When the Texas Longhorns kick off on Saturday against the West Virginia Mountaineers (11 am on ESPN 2), it will have been 49 days since Texas won a football game. The Longhorn program has fully transitioned into crisis mode, but Football on the 40 is here to make sense of it all.
We are a group of University of Texas alumni that takes a weekly dive into the Longhorn football season. In light of the total collapse over the last five games, we have each come up with an individualized plan to turn around the program.
Andrew’s Plan:
Step one: Bring back Jetpack Guy. We all miss him, and we need a boost in this time of need.
Step two: Let roster attrition/addition do its thing. Regardless if you believe Sark is the right man for the job, he’s not going to get fired this season. Sark wants to bring his type of players into the program, which is common with recently hired coaches.
Sark mentioned in his weekly press conference that he could see “at least” 33 new scholarship players on the team. That’s nearly 40% of the available scholarships (85 in total). If the roster attrition/addition is a net positive, then Sark will have a bounce-back year next season.
Step three: Keep utilizing the players that have #EliteTendencies. Sark throughout the season targeted his best players during games (ie. Bijan Robinson and Xavier Worthy). Hopefully, we can get another 1-2 impact players to step up next season, but I do believe that Sark’s willingness to use the best players will benefit him and the team moving forward.
Jake’s Plan:
Step one: Fans, forget about this season. Stop worrying about additional wins or losses. Schedule a round of golf for Saturday morning, and be glad you did not buy those Texas Bowl tickets Bowen has been suggesting you get for the last couple of months.
We all must calm down and give Coach Sark and his team room to make decisions and plans during the offseason. It’s still year one, he’s our guy, and we do not need to add any additional stressors as a fan base.
Step two: Hit the transfer portal. Tell the weaker guys to leave or they’ll never see the field again, including those not bought into Coach Sark’s vision. Clean house. Thankfully, with the transfer portal the way it is, rebuilds do not have to take years anymore. See Texas basketball.
Step three: Show us your plan, Sark. Keep us involved. There will always be noise around a Texas football program, but make us faithful ones really believe you. Don’t give the coach speak we have heard all so many times. Then follow it up with results. That’s all we’ve ever wanted.
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Kevin’s Plan:
Step one: Transfer portal! Embrace the new college football transfer norm. It’s no longer a detractor on a player when they enter their name in the transfer portal; the digital version of raising your hand and offering your talents as a contribution to a different college football program of your choice. This should work for us in two ways.
First, Sark should purge the roster in a positive way by speaking honestly to players that he doesn’t expect to play based on what he wants to emphasize on the field. Second, Sark should reach out to players across the country that fit his goals and are not coming to Texas with unrealistic expectations.
Step two: Change the recruiting strategy when engaging high school players. We need to stop recruiting players with the typical sales pitches of a blue blood college football program. I’d prefer that we recruit players with a blue-collar mentality.
No one should be coming to Texas for Heisman hopes. No one should be coming to Texas for highlight reels. Honestly, players should come to Texas to be coached hard and to take advantage of reasonable and plentiful NIL opportunities in Austin. Sell hard work to the teenagers and graciously stop recruiting players who don’t fit the mold and won’t put in the work.
Step three: Try a new defensive scheme. With this statement, I don’t necessarily mean we have to fire our defensive coordinator. I may want that to happen, but that doesn’t have to happen. What I mean here is stop playing defense with the assumption that we are particularly good at it.
Stop putting thought into minor scheme advantages and matchups. We are not going to hold opponents under 30 points. My recommendation here is to play defense with the goal of hitting the quarterback and causing chaos in the backfield.
Play aggressively with less fear of long plays. Create turnovers, not an impressive defensive box score or stat line. Play like you are the underdog with nothing to lose. We already lost everything.
Bowen’s Plan:
Step one: Stability. Give the coaches time to turn this program around. In the last eight years, Texas has had the following coaching staff turnover: three Head Coaches, five Offensive Coordinators, six Wide Receiver Coaches, five Defensive Coordinators, nine Defensive Back Coaches, and many more at other positions.
Clearly, the coaching carousel has resulted in a lack of stability and consistency for our program. We need to stop listening to impatient fans and give the coaches some time to work.
Step two: Investment. I need to see the program double down on Texas being the destination for athletes to capitalize on NIL. Austin is a thriving city that has a ton of opportunities for these student-athletes. I want to see us attract the top high school and transfer talent with our connections and provide them with success.
Step three: Composure. This one is, particularly for the fan base. In addition to patience, we need to keep our composure and have a level-headed approach to future seasons. This season we can count as a wash, but moving forward, we need to have a pragmatic view that this is a long-term investment, and there’s no silver bullet or quick fix to steer us back to normal.
To listen to this weeks’ podcast, click here.
