Jan 14, 2011
Jan 5, 2011
Nov 9, 2010
Rick Barnes 2010 = Mack Brown 2011
If the heading of this post confuses, allow me to clarify: Rick Barnes faces the same challenge this season that Mack Brown will face next year. And what exactly is this challenge? It is a test of adaptability. The challenge is one of adjustment: can Rick Barnes make the personal and stylistic coaching adjustments required of him after last year's debacle? Can Mack Brown admit any failure and make real changes?
After running out to a 17-0 record and #1 ranking (UT's first ever top billing) last season, Barnes saw fit to put his uber-talented freshmen (particularly Jordan Hamilton and J'Covan Brown) through "boot camp" because he wasn't happy with their decision-making and commitment to defense. A team that thrived in the first half of the season playing loose, full-court, trapping defense suddenly was asked to become a disciplined half court team focused on few turnovers and only "good" shots. Unfortunately, Barnes completely misread his team and failed to recognize that this unit could not succeed in a slow-tempo, conservative, half-court strategy. They would have been much better in an up-tempo, carefree, positively reinforced environment, one where "bad" shots and turnovers did not result in being sent to the bench. Barnes squashed that team's identity and spirit, transforming an aggressive team into a tentative one with players afraid to make mistakes and always looking over their shoulders. The end-results were damning, to put it mildly. Now we arrive at a pivotal moment in the Rick Barnes era: did he learn from his mistakes and will he allow the enigmatic sophomores Hamilton and Brown (the keys to this team, even more so than the star freshmen recruits Tristan Thompson and Corey Joseph) to play aggressive and unafraid? After one game against seminal roundball powerhouse Navy, the early returns suggest Barnes may well have learned not to ride his talent as if he's Bobby Knight, but it's definitely too early to issue a verdict.
As for Mack Brown, the 2010 football season merits a similar critique as last year's basketball season: catastrophic collapse due to coaching. However, there are distinct differences at play. The biggest difference is that this season's football team is woefully lacking in offensive talent, whereas last year's hoops squad was stacked in offensive playmakers. Mack's crime is the four year flight from recruiting dual-threat athletic QBs, aka "the next Vince Young." The Colt era mercifully disguised the endemic problem in recruiting and offensive philosophy, and due frankly to Colt, Jamaal Charles, Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby, Texas was able to succeed in spite of their flawed approach to offensive football. Barnes' crime was destroying the existing talent by trying to force them to play 'his way" as opposed to adapting to what he had on the floor. It can be argued that Greg Davis and Mack Brown (who successfully adapted to Vince Young) have likewise chosen to do it "their way" by running away from the zone-read option spread that produced the greatest offense in UT history in 2005. After receiving what amounted to the "Colt McCoy bailout" for four years, the tab has now come due for them, and there are no more bailouts on the horizon (certainly not in the name of Garrett Gilbert, Case McCoy, Connor Wood, David Ash, etc). Texas is finally being allowed to fail in 2010, and is essentially entering its bankruptcy proceedings this offseason. How will the Horns emerge from football Chapter 11?
Mack - like Barnes hopefully has - must learn from his mistakes and recommit to recruiting the freak athletes who are dual threat run/pass and who can thrive in a zone-read option attack a la Auburn and Oregon. Texas has plenty of running backs (particularly DJ Monroe, but I'm tired of advocating for his playing time) who can thrive in a zone-read attack with a dynamic QB. This style of offense, which is predicated on putting athletes in space, both simplifies and improves the offense overnight. But you have to get the right QB. That Mack has wholesale gone away from recruiting this type of QB may be a bridge too far for him to overcome, but he has to try, otherwise he will either choose to step down or be forced out after 2011. But if he shows good faith in recommitting to this style (something that would even allow him to keep Greg Davis on, although at this point I am with the overwhelming majority who want Davis sacked), he will exhibit the type of honest reality-assessment of which so many Texas fans believe he deficient.
So 2010 Rick Barnes and 2011 Mack Brown each face a moment of truth. Can these talented recruiters, exemplary UT representatives and quality program builders prove once and for all their ability to adapt and adjust in the glaringly obvious ways necessary to regain success?
It will be interesting to follow....
Nov 3, 2010
Burnt Orange Radio website
We're still working on developing the Burnt Orange Radio website, but for now you can visit www.burntorangeradio.com and be redirected to our podcast page on Podbean.
Thanks for listening to our show and let us know what you think this UT football team should do in the near-term and long-term.
Oct 26, 2010
Rant from Iowa State weekend
Here is a rant I issued Saturday night on Orangebloods after the Horns' loss to Iowa State.
Our latest podcast is at www.burntorangeradio.podbean.com
"This is not complicated people: Davis sucks, EXCEPT when he has a mobile QB who can move the chains with his feet. Even better, an athletic QB who can run the zone-read with talented backs and is adept at hitting open receivers in space (because LBs and safeties are frozen due to being so focused on what's going on with the zone-read in the backfield) thrives under Davis (#10).
2004 (with the big exception of 12-0 loss to OU), 2005 and 2008 were Greg Davis' halcyon days. The Texas offense in those years was the undisputed BEST in the country. Not easy to do. Why were these years so good when every other year under Davis has ranged from vaguely acceptable to mediocre to abysmal? Vince Young and Colt McCoy, two QBs who could always keep drives alive with their feet amid the consistent Davis mindfart. But guess what? After each bailout by his QBs, Davis invariably called plays aggressively in those years, and our offense was nigh invincible. The distinction between Vince and Colt is that Vince was the most dangerous presence in college football history, while Colt carried a near-equal clutch gene as Vince and had the two best receivers in Mack's tenure in '08 (notice how Colt's play dropped precipitously in '09 with the absence of Quan). The Vince and Colt offenses were drastically different schematically, but each relied on the ability of the heroic, athletic leader at QB to make things happen running. Unfortunately, Colt tricked Mack and GD into thinking they were good at running the finesse dink and dunk PASSING spread, something they should have had no illusions about after the Simms era. What they failed to realize (and this will never cease to amaze me) was that their meal ticket in two of our three most successful years was a RUNNING spread offense, that oh by the way just so happened to also be lethal in the pass because D's were so scared of Vince, Jamaal, Ramonce, Selvin. The success in '08 was a passing spread with zero running game (Ogbannaya was our featured RB, god bless him), but it only worked because of Colt's guts and Ship/Quan's brilliance.
Now any high school student with any understanding of analysis would look at the three most successful sample groups and say: OK, it looks like the KEY is having an uber-athlete at QB and designing an offense around a run-dominated zone-read/spread. Not only does that give Texas the running identity their coach craves, but it also allows average-at-best receivers (Pittman, Sweed, Brian Carter, freshman Quan) to post gaudy statistics because they're consistently wide open. All you need is for the uber-athlete to be basically adept at throwing the football to wide open dudes wearing the same color jersey. In conclusion, while the '08 sample was impressive, it has to be an anomaly. Great QB with two great WRs was enough to produce prolific offense, but to be swayed into thinking Texas can run the football without the presence of an uber-athlete or that Texas can methodically and consistently march down the field throwing short and sideways would be the height of hubris.
That Mack and especially Davis haven't EVER truthfully acknowledged what made them successful and fought day and night in recruiting to stockpile potential Vince Young, Cam Newton, et. al. prospects will go down as the biggest mistake of the Mack/Davis era. Yes, even bigger than not pulling Simms from the Colorado game until he hurt his hand when he was willfully flicking lit matches all over a kerosene-doused Texas dream. What makes it even MORE frustrating for fans is that Greg Davis is SORT OF A GURU at calling that type of an offense!!!! Chip Kelly modeled (and refined, improved upon) his Oregon offense on what Texas did in 2005! Gene Chizik, our D coordinator in '05 watched Vince Young work his magic that year. Think that had something to do with their aggressive acquisition of Cam Newton? Think he's gonna allow Auburn to recruit anything BUT 6'4 220+ black athletes to play QB there as long as he's in charge? I think not.
WTF were Mack and Davis ever thinking going away from that type of player?"
2004 (with the big exception of 12-0 loss to OU), 2005 and 2008 were Greg Davis' halcyon days. The Texas offense in those years was the undisputed BEST in the country. Not easy to do. Why were these years so good when every other year under Davis has ranged from vaguely acceptable to mediocre to abysmal? Vince Young and Colt McCoy, two QBs who could always keep drives alive with their feet amid the consistent Davis mindfart. But guess what? After each bailout by his QBs, Davis invariably called plays aggressively in those years, and our offense was nigh invincible. The distinction between Vince and Colt is that Vince was the most dangerous presence in college football history, while Colt carried a near-equal clutch gene as Vince and had the two best receivers in Mack's tenure in '08 (notice how Colt's play dropped precipitously in '09 with the absence of Quan). The Vince and Colt offenses were drastically different schematically, but each relied on the ability of the heroic, athletic leader at QB to make things happen running. Unfortunately, Colt tricked Mack and GD into thinking they were good at running the finesse dink and dunk PASSING spread, something they should have had no illusions about after the Simms era. What they failed to realize (and this will never cease to amaze me) was that their meal ticket in two of our three most successful years was a RUNNING spread offense, that oh by the way just so happened to also be lethal in the pass because D's were so scared of Vince, Jamaal, Ramonce, Selvin. The success in '08 was a passing spread with zero running game (Ogbannaya was our featured RB, god bless him), but it only worked because of Colt's guts and Ship/Quan's brilliance.
Now any high school student with any understanding of analysis would look at the three most successful sample groups and say: OK, it looks like the KEY is having an uber-athlete at QB and designing an offense around a run-dominated zone-read/spread. Not only does that give Texas the running identity their coach craves, but it also allows average-at-best receivers (Pittman, Sweed, Brian Carter, freshman Quan) to post gaudy statistics because they're consistently wide open. All you need is for the uber-athlete to be basically adept at throwing the football to wide open dudes wearing the same color jersey. In conclusion, while the '08 sample was impressive, it has to be an anomaly. Great QB with two great WRs was enough to produce prolific offense, but to be swayed into thinking Texas can run the football without the presence of an uber-athlete or that Texas can methodically and consistently march down the field throwing short and sideways would be the height of hubris.
That Mack and especially Davis haven't EVER truthfully acknowledged what made them successful and fought day and night in recruiting to stockpile potential Vince Young, Cam Newton, et. al. prospects will go down as the biggest mistake of the Mack/Davis era. Yes, even bigger than not pulling Simms from the Colorado game until he hurt his hand when he was willfully flicking lit matches all over a kerosene-doused Texas dream. What makes it even MORE frustrating for fans is that Greg Davis is SORT OF A GURU at calling that type of an offense!!!! Chip Kelly modeled (and refined, improved upon) his Oregon offense on what Texas did in 2005! Gene Chizik, our D coordinator in '05 watched Vince Young work his magic that year. Think that had something to do with their aggressive acquisition of Cam Newton? Think he's gonna allow Auburn to recruit anything BUT 6'4 220+ black athletes to play QB there as long as he's in charge? I think not.
WTF were Mack and Davis ever thinking going away from that type of player?"
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