None of that really impacts the winning and losing elements of the organization much. If he's looking to have an impact on actual team performance or be involved in more exciting elements of sports, AD at a university seems much more directly involved position than President of the Astros picking what vendors your team uses for hotdogs .
True, at UT he'd only have to answer to the President, Chancellor, Board of Trustees, Donors and various others to hire a coach. In the pros he has to answer to the Owner and the underling GM.
Uh, of course he is in on those discussions. No, he cannot unilaterally hire anyone, just like at UT. But, whatever amigo, this is kind of a silly conversation.
I guess it depends on what Reid Ryan would rather do. President of a professional team is more business side and promoting the brand. AD of a university is like the GM of college sports. I'm not sure how the Ryan family swings on it, either. The family owns the Round Rock Express which are slated to become the Astros farm team once the contract with the Rangers is over. Even though Nolan is a consultant to the Astros, I feel like they'd rather have Reid as president of the Astros while his brother Reese is CEO of the Express. I think Reid Ryan is a long shot for AD of UT.
Of course he's in discussions. But at the end of the day, for the Astros, Lunhow is the one that gets to make the decisions, and he gets the credit/blame for them. If Hinch sucked, no one is going to blame Reid Ryan for it. Similarly, no one is going to give him credit. At UT, the AD gets to make the primary decisions and then has to get approval from others. The coach's successes or failures are put on the AD. If you want to be directly involved and bask in the glory/failure of the organization, AD is going to be a lot more involved than President of the Astros. No one, after winning a World Series, said "look how amazing Reid Ryan was!". Lunhow? Yes. Hinch? Yes. Players? Absolutely. Ryan? Not in the least. In the 2000's, DeLoss Dodds got all the credit and blame for Mack, Barnes, LHN, etc. You're the center of attention as AD. Not so as Astros President. As you said, you're mostly involved in background business stuff rather than the on-field results.
I get where you're at, but Deloss Dodds ain't walking through that door. Nobody will wield as much sway at Belmont as he did ever again, or at least for the forseeable future. That's for better or worse, btw. Dan Duquette, Gerry Hunsicker, Nolan Ryan just off the top of my head were MLB team presidents who pretty much ran the show above and beyond the GMs. I know Reid is not on that level, because that's not how the Stros want things structured. So...maybe Reid takes the UT job, maybe he doesn't. I stand by that statement.
So many BS penalties. Throwing flags after a review, didn't even know that was possible but it's been done to us weeks in a row. And now you can't even tackle WVU players.
So a WVU lineman throws our DB to the ground after the whistle and the refs pick up the flag. Now Hager gets facemasked, his momentum carries him into the QB at the chinstrap and he's called for targeting. What a bunch of BS.
Connor Williams is showing that he is a top 5 draft pick. He makes the worse line in college football look above average.
OL Patrick Vahe is out for Texas Tech after suffering a second-degree MCL sprain vs West Virginia. I wonder how many times this season UT has started the same offensive lineman 2 weeks in a row. Still, it's hard to imagine Texas losing to Tech but you never know. A win would guarantee their 1st winning season since 2013 and their best conference record (6-3) since 2013 when they went (7-2). That is the momentum you need going into the next recruiting window and the 1st ever early signing date on December 20th. Sam's resurgence last week could be the nail in the coffin of Shane's tenure at UT. Sam has already been named the starter for the Tech game. Shane could transfer to another program without losing a year of eligibility or come back and battle Sam for the starting spot next year but the writing might be on the wall. Shane could come back next year to see how it goes and work on graduating by the end of the year so he could potentially transfer before his senior year without having to sit out. These QB transfers are extremely common but it would mean that you might not be able to red shirt any incoming 2018 QBs. UT currently has 2 QBs in the 2018 class which is unusual to see. We'll see if they can hold onto them both.
It is crazy how much a couple of games will make all the difference here. When you think about the fact that: - They "probably" don't lose that Maryland game if played again now. - They could have easily won USC - They could have easily won OU I use "easily" liberally, but you get the idea. If they had just one of those games they would have had a legit shot to go 9-4. But as you note, as is, win against Tech, hopefully play a decent team and get a good win in the bowl game... 8-5 with strong momentum.
I think it goes both ways. UT got lucky by facing Iowa St when they did considering ISU went on to beat OU and TCU after Kempt took over for Park. We could have also very very easily lost to Kansas St had the fumble by Maps or Humphrey not been recovered and who knows what would have happened against West Virginia had their starting QB not gone out with an injury so early in the game. Credit to young safety Brandon Jones for the stop there. You can play this game with every team but at the end of the day you are your record and this ain't bad.
The biggest take away from this season is that we had a chance to win every game but one and you could contribute all those losses mistakes from a freshman quarterback. If Ellinger grows at all next season, we should be better than we were this year. That is more than I can say for any season with had with Charlie Strong.
Ehlinger didn't play in 2 of our losses but see what you're saying. If we can put together a halfway decent OL, we should see a big improvement. Also knowing what we have in Daniel Young and Toneil Carter will help, watching Warren and Porter's 1-2 yard gains for the first 8 weeks was rough.
Possible bowl destinations per Chip Brown. VaTech in Orlando would be fun and while I'd love a shot at Orgeron for essentially banning Texas mini-camps in La, not sure I want them to have yet another game in NRG. Don't think the SEC will send A&M regardless.
Absolutely agreed. On the whole, as someone else noted, in pretty much every game, tough schedule, could finish with decent record... good momentum on the whole for sure.
Just for the experience of traveling to a touristy place with a bunch of distracting other stuff going on during the bowl week, I'm really hoping they go to Orlando. Houston and SA just seem like total meh to me from a team/player standpoint.
