Too many times Texas coach Mack Brown has been in full-blown apology mode after facing Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl. It happened again last Saturday after the Brown Longhorns were embarrassed by the Sooners and Bob Stoops, this time 63-21. It’s the kind of blowout loss that’s eerily all too familiar to the Longhorn nation.
Before we throw a lot of Bevo’s spending on Coach Brown, let’s stress that his record at Texas stands on its own. Brown is 145-41 at Texas, with nine seasons of at least 10 wins (something Texas accomplished only twice in the 14 years before his arrival). The Longhorns won the 2005 National Championship and it could be argued that they were one Colt McCoy injury away from winning it again in 2009.
Since that loss to Alabama in the 2009 title game, Brown, and the Longhorns are very little Texas like 17 and 14. More discriminated against is that Brown has done nothing against Bob Stoops and Oklahoma, losing all three games since 2009 by an average score. 48-19. Don’t think this is just an outdated trend because Brown has beaten Oklahoma just six times in 15 tries. Against Stoops, who came to Norman a year after Brown joined Austin, Brown is 5-9.
Mack Brown has been around long enough to know the importance of the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry. Although it’s getting harder and harder to call it a rivalry because that means both teams are winning. As Barry Switzer’s assistant in the mid-1980s, he asked Switzer, “What do you have to do to keep your job here, and what do you have to do to keep everyone happy?” As told by Brown, Switzer’s response was brief: “You have to beat Texas.” Switzer must have passed that little nugget of information to Bob Stoops, who apparently took him at his word.
As stable as Mack Brown seems to be in Texas, he won’t last much longer if the Longhorns’ fortunes don’t return against the Sooners. Texas fans can tolerate losing to Texas Tech or even Baylor from time to time, but the Orangebloods don’t appreciate the bitter taste of State Fair Corny Dogs with Oklahoma mustard on top.
Maybe it would be different if OR just had a huge talent lead. Texas and Oklahoma have consistently produced the top 10 national recruiting classes. See how much talent both schools are passing on to the NFL and you’ll find that Oklahoma currently has 24 respectable players on NFL rosters. Texas has a whopping 41. That means one of two things is happening to give OU the edge in this series. Either the Texas recruits have been overhyped or the Oklahoma coaching staff has been “training” their talent better than Mack and the Texas staff. The NFL numbers lead me to wonder about training. Mack Brown has always been known as a great recruiter, just like Bob Stoops. Both men lean heavily on the coordinators of the “xyo” of the game.
The Texas team I saw on Saturday wasn’t ready to play and that rests with the head coach. It is his job to make sure that all the strategy and planning of the game make sense and that all the players understand it. The most imperative thing for a head coach is that he has his team mentally sharpened to a razor’s edge. He is an eminence that cannot be underestimated when it comes to gaining an edge in the competition. As has been the case in too many past meetings with Oklahoma, it was the Sooners who showed enthusiasm and awareness. Texas was error-prone and slow to react, on the field, on the sidelines and up in the coaching booth.
That’s on Mack Brown and I’m sure he’s perfectly willing to take the heat for it all. He has always been an honest guy, not afraid to divulge his demerits. That’s good because he should deservedly take a lot of flak for what happened on Saturday.
Brown has a $3.5 million buyout in Texas and with his track record and the money he’s earned for college, he’s not likely to be going anywhere any time soon. He used to think that meant he was free to retire by his own choice and join Darrell Royal as the greatest coach in Texas history. But if he is not careful he will tarnish that future.
Brown is still on solid ground, but he’s not as concrete as he used to be and it could come down on him if he can’t find a way to beat Oklahoma in 2013.