3afan
10-01-2007, 10:25 AM
What Is Brown Doing For You?
By Richard Cirminiello, CFN
2. So just how much goodwill does a national championship buy a head coach anyway? Texas’ Mack Brown is about to find out. A lightning rod for criticism before capping a perfect 2005 with an epic win over USC, his ‘Horns have shown some wear-and-tear of late, losing three of their last eight, including Saturday’s 41-21 debacle to Kansas State. Can the questions about Brown competency be far behind? Hey, it may sound unreasonable for a coach that’s been wildly successful, but expectations have never been particularly reasonable in Austin. Brown’s detractors will no doubt find it ironic that former Longhorn icon Vince Young was in attendance for Saturday’s loss, the worst in the coach’s tenure at the school. You see, they believe that without VY, the Rose Bowl win that capped the 2004 season and the national championship the following year would never have happened. To them, they were Young’s accomplishments, not Brown’s. Fair? Of course not. Real? You bet. And now, here’s comes Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, that one-time haunted house whose demons were exorcised by ...... yup, Vince Young. Texas has won two straight in the series, but this is a fragile program that hasn’t looked good this fall against anyone not named Rice. A loss to Oklahoma on Saturday is going to resurface some of those sick feelings that permeated through the Longhorn Nation during the five-year losing steak to the Sooners. And along with those feelings will come the cries questioning Brown’s ability to win big without Vince Young. Bank on it.
By Richard Cirminiello, CFN
2. So just how much goodwill does a national championship buy a head coach anyway? Texas’ Mack Brown is about to find out. A lightning rod for criticism before capping a perfect 2005 with an epic win over USC, his ‘Horns have shown some wear-and-tear of late, losing three of their last eight, including Saturday’s 41-21 debacle to Kansas State. Can the questions about Brown competency be far behind? Hey, it may sound unreasonable for a coach that’s been wildly successful, but expectations have never been particularly reasonable in Austin. Brown’s detractors will no doubt find it ironic that former Longhorn icon Vince Young was in attendance for Saturday’s loss, the worst in the coach’s tenure at the school. You see, they believe that without VY, the Rose Bowl win that capped the 2004 season and the national championship the following year would never have happened. To them, they were Young’s accomplishments, not Brown’s. Fair? Of course not. Real? You bet. And now, here’s comes Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, that one-time haunted house whose demons were exorcised by ...... yup, Vince Young. Texas has won two straight in the series, but this is a fragile program that hasn’t looked good this fall against anyone not named Rice. A loss to Oklahoma on Saturday is going to resurface some of those sick feelings that permeated through the Longhorn Nation during the five-year losing steak to the Sooners. And along with those feelings will come the cries questioning Brown’s ability to win big without Vince Young. Bank on it.