Funds are pretty much limitless for Texas. I would take a blank check to Tuscaloosa and keep adding zeros until he said ok.

How do you think the Longhorn faithful would react to Applewhite?

 

I think Major is coming up as an in season replacement for Mack. I am not sure what impact he has had on the program from a coaching perspective. I will say I like looking at young guys over recycling the same old guys.

 

If criticism is that hot over the current head coach, I'm not totally sure hiring from within the staff will appease the natives. While Applewhite could be the best choice, would it be too hard of a sell?

Funds are pretty much limitless for Texas. I would take a blank check to Tuscaloosa and keep adding zeros until he said ok.

 

I'm not biting on Saban though. He has everything to lose and nothing to gain if he leaves Alabama for Texas. What does he have to do to get fired at Alabama? The people there would probably elect him to some type of state office if he were to retire at the end of the year. He has it made there, and I'd imagine he knows it. He took a school with a rich tradition, rebuilt them from the ground up, and is on the verge of re-writing modern record books if he wins a third straight. He's 61 years old, so I don't really know how appealing the turn around would be for him. Also, he was born in West Virginia, played football at Kent State, and has coached at Toledo, Michigan State, and LSU as well. None of those areas has any significant ties to Austin, or the state of Texas for that matter, so I don't really see a strong internal pull for him to leave if they were to come calling.

 

I think if Saban does anything, he wants to do the one thing that he's failed to do so far in his career-- win in the NFL. I don't really know that Texas would be able to offer more than he could get in the pro game, and if he were to go to the NFL, he probably spends less time out of season doing things like recruiting, traveling, etc. (even though the NFL is undoubtedly more work, especially during the season).

If criticism is that hot over the current head coach, I'm not totally sure hiring from within the staff will appease the natives. While Applewhite could be the best choice, would it be too hard of a sell?

 

Some of the fans, especially the younger alums or those with his playing career still fresh in their mind, might be satisfied. I just doubt that the old money and those actually writing the check would be satisfied with him unless it were a situation where they'd went calling to names like Gruden, Dungy, etc. and those names turned them down first.

 

Getting your first head coaching job at a school like Texas at such a young age is just too much of a stretch for me to see it being viable. With that said, who knows.

Urban Meyer at Ohio State

 

Charlie Strong at Louisville

 

Gary Patterson at TCU

 

Butch Jones at Tennessee

If I'm a Texas fan, I just worry that he's too green, especially with Kevin Sumlin doing his thing at A&M. Given Sumlin's time at Houston, he probably has some very nice inroads in Houston and the East Texas area in general. East Texas may lack in population (comparatively considering that some call Tyler a "small town" despite it having a population of over 100,000), but they make up for it in talent. Adrian Peterson, Earl Campbell, Cedric Benson, Eric Dickerson, and so many more. Campbell and Benson are actually from the same high school in Tyler.

 

Point I'm trying to make is, if Texas misses on this hire, Sumlin could lock down the eastern-half of Texas and the Houston area and feast in the recruiting game.

 

A&M has always had a major influence in Houston. UT tends to do very well in DFW and Austin/ San Antonio. The swing is West and East Texas. I think that Texas will always be viable as long as they have their network- only one other team in the nation can guarantee all of your games will be on TV.

 

Patterson makes sense- all he does is win. He won big at TCU and with greater resources, I think he could do very well.

If criticism is that hot over the current head coach, I'm not totally sure hiring from within the staff will appease the natives. While Applewhite could be the best choice, would it be too hard of a sell?

 

Yes, but because Major played there I think it can be spun well by the UT brass. Again, his names is coming up as the in season replacement. If he does well, though- who knows?

Urban Meyer at Ohio State

 

Charlie Strong at Louisville

 

Gary Patterson at TCU

 

Butch Jones at Tennessee

 

Only one of those names has come up in DFW chatter, and that is Patterson. Jones wouldn't be considered, IMO. no pedigree or ties to UT that I know of. I think that, if this thing makes it to the end of the season, and Strong leads U of L to a BCS bowl, then his name catches fire with any big name opening (including potentially USC, Georgia, Florida or Nebraska).

 

Names I heard from some Orange Bloods today was Dabo Sweeney and Mike Gundy. Dabo could make some sense. I can't see Gundy leaving Ok. St., even with the potential trouble from the SI report.

Only one of those names has come up in DFW chatter, and that is Patterson. Jones wouldn't be considered, IMO. no pedigree or ties to UT that I know of. I think that, if this thing makes it to the end of the season, and Strong leads U of L to a BCS bowl, then his name catches fire with any big name opening (including potentially USC, Georgia, Florida or Nebraska).

 

Names I heard from some Orange Bloods today was Dabo Sweeney and Mike Gundy. Dabo could make some sense. I can't see Gundy leaving Ok. St., even with the potential trouble from the SI report.

 

Thanks for the info. Keep us updated.

 

I could see Dabo Sweeny. He's young enough to be around awhile, but old enough to have some experience. Does he have any ties to Texas?

 

Like you, I don't see Gundy, especially given the recent reports.

Only one of those names has come up in DFW chatter, and that is Patterson. Jones wouldn't be considered, IMO. no pedigree or ties to UT that I know of. I think that, if this thing makes it to the end of the season, and Strong leads U of L to a BCS bowl, then his name catches fire with any big name opening (including potentially USC, Georgia, Florida or Nebraska).

 

Names I heard from some Orange Bloods today was Dabo Sweeney and Mike Gundy. Dabo could make some sense. I can't see Gundy leaving Ok. St., even with the potential trouble from the SI report.

 

 

Good point. I could see either Patterson or Strong getting attention. If Florida does open up, could we see Strong go after it since he coached there under Urban Meyer?

Of any school in the country, having "connections in Texas" for recruiting is NOT as big of a priority as it would be for coaches at other schools recruiting their region. At Texas all the talent to win and win it all is in their back yard. They can practically hand pick who they want and they always have, regardless of the coach.

Of any school in the country, having "connections in Texas" for recruiting is NOT as big of a priority as it would be for coaches at other schools recruiting their region. At Texas all the talent to win and win it all is in their back yard. They can practically hand pick who they want and they always have, regardless of the coach.

 

 

I agree that, in general, that is the case. Texas is the big offer that the top kids wait on, but don't underestimate the pull of the other schools. Think Texas A&M in the Houston and East Texas areas, TCU and now SMU in Dallas/Fort Worth areas, Baylor in Central Texas, Texas Tech in far West Texas, and the University of Houston in the city of Houston. You could practically make a conference of Texas teams (throw in Rice, UTSA, Texas State, North Texas, etc. as bottom feeders).

 

Texas may not have to go as far to find the recruits they want, and in my experience, the average Texan is a UT fan unless they have some direct relation to another school (growing up in the same town/area, going to college there, etc.), but it's not like they don't have to compete for kids.

 

Lots of players being split between those schools. With the exception of Texas A&M (to some extent anyway), these schools have traditionally been the type that will come in and "make an offer" or "show the love early on" while Texas is still trying to evaluate and divvy their offers. That's because those schools know that they can't wait around and try to compete with Texas head-to-head.

 

It's not as simple as just sitting back and waiting on 5-star commits to roll in, especially with Texas A&M going to the SEC. I look at it like this: LaDanian Tomlinson ended up at TCU, Robert Griffin III ended up at Baylor, Michael Crabtree ended up at Tech, DJ Hayden at Houston, etc. Those are all guys who went high in the NFL Draft.

 

This isn't even taking into account the number of kids in far East Texas that are pulled out to LSU. There's also the influence of Oklahoma, especially in the far north region. Dallas, for example, is just as close to Norman as Austin, and OU has agreed to hold the Texas game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on a yearly basis, which to me, speaks to their recruiting influence in that region.

 

Aside from the other Texas schools and the powerhouses in neighboring states, you also have schools who are national powers like Oregon (7 players from Texas), Alabama (6 players from Texas), Notre Dame (9 players from Texas). Their brand appeal means they can come in and compete with anyone in recruiting, and they often have to because the portion of recruits they can usually get from their own state isn't enough for them to have the type of success they want to have.

 

 

 

To look at it another way, compare schools like TCU and Texas Tech siphoning off talent to Chris Lofton ending up at Tennessee and Shelvin Mack ended up at Bulter instead of a Kentucky or Louisville.

 

I'd analogize Texas’ dilemma with how I would attempt to explain to someone why the University of Illinois isn't a basketball power despite their being enough talent in the city of Chicago alone that’s good enough to win plenty of conferences in a given year.

 

First, the national powers like Kentucky, Michigan State, Memphis, and Kansas come into Chicago from a nearby region and take their pick of the top kids. Then a team like Memphis gets a Derek Rose or a school like Michigan comes in and gets a Juwan Howard. By this time, the University of Illinois' pool has dwindled, and schools like DePaul and Northwestern's options are even fewer, and you haven’t begun to account for schools like Purdue, Notre Dame, Missouri, etc. coming in to compete for the recruits that the national powers have passed over (or that you've invested time and resources in recruiting head-to-head with someone else on).

Good point. I could see either Patterson or Strong getting attention. If Florida does open up, could we see Strong go after it since he coached there under Urban Meyer?

 

 

No way on Strong to Texas. Florida, Florida State, or Miami is possible. Arkansas (where he grew up) and South Carolina (his first assistant gig) are long shots.

 

I don't see Texas being in the equation. I see how people would think that, but having more of a pulse on the area than most might, I haven't even heard his name mentioned. I think someone like John Gruden who has some NFL experience and wants to scratch the itch (and get out of the broadcast booth) to coach would be more likely than Strong, but that's just me.

Kirby Smart

Kirby Smart

 

I could see that happening. The most likely college assistant unless I'm missing someone. I would think the UT faithful would be more happy with him and keeping Applewhite as the OC. Would ease the sting of losing Muschamp methinks.