Gray has proven that he's one of top DC in the NFL. His Titan's defense is 7th in scoring defense this season and he had on of the top 3 defenses when he was with the Bills. Every where he has gone, the defenses he coaches were near the top. I understand if people say he can't deal with the Texas politics or he wouldn't be good at recruiting, but I don't buy people saying he isn't innovative enough.
ESPN is running that complete non-factor, Earl Campbell quote on the ticker. It's obvious they want Mack Brown gone. I imagine they'll have to approve the next hire and/or list of candidates. Would not surprise me.
You really think that a TV network has that much control over the decisions of a large, state-funded, public university?
A bit tongue in cheek man, but who knows whose ear ESPN has paid off on UT's end. I'm not even sure it would be a bad thing either.
Neither Harsin or Manny were innovative head coaches. Saban is a proven excellent recruiter and is a genius on the defensive side of the ball.
you won't have a problem getting a ticket. you should have gotten an email about the ticket draw, so you will need to get a wristband and stand in line as well as buy the ticket at face, but as far as getting one you'll be okay
Right - but they are coordinators. My point is that there's a huge gulf between head coach and coordinator in terms of responsibilities and roles. Being good at one job doesn't make you good at the other, and we have no idea if Jerry Gray would be any good at being a head coach.
The longhorn network is not a big enough part of the Texas $$$ to get a say like that. Texas would have never given them approval on personnel decisions. The AD will have a say but no one is higher than the regents.
This would suck - Dodds needs to go this year so a new AD can hire a new coach. Going next August is totally pointless.
Regardless of the last 4 years, he has done a tremendous job in the last 32 for the Texas Athletic Program. The program does not become the most profitable school in the country (ahead of Notre Dame) in spite of him. Thank you for the Rose Bowls.
Again, tongue in check, but all they'd have to do was get in 1-2 decision maker's pockets and buy some sway.
Luck would be awesome but he previously turned down Stanford's AD gig and stayed at WVa (his alma mater). Not saying it couldn't happen though...
If you judge an AD by the overall success of a school's athletic programs (rather than revenue), UT isn't bigger than Stanford. I agree that if he didn't want to leave Morgantown for Palo Alto (and his son's alma matter), I don't think he's coming to Texas. He's probably happy at his alma matter.
I know. Just going off of personal experience, but people vary quite a bit in how much they care about where they went to graduate school. If undergrad's are 10/10, MBA grads seem to be 7/10, JD grads 4/10, and MD grads 2/10. Think it has to do with how much fun you have at a particular institution. I can't really say I follow college athletics outside of football/basketball too much...why would Oliver Luck be such a great choice? Has he engineered a strong turnaround at WVU? Name recognition? Reading his wiki, it looks like he has been very successful at the business side of sports, but that's not really the side we need help on?
An AD makes some pretty important business decisions for the school. As you have read, Luck was involved in overseeing financing, construction and management of three Houston stadiums and even brought the Dynamo to town. While NFL Europe was still the World League of American Football, he built two successful franchises in Germany and became president of the league. When he joined WVa, his biggest coup was jumping ship from the Big East to the Big 12. As a direct result, he was able to secure a new TV deal and fund a new baseball stadium. In terms of managerial decisions, hiring Dana Holgerson was a fantastic move. Besides all that: The dude is smart (Rhodes finalist and JD from UT) Has a Texas connection (Oilers QB and chose to raise his family in Houston) And is open to unconventional thinking (Instated in-stadium alcohol sales while also banning fans from leaving during a game and reentering. The result was increased revenue and decreased binge drinking and reentering and thus a drop in calls, arrests and charges on gameday) Grantland did a pretty good piece earlier this month on his successes. It provides some insight into why he likes West VA, but nothing to really indicate why chose to turn down the Stanford job. What's obvious is that Luck would be a great hire.
