I seem to be the lone wolf in Longhorn Land expressing the notion that hiring Urban Meyer with all his ethical baggage is desperate and distasteful. I’m surprised that UT President Jay Hartzell can look at Meyer’s background and agree that he’s the one. Clearly, he’s worried about fundraising if Texas doesn’t make a monster hire. As the wizened stockbroker in Wall Street told Bud Fox, “The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don’t want to do.” For those not familiar with Meyer’s background, there’s plenty of information to be had by performing a simple Google search. For the Cliff Notes, his Wikipedia page is handy.
If Meyer takes the job, Texas fans should be aware that though he won National Championships at Florida and Ohio State, his tenure at those schools was only six and seven years, respectively. I suspect his tenure at Texas would be even shorter (if he has health issues at 56, how’s he going to feel at 60) and I think that’s problematic. When he left Ohio State, he did leave in his wake great players and in Ryan Day, an excellent head coach. Not so much the case when he left Florida.
Stuff I’ve read.
I’d link to these stories but they’re behind pay walls.
From Adam Rittenberg at ESPN+
When I talk with coaches who face Texas, coaches who have worked at Texas and those familiar with the program, the same terms are used: Entitlement. Country Club, “it’s the softest group of kids you’ve ever been around. There’s no work ethic.”
We’ve been hearing this since the Mack Brown era. Why is it like that at UT when it isn’t at other programs with plenty of dough like Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame and Georgia to name a few? Maybe those schools don’t have player’s individual lockers that cost $1,500.????
More from Rittenberg
Texas is one of the nation’s best coaching jobs. But the Meyer factor could discourage other candidates, mindful they wouldn’t receive the same reception. If Meyer says no, would anyone else please the Longhorns’ base ore even get a fair chance to elevate the program?
If Messrs. Hartzell and Del Conte don’t land Meyers, they’ve created a real mess for themselves.
Interesting statistic from Inside Texas
Since 2017, Texas has only two 20 points victories in Big 12 play. Oklahoma has 13.
Great teams don’t routinely win close games because great teams don’t routinely PLAY close games, they blow teams out. Watching Texas in the Tom Herman era has meant watching the Longhorns struggle to generate wins on a weekly basis. Rather than reveling in Texas’ status as the most resource-rich program in the league, as the flagship program of the nation’s most football-crazed state, fans and alumni of the University have had to squirm for four quarters every Saturday as their team desperately fends off Texas Tech and Kansas and succumbs to Iowa State and Baylor.
Iowa State
Texas got off to a good start going up 10-0 midway through the first quarter (though it should have been 14-0). But when Iowa State quickly closed the gap to 10-7, didn’t you just get the feeling that Texas was going to find a way to lose this pivotal game? I did.
Ehlinger Disappoints
I predicted that Sam Ehlinger would play one his best games against Iowa State but on the penultimate play of the game, he took a sack when he should have been looking for a short quick completion. The sack cost Texas a reasonable chance at a game-tying field goal. Essentially, Texas lost the game when he was sacked. Just a devastating mistake by Ehlinger.
Kansas State
This is about as interesting a game as one could be with virtually nothing at stake. No conference championship or bowl berth is on the line. Evidently Herman can’t save his job or even stave off getting fired with a win. But it will be interesting to see if the Texas players play hard and whether there’s evidence that the Texas coaches spent more time this week preparing a game plan or looking for their next job.
And I suppose it will be interesting to hear Urban Meyer comment on the game at halftime. Hey, what if Meyer is mysteriously absent from the broadcast? Woo wee!
HooK ‘Em.
W.E.
