Leading the Longhorns Back to Greatness: Why Mack Brown is Right for the Job

2013 is a big year for Texas Longhorns Football. This is not the first time Coach Mack Brown finds himself in this position. He has proven it once before, and he is poised to show (once again) that he can get the job done.

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The past three seasons have been tough. After ten years of dominance, the Longhorns have gone through some growing pains. Three different starting quarterbacks, new offensive coordinators and an underperforming defense. All this while watching rivals gain ground and in some cases pass them up.

For Longhorn fans, blaming Mack Brown has become a popular thing to do. They will say that he can no longer get the job done on or off the field. They scoff at his talk about being “re-energized”. Fans are frustrated with a coach that missed out on the last two Heisman Trophy Winners while going 17-9.

Losing to Oklahoma by a combined 80 points over that span won’t win him any support either.

Criticism is nothing new to Mack Brown. After all, this is the same coach who chose Chris Simms over fan favorite Major Applewhite. This is the same coach who was smack in the middle of the Chance Mock-Vince Young controversy. This is the same coach who ignored calls for Jevan Sneed, sticking with Colt McCoy in 2006.

From 2000-2004, the Longhorns were defeated by Oklahoma 5 consecutive times, twice by 50.

Things have been worse, and it was Coach Brown that turned it around. How quickly fans forget the Top-5 finish in 2001, the amazing 2004 and 2005 squads, not to mention standing by his decision to stick with Colt McCoy. That alone should have earned the program an extra Heisman in 2008 and a championship in 2009.

Mack Brown has been the head coach for 15 years. Just as in real life, there are going to be ups and downs. Regardless of negative perceptions he is still a top-5 coach of the BCS era, 12-5 in the postseason and 3-1 in BCS bowls. The one BCS bowl game he lost was against Nick Saban. In that game, (as you recall) the Longhorns lost their starting quarterback on the first series. Had they not, we can all agree that things would have ended up differently.

In terms of Johhny Manziel, it was the Mike Sherman (a popular punchline), not Kevin Sumlin that recruited Manziel. And as for RG3, Art Briles was one of only two major coaches to recruit Griffin … and the only one from Texas.

That brings us to today. Heading into 2013, the Longhorns have the conference’s most experienced quarterback (David Ash is due for a breakout season), the most returning starters in the nation and a coach who has seen a lot and been here before.

This team is a legitimate contender, and that is what is expected. It should also be expected that Mack Brown will lead this team to greatness. We can’t think of anyone better for the job. #HookEm!

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