If Mack Brown doesn't get Texas job in '97, does he have a shot at OU in '98?
Published: 4/25/2012 8:06 AM
Last Modified: 4/25/2012 8:06 AM
Here's an interesting passage from Tom Shatel's Omaha World-Herald column on Bill Byrne, the former Nebraska athletic director who will apparently also be the former Texas A&M AD soon as well…
"Back in 1997, there was no question of Frank Solich replacing Tom Osborne – it was Osborne's pick. Byrne had nothing to say about it. Who would Byrne have hired? There was always speculation that he favored Mack Brown, then at North Carolina.
"Mack Brown coaching Nebraska? Wonder how that would have worked out."
It's fascinating to consider. Aside from absurd football expectations, Texas and Nebraska are two completely different worlds. In Austin, you're coaching inside college athletics' country club.
In Lincoln, you're simply coaching in the country. The mindset is so different it essentially drove a wedge between the Huskers and everyone else in a Big 12 Conference they saw as way too Texas-friendly, setting in motion's Nebraska's move to the Big Ten.
I could never see Brown navigating that Sea of Red. But then, I can't see Brown anywhere but on the back-slapping, baby-kissing, first name-calling circuit around all those Texas Exes, and all those Texas high school coaches who he makes feel like brothers.
Brown has been the Longhorns' gain the past 14 years, regardless of what you think of his coaching mettle. Over that span, Nebraska has gone from Solich to Bill Callahan to Bo Pelini, with mixed results in terms of both performance and PR.
Would Brown have fared any better? Would that recruiting magic of his worked so well outside Lone Star borders? Could he cut into an Omaha ribeye at a table full of boosters as comfortably as he toasts those Exes in black-tie?
It's hard to imagine.
Now, for something even more interesting…
To have a little offseason fun, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News /Houston Chronicle recently pondered "alternate" hirings in football, basketball and baseball at Texas since 1996. He considered Gary Barnett as the Longhorns' choice to replace John Mackovic in December of '97, freeing up Brown to take Oklahoma instead of Bob Stoops exactly one year later.
The reality is Brown could have out-interviewed Barnett with tape over his mouth. He's such a salesman he probably accepted DeLoss Dodds' offer, then went door to door in Austin and made a mint selling firewood before returning to North Carolina.
But just go with it for a second. Mack Bojangles Brown as OU coach instead of Robert Anthony Stoops. Double wow.
I can actually see Brown leading the Sooners clearer than Brown leading the Huskers. Former OU assistant. Right next door to all that Texas talent, as opposed to three states away. That folksy drawl serving him better on Sooner Caravans than at Big Red Banquets.
The question is, Can anyone honestly see Brown leading the Sooners clearer than they can Stoops? No way. Right?
Stoops has been a perfect fit at OU as sure as Brown has cuddled up to Texas. Stoops also happens to be considered Brown's foil, pulling comfortably ahead in Big 12 championships and Red River Rivalry victories since taking over in '99.
Considering Castiglione's alternatives – Jim Donnan? Really? – it's easy to see why he took that so-called gamble on Florida's so-called unproven defensive coordinator. He had to figure it would pay off, and it absolutely has.
But back to Finger's scenario. Texas chooses Barnett. OU fires John Blake. Brown, knowing he'll never be big man on campus in Chapel Hill, cannonballs into the Sooners' pool of candidates, sure as he cannonballed into the Horns'. If he gets an interview…
I'm not sure about football games, but the man seems born to win the living rooms of recruits and board rooms of university higher-ups. Besides, he could sell 14 years of head coaching experience that Stoops hadn't accumulated. He could sell the Tar Heels' 20-3 record and pair of top-6 finishes in '96 and '97. He could see that season as Barry Switzer's offensive coordinator, maybe have The King make a call on his behalf.
Given that competition instead of Donnan, could Stoops have still convinced Joe C and Boren to take that shot?
Yeah, probably. Definitely, Castiglione and Boren would surely say if asked that question today. Heck, they'd tell you they'd have hired Stoops over Switzer himself.
You just don't second-guess matches like that one.
Until, that is, a couple curious and highly entertaining writers set your mind to wandering in football's offseason.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
