http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/12/22/10644704/charlie-strong-texas-mack-brown
Makes you even look better than you really are...
Hook'em
Makes you even look better than you really are...
Hook'em
Luck is Everything
- Thread starter FlourBluffHorn
- Start date
Yeah talent wise Mack started off better than strong. I mean one of the best running backs to ever play college football, and one of the best QBS in Texas football history(top 5?). That alone is a damn fine start. Let's not sell Mack short though he earned what he got at Texas. Just didn't leave it in a good spot.
I think it is safe to say that if we change coaches for the 2017 season the new coach will probably be starting with a roster that more resembles Mack's first roster than Charlie's first roster.
I think it is safe to say that if we change coaches for the 2017 season the new coach will probably be starting with a roster that more resembles Mack's first roster than Charlie's first roster.
D.D. Lewis, a decent NFL linebacker and one of the best LBs Texas has had since the early 1980s. (To his credit, Brown moved him there from running back.)
I still think he stopped Roethlisberger in the Superbowl. It was a great hit!
I still think he stopped Roethlisberger in the Superbowl. It was a great hit!
Mack also got one of the best offensive lines in Texas football history. Outside of maybe the 2005 line, it was the most talented line Texas had under Mack Brown.
Not so much "luck" as I see it with regard to Mack and a loaded Texas roster. IMO, more like GREAT TIMING by a guy who made the UT short list, looked at an incredible roster ("loaded") and simply went for it. Impressed the big hats (I'm starting to sound like a Texan) landing one of the best jobs in college football with fab roster -- the rest is history. Great coach being a perfect fit for you guys !
.02
and, Go Cats !! and, Hook 'em for the Wife !
.02
and, Go Cats !! and, Hook 'em for the Wife !
The one thing Mack did, that you have to give him credit for was convincing Ricky Williams to come back. Ricky would have been one of the top 2 or 3 picks in the draft, but decided to come back for his senior year.
No one would have blamed Ricky for not coming back, but he did and now he is a longhorn legend.
No one would have blamed Ricky for not coming back, but he did and now he is a longhorn legend.
He convinced a lot to come back over the years. I think Vince may have been the first to leave early.
Vince was the first to leave early then it was a domino effect after that with Finely was the next to leave early I think he was a redshirt sophomore. And look at him now no where to be seen. If he would of stayed he would of been our TE in the 09 natty game I think.
Not a Mack apologist but, wonder why all of a sudden the OL talent he left Charlie was considered as weak. In 2005 he had national championship talent. He developed that group to be cohesive with a QB who previously hadn't done very much. And Vince wasn't necessarily smarter than Swoopes & Heard. After that did Mack just start recruiting slackers or was the talent not developed?
These were mostly 3 & 4 star players recruited by other big time schools and rated highly by the better recruiting gurus. Maybe it was Watson's scheme or play calling, but personally I think there was very little meshing of scheme to players.
These were mostly 3 & 4 star players recruited by other big time schools and rated highly by the better recruiting gurus. Maybe it was Watson's scheme or play calling, but personally I think there was very little meshing of scheme to players.
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Do you ever watch those games in the McCoy era on LHN? The OL play is poor, but Colt was so good at the college game that victory seemed inevitable. Colt even more than Vince made his team special because the OL play had fallen so far.
I blame Mike Leach and that Greg Davis guy for trying to copy him.
But really.....its Sabans fault. Mack was crushed by Bama loss. Decided to retool an O that didn't need it that much. Because he thought we were too QB centric. And we were. And he liked Bamas smash mouth ball and thought the game could trend that way. The problem here is two part. 1 the game most certainly didn't trend that way. And 2, we didn't have the hogmaulies up front to handle smash mouth ball. In fact, that state of Texas HS was trending towards spread O's and there was more competition from other schools to get the hogmaulies.....including that OL genius Mike Sherman in B/CS was busy hoarding them. Too bad Sherman was like 10x worse than Greg Davis at calling plays. He kinda knows how to coach OLs.
So you fast forward and then at the end Mack tried to move to Boise move offense. And then back to spread. At this point we have more of a mismatched team of guys for different systems that he is passing off on his demise.
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But make no mistake, it is not a roster devoid of talent. Hell just look in the NFL on the defensive side (you know where Strongs team did well right away and is now struggling). Malcom Brown, Jordan Hicks, Quandre Diggs. And shockingly Mykelle Thompson is on NYG roster. Along with Jeffcoat. And an underutilized TE on the Dallas roster. And RB Malcolm Brown and others including WR John Harris on practice squads. Thats just the SR led class that Strong inherited. Now there is a ton of attrition that happened (it happens with all coaching changes but considerably with Strong and his philosophy). SRs don't leave....they have no elig left to go anywhere. But the JR class (this years SR class) was simply shredded. Some of that is on Strong. Not as much on Mack.
Some had to go like knuckleheads getting arrested. Some could have been used and stayed. Like it is puzzling how he pretty much suspended Daje most of last year for being late to class or whatever and he still kept him on the roster. So he isn't some super hard line approach guy.
See the poster stating Mack bringing back Ricky Williams. Strong could have taken a softer approach to keeping some kids that didn't have to go or even recruiting others that wanted to xfer by talking them in to staying (he is still failing at this as we speak with Raulerson who has said he just needs a phone call from a new OC to reconsider possibly staying here....and say what you want about him but our OL is better suited if he is merely here competing for open C job). What I wish Strong really did better was finding suitable juco or xfer replacements. He failed at these tasks.
I was ok with him gutting it like a cancer (even though I didn't think the entire roster was some cancer) and us feeling the sting of it in year 1. But that is an approach where you need to fill the holes you create. He didn't bother doing that. And that is largely why we saw a dip in year 2 (that and his stubborn OC hire). Gotta be careful there, if you take over as a CEO and want to gut things, you better have a plan to fix them. Because the clock starts ticking the minute you take over. He was allowed to be the kinder, softer CEO that took over the company and slowly fired folks instead of a massive up front layoff. Like I said, I'm not so sure it was some cancer that needed to be gutted and instead couldn't have been patched together and still instilled his toughness over time. Its not like that toughness is showing on the field. So what was the gain from getting rid of all the "soft" guys. The team is still soft and inconsistent thanks to lack of depth.
Some had to go like knuckleheads getting arrested. Some could have been used and stayed. Like it is puzzling how he pretty much suspended Daje most of last year for being late to class or whatever and he still kept him on the roster. So he isn't some super hard line approach guy.
See the poster stating Mack bringing back Ricky Williams. Strong could have taken a softer approach to keeping some kids that didn't have to go or even recruiting others that wanted to xfer by talking them in to staying (he is still failing at this as we speak with Raulerson who has said he just needs a phone call from a new OC to reconsider possibly staying here....and say what you want about him but our OL is better suited if he is merely here competing for open C job). What I wish Strong really did better was finding suitable juco or xfer replacements. He failed at these tasks.
I was ok with him gutting it like a cancer (even though I didn't think the entire roster was some cancer) and us feeling the sting of it in year 1. But that is an approach where you need to fill the holes you create. He didn't bother doing that. And that is largely why we saw a dip in year 2 (that and his stubborn OC hire). Gotta be careful there, if you take over as a CEO and want to gut things, you better have a plan to fix them. Because the clock starts ticking the minute you take over. He was allowed to be the kinder, softer CEO that took over the company and slowly fired folks instead of a massive up front layoff. Like I said, I'm not so sure it was some cancer that needed to be gutted and instead couldn't have been patched together and still instilled his toughness over time. Its not like that toughness is showing on the field. So what was the gain from getting rid of all the "soft" guys. The team is still soft and inconsistent thanks to lack of depth.
TX 1972,
I've watched games since Walter Fondren and Bobby Lackey quarterbacked. Charlie has 2 QB's who had more notoriety coming out of high school than did Colt. So my question is if Mack's had successes with Vince (great OL) and then Colt with (a so-so OL) do you think somebody was being coached up. I don't think the current QB's were presented with the best chances to succeed. If the protection breaks down consistently then obviously you need to max-rotect. Four wide receiver sets didn't work for QB's who only have time for one maybe two options.
I've watched games since Walter Fondren and Bobby Lackey quarterbacked. Charlie has 2 QB's who had more notoriety coming out of high school than did Colt. So my question is if Mack's had successes with Vince (great OL) and then Colt with (a so-so OL) do you think somebody was being coached up. I don't think the current QB's were presented with the best chances to succeed. If the protection breaks down consistently then obviously you need to max-rotect. Four wide receiver sets didn't work for QB's who only have time for one maybe two options.
The easy answer is the oline talent was magnified by the fear of Vince running the ball.
Just like when the defenses feared Heard running the ball the oline looked much better.
In 2005 You had two dynamic runners in the backfield you had good receivers and you had Vince. The defense couldn't key on anyone. It makes the oline that much better.
Another reason why they looked so good in 2005 and 2006 was we had changed up our off-season regiment in 2004 by taking away the conditioning portion from Fatdog and turning it over to Robinson and Tomey. In doing so we had an oline that wasn't stuck in the mud and moved like a herd of stampeding elephants.
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