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When we talk about the culture of a football program, specifically the culture of the Texas football program, what exactly are we talking about? It's not something you can point to and identify like a banana peel on the sidewalk. And when we talk about Bear Alexander, and if the uber-talented USC transfer would be a "culture fit" at Texas, what exactly are we taking into account?
Sources said early yesterday morning that things looked to be headed down a path where Texas and Bear Alexander were going to be a headline. We still don't know if he's going to come, but this is definitely a thing. Bear Alexander has told people close to him that he wants to come home to Texas. Anything can happen, of course, but that's where we are currently. Throughout Tuesday, we got more and more confirmation that mutual interest did indeed exist between Texas and Alexander.
As it did, we heard fans chime in about concerns regarding Alexander's off-field fit in Austin.
No one knows the culture of the Texas football program better than Steve Sarkisian who has spent the last three-plus years trying desperately to develop and nurture it to his liking. So, the short answer as to whether Bear Alexander is a "culture fit" for the Texas football program is that he is a fit if Sark says he's a fit.
Is that enough? Is the culture at risk of going sideways should some sort of charlatan be allowed to slip through the cracks by a head coach who temporarily lets the drawbridge down to accept a prospect on the periphery of acceptability in order to make the team better? That seems to be the fear of some fans in regard to Alexander, but that isn't looking at all of this rationally. Because, in doing so, you're assigning Alexander those malignant culture cooties that you envision spreading like wildfire in a program when we don't really have any evidence that he's even a carrier.
He's bounced around to a lot of schools, yes. I'd recommend reading this story for some background on Alexander and his upbringing. Of course it's not ideal to have basically transferred every season of football for the last six years, dating back to high school, but it becomes more understandable when you realize that his Dad was sentenced to 30 years in jail, his home life was rocky, his mentor was a coach who tried to get him into good programs -- he would drive 1.5 hours a day to work in Denton and have Alexander play at Ryan -- but was constantly met with the UIL (or executive committees within the district) eventually deeming Bear ineligible to play due to transfer rules in three of four-straight seasons.
I can't as easily explain away the college transfers, and it would be easy for detractors to point to those and say that Bear Alexander is in this thing for the money. That father-figure coach of his (surely somewhat of a helicopter dad-type) can be perceived in this scenario as a pseudo-agent and bad-faith actor trying to benefit off of the player in this new era of NIL and maybe there's some truth to that way of painting things. I have no real evidence either way in regard to that, but I can say that all the best players in college football have agents. If you think that stuff is icky, well ...
I can also unequivocally say that Bear Alexander would immediately push to start for the Texas Longhorns Day 1 over either Vernon Broughton or Alfred Collins at the team's position of greatest need and one of the most important ones on the field: interior defensive line. He's the epitome of a "doesn't grow on trees"-type of athlete that typically doesn't find its way to the portal, and certainly not often coming along with such a possibly warm lead in getting in on his recruitment. He absolutely would make Texas better, and in a meaningful way, for 2024. Bear Alexander might not even end up at Texas, but Texas should certainly pursue it to whatever degree they feel necessary to see if this deal can get done.
Because here's what I see as one of the most important things: there are players at Texas that want Bear on board, and apparently more than just a few. These guys camped together, played in the All-Star games and went through those experiences together ... they played in the same districts, sometimes schools. These are dudes that know Bear Alexander for the guy he is, and they don't seem to have any concerns about him. And whose culture is it, after all?
Is it yours or is it theirs?
