Texas Longhorns Football: How Much Slack Should the Longhorns Give Mack Brown?

Year after year, the Longhorns bring in one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the country, full of highly touted 4- and 5-star rated players.

Year after year, the Longhorns were also racking up the victories, winning at least 10 games for nine straight years.

But that streak came to a nasty end in the 2010 season, with the Longhorns finishing with a disappointing 5-7 record.

Mack Brown improved on that and guided his Longhorns to an 8-5 victory this past season, capped by a victory in the Holiday Bowl. But eight wins certainly still does not live up to the standard that has been set at The University of Texas.

So how much longer should the Longhorns give Brown before they decide it’s time to cut ties and allow someone else to take over the program?

With an annual salary of approximately $5.2 million, Brown currently stands as the highest paid coach in college football.

With that, the school also has very hefty expectations of him.

Yes, he has brought the school conference titles, BCS bowl game victories and a national championship, but past success is eventually forgotten.

It’s okay to have a down year or two, especially after losing plenty of talented players and a quarterback who won the most games in school history, but that leash only extends so far.

Brown is a great recruiter, but coaching involves a lot more than just getting athletes to come play football for you.

Unfortunately, he is not top-notch when it comes to game-planning and the “X’s and O’s.”

Some coaches, such as Chris Petersen of Boise State, can go into an average football program and immediately build them into a perennial powerhouse, getting the most out of each and every one of his players (a lot of whom weren’t highly touted or recruited coming out of high school).

In fact, after taking over as coach for the Broncos in 2006, Petersen led them to an undefeated season and a BCS bowl victory in his first year, and he has never had a season where his team hasn’t won at least 10 games since.

Other coaches, such as Nick Saban, can go into an already powerful football program with talented athletes and one year later turn them into a championship-caliber team.

After going 7-6 his first year at Alabama, Saban guided his Crimson Tide to a Sugar Bowl berth in his second year and then two BCS national championships in the following three years.

Mack Brown falls much more closely into the Saban category, considering the amount of talent that he inherits at Texas every season.

Having great quarterbacks in the past such as Vince Young and Colt McCoy, who came in and proved to be some of the best college quarterbacks of all-time, was a big reason for Brown’s success.

With the struggles of David Ash and Case McCoy, with neither of them really being to step up and show they fit the role, this upcoming year will be a true test to Brown’s coaching potential.

The offensive line is young and should be much improved next year, and Brown has had a couple of years to implement his new rugged-style offense and allow his players to grow.

Great coaches find a way to mold the talent they have into a stellar team that plays together and finds a way to win games, knowing how to maximize their team’s strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

As Saban’s championship teams prove, you don’t need a quarterback to put up tremendous numbers to win games.

You need a team whose players all know their role on the team and know what they are going to need to do in any given game to get a victory.

Brown needs to show improvement and deliver at least a nine-win season in 2012, with a solid bowl game victory to end the year.

By 2013, if the Longhorns aren’t contending for the Big 12 title and playing in a BCS game, it’s time to start thinking about making some big changes at Texas.