Lather, rinse, repeat.
Always one of Mack Brown‘s most staunch defenders both privately and publicly, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds has taken to the latter venue again to back the embattled and/or beleaguered coach.
“Mack’s fine,” Dodds told Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman. “I know we didn’t play well Saturday. Mack will know if he should be coaching (at Texas) or shouldn’t be. I know this is my responsibility, and I’m not shying away from it. The bottom line is I’m for the kids and the coaches.”
Dodds latest show of support for the long-time Longhorns head coach comes four days after UT was embarrassed by BYU and three days after Brown fired defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. The AD, Bohls wrote, “said he agreed with Brown’s decision to fire... Diaz on Sunday and said he thought the coaching move was necessary.”
The dismissal of Diaz came less than 24 hours after the Cougars rushed for a staggering 550 yards in UT’s soul-crushing 40-21 loss.
Dodds’ public (dreaded?) vote of confidence also comes one day after Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com wrote an outstanding piece titled “Mack Brown era on the line Saturday vs. Ole Miss.” Brown, one of the most well-connected media types covering the UT football program -- go back a couple of summers ago to one of the first rounds of conference musical chairs -- writes very plainly that “if the Texas program goes completely on tilt this season, Brown would probably walk away and spare Dodds and Powers any more grief from Longhorn Nation.”
That appears likely to be where this situation is headed. Either Brown turns things around, and turns it around right now, or he steps away for the good of the football program he was responsible for rebuilding. No messy public split as was the case with Bobby Bowden or decade-long questions of has he lost his coaching “it” as was the case with Joe Paterno.
And that seems to be what Dodds is alluding to when he said “Mack will know if he should be coaching (at Texas) or shouldn’t be.” When those well-connected to the program are writing similar things a day earlier? Well, there’s all the writing on that wall you need to see.