chances, versus having someone like Saban, or even the Mad Hatter as the HC at the cows.

[SoCal]

On Thursday afternoon, when the report from Topeka, Kansas surfaced that Mack Brown is going to step down after the Baylor game, it was pretty easy to disregard it as, well, a non-credible rumor from nowhere. On the other hand, though, despite the unbelievable sourcing of the rumor and the possibility that it could have simply come from a rival coach trying to undermine Texas recruiting during an important stretch trying to finish the 2012 class strong, there were some elements about Brown retiring that made sense.

After all, Brown was seemingly close to retirement three years ago when former defensive coordinator Will Muschamp was named the head coach in waiting, a move that ultimately failed to keep Muschamp in Austin when Brown failed to develop a timetable for turning over his program. There's no doubt that Brown has thought long and hard about how much longer he wants to coach at Texas.

After all, despite all the talk about Brown being re-energized during the offseason, some of the losses this season seemed to take just as much of a toll on the head coach as the soul-crushing 2010 debacle. During press conferences, especially after games against Missouri and Kansas State, the spark seemed gone from his eyes and mannerisms. He started to look every bit of his 60 years again. Perhaps even older, with how this job has aged him.

The uncertainty of the quarterback position is also surely weighing on Brown, as neither David Ash nor Case McCoy look like long-term solutions at the position. With more development, it's possible that Ash could be a solid starter, but he regressed during his last two starts and this is not particularly the forum to start another discussion about McCoy that will only lead to the same place every other discussion about McCoy has gone recently.

Forecasting the quarterback landscape moving forward, there's nothing to give Brown a great deal of hope that the Longhorns will have a player on campus by 2013 or 2014 who can lead Texas back to the mountaintop. And that has to be extraordinarily discouraging for a coach who received good to great quarterback play throughout his entire tenure at Texas leading up to Colt McCoy's departure.



Add in the pressure on Brown's time that the Longhorn Network has added and it's easy to see why the coach might feel like he's been stretched a little bit thin. Early in the season, Brown noted the the fledgling network was like another full-time job.

Though developed a little further in this post, those were all issues that were all mentioned in the post from Thursday (except for the Longhorn Network. The impetus for furthering this discussion, however, came from the long-rumored report from the Big Cigar that helped add momentum to talk about Brown retiring on Thursday.

It appears that the perception that Brown has lost some of the energy that galvanized both he and the program during the offseason has in fact dissipated:


Privately Mack has told people that he’s exhausted and doesn’t feel like he has the energy to right the ship sometimes. He’s shared exactly that with a couple of high level contributors and a former assistant that does broadcasting. People inside the program have verified that Mack works in fits and starts for the most part this season. He has his good weeks where he’s ultra engaged and then other weeks he’s more hands off and withdrawn. The losses vs. OU and OSU were really bad in terms of being distant and withdrawn, but then he had the rug pulled out from under vs. Mizzou and KSU after rolling KU and Tech. The valleys are too low and the mountains are too high it seems.

According to the high-level source, that fact is not something that has been lost on the administration:


The powers that be, Bill Powers, Deloss, IMG, and some influential boosters have asked that they sit down with Mack at the end of the season and talk about an ETA on winning big again and then an exit strategy. They’re going to ask when Mack will win again and then ask about a time horizon. If we want the LHN to take hold which will lead to a favorable realignment scenario the program has to get back to the big stage.

While that might seem to indicate that Brown is much closer to retirement than anyone on the outside looking in might have realized, an important aspect of Brown's personality to remember is that he often operates at his highest levels when he gets knocked out of the complacent ruts in which he sometimes finds himself, although that might not even be enough this time:


Based on what I’ve heard, Mack will probably tell the Powers-that-be the truth, which is that he’s tired and he doesn’t have a near term solution at QB. But my guess is that he’s torn between the three year pact he made with the young coaching pups and his own dwindling energy level. In fact, I think if he loses one of Harsin or Diaz this season, he’s gone because he doesn’t want to go through this again. If not, I see him staying through 2012 to see what that season will yield in terms of a glimpse at the future—if he can find the energy.

The Big Cigar closes the report with talk about the factors that could lead to a sped up timetable for Brown stepping down -- losing the coach who the source feels like has been hand-picked to replace Brown in Boise State head man Chris Petersen to a program like UCLA, or coordinators Manny Diaz and/or Bryan Harsin leaving, as mentioned briefly above.

It certainly adds some moving pieces to the whole equation. One of them may have fallen into place for Brown to stick around for a while longer with a Friday report that Petersen has removed his name from consideration for the UCLA job. That keeps one domino in place. It's too early to speculate with any great accuracy about what will happen with Diaz. His name hasn't been connected much with the Ole Miss opening in recent days, but the most likely scenario for him leaving still seems to be one in which Dan Mullen takes the Penn State job and Diaz would return to Starksville as the head coach. As for Harsin, at the moment it does not appear that he is a major candidate at any position currently open.

It sounds like a lot could be determined when Brown sits down with those powers that be at Texas and lets them know how he's feeling about the future. After putting it all into perspective, from this vantage point the Mack Brown era looks like it may have a much shorter expiration date than it did even less than 24 hours ago.

http://www.burntorangenation.com/2011/12/2/2606117/why-mack-brown-really-might-retire-soon

[Jacie]

Whorns have usually been decent defensively throughout Mack's tenure. His offenses are another story.

The guy created an instant quarterback controversy by stealing Chrissy from Tennessee and proceeded to put the Big XII Offensive Player of the Year on the bench. After suffering through that, Vinnie came along and bought him some job security. He found another diamond in the rough with ponyboy but mismanaged the final two games of his sophomore year playing him when he was hurt instead of a backup, costing them two games, ultimately caused one QB to transfer and possibly a recruit to switch from sa*et to LSU. With the cupboard already bare sa*et paid the price for these shenanigans when yet another prized QB prospect transferred.

After last year's housecleaning of assistants, including everyone's favorite whipping boy, OC Greg Davis, they say that Mack will find his mojo and return the whorns to greatness. The results from this season, however, showed that the fix is going to take more than new coaches. How long does it take to cleanse a program of the sense of entitlement (another reason given for sa*et's 2010 collapse) and see real results from the changes presumably implemented by the fresh faces on the sidelines? A win on Saturday would suggest Mack has the pieces in place to make the climb back to respectability. Another loss to Baylor will change that passing grade to an Incomplete at best.

[Herr Scholz]

He's not going anywhere. Just negative recruiting at the end of recruiting season. Nothing more.

[hornswaggled]

Alabama to Texas is not a step up. Saban only moves up. (yes, I believe going from the dolphins to bama is a step up). The Cowboys, Steelers, or Packers are about the only real upgrades from being the man at bama. OU, Nebraska, UT, TOSU are all lateral moves, imo.
You have a true dickhead mentaltiy.

[hornswaggled]

Head-to-head is what UT cares about. Unless it's bob vs mack. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches. Then it's all about national titles. Unless it's school vs. school. Then it's all about head-to-head. Unless you're talking about head coaches.

Loop stop. GOTO 100