College Football 2015 Week 3 thread

In the last two years Texas has gotten rid of the football coach, basketball coach, A.D., president and A.D. again.

Things are going well.

 

I still think Texas has potential to be an ideal basketball job, but man, if you are Shaka Smart you waited and waited and waited to take the right big job and the AD who hired you is gone before you even start practice.

 

Shaka is fine. Basketball has nowhere near the expectations of football.

If the new AD comes in and fires Strong, Shaka will have even more job security. Wouldn't be a good look to get rid of both coaches anytime soon.

 

Can't remember where it was, but something I read today said that Shaka took the job despite the AD. That he wasn't a fan.

 

From far away, my question is, how did Texas fall into this plight? If there's one school in the country that actually recruits itself for the coach, I'd think it was Texas. Fine university with massive fan base wired into large state power structure located in one of the best cities in the country. How does one squander that advantage?

 

I'm far away too, but my understanding is that Mack Brown got lazy in recruiting, taking a bunch of early commitments that peaked too soon and then plateaued. Seems like you'd always hear about kids who hit it big at Baylor, A&M, TCU, etc. that wanted a Longhorns offer and never got it. Only in the last cycle or two have you heard about UT getting turned down by a lot of guys they really wanted.

 

I've said this before and I'll keep saying, Texas isn't what people think it is.

It isn't a top-tier football job. It isn't even a middle tier basketball job. They have money but lots of schools have money.

They have fans and alumni. So do other schools.

They are well situated to population but so are a dozen other schools.

 

This. People in Texas don't really give a damn about basketball as long as they stay competitive. Football will always be king down there, and as long as those schools in College Station, Waco, Fort Worth and Lubbock are doing better than them....then there will always be people in Austin screaming about it.

 

People said that about Alabama before Saban got there, about Florida before Spurrier and Meyer got there, about USC before Carroll got there and about Notre Dame before Brian Kelly got there. (I know ND hasn't won as big as the others recently, but Kelly has played for a title and has his team in the Top 10 now).

All it takes is the right coaching hire.

 

Texas now reminds me of Tennessee about a decade ago. National title and then a coach who doesn't quite feel as committed for a few years afterwards. Erosion a little more each year. Texas should be better than it is but I've always felt it has too many money boosters who aren't always pulling in the same direction.

Baylor, aTm, TCU and for a while Tech offered more exciting offenses. If you turn down future NFL QB after future NFL QB, eventually the other schools will pluck them up and build their own.

Yet I've seen this cycle before with Texas. In the 80s, they rarely won the SWC. In the 90s, the didnt dominate the Big XII.

They have more tradition than Arizona State but I've always felt both programs should be better than they are.

 

If Texas isn't a top-tier football job, then my understanding of what a top-tier football job is SEVERELY flawed.

 

It's a top-tier job but one that has underperformed for decades compared with their rivals.