Texas coach Mack Brown must still be suffering from post-traumatic Saban disorder (Scarbinsky)
Hey, you. Yes, you. The coach trying to pass a rule to stop Nick Saban at the same time you're copycatting him.
Didn't you used to be Mack Brown?
Last time our paths crossed, Brown's Texas team was losing to Saban's Alabama team in the BCS Championship Game in the Rose Bowl. Brown hasn't forgotten.
Did you know his quarterback, Colt McCoy, got hurt early in that game? In case that slipped your mind, Brown found a way Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days to mention it.
Responding to a question about his latest change in offensive philosophy, back to more of a hurry-up no-huddle spread, presumably to avoid getting bum-rushed by Oklahoma again, Brown said this: "What we thought is that with Colt, when he got hurt in the national championship game against Alabama in '09, they had two backs rush for 100 yards, and we couldn't run the ball. When we were playing a freshman quarterback, it had us at a true disadvantage in a championship game."
Do you see what he did there? He managed to both pat himself on the back for making it to that title tilt and absolve himself for losing it because his starting QB got hurt, see, and he had to put in a freshman.
Never mind that, in the three seasons since Alabama 37, Texas 21, the Longhorns are 22-16 overall and 11-15 in the Big 12. It's not exactly a fall of Chizikian proportions, but Brown and company haven't been relevant on the national scene since Jan. 7, 2010.
Chalk up the downfall to PTSD (post-traumatic Saban disorder.) Brown joins a distinguished list of sufferers that includes Urban Meyer, Tommy Tuberville and Phillip Fulmer.
Brown's Big 12 Media Days interview reveals a coach clearly searching for a way back out of the wilderness of mediocrity. Remember McCoy when he was healthy and, before him, Vince Young when he should've won the Heisman?
No one has ever confused current Texas quarterback David Ash with either of them, until Brown did it Tuesday.
"There were times last year that (Ash) played like Colt and he played like Vince and looked as good as anybody in the country," Brown said, "and then there were other times where he struggled some."
What would you expect from a coach who thought Johnny Manziel would make a good defensive back?
Remember when Brown said, after losing to Alabama, he was switching from the spread to more of a physical SEC-style running game?
He doesn't.
"I've never really said I want to be SEC-like," Brown said. "I think people said that because we wanted to run the ball better, and the SEC is a league that runs the ball really well."
Remember when Brown, who coaches at the only university with its own television network, asked if the size of Alabama's football support staff was fair?
He's still complaining despite adding staff members himself, one of them, Patrick Suddes, from Alabama.
Hypocritical much?
Why would Brown, as president of the American Football Coaches Association, want the NCAA to pass a rule limiting the employment opportunities of football coaches? "Because Alabama has had so much success, and their staff has been bigger than any of the other staffs in college football."
Right. If you can't beat 'em, outlaw 'em.
Brown also echoed the Bob Stoops propaganda that the SEC may not be the best league in the land because the Big 12 is so much more balanced. Brown threw out this stat from last year: The top seven SEC teams were 30-0 against the bottom seven.
It was actually 32-0, but as Brown said, "that's not happening in our league."
You know why? Unlike Alabama, Texas isn't living up to its budget or its history. Since losing to the Tide, the 'Horns have dropped three straight to Oklahoma and Kansas State and two out of three to Baylor and Oklahoma State.
Going into his 16th season in Austin, Brown looks like another classic example of a coach who's stayed too long. Texas should've retired him and promoted Will Muschamp when it had the chance.
