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The Current Mess At Texas Has Mack Brown’s Fingerprints On It

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By @bradberreman24

Mack Brown, University of Texas, Charlie Strong

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On Tuesday, junior offensive tackle Kennedy Estelle became the ninth player dismissed by Charlie Strong since he took over as head coach of the Texas Longhorns. The issues that have prompted Strong to suspend and dismiss players have basically not been specified, due to privacy rules attached to a public institution, but he has maintained his stated goal to “develop young men” by making some tough decisions.

The Longhorns are 1-2 heading into Saturday’s Big 12 opener against Kansas, with losses to BYU (41-7) and UCLA (20-17) coming before a week off last Saturday. The on-field results may remain mixed with an increasingly-thinned-out roster, but Strong clearly wants to establish a new culture and that may take a backseat to winning a lot of games in his first season or two.

The current situation at Texas can be blamed on former coach Mack Brown, since he had a role in bringing in the players Strong has had to levy discipline on. Brown spent 16 seasons (1998-2013) as head coach at Texas, highlighted by a 13-0 campaign in 2005 that ended with a national title, during which time he had a 158-48 record (10-5 in bowl games).

Brown increasingly seemed to be more like a CEO for the program than a coach as his tenure wound down, and the team’s record reflected it. The Longhorns had at least nine wins and went to a bowl in each of Brown’s first 12 seasons, including three BCS bowl game appearances (two national title games) over a five-year stretch from 2005-2009. But a loss in the national title game in January of 2010 was a major turning point, and starting with a 5-7 campaign in 2010, the Longhorns went 30-21 over Brown’s final four seasons. Without top-level talent in place to cover up his deficiencies, Brown proved to be highly overrated as a coach and his decision to step aside last December was long overdue.

Failing to find a consistent starting quarterback after Colt McCoy graduated coincided with the downfall of the Longhorns under Brown. Texas’ misses or oversights in recruiting were notable, including Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III and Jameis Winston, and Brown has to take most of the blame for that. Things don’t look a lot better under center for Strong this year, with David Ash giving up football after another concussion and sophomore Tyrone Swoopes taking over right now.

Brown may have chosen to minimize the importance of character concerns in recruiting, in an effort to quickly re-establish Texas as a national power, and it’s very possible he chose to overlook any potential off the field or academic issues entirely. That assumes he was even actively on the recruiting trail toward the end of his run as coach, but it can be assumed he at least issued some sort of direction to any of his assistants that were making regular visits to potential incoming recruits.

Brown’s shortcomings in all areas over the last few years, up to and including what appears to have been a hands-off approach across the board, has put Strong in a difficult spot early in his own tenure. Some difficulty is par for the course for a college coach in his first year at a new job, especially when there is almost certainly some rebuilding and retooling to be done. That said, Strong deserves better as he takes over a program from someone with Brown’s all-around, and outwardly sterling, reputation.

I’m not accusing Brown of deliberately taking his role as coach lightly, or skirting his day-to-day duties, but the Longhorns’ struggle to regain national prominence coincided with his approaching and crossing his 60th birthday. Alabama head coach Nick Saban is just two months younger than Brown, but he is as engaged and involved as he has ever been, with no sign of that changing anytime soon. It would be hard for any coach, regardless of age, to match Saban’s intensity, but that’s still no excuse for Brown’s role as an empty head set over his last couple years at Texas.

Brown had a 69-46-1 record over 10 seasons at North Carolina prior to arriving in Austin, with three 10-win seasons as the Tar Heels went to six straight bowl games. Making football a notable sport at a basketball school earned Brown the step up to Texas, and the results through most of his tenure met the heightened expectations surrounding the Longhorns’ football program. But he failed to maintain those high standards over his final few seasons on the sideline, and Strong is paying that price now as he is forced to discipline players that don’t meet the standards he is trying to set.

Strong seems to be the right guy for the job at Texas, and I hope he gets enough time to bring in players that will be kept in the fold and expected to contribute, while putting the program back on the right path. Once that happens, winning should easily follow and Strong could be in Austin just as long as Brown was if he chooses to stay around.

In any case, I’m certain Strong will leave the job in much better condition than he found it, be it five, 10 or 15 years from now.

Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter or connect on Google +.

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