University of Texas Needs Nick Saban – Now

Texas. The name alone makes you think of one main thing. Football. High School Football. College Football. Dallas Cowboys. Houston Texans. 

Big expectations come out of the state of Texas in terms of football, where families breed sons to be football players and daughters to be cheerleaders. Football is religion in the state of Texas, and lots of money is put into football in this state. 

Needless to say, the top team that everyone looks at in Texas are the Texas Longhorns. Texas football has had many great players come out of its school including Colt McCoy, Ricky Williams, Derrick Johnson, Chris Simms, Marquise Goodwin, Shaun Rogers, Jermichael Finley, Brian Orakpo, Vince Young and many others. 

A constant of Texas has been winning. And winning consistently, but in the last few years, Texas has fallen off the beaten path. The teams record over the last 3 seasons is only 24-18, and that goes back to one man. 

Mack Brown, Texas Head Coach. 

Don’t get me wrong, Brown has been a phenomenal coach, his recruiting has been impeccable over the last 14 years and he has kept the Texas Longhorns among the elite in college football. 

University of Texas Head Coach Mack Brown.

However, after coming off of a 9-4 season last year, an 8-5 record the year before and a 4-8 season in 2010, the question remains, should Mack Brown retire from the University of Texas, or should he be fired if Brown decides not to retire? 

While I do feel that Brown will retire sooner rather than later, the Texas Board of Regents and the athletic department has to start looking at potential candidates, and a glaring candidate to me is Nick Saban, the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. 

Saban has a tremendous coaching resume in one of the toughest conferences in America – the SEC. Saban coached LSU to the 2003 National Championship, and when he went to Alabama, he won the National Championship in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and is currently working towards another championship. 

Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban.

Texas will want to make a big splash soon when its time for Brown to be out, and bringing in Saban, with the recruiting connections he has, the NFL ties he brings in and the fact that Alabama has been one of the most dominant teams in college football over the last 10 years will be attractive to the university and to recruits. 

Speaking of recruiting, Saban would have his pick of the litter in terms of who he wants anywhere in the state of Texas, where many young men dream of playing for Texas for years anyway. By having Saban in, he would have strong access to the top 4 and 5-star players in the state and he would be able to have access to the recruits in Alabama, Louisiana and other parts of the SEC where he has been able to bring in players from. 

As if Saban needed anymore tools for recruiting – the school has their own TV network, the Longhorn Network. Brown mentioned that he wasn’t a big fan of doing all of the commitments required for the Longhorn Network when it first launched in terms of interviews and such, and Saban probably wouldn’t either, however, the Longhorn Network, which is powered by ESPN, could be an extra avenue for recruiting and pitching the school to the Texas recruits who may be on the fence about whether to go to Texas or not. 

Saban came out recently and stated that he was “too damn old” to pick up and move again to a new program and that he was very happy at Alabama. Well, I have heard that before and I think of the money talks, which Texas does have the top athletic budget in the NCAA at $153.5 million (source: Sports Business Journal 8/22/11). The school could afford to pay Saban whatever he would ask for, and if the school didn’t want to fit the bill, the alumni would come through with significant contributions. 

But more than anything else, Texas needs to be back as a dominant superpower in college football. You can win games and still not be a power. The team needs to get back to competing for National Championships, not Cotton Bowl appearances year in and year out. The only man who is strong enough in the country who could handle the pressure that coaching at Texas brings is Saban. 

The school will have to handle this situation very delicately and with kid gloves. Mack Brown is beloved in the state of Texas, but after the Texas Athletic Director Deloss Dodds announced that he will step down next year, I take that as a sign that if Brown doesn’t turn this 2-2 season around soon, he won’t have the protection that he has had for many years at the school. And while the Texas fans will always be loyal to Brown for bringing in a BCS National Championship in 2006, the pressure is constantly there to win, and win big. 

Saban could be lured in at the idea of winning national championships at 3 different schools, a feat that has never been accomplished in the history of college football. Many consider Saban on the Mount Rushmore of coaches already, but even 1 championship at Texas would cement his legacy as quite possibly the greatest ever in the history of football. 

Be sure to send in your opinions on the situation in the comments section of the blog! 

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That’s all for tonight! Have a good one everybody!