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Is Nick Saban Worth $20 million a year?

"Texas was dead serious about trying to money-whip Saban," Finebaum and Wojchiechowski write. "Depending on whom you talk to -- Bama big hitters or Texas big hitters -- the Longhorns were prepared to give Saban somewhere between a $12 and $15 million signing bonus and a salary package worth $100 million (plus performances)."
Nick Saban is worth $20 million a year to the Texas Longhorns by Brian Nwokedi
To the Texas Longhorns, paying Nick Saban $20 million a year would be a drop in the bucket.
Nick Saban is a serial winner by Brian Nwokedi
All Nick Saban does is win. Texas should have upped their offer

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Past performance is no guarantee of future success. In Charlie Strong’s case it is.

158 wins to 48 losses…

That’s Mack Brown’s record during his 16 year coaching career at the University of Texas; a coaching career that saw him go 3-1 in BCS bowls, win a national championship, play for another, win 2 conference titles, and make the University of Texas a whole lot of money in the process. And notwithstanding his recent struggles over the past four years (30-21), his consistent struggles against Bob Stoops and Oklahoma (7-9), and the general feeling that the Longhorns underachieved during his tenure, Mack Brown is responsible for the resurgence of a Texas program that lay dormant for 30+ years since its 1969 and 1970 national championships. So before I continue on to talk about the topic at hand … Charlie Strong and the future of the Horns … I want to do something that I never did enough of during the Mack Brown Tenure:


“Thank you Mack Brown for 16 solid years. With its own television network and a valuation of $139M you have created a secure foundation for the future of the Longhorns, and you are a big reason the University of Texas is relevant again in college football. You have always been a class act in the face of all the scrutiny from spoiled fans like me. I truly wish you the best in the next endeavor (hopefully a color commentary spot on Longhorn Network?).” 




Today, the Texas Longhorns will “officially” name Charlie Strong their 29th coach and this appointment will mark the first time a black head coach will be in charge of a major men’s sport (football, basketball, baseball) at the University of Texas. If the reports are accurate, Charlie Strong was probably not the Longhorns first choice. But in my opinion, the appointment of Charlie Strong is the right overall move from a football X’s and O’s standpoint. He will right the defensive side of the football for the Longhorns and ultimately jump start the program back to its winning ways.



At 53 years of age, Strong’s resume speaks for itself; especially on the defensive side of the ball. While at South Carolina in the early 2000s, Strong bucked traditional defensive formations and invented the 3-3-5 stack defense. Predicated on speed, athleticism, and a “fly around a play football attitude,” the 3-3-5 stack placed a myriad of “hybrid” defenders on the field that could do multiple things to disrupt offensive schemes (especially the spread). The result of Strong’s defensive innovation was an 8 game win improvement (8-4 overall after an 0-11 season the year before) for the Gamecocks and an Outback Bowl victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

After his three year stint with the Gamecocks, Charlie Strong went on to serve as the defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators from 2002 to 2009. And as the defensive coordinator of the Gators, Strong more than proved his worth with top rated defenses in the 2006 and 2008 national championship years. 

Specifically:
2006
2008
Points per game:
13.5 (7th)
12.8 (5th)
Yards per game:
268.8 (10th)
279.3 (8th)
Total sacks:
36 (5th)
31 (11th)
Total interceptions:
21 (4th)
26 (1st)
Pick 6s
1
5




















In the 2006 national championship game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Gator defense held the Buckeyes to 82 yards in their 41-14 victory. In the 2008 title game against the Oklahoma Sooners, the Gators defense held the Sooners to 14 points. During that season the Sooners were averaging 54.0 points per game and had scored a FBS record 702 points. Needless to say, Charlie Strong knows what he is doing on defense.

His tenure as the head football coach at the University of Louisville has been marked by rapid success. In the three seasons before Strong, the Louisville Cardinals were 15-21 with a 5-16 conference record. Over the last four years under Strong’s leadership, the Cardinals have posted a 37-15 record with a 20-9 conference record and a 2012 Sugar Bowl win over the Florida Gators. And not surprisingly during Strong’s tenure the Cardinals have been absolutely stout on defense. From 2010 to 2013 the Cardinals ranked 7th in points per game (18.8), 6th in yards per game (308.1), 10th in yards per play (4.9) and 3rd in sack percentage at 8.3% (1).

Since the early 2000s, the trend in college football and the Big 12 in particular has been for offenses to move towards speed and spread. A consistent theme in Charlie Strong led defenses is to attack the spread with athleticism on defense. An attacking-playmaking defense is something that the current Texas Longhorns haven’t had lately (see the 30-7 Alamo Bowl shellacking they received this past Monday from the Oregon Ducks).

In hiring Charlie Strong, the Texas Longhorns are getting a proven defensive guru. Although past performance is no guarantee of future success at Texas, Charlie Strong’s track record has me convinced that he is the man to turn the Horns around, especially on the defensive side of the ball. If the old adage often rings true, Offense scores points but Defense wins Championships, Strong will be raising a crystal ball during his time in Texas. And at $5.0 million per year, for the next five years the expectation is nothing less.

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Did Mack Brown just buy himself another year? At a minimum he bought himself one more week.

One year ago to the date (see blog post below) I wrote that it was time for the Texas Longhorns to part ways with Mack Brown. To be more specific, I stated that from a win-loss perspective, the Texas Longhorns can’t afford to have Mack Brown as their coach. Since their last national championship appearance in 2009, the Longhorns are 25-18 overall and 13-15 in conference (not including yesterday’s win). And during this same time period, Texas A&M has re-surged on the back of a quarterback that Mack Brown passed on.


The Texas Longhorns are losing the war for the state of Texas to the A&M Aggies and General William Mack Brown is a sleep at the wheel!


Admittedly, I have been one of Mack Brown’s biggest detractors during his most recent struggles. I can list countless issues I have with him till I am blue in the face, the biggest of them being his inability to rally a group of 4 and 5 star recruits to achieve their full potential especially against their biggest rival Oklahoma. But today I am stopping for a moment to give him some serious credit for yesterday’s performance. 

All week long, Mack was defiant when asked about his future, even going as far as to guarantee that he was not going to be fired from Texas. He was adamant that his Longhorns still had everything to play for and his team was going to get this ship righted (i.e. win the Big XII championship and play for a BCS bowl). He was also very bullish on his team’s chances in the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma.

I’d be a liar if I said that I believed him and I’d be lying if I told you that I believed the Longhorns had much of a shot heading into yesterday’s game with the Sooners. 

They hadn’t really given me a reason to believe that they were going to be good enough defensively to stop the Sooners run game and Thursday’s last minute victory against Iowa State on the road did little to change my mind. Vegas odds makers seemed to agree with me, listing the Horns a two-touchdown underdog against the Sooners. 

But then Saturday, October 12, 2013 happened…. The Longhorns shocked the Sooners with a 36-20 victory in Dallas. And to be fair, they dominated Oklahoma on both sides of the ball. To borrow a line from Burnt Orange Nation: “Texas thoroughly whipped OU up and down the field, on both sides of the football, from start to finish.” The stats of the game do not lie: of the 82 total plays ran by the Longhorns, 60 of them were rushes for a total of 277 yards. The Horns played old fashioned grown man ground and pound offense. And their defense stepped up in a way we haven’t seen since 2009.

Maybe it was Mack Brown’s “Hulk Hogan” like performance the night before that inspired his Horns to show up and play in all three phases of the game: 


Whatever it was, Mack Brown and his Longhorn players ignored the media and so-called pundits like myself, showed up and simply played great football on Saturday. They ended their three-year losing streak to Bob Stoops and the Sooners and in the process bought Mack some much needed time … At least for one more week.

So with that I say congratulations to William Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns for a world class performance on Saturday. You circled with wagons, thoroughly whipped your biggest rival, and have set yourselves up for a chance at something bigger.

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From a win-loss perspective, the Texas Longhorns can no longer afford to have Mack Brown as their coach

First let me say that my heart goes out to Texas DT Brandon Moore who was injured in the third quarter of today’s game. He has movement in all of his limbs and is in stable condition at a local hospital. This post or better yet rant is clearly irrelevant in the grand scheme of life given the fact that it’s only football games I am talking about.
I started calling for Mack Brown’s resignation after last weekend’s 48-45 home loss to West Virginia, a move that had most of my Texas brethren calling me ungrateful. On Thursday, I wrote that today’s game against Oklahoma would be a referendum on the tenure of Mack Brown. And after today’s 63-21 shellacking, no Longhorn fan can deny that the time has come for the Texas Longhorns to part ways with Mack Brown.

Since 1998, the Longhorns are 145-41 under Mack Brown. With a win percentage of 78% (give or take a couple decimal places), Mack Brown’s tenure at Texas has been one of the most successful in Longhorn history. But like the old adage says … All good things must come to an end.

Since 2002, the Texas Longhorns have had recruiting classes ranked higher than the Oklahoma Sooners 7 out of 11 times (see following chart).
Final Recruiting Rankings Based on Rivals.com
Texas Longhorns
Oklahoma Sooners
2012
2
11
2011
3
14
2010
3
7
2009
5
13
2008
14
6
2007
5
14
2006
5
9
2005
20
3
2004
18
11
2003
15
4
2002
1
7
But during this same time period, the Longhorn’s record against their arch rival has been downright abysmal. Since ‘02 (including today’s game), the Longhorns are 4-7 with blowout losses of 65-13 (2003), 55-17 (2011) and 63-15 (2012). To make matters worse, there was also a blowout in 2000, 63-14.

After today’s game the ‘Horns are now 6-9 overall against the Sooners during Mack Brown’s tenure began in 1998. Like I said in Thursday’s post, this is simply not good enough given how much money Brown is currently being paid by the Texas athletic department and how much next-level talent there is in the program.

My issue with the Longhorns during Brown’s tenure isn’t talent level. Since Mack Brown has been at Texas, 52 players have been drafted into the NFL and 20 have been first round picks. Since Bob Stoops has been at Oklahoma, 53 players have been drafted into the NFL and 12 have been first round picks.

But given the fact that the ‘Horns out-recruit the Sooners (at least based on class rankings) their record against their biggest rival is downright appalling, and the number of blowout losses is unsettling. From and X’s and O’s and motivational standpoint, when it comes to Oklahoma vs. Texas, Bob Stoops is simply better at getting his boys ready to play. His 9-5 record against Texas post today’s game only serve to further proof this fact.


Football can be a very cruel sport to head coaches. When their teams win, they get a fair bit of credit. But when their teams lose, they get all the blame. Fans like me start criticizing their tactics and schemes and start (at times irrationally) calling for their heads. An argument can be made that this isn’t right, but regardless this is the way it is especially given the amount of money coaches are making in college football. Something is no longer working anymore and that something is William Mack Brown. From a purely win-loss perspective the Texas Longhorns can no longer afford to have Mack Brown as their lead head coach.

After today’s dreadful performance, the Longhorns are now 17-14 since their 2009 BCS National Championship appearance. What was once considered the strength of the program, this year’s defense is average at best and the offense is … well … they scored 21 points and gained a total of 289 yards in four quarters of football so enough said. The game was so bad today that ABC stopped showing coverage in my area with 9:00 minutes left in the 4thquarter (probably better for my overall mental health).

The “blame” shouldn’t fall solely on Mack Brown’s shoulders especially since he’s not out there actually playing. But ultimately as the head coach, he is supposed to push the right buttons to get his players to play at their best level. Because he has been unable to do this recently (over the last three years) as the “CEO” of the Texas Longhorns, it’s time for him to step aside and open the door for someone new.
2005 was such a long time ago ….


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Saturday, October 13, 2012 … Dallas, Texas … Oklahoma-Texas … Mack Brown’s last stand…?

Every year about this time (Thursday evening before the Oklahoma-Texas game), I start to get butterflies in my stomach as if I am taking the field in Dallas on Saturday. You may think I’m crazy for this, but if truth be told, my nerves are simply a reflection of the magnitude and importantance of a win in this game (clearly not life magnitude or a matter of life and death but still very important).
Once known as the Red River Shootout (still my favorite name), the OU-Texas Game (now known as the Red River Rivalry) has been played 106 times since October 10, 1900. The Longhorns lead the current series 59-42-5, and since 1945, one or both of the two teams have been ranked within the top 25 61 out of 66 games. This Saturday is no different.


The #15 Texas Longhorns hobble into Dallas to face the #13 Oklahoma Sooners and the stakes couldn’t be any higher. Given last weekend’s home loss to West Virginia and Oklahoma’s early season loss to Kansas State, Saturday’s game is pretty much for all the marbles.
The winner of six of the last ten matchups between the Longhorns and Sooners has played for the BCS National Championship (the Sooners 4 times and the ‘Horns 2 times). The loser of Saturday’s game will have two conference losses, which will all but relegate them to a second place finish and an outside chance at a BCS bowl (although stranger things have happened… See two-loss LSU vs. two-loss Ohio State circa 2007).
To call Saturday’s game “Put up or Shut up Time” for the ‘Horns is an understatement. Since the Mack Brown era began in 1998, Texas has only won six of the last 14 matchups against the Sooners and has lost the last two consecutive matchups. In the past two seasons, the Longhorns are a measly 13-12 and will be taking an eight-game losing streak against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 into Saturday’s Red River Rivalry. To make matters even worse, the ‘Horns are 1-10 in their last 11 games against Top 25 teams. To be frank, things haven’t been this bad in Austin in a while. Saturday’s game in Dallas may be a referendum on the 15 year tenure of William Mack Brown.
Now to be fair, from 2001 through 2009, Mack won 10 or more games each year, won a national championship, played for another, and went 3-1 in big time BCS bowl games. He has worked tirelessly to make Texas relevant on the national stage once again. But like a Fortune 500 CEO, his recent performance is simply not good enough given his annual salary of $5.2 million (which makes him one of top three highest paid coaches in America).
So this Saturday, the Texas Longhorns have a chance to right the ship and stay in the national championship picture. A win Saturday will go a long way towards erasing some of the ‘Horns recent failure. A loss Saturday and the ‘Horns will drop to 1-2 in conference all but sealing their second place finish.
No pressure ….
So let’s hope that Saturday my ‘Horns feel like this ….














And not like this …. 














Favorite Red River Rivalry Game:
October 11, 2008:
Texas 45, Oklahoma 35
Hands down one of the best regular season college football games ever played. It ended as the highest scoring game in the rivalry’s history with the most fans to ever see this game. My boy Chris Ogbonnaya sealed the game with a 62-yard run … Hook ‘Em



Most regrettable Red River Rivalry Game:
October 6, 2001
Texas 3, Oklahoma 14
Down 7-3 late in the 4th quarter the Longhorns had the ball on their own three-yard line. On first down the ‘Horns decided to air it out. As Chris Simms (who I’m still irrationally angry at) dropped back to pass, Roy Williams, starting safety for the Sooner leapt over an offensive lineman (see picture below) and deflected the pass which fell unfortunately into the hands of Teddy Lehman, the Sooners starting linebacker… Game, Set, Match Sooners