“I’ll still go with you if you
want me to.”
Twenty-two years later and I can not only still hear the words, they still create the same you-gotta-be-kidding-me chuckle.
A week before my senior prom at McCallum High School, my third cancel arrived in the way of a phone call from a girl I worked with at HEB, who also happened to be a senior at Austin High. After an unceremonious ending to my relationship with prom cancel No. 1 and an even more unceremonious ending to my relationship with prom cancel No. 2, I found myself in a desperate position a few weeks from prom night.
The good news for me is that desperation met desperation at the Hancock Center HEB, as one of my co-workers was going through a breakup with her boyfriend and she had asked me to go to her prom. Not only did I accept, but turned around and asked her to join me for my prom.
Problem solved, right?
Well, it was a problem solved until date No. 3 turned into cancel No. 3 after she reunited with her boyfriend and decided to attend her prom with that loser. In an act of pity (that’s certainly how I perceived it), she wanted to let me know that she would still attend my prom if I had zero self-dignity (my words, not hers).
Therefore, as I stood dateless a week before prom, running out of options, I played my last card … I asked the girl out that I should have asked out in the first place - a sophomore at my high school by the name of Jennifer Fleming. For reasons I can’t really explain, we were really good friends in high school and I used to hang out at her house all the time, but I had spent so much time lusting after her best friend for over a year that we forever remained friends. Just friends.
She saved me.
She not only agreed to go with me, but she was awesome about it, never once whispering how much of a pain in the butt it might have been to whip together prom attire on the fly.
And we had a very good time, except for the fact that I was a walking, talking prom disaster that couldn’t get out of my own way.
At around midnight, the two of us went back to my hotel room to change clothes before heading to a downtown after-party and as I opened the door to put our bags inside the room, I locked us both out, triggering one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Because the room was booked by my best friend’s mom, I had to call her in the middle of the night and have her come to the hotel to show identification, so I could get a key replacement.
Jennifer was awesome about it, but there’s just no getting around the fact that I was basically the Charlie Strong of prom nights. Or Charlie Strong was the Geoff Ketchum at prom of coaching football at Texas.
Does it really matter?
At the end of the day, neither of us ever had a chance of success for a variety of reasons, some of them completely self-inflicted and some that were completely out of our control.
As I was thinking about the reaction to Tom Herman’s hire among fans throughout the Longhorn universe this week, it was hard not to think about how different the situation was three years ago when Strong was named head coach. Don’t get me wrong, there were some Orangebloods who loved the hire and were genuinely pumped to have him in charge, but so many more just couldn’t get excited.
It didn’t have to do with race (by and large). It really didn’t have anything to do with Strong.
What it had to do with is that he wasn’t Nick Saban. Now, we’ll never know whether Saban would have ultimately gone to the prom with the Longhorns had Mack Brown been removed just 24 hours earlier, but Texas fans everywhere had convinced themselves that the greatest coach in the history of the sport was about to be their coach and almost anyone else taking the position was bound to a letdown.
The fact that Texas was making its first coaching hire in half a generation and its first as a true financial heavyweight made settling for a non-Power Five coach with a limited resume impossible to swallow for some, which is why the ghost of Saban hung over Strong’s tenure like the presence of Amanda Beckett haunted Preston Meyers in
Can’t Hardly Wait throughout almost every day of his high school career.
Clearly, Strong contributed to his own demise as much as I did my own on prom night by essentially locking himself out of too many hotel rooms to count over the course of countless football decisions, but his incompetence actually did the Longhorns the favor they needed by speeding up the replacement process to the tune of three years instead of four or five despite the fact that Strong had a president, athletic director and a Board of Regents that preferred that he succeed if for no other reason than he not emerge as a $30+ million bonfire of nonrefundable cash.
Perhaps the most definitive proof that Strong and Texas were always wrong for each other arrived in the form of him turning the impossible into the possible in all the worst ways, which would open the door for the most serendipitous of events to occur.
Strong got fired and he not only got fired, but he got fired at the exact moment that a dream candidate was sitting 200 miles away on a silver platter.
Timing is everything in life. Under different timing, Nick Saban might be the coach at Texas right now. Under different timing, Charlie Strong and Texas might have been a terrific fit. Under different timing, Tom Herman might be the coach at LSU.
To consider the string of events that needed to occur to create this burnt-orange flavored serendipity (Kansas, anyone?) is fairly overwhelming, but the bottom line is that the path led the program and those that support it to something different than settling for the second choice.
Tom Herman represents more than simply landing the head coach that the heavy consensus desired. His hire on paper represents Texas doing a Texas thing, at least by the definition created by those that covet the school achieving big things because Texas things are supposed to be big.
Remember … what starts here changes the world.
No offense to other universities and other states, but Texas is
supposed to be different.
The situation is about more than simply landing Herman, who isn’t yet a national top-5 coach, but represented the kind of up-and-coming “It” coach a school like Texas should hire if the timing is wrong with a monster like Saban. It’s about Texas spreading its wings and announcing with one loud declaration that failure has consequences and not even the almighty dollar (10+ million of them) will enable behavior that accepts it.
By denouncing failure by any means needed, the Texas fan base finds itself more united than it has been since the day of Colt McCoy’s final game in burnt orange. Before Strong arrived, the Orangebloods universe was at war with itself as it navigated a bitter end to what was its greatest stretch of the modern era of the sport and for the next three years it was at war with itself over the debate over whether lower standards would be tolerated.
Timing is everything and Herman has walked into a world that is ready to for him in a way that Strong will never know. If Texas had waited one more hour or one more day or one more week to determine its standards, it’s possible that it would have found itself locked in a timing issue yet again that would have forced the school to settle once more.
And the war almost certainly would have continued … but, that didn’t happen.
It’s as if instead of having four prom dates, I’d have just had one and she had been the right one. It’s as if instead of locking myself out of my hotel room, I’d have just enjoyed a normal night without any concept of drama. This is different than the previous experience in a monumental way.
All that’s left is for Herman to prove he’s the guy everyone in college football believes him to be.
If he doesn’t mind, the Longhorn universe is going to go ahead and attend the dance while he gets to work because it finally feels like it isn’t settling for lower standards any more.
No. 2 – The good and bad news of 2017 recruiting ...
As Tom Herman took over control of the steering wheel of Texas recruiting last week, a couple of hard truths awaited him about what is in front of him in his effort to complete his first signing day class.
A. To his advantage, he’ll have five more weeks than Strong had in 2014 to make things happen, which is one of the major advantages of hiring someone before the college post-season takes place.
B. To his disadvantage, he’s working with seven current commitments in this class instead of 17, which means it’s a good thing he has five more weeks to work because he’s going to absolutely need it.
The bottom line is that he has two months to turn a little bit of water into an undetermined amount of wine.
Although the dynamics involved are completely different in too many ways to count, it does remind me of what Mack Brown walked into when he was hired in December of 1997 and was forced to build a recruiting class on the fly with only one commitment handed to him via John Mackovic.
Of course, a young Mack Brown coupled with a young Tim Brewster was able to create enough wine for all of Austin to become intoxicated as Texas went from dead in the water to eventual destinations for the No. 1, No. 4, No. 7, No. 14, No. 15, No. 18, No. 19, No. 23, No. 30, No. 31, No. 33 and No. 36-ranked players in the state. Looking back on it now, the 1998 class was never remembered as one of Brown’s best classes, but I would argue that those eight weeks from December of 1997 to February of 1998 represented his finest work.
Could Herman pull of something similar? Probably not. The dynamics today are so much different than they were almost 20 years ago in terms of the length of relationships between prospects/coaches, early commitments, social media, etc …
A glance at the current Rivals Top 100 in the state of Texas shows that 35 of the state’s 45 five- and four-star prospects have already given verbal commitments to schools across the country. Of the 10 five- and four-stars who remain uncommitted, quite a few of them appear to be players the Longhorns have more than a fighting chance of landing.
The smart money is probably on him landing a handful of four-stars and twice as many high three-stars in an effort to close out the class, which in itself presents a bit of good and bad news.
On one hand, a bunch of highly-ranked three stars won’t trigger any parade-planning, yet on the other hand is the comfort of knowing that the high-three star prospect is the biggest strength of the Lone Star State in recruiting because the players ranked in that area of the rankings often historically perform better than the four stars in front of them when it comes to developing into drafted NFL players.
Given that the Longhorns currently have commitments from four four-star prospects and three three-star prospects, let’s just give Herman four more four-stars and eight more three-stars for the sake of setting expectations for February. That would give him a total eight four-stars and 11 three-stars prospects within the class, which would likely finish somewhere near the top 20 in the national rankings.
No. 3 – A quick note ...
As soon as this article is posted, I’m diving into the 2017 and 2018 LSR Top 100 updates with the hope of having both updated in the next two weeks.
That’s the plan.
No. 4– The greatest Texas defensive back ...
It’s possible that a Hall of Fame-level career came to an end last night in Seattle to the greatest defensive back my eyes have ever seen in burnt orange.
That’s right, everyone likes to act in agony when the discussion of who is the best of the best at DBU, but this isn’t rocket science.
It’s Earl Thomas.
I don’t care that he played only two seasons (what the hell went into thinking he needed a redshirt in 2007?). All I know is that his 2009 season is the greatest individual season I’ve ever seen a defensive back have at this school and if we’re keeping it 100, it was Thomas who deserved to be the Heisman candidate that season. With all due respect to Derrick Johnson, it might have been the greatest season I’ve witnessed of any Texas defensive player.
Earl Thomas is the GOAT, folks, and last night his career might have to an end after he broke his leg in an awkward collision with teammate Kam Chancellor.
Although I have to believe he will return to the field, if this is in fact the end, we need to take the time to acknowledge the greatness of his play as a college and pro player. In one of the all-time great secondary unit in the NFL, Thomas has been the cream of the crop - a player without a peer.
Raise a glass to the GOAT tonight, it’s possible he’ll be eating a steak dinner while you do.
No. 5 – Buy or sell …
BUY or SELL: People will ride Herman after game one?
(Buy) Define people. Seriously, there were people that bitched during the 2005 season, so there will be some folks who just can’t help themselves, but for the most part I expect a united front behind Herman, in part because I expect the football to be better.
BUY or SELL: Tom Herman will bring Major Applewhite back to UT?
(Buy) I’m going to say that Applewhite isn’t going to be the Houston head coach, which means he will be Herman’s offensive coordinator. Herman has enough political capital right now that I have to believe he can get Applewhite if he wants him.
BUY or SELL: Tom Herman adds a current HS coach to his staff?
(Buy) Mack did it. Strong did it. You have to believe there’s a chance Herman will do it.
BUY or SELL: Tom Herman ends up as the second best coach in program history?
(Sell) Give Mack some credit. This comes from a guy that was constantly pointing out his faults over the years, including years when it wasn’t cool to do so.
BUY or SELL: Herman's DC, whomever it may be, will turn this group into a horde of angry, sack-tearing, yam stomping hardasses that no one will want to face?
(Sell) I’ll believe it when I see it. Great college defenses are very rare items these days.
BUY or SELL: 10 current players transfer out prior to kick off next year?
(Buy) It’ll be close. The yearly average for the Texas program over the course of the last 16 years is a little more than seven departed players, so it wouldn’t be an extreme thing to see that many players leave for all the variety of reasons that create transfers.
BUY or SELL: Longhorn fans will be watching next year on Selection Sunday to see if we are in?
(Sell) I think only the biggest of homers would declare such a thing following consecutive 5-7 seasons. Let’s see them conquer TCU first and then we’ll talk.
BUY or SELL: Looking at Alabama's staff that does NOT coach on the field, it appears they have 24 staff members. Within 12 months Herman has 20 or more at Texas?
(Sell) Alabama is on a different level. I’d be stunned to see Texas operating at that level of overkill.
BUY or SELL: A transfer is the starting QB in 2017 and not Shane Buechele?
(Sell) The smart money has to be on Buechele over the field at this point.
BUY or SELL: Walker Little wants to play at Texas?
(Buy) Deep down that kid wants to be a Longhorn.
BUY or SELL: The roster Herman inherits from CS is not significantly better than the one CS inherited from Mack? The commits at the time of the coaching change should be included as part of the inherited roster. Before you snap out the standard answer of it is, do a position by position evaluation.
(Buy) There are a few areas where the 2014 group has an edge and a few areas that the 2017 group would have in a straight up comparison (and a few would be kind of a push), but two things stand out in favor of what Strong left behind.
The quarterback position isn’t a total disaster and would appear to have a budding young starter, whose floor is middle of the conference quality.
The sheer amount of young talent in the program is much better.
Ironically, Mack Brown left Charlie Strong with a better group of seniors than Strong leaves Herman.
BUY or SELL: Chris Warren will be participating full speed on the first day of spring practices?
(Sell): Maybe he’s going half-speed at the beginning of camp, but the indications we have are that he will be ready to go this spring.
No. 6 – The NCAA’s most dangerous game …
Imagine for just a moment that Ohio State had just won the Big 10 Championship on Saturday night and the only thing that stood in the way of it being in the Final Four was a one-loss, non-champion Penn State team that it had already beaten in head to head competition.
Is there anyone out there that believes that this championship Ohio State team, winners of its previous five games by a combined 151 points entering its match-up with a No. 6-ranked team for the title, would get left out the Final Four?
Of course not. Ohio State would get in, partly because we’ve been told over and over again how important conference championships are … well … uh … except when they aren’t.
Not when one of the sport’s giants is involved, which was the case this weekend when Penn State learned the cardinal rule when it comes to college football’s playoff, which is that the committee makes the shit up as it goes.
There aren’t any real rules in place, which is why TCU and Baylor didn’t get in two years ago, but Ohio State did this weekend.
The game that the playoff committee plays each year is that we’ll eat, drink and smoke up whatever it gives us in the form of the games that we won’t really revolt if it turns out that the principles within the system doesn’t include fairness, consistency or any sense of right and wrong.
Just give us our games and if it means the rules are different for each school and each situation ... well … just give us our games.
I wonder what would happen if the world ever awakened to truly learn that the officials running things are nothing more than managers of a crooked carnival game, forever giving the appearance that the rules are fair, but if you’ll just take five steps over to the side of the basket you’ve been shooting hoops at for 20 minutes in hopes that you’ll win a five-foot tall stuffed bear, you’ll see that the basket is narrow, despite the appearance from the front. I wonder, but I can’t say I’m optimistic that it ever happens.
No. 7 – College Football randomness ...
… If I had a vote that mattered...
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Penn State
4. Washington
5. Ohio State
6. Michigan
7. Oklahoma
8. USC
9. Wisconsin
10. Western Michigan
… Final Big 12 Power Poll
1. Oklahoma
2. Oklahoma State
3. West Virginia
4. Kansas State
5. TCU
6. Texas
7. Baylor
8. Texas Tech
9. Iowa State
10. Kansas
… I haven’t given James Franklin a ton of credit this year, but I have to give him accolades after guiding his team to a Big 10 title after falling behind 28-7 to Wisconsins, only to turn around and finish the game on a 31-3 run. I thought that game was o-v-e-r and because of the mental strength of the Nittany Lions, the game was just beginning.
… That being said, I’m not sad over Penn State’s sadness. That program can rot for all I care.
… Did I read that Bob Stoops has more conference titles at Oklahoma than Texas has had in the last 40 years? Man, when Bob Stoops is long and gone from this earth, I expect his tombstone to read, “Here lies Bob Stoops, Big 12 football champion of champions."
… That being said, the Big 12 was a dog conference and it was won by one of the worst versions of Oklahoma championship teams that we’ve ever seen.
… Colorado missed out on the Rose Bowl because of the conference championship loss.
… Are we sure there should be a Heisman this year?
… Temple football might be the story of the year. Good for them. I won’t hold Bill Cosby against it.
No. 8 – Five games until the beginning of conference play for Shaka’s team …
Seven games into the 2016-2017 season, I still can’t decide what to think, expect and hope out of the Texas men’s basketball team.
Part of me wants to completely turn away from the sight of what I watched in consecutive losses to Northwestern, Colorado and UTA by a combined 44 points. That same part of me wanted nothing to do with the final 20 minutes of Friday’s Alabama game, not after watching Texas fall behind by 12 at halftime to an average Crimson Tide squad.
Yet, it was that very same 20 minutes of basketball that I didn’t want to watch that provided the reasons for wanting to hang in with this team.
It was Jacob Young showing flashes. Same with Kerwin Roach. In smaller doses you could see it in Jarrett Allen and others.
With five games until Texas begins Big 12 play in Manhattan on December 30, the small flashes from those 20 minutes are keeping me locked in with this group, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have no idea what kind of season I’m in the middle of watching.
No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… With four games to go in the NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys have what is essentially a three-game lead for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. What world am I living in?
… Rarely do I root for the Steelers, but I enjoyed the hell out of them beating the Giants on Sunday. It made that game in New York mostly meaningless, as long as Dallas doesn’t completely implode in the final four games. Thank you, Steelers.
… Are we sure Tampa Bay isn’t the biggest threat to Dallas’ path to the Super Bowl?
… Seattle isn’t the same Seattle without Earl Thomas.
… Matt Ryan doing Matt Ryan things …
… What does it say that Houston exceeded my expectations in losing only by a touchdown at Green Bay in the snow?
… Jeff Fisher must know where
all the bodies are buried.
… Remember when the Eagles were good for about five minutes? That was cute.
… Ron Rivera is a buster for sitting Cam Newton down for a series for not wearing a tie when it didn’t appear to be an issue at all when the team was 15-1. That’s Mickey Mouse stuff.
… My favorite Joel Embiid moment on Twitter this week.
… Nothing feels quite as meaningless as the discussion over the Cavs losing three games in a row in the NBA.
… I just realized how bad the Mavericks are right now. Woof.
… My favorite part of the English Premier league is the amount of insanity that exists from one week to the next when it comes to the soap opera that is every team’s season. Take Liverpool for example. After not losing since week two (in a game it dominated), Liverpool dropped a game this weekend after holding a 3-1 lead with 20 minutes to go. Despite being without four critical players, the immediate discussion in England turned to the trouble that Liverpool is obviously in after one sloppy performance. As someone who sometimes overreacts, let me say with clarity that nobody overreacts like European soccer media.
… Chelsea has my attention. Full attention.
... If David Luiz had done to Sergio Aguero what Aguero did to him, we'd be talking about a suspension much longer than four games.
… Sergio Ramos broke a lot of hearts this weekend.
... Baby steps, Tiger Woods, baby steps. This weekend was a baby step.
… UCLA went into Rupp Arena and punked Kentucky. That’s called an eye-opener. Keep rumblin, young bucks.
… After his interview with Joe Rogan this week, doesn’t Jon Jones have to change his nickname?
No. 10 - And finally …
With the holiday season upon us, I wanted to pass along a note that if you're interested in having your business spotlighted on Orangebloods during this very busy season, drop me an email at
gkketch@gmail.com. Let the power of Orangebloods work for your business.
