Who is Most Responsible for the 2010 Debacle?

Although it doesn’t go far enough. What about McWhorter (OL coach), Chambers (TE coach, do we even have TE"s?), Bobby Kennedy (WR coach), Major Applewhite (RB coach), and Mike Tolleson (special teams disaster coach). What about Muschamp, coach of what Mack called perhaps the best defense ever at UT, but unable to consistently stop either the pass or the run, even when they knew what was coming (see KS and UCLA games)? Some of the failure is on the players because none of the coaches can block, tackle, break a tackle, or catch a pass or punt. I don’t blame GG because I think he was playing as well as he could, but I don’t think the team had alot of confidence in him, GD, or MB. They saw Mack preaching accountablilty, but not practicing it, especially at the QB position. What we wound up with was a team, perhaps over-rated in terms of talent, who just went through the motions. They in essense did their jobs but were never inspired to go beyond that. The defense made a stop and then saw the offense give the ball back. The offense scored and then saw the special teams give up a big kick-off return. A good play would be negated by a penalty. An offensive drive would stall in the red zone. Mack Brown preached “playing not to lose” and this led to overly conservative play-calling and players who made mistakes because they “visualized” failure. They “saw” themselves in their minds as dropping a pass or fumbling a punt and thus did so in reality. In an effort to make things happen, some players tried to do too much. Some became timid and tried to do too little. For a perfect example, look back at all the punt “returns.” They are an interesting combination of punts inside the 10 that should never have been fielded and a number which were “fair caught” when they was no one with 10 to 15 yards to the kick returner or worse allowed to roll dead. Failure trying to do too much led to failure to try anything. This year was a perfect storm of failure. There is enough blame to go around to everyone. I hate GD’s play-calling but have defended him because I think he is following Mack’s philosophy and game plan. Mack said when one player is messing up, I can replace him. When 3 players are messing up, I can replace the coach. What logically follows, but which Mack did not state, is when there is total collapse, where everyone is playing poorly, the buck stops at the HC. Mack needs to look in the mirror. He will have difficulty firing GD, not because of friendship and loyalty, but because Mack know he himself is a big part of the problem.

Reading BON the entire season, I had the impression that about 80% thought GD was to blame for everything. Criticism of the players was frowned upon because they were “kids”, “trying hard,” but apparently never taught by their coaches to block, tackle, avoid “false starts” especially in the red zone, catch passes thrown right at them, or go beyond the down marker on third down passes. MB was defended by those saying he was the CEO who allowed his coaches alot of freedom and didn’t meddle in the day to day issues. One person even said he had “earned the right” to coach at UT as long as he wanted. Others declared he deserved a “pass” or a “mulligan.” I don’t know what percentage of the BON regulars have voted on this, but I find it interesting that almost as many blame Mack Brown as Greg Davis, and those primarily faulting the players themselves is not too far behind. Good poll.

While TexasStateHorn is correct that coaches don’t fumble, miss tackles, drop passes, throw interceptions, etc., this team has underperformed across the board. The poor performance of the players is due to one or more of the following: (1) recruiting (we recruited the wrong players, or at least the wrong players for our scheme), (2) motivation and attitude, (3) conditioning, (4) scheme and philosophy, and (5) training, teaching, and coaching. Ultimately, Mack is responsible for all this. He recruits, hires, supervises, motivates, disciplines, sets the scheme and philosophy, and decides who is playing. Yet, we will see one or more assistants sacrificed as scapegoat(s), and Mack will again be making $5 million a year.

If he had just stayed one more year, everything would have been different. Plus everybody else seems to be on the VY-Hatin’-train these days. In all sincerity, I hope he gets a fair shake with a team that knows how to use his skills.

I love what he has done, and consider him classy as they come, but there is no excuse at this level. He put the team in this position. There is no one to blame but him. Everything leads back to him.

I didn’t vote because the team option only includes players but not coaches? The whole team from top to bottom is to blame, though some more than others. Also the post seems to already point to Mack Brown…? I think there is a difference between “responsible” and “to blame.” As a head coach making 5mil, Mack Brown is responsible but that does not mean all problems can be blamed on him. His major mistake was giving the assistant coaches too much autonomy and not enough oversight. He now is responsible has to fire those assistant coaches that did not get their players to meet expectations, and he will be responsible for the new coaches performance as well… What Mack can be blamed for is allowing an underachieving OC to keep his job for so many years in the past, but I hope that ends now!

Several have made a distinction between “responsibility” and “blame.” They argue that Mack indeed is “reponsible” for everything but should not be “blamed” for mistakes made by his coaches or players. Yet, many who make this argument also give Mack “credit” for past performances and then often argue that Mack should get a “pass” at least for this year. But if Mack gets the “credit” when things go right, shouldn’t he get the “blame” when things go horribly wrong? To me “credit” and “blame” are the fair and logical result of his “responsibility.” Some have referred to Mack as a “CEO” type HC. Some CEO’s of large corporation are unaware of everything their VP’s et al are doing. Everything that Greg Davis, MaWhorter, and the other coaches have been doing have been right in front of Mack’s face, whether at practice or during the game.