Former Texas head coach Mack Brown approached by SMU

Will former Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown be back roaming the sidelines next season?

His attorney, Joe Jamail, told Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman that his client will make that decision in the coming months:

Mack Brown will decide in December whether he wants to return to coaching, his attorney and good friend Joe Jamail told me Sunday. Jamail said the former Texas football coach has already been offered coaching jobs but wouldn't name them. "For comparable pay to what he was making and more," Jamail said, "but he likes what he's doing. He misses it, frankly, but he loves being on ESPN." Asked if SMU reached out to Brown, Jamail said, "He was approached, I was approached, but he's not interested in coaching anywhere right now." When asked if Michigan had approached either in light of embattled Brady Hoke's situation, Jamail said, "I can't answer that. They have not called me; I'm going to leave it at that."

Since SMU head coach June Jones resigned on September 9, Brown's name has been mentioned in connection with the job, including in a report by Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports:

A wild-card name to keep an eye on with the SMU vacancy is former Texas coach Mack Brown, now an ESPN broadcaster. Word is, some well-connected SMU brass are intrigued by Brown and think he might be tempted by the chance to coach againBrown is 63 and it's not common to follow one 60-plus year-old with another, but as one source pointed out, the Mustangs basketball coach (Larry Brown) is also in his 70s (74).

With head coach Brady Hoke embattled at Michigan and likely to lose his job in the near future, Brown's name has also surfaced in regards to that potential opening. The comment from Jamail on the Wolverines position seems rather evasive, though unless there are rogue regents at that school, too, even the unofficial search process is unlikely to have started at this time.

And so despite the fall of the Texas program that continues to this day, it appears that Brown will have the opportunity to return to coaching next season, possibly at a relatively high-profile program, depending on what other vacancies emerge around college football.

Whether Brown opts to take any of them does seem up in the air at this point based on Jamail's comments and the fact that Brown didn't always seem completely engaged during the last several years he spent in Austin.

At age 63, does he want the stress of coaching a team again or will he be content to spend his Saturdays talking college football on a big stage at ABC?

Time will tell.