On Friday night, we thought Mack Brown was going to stay at Texas. People were rushing to laugh at those whom reported Brown's demise at the beginning of the week, and then Brown resigned from Texas with 40 minutes before the Heisman Trophy announcement. With Brown being out at as Longhorns coach, we are probably going to see one of the most insane coaching searches in history of football as well as what will Brown's legacy be in college football no matter if he keeps coaching in college football. I do not think there is one head coach that I could say is off the table with Texas. There are many whom I think would say 'Thanks but no thanks' yet at the same time, they have more money than multiple small countries meaning some people whom would never listen to a new job, will actually give it some time. If nothing else, some of these coaches will take phone calls to work new deals. Nothing on whether CBS Sports is reporting Buzz Williams to be a candidate for coach of the football team. This will be a fun time with Twitter because there are media members trying to step over other people's feet looking to find the one coach taking the job. It will happen on multiple occasions in the coming weeks.
One of the biggest fishes Texas might look to grab is Jim Harbaugh, head coach of San Francisco 49ers. Barking Carnival, SB Nation's Texas blog, made an excellent case on why Harbaugh is more realistic than other people believed it is right now. He keeps getting mentioned by everyone and it raises the question if he is happy with San Francisco right now? I am not in Harbaugh's head, but it is interesting he turned down a two-year contract extension. It could just mean the Niners coach wants to be the highest-paid NFL coach, or it could mean he is looking for another adventure.
Another NFL coach that has been mentioned by ESPN Chris Mortensen is Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy. Not being a homer here, but I cannot see it at all. Yes there are some ties there, but McCarthy has not coached in college since 1992. I was the ripe age of four. To say college football has changed since then is a complete understatement. It is a whole new world. And even having a daughter in Austin, McCarthy, I believe, has four other kids to deal with right now and picking them up to move seems like something he would not do at all. As for Harbaugh and McCarthy, if either of them end their season in the first week of January, it becomes more interesting.
I do think Harbaugh is not a fantasy selection but there are names that I think could be more of a possibility. Mark Dantonio is a name many are not mentioning right now. He built a great program at Michigan State, and while he is not the most media friendly guy, he could adapt and rebuild this program. Todd Graham has only been at Arizona State for two years, but the man does not really care about loyalty, always wanting to move up the ladder. New Texas athletic director Steve Patterson hired him at Arizona State, why would he not do the same with the Longhorns? To me, those are two most realistic coaches whom I could see at Texas.
It is really fascinating to think about Brown's legacy in college football. People forget sometimes he won a National Championship beating USC in a virtual home game. Vince Young is one of the best college quarterbacks of the last 20 years and Brown recruited him. But he missed out on Texas high school quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III, Matthew Stafford, Christian Ponder, Jameis Winston and Nick Foles. Misses happened, but the fact, none of them played for the Longhorns is stunning. People will always remember Brown for this because it is the end of his legacy which we all remember more fondly then Brown's BCS Title.
Charlie.
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