Countdown To Football Season: 29 Days
by Peter Bean on Aug 3, 2007 5:02 PM CDT
in Texas Longhorns Football
Email
PrintOur daily countdown to the return of Texas football continues with yet another reason to love the fall in Austin.
Mack Brown may be going through a trying time right now with this rough summer of offseason problems, but I - and almost all of the Burnt Orange Nation - aren't confused about his priorities. I have confidence that Mack will handle this with the same integrity and diligence that he's displayed in the last 10 years in Austin.
A coach who doesn't care about character would never give this speech after winning the national title.
Hook 'Em Horns
--PB--
7 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I needed that.
Tough week.
Brown's yelling voice...
... is really good. He does seem to show toughness at times. Against Iowa in the Alamo Bowl, he told GD at half-time "I don't care if you throw the ball every time - Win the game!" That at least means to me that he understands GD's obsession with "balance" is costing us offense.
some pretty specious reasoning counselor...
total red herring; a 2-minute speech neither proves nor disproves one's commitment to virtue. Words are easy.
Another reason that this is a red herring is that nobody seriously believes (not even his biggest detractors) that Mack is even remotely a bad guy or has even an ounce of dishonesty in him. THe real issue is competence and judgement(not morality)-ablity to evaluate character as well as talent. It's safe to say the vast vast majority o f coaches in america care about character.
by mento on Aug 4, 2007 11:58 AM CDT reply actions
Yes and no
I mean, yeah, you're right - words are just words.
But this week, in particular, with all the arrest crap that we're having to deal with, there's been a constant chatter about whether Mack Brown is trying to create the right kind of culture within his program. It's not true that every coach works hard in that regard.
And I don't think it's true that every coach would give that speech after winning the national title.
Every coach talks about character, but Mack Brown emphasizes it in a way that not every coach does/would. I don't think there's anything wrong with bringing that up today.
Eh
I disagree that the issue is competence of judgment in recruiting character. Aside from extreme cases, I think that it's unknowable how 25 seventeen year old boys will respond when transplanted into a major-program environment (and everything that comes with that). Furthermore, it's impossible to evaluate a coach's competency in judging character without sitting down with all of his recruits one by one, or at least a good sample of them. Making a judgment based on the players involved in a few incidents is statistically unsound at best.
The issue is how those boys are handled when they arrive on campus, and how their decision making process is shaped and molded by coaches and older players.
"The issue is how those boys are handled when the
"The issue is how those boys are handled when they arrive on campus, and how their decision making process is shaped and molded by coaches and older players."
And Mack has no role or responsibility in this process? I'm not saying Mack is necessarily to blame or that he has been underhanded or even negligent. But it is time to start asking questions, instead of giving mack a free and categorical pass.
by mento on Aug 5, 2007 12:38 PM CDT up reply actions
"And Mack has no role or responsibility in this"
"And Mack has no role or responsibility in this process?"
Where in my post did you read that? I think that there has been an obvious failure to make certain that all (or nearly all) of the student athletes recruited to play football and make obscene amounts of money for the University have the tools and the proper mindset to stay focused and, at the very least, out of handcuffs. Aside from the personal accountability of the students themselves, the responsibility lies, in my opinion, with Mack, Dodds and the parents.
I haven't given Mack a "categorical pass". My point is that his ability to judge "character", or any similarly ambiguous qualities, in kids who are just developing driving skills is the true red herring.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
