quote:
Then you tell us why a program with Texas' resources has lost 56 games in the last 10 years. One in which the team played 2 fewer games than normal years.

Culture?
Coaching?
Talent?

What is your opinion of why Texas has entered this rut.

Just one man's opinion ...

Athletic Director:
Deloss Dodds built a great athletic program, including football, and the premier money making machine in the country, set the cruise control and then sat back and counted the money. The arms race in newer facilities was heating up and Texas choose not to participate, and got left behind. Deloss did a lot of good things. Laugh all you want about the Longhorn Network, but it raised the visibility of all Texas sports, which have won the Director's Cup two years running. It also has created a pipeline for those athletes interested in sports broadcasting.

Steve Patterson ended up being a hired gun that trimmed the fat in a $200 million budget. His most noteworthy accomplishment was hiring Charlie Strong. He didn't last 2 years.

Chris Del Conte built a very good athletic program at TCU, and has done well at Texas. Everything else is in place, time to focus on football.

Coaches:
Mack Brown was a great recruiter and he started getting lazy after 2005. He relied too much on the rating services, instead of doing his own work. His recruiting classes were full of highly ranked Juniors who would commit to Texas early. He was proud to have is recruiting pretty much finished before the high school season was over.

Kids who became superstars their senior years that wanted to come to Texas were overlooked and not pursued. Kids that favored other colleges were not pursued. Andrew Luck wanted to come to Texas but was never offered. Texas didn't even take a QB that year. Without sophomore Luck as a backup to Colt McCoy, true freshman Garrett Gilbert was thrown to the wolves.

Charlie's success was Teddy Bridgewater. Charlie is good man and a good coach. The Head Coaching job at Texas, and all that entails overwhelmed him. Coaching and Recruiting at Texas is much different than Louisville. The staff be brought from Louisville were not top tier at either. Demands on his time outside of coaching was not his comfort zone. Mack loved doing the Coaches shows, meeting w/ alumni groups and the media; Charlie did not. Charlie recruited his roots, which was Florida heavy and Texas light. Most of the Florida kids left. Charlie lasted 3 years.

Everybody wanted Tom Herman, the offensive savant. He got the credit for Case Keenum, who threw for over 19,000 yards under Art Briles, Kevin Sumlin & Tom Herman. Herman's was not an offensive savant and his bedside manner was a horrible fit at Texas. He polluted the alumni, the locker room, and worst of all, recruiting. His recruiting is more noteworthy for who he chased away then who he got. With little support from players, alumni and administration, he was let go after 4 years.

Culture
Culture means different things. Each coach brings his own culture to the Football program and that is what the players and media see. Good or bad, the culture becomes an extension of the coaches character.

The culture created by a football coach is not necessarily the same as the culture of the Athletic Department or the $40 Billion University. The University of Texas was created "as a university of the first class" and that never ending goal is the culture of UT, not the football program.

Sark has turned over the locker room and got rid of the entitled players who want to play at Texas, in favor of those who want to play for Texas.

Coaching.
Mack won one National Championship, with VY. Texas' OC Greg Davis wasted so much talent with his "Gulf Coast" offense.

He was lucky lightly recruited Colt was a 4 year starter and the winningest QB in college football, the last hurrah while Mack retired in place. Chasing Saban and ending up w/ Charlie was a gut punch. Herman was an arse.

Sark is likable and talented. Both of those are equally important.

Talent/Recruiting
Mack mailed it in, Charlie didn't have the rapport w/ Texas high school coaches, and Tom Herman did more harm than good. Herman left the cupboards pretty bare (duh!) with a horrible OL group, way too many big & slow receivers, and hardly any LB.

Sark can attract talent, and he has recruited well to fill the holes.

Texas players "play" school; Texas had 28 total graduates for the 2021-2022 academic year. There are some kids Texas won't recruit, no matter how talented they are. One thing Texas won't be competitive in is the "Fulmer Cup".

We will never agree, but Texas has not and will not engage in the Institutional indiscretions that are well known around the country.

NIL gives Texas a more level playing field to compete for high-end talent (perhaps it even has a bit of an burnt orange tilt).

Is Sark the man and is now the time? Don't know yet.

But it's gonna be fun to watch.

Hook 'Em!