Mack Brown‘s job as Texas head coach appears safe if the president has anything to say about it. Well, the university president that is. University of Texas President Bill Powers spoke with the Associated Press and voiced his support for Brown despite recent struggles by the Longhorns on the football field.
“Mack’s our coach,” Powers said. “He gets we had a bad week and he’s trying to fix it.”
Brown made a change on his staff on Sunday, removing Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator and naming former Longhorns defensive coordinator Greg Robinson to fill the vacancy on the staff. The Longhorns gave up 550 rushing yards in a blowout loss at BYU Saturday night, dropping Texas to just 1-1 but leaving plenty of question marks hovering around the program moving forward. On Friday there were reports suggesting Texas Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds would step down from the position at the end of the year and that a sub-par season by the football program could lead to Brown following the lead and stepping down as head football coach. Some quotes from prominent Texas connections have surfaced disputing the certainty of those decisions.
The next step up the chain of command would appear to be the university president. As it stands now, on the record, Powers is saying Brown is working hard to fix the problems existing with the football program. Asked if Brown needs to lead Texas to a Big 12 title to come back as head coach in 2014, Powers said there have been no discussions regarding the future.
“Mack has my support,” Powers said.
But for how long?
There is still plenty of time this season to turn things around, or at least show signs of life. A win against Ole Miss could help ease the sting from last weekend. Ole Miss comes to Austin ranked in the top 25 after starting the year 2-0 with some young players already finding their roles on the team. Ole Miss could pull away in this one if Texas plays the way they did last week, but if Texas responds well to the drama of the past week then the Longhorns could send Ole Miss packing without a souvenir victory.
With 10 games to play, including Saturday’s game, hope is not completely lost in Austin just yet.