Was firing Manny Diaz the right decision? Maybe. Did it have to be done? Without a doubt.
The last time Mack Brown and his beloved Texas football program were backed this far up against the wall, he let about as many coaches go as he kept. Four of them, including longtime friend and offensive coordinator Greg Davis, were gone. Another, Will Muschamp, abandoned his head coach-in-waiting position to take over at Florida.
That bought him enough time to implement a rebuilding process that was supposed to end this year. But, after being throttled by BYU last weekend, Texas is back to the drawing board. This time, Diaz was the scapegoat. It marked the first in-season firing during Brown’s tenure at Texas.
“We got whipped,” Brown said. “When you lose at Texas, it’s bad. When you lose like that, it’s really bad.”
Texas has been losing like that a lot lately. The 40-21 loss to BYU marked the 10th time the Longhorns have lost by at least 12 points since the beginning of 2010, a 40-game stretch. In its previous 145 games (12 seasons) under Brown, Texas lost by 12 points 11 times.
With a national title, supportive athletic director and contract extension through 2020 in his back pocket, Brown’s job is safe for now. But the overwhelming wave of fan backlash can only be held at bay for so long.
“Mack does it so much better than everyone I’ve ever seen,” Texas men’s athletic director DeLoss Dodds told The Daily Texan in February. “He would be who I’d want if I had to start all over again. If there’s another Mack Brown out there, that’s who we’d go after.”
The only other college football coach that makes more than Brown, Alabama’s Nick Saban, is someone whom Dodds specifically identified as someone he wouldn’t hire. After claiming that his defensive staff knew it was on a “short leash” coming into this year, it’s getting harder and harder to think that it’s not Brown who shouldn’t be on the hot seat.
Brown tried installing a power run game after the dreadful 5-7 campaign in 2010. After realizing he didn’t have the personnel for it, he’s now having the offense go up-tempo and out of the spread. No two offenses are any different, yet Brown has attempted to implement them within the last three years.
The power running attack was obviously unsuccessful, and the jury is still out on the up-tempo approach. It may not matter what offense Texas runs this weekend without dynamic playmaker Daje Johnson (ankle). And the Longhorns have no shot if David Ash (head/shoulder), who torched the Rebels for 326 yards and four touchdowns last September, is out as well.
Brown’s changed the offensive scheme. Changed it again. Signed a contract extension. Adjusted his recruiting strategies. Fired his defensive coordinator. But at what point does it become inevitably clear that Brown himself is the problem?
That point could come when Ole Miss comes to Austin this weekend.
Follow Christian Corona on Twitter @ChristianC0rona.
