i think they are about to fuck around and find out.
mack was easy for deloss. 10 win seasons, one can rest on his laurels following a national championship, even though so many of us had issues with him. beating ou, winning big xii championships, etc, we didn't do that so well. but he still finally brought the trophy home.
he also brought the dollars home. "come early, be loud, stay late, wear orange" was fucking brilliant. and it was occurring at a time when austin was growing up. and it also occurred at a time when half the crowd, maybe, wore orange. not sure that we've ever been loud, outside a couple of games, but the sentiment was great. he didn't just bring coaching, he brought a fucking marketing plan. that's why deloss loved him so much. mack made him his fortune, and won a national championship beside. should have won two more, if he was a good head coach. but he wasn't. he was a brilliant marketer. he convinced great players to come here. he would sometimes hold them back, but sometimes let them succeed. it was a love-hate relationship with the fans, because he never lost after ou, but he would lose against ou. just look at the trophy case.
he built a mystique. he brought texas back to the forefront, not with coaching, but with marketing. he put players in the nfl, because he convinced nfl quality players to come here. but make no mistake, he wasn't an elite coach. he was a marketing guy.
now we are left with that legacy. we attach our psyche to marketing. "texas, we're baa-aack". we were never really here. not in my lifetime. ou has owned us, our athletic department as far as football goes, is a fucking joke. we've hired the same coaching resume 3 times in a row now, and i was a charlie strong defender (recovered). we let the goddamn alumni run the goddamn athletic department, and that really is our legacy. thread title is "this is who steve sarkisian is."
we've hired the same goddamn coaching resume three times in a row. thing is, we've never really had any kind of coordinated coaching search, and that's the real problem here. it's a goddamn train wreck every time, because houston alumni disagree with dallas, or one has the ascendancy over the other. they are trying to prove themselves to one another rather than hire the right fucking guy in an orderly manner. yall hate herbstreit for saying it's a cesspool here, but our money folks have a way outsized influence, way more than other schools. alabama big money guys put a whisper in an AD's ear. a texas alum hires a goddamn ad agency.
that's our biggest problem, i reckon. it's not "getting lucky" hiring a guy. it's that the hiring process is fucked. we got lucky with mack, but it wasn't because of a professional hiring process. it was because a certain part of our alumni with a certain amount of influence at the time wanted him.
i'm stunned, i'm pissed, i'm no longer surprised.