Some brief thoughts on UT football and the DH

• University of Texas football coach Charlie Strong needs to fire his entire coaching staff at the end of the season, whether every single member of that staff deserves it or not. He has to demonstrate to the Longhorn faithful he's willing to take the most drastic steps that can be taken to turn the football program around. And then he should do whatever it takes to hire former UT quarterback and highly successful high school coach Todd Dodge as his offensive coordinator. Dodge coached Southlake Carroll High School to four state championships in seven years and a 98-11 record. He is currently doing well as the head coach at Austin's Westlake High School. Dodge, I am convinced, would also be a valuable aid in recruiting.

• This just completed baseball season was, to me, the Season of the Starting Pitcher -- Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, Jake Arrieta, Matt Harvey, Zack Greinke, Madison Bumgarner, Jon Lester, Max Scherzer, Johnny Cueto, Chris Sale, Felix Hernandez and, of course, Clayton Kershaw. I really enjoyed watching their magic on the mound. I have never really been for or against the 42-year-old American League Designated Hitter rule until this season,. But now, because I have become such a fan of starting pitching, I am a major advocate of spreading the DH to the National League as well. If a starting pitcher is on the mound throwing a really good game, I don't want to see him pulled for a pinch hitter because the game is tied or his team is a run or two down late in the game. That has nothing to do with pitching and takes the game away from the players and puts it into the hands of the managers. The Kansas City Royals just finished proving what can be accomplished if you just let the players play the game.

Brown’s last stand?

As the chances continue to fade that Texas will defeat Baylor this afternoon, the volume rises on the talk that this will be Mack Brown’s final game as the Longhorns head coach. Much of what is reinforcing that talk is that, despite the fact the Horns have registered another 8-win season, and despite the fact they went into this game contending for the Big 12 title when most preseason prognosticators picked them to finish no higher than fourth in the league, the UT administration has just hired a new athletic director and did so without ever consulting Brown about the choice.

I don’t know whether an administration should contact a football coach concerning the hiring of an AD. Perhaps as a courtesy, but certainly not because the coach should have any kind of veto or even approval power.

If Brown is gone it’s because of his performance. And what has Brown’s performance been? Well, he’s in his 15^th season as head coach. He’s recorded at least eight wins in 14 of those 15 years. In the previous 15 years before Brown, Texas had eight wins in a season only six times. And in the first 15 years of the legendary Darrell Royal’s coaching career at Texas, he had nine eight-win seasons, five fewer than Brown. (In his entire 20-year career at Texas, Royal had 12 seasons of eight wins or more.) Brown’s winning percentage at Texas is also slightly better than Royal’s – .775 to .763. On those numbers alone, it could be argued that Brown is the best coach in Texas’ history.

What are the major functions of a head coach at the college level? In my opinion, there are two: recruiting and then turning those recruits over to able assistant coaches. In that first function, there are few, if any, better than Brown. His recruiting classes are consistently named the best or near the best in the nation every single year. However, when it comes to Texas’ assistant coaches, it is there I have a definite problem. It seems to me Brown favors loyalty over ability when it comes to hiring his coaching staff. I can not name one single assistant coach on the Texas staff that would be considered a serious candidate for a head coaching position at any other major college program.

Why is Major Applewhite Texas’ offensive coordinator? Because he was an outstanding performer for Brown between 1998 and 2001. Yes, he was the youngest offensive coordinator in the country when Nick Saban named him to that position in 2007, but you didn’t hear Saban object too loudly when Applewhite left. Gregg Davis, to me Brown’s best offensive coordinator, was with Brown at Tulane and then North Carolina before coming with him to Texas. I could go on and on, but I won’t.

Yes, head coaches do make major in-game decisions such as whether to go for one or two points after a touchdown or whether to punt or go for it on fourth down. I don’t know if anyone could find major problems with Brown in those areas.

So why all this talk about Mack Brown’s future? Frankly, it depends on who is doing to the talking. If it’s just your everyday fervent Longhorn fanatic, then no one is really listening. However, if it’s the folks with the deep pockets, than the conversation takes on a far more serious tone.

But wherever it’s coming from, I just can’t see new AD Steve Patterson firing Brown – not after another eight-win season (especially one that featured a win over Oklahoma) and an upcoming bowl appearance.

If Patterson really desires to name his own man as head coach, the proper thing to do would be to reward Brown with a promotion to assistant athletic director.

Then Patterson faces a crucial decision early in his tenure and does he want to make this kind of make-it or break-it decision at this time? If he makes the wrong one, he won’t be around at Texas as long as Brown has been. All the talk I’ve heard about possible Brown successors have centered on Saban, Jumbo Fisher at Florida State or Gus Malzahn at Auburn. Frankly, I can’t see Saban ever leaving Alabama and Malzahn just agreed to a 10-year extension on his contract, and I believe he will honor at least two or three of them. As for Fisher, why would he come to the Big 12 when he’s in a position to dominate the Atlantic Coast Conference for as long as he remains at Florida State?

My top two candidates would be David Shaw of Stanford and Dave Clawson of Bowling Green.

Well, Texas just lost to Baylor and, yes, it appeared the Longhorn defense quit after Case McCoy threw that last interception. So the voices to get rid of Brown might get louder. All I’m saying is: Be very, very careful what you wish for.

UT athletics should stage its own commando raid

Mack Brown and Rick Barnes

Texas football coach Mack Brown’s immediate future will be decided Saturday. If he manages to pull off a miracle akin to convincing House Speaker John Boehner to call a vote on a temporary budget resolution, then his job is secure, at least for the foreseeable future. If, however, Oklahoma embarrasses the Longhorns once again — a result most sane observers expect — he’s history. Gone. Finished.

No, he won’t be fired immediately. Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds won’t pull him off the team bus as it prepares to leave the Cotton Bowl. In fact, he won’t be fired at all — he’s done too much that’s positive for the Texas football program to suffer that indignity. But it will be made clear to him that he will have no choice other than to announce his resignation at the end of the current football season.

And don’t forget, Dodds has also indicated he plans to retire as well.

Lost in all this discussion about Brown and Dodds is the fact that Texas’ basketball fortunes have gone further into the depths than the football program and that baseball has not fared all that well recently either (the Horns didn’t even qualify for the Big 12 tournament last season).

I think coach Augie Garrido can salvage UT baseball. I have absolutely no faith that Brown or basketball coach Rick Barnes can do the same.

Tom Jurich

So here’s what I am suggesting: the UT athletic department should stage a full scale commando raid on the athletic department at the University of Louisville and steal away that school’s athletic director, football coach and, most important of all, its basketball coach.

Louisville AD Tom Jurich is one of the best heads of an athletic department you’re going to find. In 2007, Jurich was named Street & Smith’s national athletic director of the year. However, I’m afraid too many members of UT’s Board of Regents (the majority of which were appointed by former Texas A&M yell leader Gov. Hair) want a lawyer type and not an athletic savvy person in that position. Which is a shame because that could doom UT athletics to mediocrity for decades.

Rick Pitino

Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is simply a no-brainer. Pitino is the only college coach in NCAA history to take three different schools (Providence, Kentucky and Louisville) to the Final Four and the only coach to win a national championship at two different schools (Kentucky and Louisville). Would he ever consider leaving Louisville? Well, look at it this way: In 2001, everyone expected Pitino to take over as head basketball coach at Michigan. Instead he surprised the world by going to Louisville. Why? Because, Pitino said at the time, "I can’t get on the phone and tell Tom (Jurich) no. I can’t tell him this." One would hope that if Jurich became UT’s athletic director, Pitino would have the same problem all over again.

Finally, there’s Louisville football coach Charlie Strong. Strong has a (pardon me for saying this)

Charlie Strong

"strong" SEC background having served as a defensive coordinator at South Carolina and Florida (he was also the Florida interim head coach for one game — the Gator Bowl — when Ron Zook was fired in 2004). When Urban Meyer was hired from Utah to replace Zook, Strong was the only assistant coach Meyer retained. His Cardinals, of course, are undefeated this season behind the play of Heisman Trophy candidate, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. But perhaps his biggest accomplishment came in this year’s Sugar Bowl game when his team entered the contest as a two touchdown underdog to his former team, the Florida Gators. Louisville’s 33-23 victory over Florida represented the biggest upset victory in terms of a point spread in the entire 25-year history of the BCS. He will restore toughness to the football team, which has earned the reputation of being "soft" the last three years. Strong’s only drawback is racial, He’s black and there’s never been a black head coach at the University of Texas, which is criminal. Not only that, but Strong’s wife is white and some of the bigoted narrow minds may hold that against him.

Which is why the naming of Jurich as AD is so important. Once that chip falls, the other two could follow. Louisville fans would hate UT forever, but that, in my book, is a small price to pay to restore UT athletics to prominence.

Sneak peak at 2010 College Football: Alabama repeats; Texas fifth

Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com published his pre-pre-pre-pre-season college football rankings today and he has Alabama repeating as national champions, Texas as No. 5 and TCU seventh. The only other Big 12 schools he has ranked are Nebraska, eighth and Oklahoma, 12th.

About Texas, Schlabach wrote:

"After losing to Alabama in the Citi BCS National Championship Game, the Longhorns will undergo a renovation of sorts in 2010. But few programs are as equipped as Texas to reload from year to year. Replacing quarterback Colt McCoy will be Texas' primary concern. Freshman Garrett Gilbert assumed control of the Longhorns' offense much earlier than expected after McCoy was forced to the sideline with an injury Thursday. He'll be the favorite to start at quarterback. Receiver Jordan Shipley and three starters on the offensive line also will have to be replaced. Three starters are leaving on defense, including end Sergio Kindle and tackle Lamarr Houston. All-American safety Earl Thomas also could turn pro. The Longhorns play three of their four nonconference games at home, including a Sept. 25 contest against UCLA, and play Big 12 rivals Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in Austin."

His entire Top 25 looks like this:

1. Alabama

2. Ohio State

3. Boise State

4. Oregon

5. Texas

6. Virginia Tech

7. TCU

8. Nebraska

9. Iowa

10. Wisconsin

11. Florida

12. Oklahoma

13. Georgia Tech

14. Cincinnati

15. Pittsburgh

16. Arkansas

17. Miami

18. LSU

19. Penn State

20. Southern California

21. Florida State

22. Oregon State

23. Georgia

24. Stanford

25. Navy

Some thoughts on Texas' loss last night

I have some friends, including one in South Florida, who think Alabama coach Nick Saban should be working on an Alabama chain gang instead of an Alabama sideline, but I felt he said it best last night after his Alabama team took advantage of a game-ending injury to Texas quarterback Colt McCoy to defeat Texas for the national championship:

"Colt McCoy's a great player. As much as I enjoy winning games, you hate to see a great player not be able to finish a game that he's fought his entire career to be part of."

I know I'm playing a what-if game here, but with a healthy McCoy, that Alabama shovel-pass interception that ended the first half and gave the Tide its third touchdown never happens. That one play, more than any other, decided the game. If every other thing that happened during the game remained the same, that would have meant that when Texas got the ball back on its own 7-yard line with under four minutes left in the game, the Longhorns would be leading 21-17 and would only have to run out the clock to win the game and another title.

But it was not to be. I will not be one to dump on McCoy's replacement, Garrett Gilbert. For one thing, he didn't ask and want to be placed in this position. For another, Texas receiver Macolm Williams dropped a sure touchdown pass and normally sure-handed Jordan Shipley let two passes slip through his fingers. I am looking forward to Gilbert being the No. 1 quarterback next season.

McCoy and last year's Heisman Trophy winner, former Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, are the best of friends. It's sadly ironic that both ended their collegiate careers in the same tragic manner. I would like to know what words have passed between the two since last night's game.

AP voters (as did the coaches) had the good sense to put Texas No. 2 in their final rankings. Only two other Big 12 schools made the final Top 25 -- Nebraska at No. 14 (the Cornhuskers should have been in the Top 10) and Texas Tech at 21. By comparison, the Big 10 had three in the Top 10 -- Ohio State, fifth; Iowa, seventh; and Penn State, ninth. I would be willing to match Nebraska against any of them. If anything, the BCS title game proved Nebraska's defense was far superior to much-heralded Alabama D.

Texas-OU in the recruiting game

In today's editions of The New York Times, reporter/writer Thayer Evans spins a fascinating tale involving the recruiting of Jamarkus McFarland, a standout high school football prospect from Lufkin. My only question after reading it is how does one wrangle an invitation to that "wild party hosted by Longhorns fans at an upscale hotel in Dallas after the Oklahoma-Texas game on Oct. 11."

Ike blows Austin's best laid plans

The weekend of Sept. 26-28 could well turn out to be the busiest, the most hectic in the history of the City of Austin. Residents of the city are advised to stay indoors. Unless you simply can't avoid it, I would recommend not traveling on I-35 between Dallas and Austin at any time during that three-day period.

Here's why: That's the weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which creates madness in and of itself. But in all previous years, the ACL Fest was always held either during a bye week for the University of Texas' football team or when the 'Horns were playing on the road. The same was true this week. Sept. 27 was scheduled to be an off-week for Texas.

Then along came Ike. The hurricane is being blamed as the reason why the Texas-Arkansas game, originally scheduled for this Saturday in Austin, has been moved to Sept. 27, Day 2 (and the major crowd day) of the three-day ACL bash.

Let's see, Royal Memorial Stadium is now the largest in the state of Texas, seating 94,113; however 98,053 crammed into the place a couple of weeks agot to see Texas play Florida Atlantic. If close to 100,000 wanted to see Florida Atlantic, imagine how many will want to see the resumption of the duel between Texas and its former longtime Southwest Conference foe Arkansas. Add to that another 100,000 wanting to go to ACL.

If you're crazy enough to be anywhere near Austin the weekend of the 26th, I would recommend securing hotel space right away. I would also recommend flying there and back. It's not too late to get Southwest Airlines plan ahead cheapo fairs, but today could be the last day for that. I mean you already have to fight the 18-wheelers who already hog (pardon the pun, Arkansas drivers) I-35 between here and Laredo, plus now you'll have all those drivers determined to "Keep Austin Weird" anyway they know how and a bunch of wackos wearing red rubber pigs on their heads driving cars whose horns don't honk, they go "Soooeeeey." In fact, now that I think about it, perhaps the DPS should position behavorial psychologists at all the rest stops along the highway between Dallas and Austin.

(Tip for anyone heading to College Station that weekend to see A&M play the real military academy: Take I-45 to Madisonville and then cut over; stay away from I-35 as much as possible.)

Speaking of Texas football, what does anyone know about this "Baby Longhorn" business and Matthew McConaughey's voice-over introduction to it? Sort of gives me the willies and I don't mean the Nelson kind.