Orangebloods has learned through three different sources this week within the Texas athletic department that former UT head coach Mack Brown has a strong interest in becoming the next Texas athletic director.
Two sources with knowledge of Brown's interest mentioned that over the course of the last couple of weeks, Brown has reached out to various levels of UT influence, including former athletic director DeLoss Dodds, in an effort to gain some steam in his quest to land the job.
Despite Brown's high level of interest in the position, one high-level university source indicated on Tuesday afternoon that Brown is not expected to be viewed as a primary candidate for the job by Texas president Greg Fenves, who takes the responsibility of selecting a new full-time athletic director.
According to those with whom Orangebloods has spoken this week, Brown's candidacy has several roadblocks.
a. Brown lacks the recent and sustained experience the Longhorns are looking for in the role.
b. There's concern that his presence would cast a potential shadow over current head coach Tom Herman.
c. With the uncertainty of the long-term future of the Big 12, the hope is that the Longhorns will hire someone who can steer the ship through potentially rocky waters, a role that some high-level university officials question whether Brown is perfect for.
Although no official timeline exists, look for movement in the hiring process to gain steam in the opening months of 2018, once the current football season concludes, with Fenves expected to interview top candidates and make a decision based on those interviews. As was the case last year with the dismissal of Charlie Strong and the hiring of Herman, Fenves is in total control and is keeping his cards close to the vest in terms of tipping his future moves in the process.
While the university is still in a vetting stage, there's one name that continues to come up as a potential target, current TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte, who is viewed as a star in his field after steering TCU out of the dark shadows of non-power conference athletics and into the Big 12.
One of the aspects that is attractive about Del Conte is that he has a prior relationship with current Texas head coach Tom Herman, who worked under Del Conte during his two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Rice from 2007-08 when Del Conte was the Rice athletic director. Del Conte left Rice in 2009, one year after Herman left the Rice football program.
According to two sources with whom Orangebloods spoke on Tuesday, part of Del Conte's appeal is that his arrival would be the most pro-Herman move the university could make based on the comfort level that both would have with each other.
"We're not going to hire someone for Tom Herman," one source said Tuesday night. "However, if the best person for the job is also someone that can slide in seamlessly with Herman, that would be a positive."
It's unclear just how interested Del Conte would be in departing TCU for Texas, but there's no question that he checks off a ton of boxes and he's expected to be one of several names Texas will explore when the hiring process heats up in a few months.
