A funny thing happened in my search for information on the potential replacement for Texas men's basketball coach Rodney Terry ...
Everyone wanted to talk to me, but few wanted to talk basketball.
The topic of choice with several sources was Chris Del Conte's recent announcement that Texas Athletics was adding another 200 scholarship athletes to its roster at a cost of more than an additional $9+ million to the athletic department for the year.
Umm ... to say people are on tilt .. would be an understatement.
"**** Texas," one non-SEC power conference athletic department official told Orangebloods. "We cannot compete with that. Are you kidding me? Two Hundred?"
"Most schools are drowning right now and they added 200?" another athletic department official at a school with a men's basketball coach that has been connected to Texas, said. "I thought we were hot stuff because we've added some scholarships to compete in college baseball and didn't cut back in any sport? Texas added 10 times what we did. We'll never be able to compete with that in most of the sports."
Before we get into the biggest tirade from any of the sources I spoke with this weekend, let me refresh you on the numbers. Pay special attention to women's rowing because it's about to come up as a sore spot.
"Are you ****ing kidding me? They added 68 ****ing rowing scholarships (the actual number is 48)," one source with connections to an athletic department that Texas competes against regularly in a number of non-revenue sports, said. "Ask any athletic director in the country what program they would eliminate if they could without facing consequences and I promise you they will all say rowing. It's expensive. It creates no revenue. It's just a drain on everyone ... and Texas added 68 new rowing scholarships. Honestly, get the **** out of here. They added more rowing scholarships than almost every program in the country added scholarships, period."
"We added less than 70 and we're seriously pushing the limits of being broke," another source connected to a Power Four school said. "I thought we were going to be a leader and they tripled us. Believe me, it's a topic everyone is talking about."
The edge that Texas suddenly has vs. most of the field is that there won't really be a need for partial scholarships to ever exist on the 40 Acres. That is not an existence that the rest of the nation will ever know.
"Kansas is adding four baseball scholarships," one source connected to KU told me this weekend. "Texas added (more than 13). That's what they added. Not what they have available."
One source I spoke with mentioned that his school has a very specific area of expertise in its track program, which makes it superior to Texas on an annual basis, but that might quickly change.
"We just announced an early retirement program inside the athletic department," one of the previously mentioned sources said. "Those that don't accept the retirement package will probably lose their jobs. We are at a critical moment in our history and it feels like Texas is mocking everybody. We have All-Americans that receive 1/3 of a full scholarship and we can't give more. Our track coach told me that we'll never get another kid that Texas wants ever again."
Honestly, I stumbled across all of this by accident. I wanted to talk basketball coaches and the people I wanted to talk to wanted to talk scholarships. It's officially a big thing to keep an eye on and I'll reach out to more sources this week because the angst feels so palpable.
The eyes of Texas aren't on the rest of the nation right now as much as the rest of the nation has its eyes on Texas ... and they are judging eyes.
"Let. me say it again," the first source cited in this column, said "**** Texas and all of its money."
No. 2 - I got thoughts on Sean Miller ...
Let's start with the major positives, first and foremost ...
* He's a major upgrade of Rodney Terry in every important way. He's a three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year with a career win percentage of 71.3%. From 2006-07 all the way through the 2014-15 season, he was basically peak Rick Barnes at Texas with four Elite 8s in eight seasons and two more Sweet 16s during the same spell. He's a proven winner. Eight regular season titles. Four A-10/Pac-12 Tournament titles. Four Elite 8 appearances. Eight Sweet 16 appearances.
We're not talking about a one-hit-wonder. He's a legit made man as a producer of high-level, Tournament-successful teams.
Now let's talk about the negatives ...
* This isn't a real needle-moving move. It's less exciting than the hires of Shaka Smart or Chris Beard. For all of his charted success, Miller has one real plus season (made the Sweet 16 in 2022-23 at Xavier) out of his last seven seasons as a head coach going back to 2017. Four of those seasons saw him miss the NCAA Tournament altogether.
In a lot of ways, this feels similar to the moves that Tennessee made for Rick Barnes and Houston made for Kelvin Sampson. Like the bets those programs made, the hope is that Miller didn't forget how to be an elite coach ... he just needs the right job in the right time and place.
I'm told that Texas kicked the tires on splashier hires and a combination of reasons led to Miller being the obvious choice for Del Conte.
Texas is better at men's basketball today than it was yesterday. What exactly that translates to is hard to pin down.
No. 3 - Texas Football Scattershoots ...
... I can't wait to see which receivers emerge as favorites for Arch Manning over the next month because I think it's hard to handicap with DeAndre Moore out and Ryan Wingo the only true returning contributor among those expected to lead the way in the spring. It seems so obvious that Sark will go fishing in the spring for help at wide receiver.
... I'm not sure that Jaime Ffrench's emergence is going to change the desire for a Portal guy. Sark isn't taking any chances.
... It just isn't a good thing that the only tight end on campus that anyone is talking about is Jordan Washington ... not for a team that likes to play two on the field at the same time roughly 40% of the time on offense.
... Malik Agbo just hasn't worked out. It doesn't even feel like he's in consideration for playing time at tackle. All of those 2022 linemen were never going to hit and Agbo might be the only glaring "miss" from the group.
... True freshmen running backs James Simon and Ricky Stewart Jr. actually have a fantastic platform this spring to make a big early impression. The only guys taking snaps from the two freshmen will be Tre Wisner and Jerrick Gibson.... that's it.
... After thinking about it, I've changed my mind on the tight end panic meter that @Anwar Richardson discussed on Sunday. Put me down at a 9.
... Ok, young offensive linemen... impress us.
... My prediction for sleeper name to keep an eye on in the coming weeks... second-year edge Zina Umeozulu.
... Texas has to find a kicker in the Portal. Period. Full stop. All of that.
No. 4 – The implications of Nick Brooks ...
I want to apologize for this next section because sometimes the negative energy takes over my brain and I just can't help it.
With all of the buzz surrounding true freshman Nic Brooks since he arrived in January, I find myself having the following reactions.
a. I have some doubts about all of the rhetoric, but it seems clear he is headed towards a path of being someone that the program will eventually be able to lean on, which is a hell of an important potential win in recruiting when you consider that players with his recruiting profile historically develop into drafted NFL players about 20%-ish of the time at best.
b. No one had Brooks as a super blue chip prospect in the industry. Only Rivals and ESPN had him as a national top 200 player. On3 had him as a 3-star.
c. What the hell does this say about every other young offensive lineman at his position that he's generated more buzz than all of them combined?
Andre Cojoe going into his third year? Jaydon Chatman going into his third year? Malik Agbo going into his fourth year? Hell, even Brandon Baker going into his second year?
Outside of possibly Baker, the praise of Brooks flashes praise on the fact that all of the non-true freshman offensive tackles in the program not named Trevor Goosby and Baker look like lost causes at this point when we're talking about playing at the levels needed for this program to win a national title. I don't want to say the P-word too loudly, but anyone that Brooks passes in the pecking order over the course of the next few weeks will have to see the writing on the wall.
Does Brooks truly look like a world-beater or do the rest of the guys look so far away from world-beating that he looks like a damn Ritz cracker to a starving man in the desert?
We'll find out soon enough.
No. 5 - The Longhorns family loses a beloved all-time great ...
Kenneth Sims the college football player was a little before my time, so I often find myself listening to others when discussion about the school's first Lombardi winner and the first overall pick of the 1982 NFL Draft takes place.
What I don't have to have to do when it comes to Sims is rely on other people when it comes to talking about him as a man. Sims was pretty awesome as a dude. In fact, he has to be on any Top 5 list of former players that other former players absolutely loved and worshipped.
Whenever an alumni event was taking place and Sims was involved, every former player seemed to clamor for his company. The burnt orange universe didn't lose a football icon with Sims' passing this weekend as much as it lost a piece of the fabric of the soul of Texas Football. The world just isn't as good without Sims being in it as it was with him making people smile.
You're going to be missed, big guy. Rest in forever peace.
No. 6 – Now the games get interesting...
Starting on Monday night, the legacy of the 2024-25 season will be on the line when Vic Schaefer's Longhorns take the court.
So far, chalk has ruled the day in UT's Region, as the top eight seeds all won first-round matchups and No. 3 Notre Dame advanced to the Sweet 16 on the other side of the bracket.
What happens on Sunday night between No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Tennessee will tell us a lot about the pathway to an eventual Elite 8 showdown with the Irish, with all due respect to No. 2 TCU.
The recipe for the Longhorns is pretty simple.
a. Madison Booker has to play lights out.
b. Texas can't get blown out of the gym from behind the arc.
c. Play the defense that Vic will expect from them every night out.
If those three things happen three more times in the next nine days or so, this team will play South Carolina a fourth time in a national semifinal in a few weeks.
No. 7 - Humble Pie served at the Disch this weekend ...
The last thing No. 2 LSU's coaches, players and fans thought would happen this weekend was Texas taking two out of three from them. That was especially true on Friday night after the Tigers took the opener in fairly emphatic 8-2 fashion.
The look on the faces of everyone in purple and gold on Saturday night after the Longhorns powered their way to an 11-7 win suggested that they were staggered to have lost a single game to the Longhorns.
Therefore, a penny for the thoughts of every LSU coach, player and fan after Texas closed the deal on Sunday in rather emphatic fashion in its own right, besting the Tigers 6-2. The Tigers came, they saw and they got their asses kicked in a big, yet early key SEC series.
If there was any remaining doubt about this team, it went away after standing toe to toe with a team in LSU that everyone acknowledges is a legit national title contender.
No. 8 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) I'm going to say Manning's No. 1 wide receiver might not be on the roster at this point, but it's certainly on the table. I'll take the field.
(Sell) Barron had a truly special season last year, one that ranks among the best any defensive back a Texas has ever enjoyed, so I'm going to say it's unlikely that this happens in back to back seasons, but I suppose it's not an impossibility. I expect him to be a plus-player that projects as a possible day two guy in the 2026 Draft.
(Sell) The best sports movie of all-time is Bull Durham. I'll give Unforgiven the Western title belt and The French Connection the best cop movie belt.
(Buy) I think so.
(Buy) He's an upgrade, even if he's not a rock star. I don't know what was truly doable.
(Buy) I think the idea of Texas at its optimal level is a top 10 job. It was that under Rick Barnes for a while and Shaka Smart came to Texas because he viewed it in that light.
(Buy) Joe Burrow is right behind him.
(Sell) I haven't given it any thought. Maybe I should have.
(Buy) That kind of quality may not pop up again before the start of the 2025 season. In fact, we know it likely won't.
(Buy) Yes.
(Sell) Sir ...
(Sell) It wasn't Heat-level good, but they've given us more total showdowns than Pacino/De Niro ever dared.
No. 9 – Scattershooting all over the place …
... Over three days, Texas outscored No.23 Auburn 32-9 in softball. Up next weekend: No.18 Mississippi State.
... It's a big dog world in men's college basketball: The SEC (7), Big 12 (4), Big 10 (4) and ACC (1) were responsible for all of the Sweet 16 spots. NIL killed Cinderella at 5:08 p.m. before she finished getting ready for the ball. The days of waiting for midnight felt way over in this Tournament.
... NCAA East Regional Musings: Alabama better not take BYU lightly. The Cougars cab score, man.. Rick and Kelvin are on a path to see each other for a spot to the Final Four. Hard for me to not think of the 2002-03 Texas team beating Sampson's best team on Hollis Price's Senior Night.
... NCAA Midwest Regional Musings: Kelvin Sampson went to a Final Four in 2002 and went from 2004 to 2021 (10 tries) before he ever went to another Sweet 16. He's now gone to the Sweet 16 a national-best six straight times. Keep that in mind the next time you start getting overly emphatic about very good coaches who don't experience Tournament success at a high level for long stretches. Four times in that nine-season trip to the postseason wilderness, Sampson's teams didn't make the NCAA Tournament.
... NCAA South Regional Musings: Auburn had itself a really nice weekend in winning both of its games by double digits, while Michigan eliminating Texas A&M might have taken the worst matchup for Auburn in the entire region off the board.
... NCAA West Regional Musings: Texas Tech making the Sweet 16 while Texas has fired its second coach since Chris Beard left Lubbock is all kinds of weird irony unfolding in real time. That Sweet 16 match-up against Arkansas looks like a barnburner in the making to my naked eye. UConn went out kicking and screaming to the very end. I expected nothing less.
... NCAA Women's Opening Three-Day Musings: Only one double-digit seed won a game on Saturday. Shame on No. 7 Oklahoma State in Region 4 losing to No. 10 South Dakota State. No other double-digit seed stayed with 13 points of the higher seed. SDSU and Oregon as 10 seeds were the only real first-round upsets. It kind of is what it is.
... Rest in peace and power, George Foreman. There are few stories in the history of sports that match the one that unfolded with the universally beloved Foreman, who is essentially the state of Texas' version of Forrest Gump. Born in Marshall. Grew up in the 5th Ward of Houston. Wins Olympic Gold. Fought his first pro fight in 1969 and finished his career in fight No. 81 in 1997. Knocks out Joe Frazier in two rounds the first time they battled and in the fifth round in the rematch. Lost to Ali in one of the most famous sporting events of all-time. Took 10 years off. Took an in-his-prime Evander Holyfield the distance at age 42. Wins the heavyweight title at 45 years old. Sales a crap-load of George Foreman Grills to give his family generational wealth. Had his own prime-time TV series. Had 12 kids and named five of them George Jr. Became a pastor in Houston while retired in 1980. Honestly, it goes on and on and on ...
... The USMNT is crap. Not even a world-class coach is changing that with the World Cup looming in a year. My hopes right now are incredibly limited.
... Premier League Thoughts of the Week: 16 more points to go, Reds. Three points each weekend. Let's finish this strong. Damn the rest.
... Ok, I need to give this a chance ... this week.
No. 10 - Top 10 Female Stand-Up Comedians
Here's the deal ... I felt borderline sexist with a Top 10 comedians list last week and not a lot of women were seriously considered if I'm being completely honest.
Was I wrong for that?
Frankly, I loved the suggestion from one of you to do a female comedians list this week. It's one of the rare lists I've done where I'm not really sure where things will go before I ever start compiling the list. I'm not even sure who I will list at No. 1 and I feel like I always know my No. 1 each week ... slam dunk.
Let's get on with it.
Honorable Mention: Moms Mabley, Elayne Boosler, Tig Notaro, Tiffany Haddish, Leslie Jones, Maria Bamford, Paula Poundstone and Ellen DeGeneres
10. Janeane Garofalo
I love her. I don't care what any of you say. The Queen of Alt-Comedy.
9. Phyllis Diller
You make a case that I have her too low. I understand.
8. Lisa Lampanelli
She's just out of control in such a way that it would have felt wrong to leave her out.
7. Amy Schumer
No one does dead-pan, self-deprecating sarcasm better. One of the giants of her generation.
6. Sarah Silverman
I thought she would be a little higher on the list when I first started putting it together, but in the end I don't have her on the front end of the list.
5. Roseanne Barr
Look, I'm not trying to hang out with Barr, but we can't ignore that she arrived on the scene with the force of a category 4 hurricane back in the 80s. She has to be in the Top 10.
4. Margaret Cho
Been doing it like a champ for decades. Eleven total stand-up tours. Has to be somewhere on the list.
3. Joan Rivers
There's a real argument for Rivers to be in GOAT status. She delivered the goods on stage for decades. In fact, has any man or woman ever gone longer at such a high level? I never thought Rivers was laugh out loud funny, but she was always excellent and her routines always felt new.
2. Nikki Glaser
I freaking love her. She's appointment viewing. No one makes me laugh harder and louder.
1. Wanda Sykes
In the end, this ended up not being all that close.
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