🏈 Mack Brown digging his heels in at Texas

[Old Timer from TX]

Good morning Bama fans. I am an old fogey from Texas. We share a lot of things in common. Fine food, fine women, and fine football. Though this time may be tenuous for both our fan bases, I can say that over the long run... No coach will ever define an entire program. Texas has had 100 years of history of great football, and the same is true of Alabama. We share something else in common. And that is our desire to have the best coaching available. And right now, let's not deny it anymore... One of the greatest college football coaches around is Nick Saban. Unfortunately, only one school can have such a coach.

Now, with the prelude out of the way. We should not deceive one another. The truth is that the Longhorn fanbase in Texas is very ravenous. And the topic of coaching has dominated the local news, radio, and print for the past couple weeks. The word in Austin is that Nick Saban is the coach who Texas fans want. And Nick Saban is the coach who Texas fans will get.

There is the small issue of money. The Athletic budget of the University of Texas is quite large. It is THE biggest budget in all of collegiate sports. This is easily verifiable with a simple online search. Texas will hire whomever it wants. And there will be a time that any school competing will have to fold their cards. What I want to say is that there is only one thing that will stop Texas from obtaining any coach it wants. In this case, it won't be competition from any other school. No bidding war will dissuade Texas. No. The only thing that can stop Texas from obtaining Saban is... Mack Brown. Mack is more your ally than you think. And the Alabama Athletic Director, Bill Battle knows this. 24 hours.

 

[Old Timer from TX]

View attachment 3465

Link to picture at National College Football Banquet in New York City.
Photo taken days ago.

http://media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/444/180/1180444.jpg

 

[bamafan4ever]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hdx9JjzDfo

 

[ColoradoTide]

the shortwhorn meltdown when they realize they're not getting Saban will be so delicious

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Look bro, Texas is an awesome school. They have a great history and football tradition. Yes, they also have more money. That argument however is stupid in this case. It's like saying Bill Gates has more money than Warren Buffet. Alabama could match whatever Texas offered him. Texas isn't going to offer $22 million a year anyway. The only area where Texas has the edge over Alabama is the city of Austin, and Nick Saban doesn't spend much time out in the city. Anyway, I say all that to say this, you will get someone other than Nick Saban as your next football coach and you'll like it.

 

[JoshB]

How's Colt's shoulder?

 

[bamaraider]

you will get someone other than Nick Saban as your next football coach and you'll like it.

Highly unlikely now. Their fan base is so hyped up into getting him and have just set themselves up to really thinking he will be there. Once he turns down the offer, a hole might just rip in the space time continuum. They'll get another HC, but to them, it will just be like Mack Brown was still their HC.

 

[bamaraider]

I hate Austin ! Awful traffic , dope smokers walking around with joints behind there ears ! More liberals than I care to be around ever! Been there many many times ! They do have some good food th

Maybe that's just you, but man Austin is great to me. Traffic can suck, but I do believe Austin has been rated many times for best place to visit and live. I would live there in a heart beat.

 

[TXTIDER]

Dang I messed up on my post editing it ! Traffic is a killer there for me ! It is ok to visit but no way would I live there ! Great music scene !

 

[Old Timer from TX]

I understand that Alabama fans are proud and loyal to their coach, so they expect the same. However, I think that most people will agree that a man thinks of his family first before thinking of his friends. So there is no guarantee that Saban will stay in Alabama. He didn't stay at Mich St, LSU, or Miami despite saying similar things about not leaving.

The backstory that is emerging that may be advantageous to keeping Saban in Alabama is that there was potentially a breach of contract (Mack's contract with Texas) involving possible improper contact between UT Regents and another coach (Saban). Joe Jamail, Mack's lawyer and big benefactor to the Longhorns, has publicly threatened to sue on behalf of Mack any UT employee that tries to make contact again with another head coach while Mack is still the coach. Word in Austin is that Mack was pissed that Saban was being so publicly courted by UT Regents. Mack thought that was improper and a blatant violation of his contract. Mack's wife has been taking it badly and has been lamenting to those close to the Brown's that they (UT Regents) shouldn't be doing that after Mack has worked so hard for Texas for 16 years.

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The tension came to a head in NYC when Mack, Steve Patterson (new Texas AD), and Bill Powers (Texas president) sat down for a meeting to discuss Mack's future at Texas. This has been reported by those in the know as a very volatile meeting, very combative, ugly. The meeting lasted 3 hours.
247 Sports Report - "Multiple Sources confirm Mack Brown meeting with UT Pres and AD very combative,ugly.Debate now who makes announcement and when. #forcedout"
http://texas.247sports.com/Board/21/Who-wants-some-salacious-twitter-rumors-23917158/1

Texas wants Mack to resign amicably and take the $2.75 million buyout that is written in his contract. However, Mack feels jilted and his lawyer is pushing Texas to increase the buyout significantly or they will fight the forced resignation on the grounds of the breach of contract described earlier. The longer Mack stays at Texas and fights his own Administration behind the scenes, the more likely that Saban stays at Alabama.

Of note is Mack's discussion with Alabama AD recently when the two bumped into each other at the National College Football Awards Banquet in New York. I'm sure the Alabama AD asked Mack about the fiasco going on down in Austin. Mack probably told him that he was being forced out in an attempt for Texas to steal Saban from Alabama.

 

[JoshB]

Oh yeah Im sure Bill Battle tracked down Mack just for that... no question... :shake:

 

[Old Timer from TX]

Oh yeah Im sure Bill Battle tracked down Mack just for that... no question... :shake:

I'm not saying that Battle tracked down Mack. Just the opposite. Mack approaching Battle to inform him of what he is hearing going on behind his back at Texas. Mack knows the Regents are trying to force him out, and that probably other contact to Saban was occurring. He had a right to be pissed at that and he was probably just letting Bill Battle know about it.

Picture from recent National College Football Awards Banquet.
Bill Battle (l) and Mack Brown (r) -

http://media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/444/180/1180444.jpg

 

[ColoradoTide]

blah, blah, blah ...lots of talking just to set up the backstory excuse when you fail to get Saban. Usually the long drawn out story means there's a lot of BS excuses behind it.

Stick with "but colt got hurt"; it's just as much horse shit, but at least it's shorter.

 

[foshman]

Look bro, Texas is an awesome school. They have a great history and football tradition. Yes, they also have more money. That argument however is stupid in this case. It's like saying Bill Gates has more money than Warren Buffet. Alabama could match whatever Texas offered him. Texas isn't going to offer $22 million a year anyway. The only area where Texas has the edge over Alabama is the city of Austin, and Nick Saban doesn't spend much time out in the city. Anyway, I say all that to say this, you will get someone other than Nick Saban as your next football coach and you'll like it.

Do not underestimate the ability or gall of the Texas Oilman (or in this case Oilmen) to waste tens of millions of dollars in order to win a pissing contest with Alabama. (They aren't going to beat Alabama, or any other SEC champ, on the field.) If the Oilmen think they can get Saban, and a national championship, for $22 million they'll spend it in a heartbeat. And they'll go up from there if they have to. Their wealthiest 10 boosters are worth over $50 billion. Only USC and Stanford can match that outside of the Ivy League.

Conversely, in this case don't overestimate the attractiveness of Austin to Saban. I can't imagine he would prefer it over Tuscaloosa. The traffic alone would drive him crazy. And I doubt he'd enjoy hitting the comedy clubs, music halls, and Alamo Drafthouse all that often in his spare time either. Take those things away and Austin is really just a pain in the ass with lots of attractive people around. He wouldn't be able to walk ten feet anywhere in that state without being annoyed by a native Texas that knows about the best high school guard ever to play in his home county. Plus doesn't he like being a few hours from his cabin in north Georgia?

On your last point I think you are correct. I don't think Saban will go to UT for any amount of money. Unless Ms. Terry has a shoe collection that rivals Imelda Marcos, he has plenty of money. What he wants is going to be obtained easier at Alabama than anywhere else.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

I love how everyone has grabbed onto a picture of those two talking as evidence of something. From what I remember when I saw the original elsewhere, this was an American Football Coaches Association event and Mack is the current President of the AFCA. Not a big deal that these two would be talking at it. Everybody who says they know what was being said has so far just been guessing.

 

[Splittine]

Can believe you wasted valuable time out of your life to create a screenname on here and I'm sure other Bama forums, think and type that up then actually post it.

 

[Mahout]

The Alabama fan base is growing fatigued with the soap opera. If Saban stays he has a rebuilding job with his fan base and supporters. The Texas story is sapping energy from the BAMA folks that could easily turn to resentment

I do think that the Texas boy's can make him an offer that he can't refuse.

Que Sera Sera.

 

[RollTideinGA]

The Alabama fan base is growing fatigued with the soap opera. If Saban stays he has a rebuilding job with his fan base and supporters. The Texas story is sapping energy from the BAMA folks that could easily turn to resentment

I disagree. I look at it as he has publicly said there is no job better out there. And he is out recruiting and doing his job. The fans and media are the ones making something out of nothing. Hopefully.

 

[PhillyGirl]

I disagree. I look at it as he has publicly said there is no job better out there. And he is out recruiting and doing his job. The fans and media are the ones making something out of nothing. Hopefully.

Hey GA, you gotta update your sig .. add that Maxwell trophy :icon_cheers:

 

[Splittine]

I disagree. I look at it as he has publicly said there is no job better out there. And he is out recruiting and doing his job. The fans and media are the ones making something out of nothing. Hopefully.

Agree. Saban has a lot of recruiting to do before the dead period. It's one thing if he's just sitting in Tuscaloosa denying to sign it but he's not he is burning up the roads/sky's to ensure Bama has another top recruiting class. When he has a min to sit down he will sign his Herbie Hancock in the contract.