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We all have those dreams. Whether it’s beating the odds and accomplishing something spectacular or reaching the pinnacle of your chosen career path and walking out a winner. We all have them. It’s what gets us out of bed dragging ourselves to the coffee machine, to fight rush hour traffic on the freeway, to deal with the redundant paperwork everyday because you know one day, you’ll be the one running the show.
Mack Brown got his opportunity to run one of the biggest show in college football and for a majority of his career was very successful at it. He won 158 games in 16 years. He won a national championship. He won conference championships. But in the end, he will be remember for his last 4 years on the 40 acres.
Recruiting misses, poor quarterback play, and players failing to step up in the key moments were key factors in the demise of Mack Brown at Texas. In his final game, all of that was on display in the Alamodome on Monday night.
Recruiting misses like Josh Huff and Bralon Addison dominated the Longhorns gaining 152 yards receiving. Poor quarterback play directly led to 14 points for the Oregon Ducks on two pick 6 plays. Geoff Swaim dropped 3 passes and Mike Davis dropped a huge 56 yard pass by Tyrone Swoopes to potentially get the Longhorns back in the game. No matter how much Mack Brown would have wanted Longhorn fans to focus on the great things he did for the Texas program, the problems that he created reared it’s ugly head in his final game on the Texas sideline.
We see examples of this outside of the sports world. A great CEO who came up with a revolutionary idea and garnered significant success begins to rest on their laurels while others begin to pass them by. Once they realize they have been passed, it’s too late. However, they become desperate and make worse decisions that put the company in a weaker position. Then the board of directors have to make that tough decision to give the great CEO a “golden parachute” while singing the praises of the CEO and what he has done. It’s human nature to lose that drive to be successful when you have achieved your goals.
Not all endings in life are Fairy Tales. Mack Brown will be the first to tell you the same thing. It was time for a change and the game tonight was the strongest case for that change. You knew the stats and the betting lines were not in favor of the fairy tale ending but there was still that hope that maybe, just maybe it could happen.
But isn’t that what Mack Brown gave Texas? That hope that something good will happen for the Longhorns no matter how great the obstacle was? To have a Heisman trophy winner in his first year on the 40 acres? To end the Big Red Machine’s 47 game home winning streak? To beat Michigan in the Granddaddy of them all? To beat what many were calling the greatest college team ever before the national championship game was even played? To convert 4th and 5? Mack Brown made the Longhorns special once again.
Through all his faults, Mack Brown gave Longhorns fans the one thing Texans value, Pride.
Even though the bell tolls for Mack Brown as Texas head coach, we will remember the greatness he instilled at Texas even though it didn’t end the way we might have envisioned.
Happy offseason everyone!!!!
