I’ve heard Mack Brown speak literally hundreds of times. I covered the press conference when he was hired by the Longhorns in December of 1997 and for the past 13 seasons I’ve been listening to him. Mostly it’s before or after games - heat of the moment stuff… press conferences and hit-and-run interviews on the field at halftime. I like our coach. He’s decent in front of a microphone – doesn’t get me too fired up, but never says the wrong thing. Granted 90% of the things I hear him say fall into the same categories: complementing the kids on his team, expressing frustration (and usually accepting blame) when things aren’t going well, and game-specific “x’s and o’s” type stuff.
Tonight I got the other 10%.
I was invited to a “meet the coaches” event here in Dallas and packed into a hotel ballroom with 500 or so of my closest burnt orange-clad friends to hear Mack Brown tell us about how things are going in Longhorn Nation.
In many ways it was a pep rally. In some ways it was an infomercial for the Longhorn Sports Network. It was even, at times, a recruiting tool for the Dallas Longhorn Club. Mack said a lot of the things that I’m sure any coach would have said, but here’s the catch: he said it so well that I was mesmerized.
This was the Mack Brown that high school stars must see in their living rooms – the one that has had a top-5 national recruiting class in 6 of the last 7 seasons. This Mack Brown was engaging. This Mack Brown was funny and anecdotal when called for and he was serious and steadfast when required. This Mack Brown was humble and apologetic for the failures of the past while being spirited and excited about the prospects of the future. If this Mack Brown wasn’t our football coach he’d be our Governor.
For about an hour our football coach held court like I’ve never seen before. The crowd was riveted and not in the way you’d get in a concert hall. This wasn’t entertainment – this was a conversation. Mack took questions, provided even and fair answers and was even a little cheeky when the questions were a bit silly. He told stories of times with Darrell Royal, joked that another Christmas at home without a bowl game might cost him his marriage, and managed to express such confidence in his team and his staff that a Sooner living in College Station would believe him.
Mack Brown says that they’re starting over. As far as he’s concerned this is everyone’s first year in Austin – that it’s the first year for new offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin – the first year for senior leaders like Emmanuel Acho and Blake Gideon – and the first year for coach Mack Brown – and I feel like I’m hearing him for the first time, too.
I’m realistic. Words don’t make your team better. You don’t fix a wealth of problems simply by changing the message. But there’s a new spring in the step of the messenger… and that’s a great place to start.
