UT Players "shocked" and "upset" that Mack resigned

Submitted by Cold War on

Five days after Mack Brown stepped down as Texas coach, the Longhorns' players admitted they were "shocked" and "upset" by the move and never saw it coming.

Ten players met with reporters Thursday for the first time since Brown announced his resignation, and their message was consistent: They're disappointed his 16-year tenure is ending and they want to send him off with one final victory.

"It's been a long season, a tough season," center Dominic Espinosa said. "We want to go out on top, but there's also that factor that it would be great for him to kind of ride off into the sunset."

Brown delivered the news to his team Saturday afternoon following a practice for the Valero Alamo Bowl. His players say Brown hasn't acted any differently in bowl practices, and they're trying to treat it like any other week.

"It was definitely shocking," defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat said. "Just the timing of it, we didn't expect it. You always hear things floating around, always hear rumors, but you never really pay attention to it until something happens...

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10168502/texas-longhorns-players-mack-brown-resignation-never-saw-coming
 

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saveferris

December 20th, 2013 at 12:03 PM ^

Shocked?  Really, they're shocked?  The man has been under assault by the Texas rank and file for going on 3-4 seasons.  I understand they're being upset, but this can hardly be much of a surprise.

Joined: 07/02/2009

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Space Coyote

December 20th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^

There is just a huge gulf between what the media and fans think is reality and what is actually real. They know those things are floating around, but they bought into the team and what Mack Brown was selling (after the non-conf was over, he was saying they were going to win the Big 12 title, and they came close). This is a team, remember, like family. They will support each other if they believe in one another. It's obvious that this team still believed in Mack Brown, and therefore didn't believe the outside stuff, which not only is the better thing to believe as far as team success, but also tends to be the better thing to believe if you want to believe the truth.

Joined: 06/18/2009

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Reader71

December 20th, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^

It is also possible that they didn't hear it. I had almost no idea about what was going on in the outside world while I was playing ball. I didn't have time for the paper or the news. I didn't even vote in a presidential election, and I'm about at politically plugged-in as one can be. Between football and school, there is little time for anything else, and frankly, what little time there is is usually spent chasing skirt. Add to that the brotherhood of a team, where bad news or negative opinions are often ignored intentionally, and the semi-brainwashing of players by their superiors, and one can see why Coach Brown's resignation would be shocking.

Joined: 08/30/2009

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Reader71

December 20th, 2013 at 7:05 PM ^

Good point. No smartphones either, so most of had to get down to the fishbowl to get on the internet. I suppose things have changed. But I also suppose that players don't pay a lot of attention to the noise. The whole "us against the world" thing. I don't think that will ever go away. So even if they are aware, I don't think they will believe it, especially if the program is the proverbial tight ship.

Joined: 08/30/2009

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MikeCohodes

December 20th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^

it was all over the media how he was on the hot seat. If they were truly shocked, then that is one hell of a sealed bubble those boys live in. Unless they were shocked in the sense that they were shocked he had told them all week before resigning that he wasn't stepping down, then he did, thus having lied to them which they may consider shocking.

Also, wasn't there a post about Lovie Smith interviewing for UT a minute ago? what happened? it disappeared before I could open it, I was too busy upvoting in the posbang thread.

Joined: 08/28/2012

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aiglick

December 20th, 2013 at 1:00 PM ^

Just what I was thinking. I hope whoever the new Athletic Director doesn't have any yachts and I hope the Texas fanbase learns from our experience and gives the new guy time to build their program. It will be interesting to see how that program reacts and what happens over the short and medium terms.

Joined: 11/27/2010

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PeterKlima

December 20th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^

...is WORSE than ours though.  To wit:

 

1. Carr did not have many years of decline before leaving.  Brown has had them in a rut for a while.  So....

2.  They can't take a flyer on a guy like RichRod to shake things up.  They don't have the same cushion to try to turn it around.  Remember when we were not too concerned over RichRod's first year because we wll knew he was a winner and had a system.  We had patience because we had recently had some pretty solid seasons (06 and 07).  We just wanted to beat OSU (we werent even thinking of MSU).  We ended up being really impatient and cutting him off and re-booting everything.

Texas cant dick around like that. Oklahoma is already surging past them along with Baylor ad A&M.  They are already getting passed on all sides before the search is even done.

3. The big money donors seem to be similar in their push for a SEC proven head coach (Saban and Miles).  But, Texas' donors were more unrealistic.  Saban had no ties.  They just want to throw money at ANY big name it seems.

4.  Michigan got an A+ list name in a guy who was maybe the hottest name and had just turned down Alabama the prior year.  I don't think UT will find a guy with that cache.

Joined: 08/24/2008

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TheNema

December 20th, 2013 at 9:24 PM ^

1. Carr did not have many years of decline before leaving.  Brown has had them in a rut for a while.  So....

Carr vs. OSU in last seven years: 1-6

Brown vs. Oklahoma in last seven years: 3-4

Winning percentage in their last seven years is identical and Brown did go to one national title game in that period. While Brown missed a bowl in 2010, something Carr never did, he has won five of his last six bowls, whereas Carr had lost five of six bowls at the time of his retirement. So I think your statement is inaccurate. Pretty much the entire second half of Carr's career was a decline, especially in big games.

 

 

 

Joined: 12/18/2013

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Erik_in_Dayton

December 20th, 2013 at 1:20 PM ^

...is a testament to Brown.  He seems to have been a guy who navigated the sometimes competing interests of running a winning program and being good to his kids with great success.

Joined: 12/03/2008

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jdon

December 20th, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^

I think it really shows the difference between brown and coaches like Richrod whom none of the players seemed to shocked to see him go...

jdon

 

Joined: 09/28/2009

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jblaze

December 20th, 2013 at 2:59 PM ^

Mack brown has been at UT for 16 years and has had worse seasons and has a bunch of years left on his contract. I'm sure he developed a lot of friends/ allies in the school/ with influential people. Players probably thought he could stay if he really wanted to.

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