John Mackovic is not remembered especially fondly by Longhorns fans, but his career in Austin wasn't without accomplishment. When he took over the program from David McWilliams in 1992, the Longhorns immediately upped their scoring average nearly nine points per game, to 26.5. In his fourth season, 1995, he tied Oklahoma, finished 7-0 in the SWC, and took Texas to the Sugar Bowl. And a year later, of course, he gave Texas football fans one of the great memories in program history:
"What a call by Mackovic!"
Unfortunately for John Mackovic, the wheels came off in 1997 when Texas finished a woeful 4-7 overall, 2-6 in conference, including an embarrassing loss to the Baylor Bears. That was more than enough excuse for Deloss Dodds to show him the door, an ouster for which many movers and shakers near the program had been eager, anyway. The cerebral, reserved, decidedly not-Texan coach was perceived by many as an effete, wine-sipping softy who was out of touch with the values of Texas football.
Truthfully, he probably was, and though Mackovic recruited significantly better than his predecessor, he was throughout his career (Texas and otherwise) plagued by an inability to relate to football culture. He didn't relate especially well with players, and he definitely didn't fit in with the Good Ol' Boys who fund the Texas football machine.
But how did he do as an offensive coach?
TEXAS OFFENSE UNDER JOHN MACKOVIC
Though Texas fans largely remember Mackovic for his team's miserable 1997 showing, the offensive trend before the collapse was largely upward:
What's really odd is that personnel-wise 1997 should have been a good year for Mackovic, with Ricky Williams a junior and James Brown a senior. But just as his star tailback was setting the stage for a senior-year Heisman run, the quarterback who had rescued the two previous seasons finally turned into a pumpkin.
James Brown's theretofore remarkable Texas career ended horribly, as he completed just 49.8% of his passes in 1997, including a mere 5 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. The offense became predictable, the defense was atrocious, and Texas fans watched in horror as Baylor fans tore down goal posts.
Mackovic's fate was sealed and by December, Mack Brown had been introduced as the school's new football coach. With James Brown graduating, Brown and his offensive coordinator Greg Davis set to work on trying to get Ricky Williams to stay for his senior season. Senior Richard Walton, upstaged his first three years by James Brown, would return as the team's presumptive signal caller.
We begin the Greg Davis Review with an introduction of sorts, presented in Q&A format for the convenience of all. (Mostly, for the convenience of me.)
Where did Greg Davis come from, anyway? Did he and Mack play in the same sandbox as kids or what? Where's this all start?
Survivor Says: Learn the Mack Clap.
Gregory Davis hails from Groves, Texas, a small town on the north side of Port Arthur, where he attended Port Neches-Groves High School. A 1973 college graduate of McNeese State with a bachelor's degree in sports administration, Davis began his career in the high school ranks while working toward a master's degree. He coached at Barbe High School (Lake Charles, La.) from 1973-74 and Port Neches-Groves High School from 1975-77, where he helped lead the Indians to the 1975 Texas 4A state title.
So, no... he and Mack were not twinsies at birth. Greg's a born-and-raised Texan who came up through the high school ranks.
Has Greg Davis really coached at both Texas A&M and Arkansas during his career?
Correct. (The especially paranoid may want to note that Mack Brown got his start as QB Coach at Oklahoma.)
Davis got his first college gig in 1978 when Texas A&M hired him as the team's Quarterbacks Coach. He would coach in College Station for seven years, in what was a remarkably unremarkable period in A&M football history. The Aggies finished ranked #19 in 1978 but would not sniff the final AP Top 25 again until 1985... the year Davis left to join Mack Brown at Tulane.
Davis joined Mack Brown as an "Assistant Head Coach/WRs Coach" at Tulane, where the two helped turned a miserable Tulane team (1-10 in 1985) into a respectable 6-6 squad by 1987, with the Green Wave making just their fifth bowl appearance in 40 years.
When Brown left Tulane in 1988, Davis was promoted to head coach, where he remained until his firing in 1991 following a 1-10 season. From there Davis joined the Arkansas staff as Offensive Coordinator/QBs coach.
Davis had some pretty low moments at Arkansas, didn't he?
[Guest contribution from 'TaylorTRoom' of Barking Carnival] We?re all familiar with the Horns offense being shut down in big games. Those aren?t Davis? worst games. His single worst game as an OC was probably at Arkansas in ?92, when the Hogs lost to D-1AA Citadel at home, 3 ? 10. That night, [Arkansas AD Frank] Broyles fired head coach Jack Crowe and promoted DC Joe Kines to head coach.?
It?s demoralizing to realize that to Davis, any Saturday disaster that doesn?t end with him working for the Defensive Coordinator is not such a bad day.?
[PB here again] Even setting aside the embarrassing 3-point showing against Citadel, the Davis-led Razorbacks averaged an unimpressive 16.7 points per game in 1992. The following season was worse - at least on offense - as the Piggies scored just 165 points on the season (15.0 ppg), though they did improve to 6-4.
So... apparently he survived two nondescript years at Arkansas. What was next?
Despite the pedestrian record as Arkansas' offensive coordinator, Davis got his next big break when? he was hired as Georgia's "Passing Game Coordinator" prior to the 1994 season. If the preceding career review hasn't been especially impressive, I think Davis' time at Georgia appears to be noteworthy as a potential step forward. His staff page at MB-TF.com especially mentions his successes while in Athens: Full exerpt over on BON - click to open new window
And Mack Brown came calling again after the Georgia years?
Bingo. Greg Davis and Mack Brown were reunited prior to the 1996 season in Chapel Hill. Two years later, the two were celebrating a dominant 42-3 Gator Bowl win over Virginia Tech to conclude the 1997 season, allowing UNC to finish in the Top 10 for the second-straight season.
Unfortunately, the UNC archives only go back through 1997, making a full review of Davis' Tar Heel tenure difficult without access to a better database. Regardless, for now it suffices to say that Mack Brown was hired to Texas for the performance of his defense, which in 1997 peaked behind three All Americans, Dre Bly, Greg Ellis, and Brian Simmons. From the UNC post-season wrap:
Carolina allowed 209.3 yards per game last year. That was the lowest yardage total allowed since the 1948 team gave up just 178.0 yards per game in 10 games. It was the third straight year the Tar Heels gave up less than 300 yards per game and the fifth straight year the defense gave up less yards than the previous season. Carolina gave up 326.5 yards per game in 1992, 322.3 in 1993, 319.3 in 1994, 267.3 in 1995, 225.6 in 1996 and 209.3 in 1997.
What should we make of Davis' pre-Texas career, then?
The rosiest portrayal highlights his tenure at Georgia as a turning point in his career. Without any inside information on his time there, it's impossible to say how much that experience affected him, but the charitable view says that he took a step forward during his time in Athens and performed well enough at UNC to keep his spot at Mack Brown's side in the move to Austin. We do know that Davis' reputation as a quarterbacks coach is strong, and the work he did with Hines Ward in '95 would certainly suggest as much.
The skeptic in me wonders whether Greg Davis' rocky career prior to the breakthrough (or fortuitous positioning - who knows) in Athens may have made him especially grateful to have Mack Brown's confidence. One of the strongest criticisms of Davis is that he simply does Mack's bidding; given his rather rocky career path prior to reunion with Brown, that's certainly not implausible.
Either way, we're not here to praise or bury Greg Davis for that which he did prior to arriving in Austin; the focus is on his tenure at Texas. For now, let's just note that his pre-Texas record is inconclusive at best, uninspiring at worst.
[The next post will review Texas' offense under John Mackovic specifically, and pre-Mack Brown generally]
C'mon now, chin up: This won't be so bad. I've actually thought about doing a full blown Davis review for a long time - years now, really - and I think I'm finally ready to get down in the mud and do this thing.
WHY NOW?
A combination of factors:
As much consternation as Greg Davis has inspired in this fan base over the years, he's still in Austin, while Will Muschamp arrives as Texas' sixth defensive coordinator during Mack Brown's tenure.
2007 was Davis' 10th season in Austin. As an American sports fan, I am obligated to give special meaning to numbers with zero at the end.
I just completed a maddening four-hour research session tonight in which I compiled an enormous amount of data that wound up not at all suiting what I intended to discuss. But the bloated Excel sheet will be ideal for this project.
Though our classroom hamster disagrees, the arrival of Major Applewhite may well mark the beginning of a different chapter in the Davis era; this strikes me as a fine time to review Davis' record, if only to better situate ourselves for evaluating any Applewhite impact.
"He really can't see us, can he."
FORMAT?
On several occasions I've resisted starting this project, usually because there's been actual news to discuss; for this undertaking to be worth the while, it needs to be thorough. With so little news right now and my summer job making Morning Coffee all but impossible, this is a great time to give this thing the full treatment and see what comes of it. My tentative plan:
Part 1: Setting The Stage
- * Reviewing Davis' pre-Texas career - * Outlining the Texas offense leading up to his arrival
Part 2: Year-By-Year Review
- * Starting with 1998, a year-by-year analysis of the Texas offense, including:
Personnel review
Texas offense season narrative (big picture summary)
Season statistical breakdown
Performance in big games / against good defenses
Part 3: Multi-year Review
- * Davis' performances as OC as broken down by career, by starting quarterback, etc.
Part 4: Conclusions
- * Tally it all up, see what we've learned
If that all sounds a little too much like a trip to the dentist, try to remember that at least three of the years - 1998, 2004, 2005 - are gonna be burnt orange porn. I'm rather looking forward to 1999 and 2003, as well.
In any case, that's the plan. I'm guessing the 14-18 posts will take about a month to get through, once other posts I want to write are factored in. If and when you have ideas for improving the series, or specific questions you want answered, pipe up now and throughout. Like I said, if we're gonna do it, we're doing it right - the more thorough, the better.
Baseball season ends... Now what? Baseball's season officially ended with Sunday's 7-4 loss to Rice, making it three straight seasons Texas has failed to reach the super regionals. So... now what?
Longhorns end 2008 campaign with a 39-22 record after a loss to the Owls at the NCAA Championship Houston Regional. texassports.com
Really, all that's left now is waiting for football. Expect content to start drifting that way, with a 2009 recruiting round up, some depth chart projecting, and the like.
Rick Barnes signs Alabama guard to '08 class. The Statesmanis reporting that 6-2 combo guard Varez Ward (Montgomery, AL) signed with Texas on Sunday, joining J'Covan Brown as the second member of the '08 class. Ward became a big ticket late in the recruiting season after he backed out of his commitment to play for Cincinnati. UT Assistant Coach Rodney Terry helped secure Ward's signing over Kansas State, Marquette, Florida State, and others. Ward is known primarily as an elite defender.
Saban Rule killing Pete Carroll. Interesting article in the LA Times on the new rule prohibiting coach contact with recruits in May and how much it's driving Pete Carroll crazy to stay off the road. If you're unfamiliar with the so-called "Saban Rule," college coaches used to be able to travel to watch high school players during May , so long as they didn't formally contact the player. The new rule disallows coach visits during May, in part because coaches like Carroll and Alabama's Nick Saban were so active during this period when many other coaches preferred not to be out on the road. As the AJC's Tony Barnhart wrote last week, the go-getter coaches hate the new rule.
Early signing period for football? Speaking of recruiting, ESPN.com's Bruce Feldman weighs in on the early signing idea for football ($), concluding he doesn't think it would solve the issues its proponents say it would.
If a big portion of the recruiting process is shifted to the sophomore and junior years of a high school recruit, there is too much of a gray area for many, if not most recruits, not just in terms of the physical evaluation but also from a character and academic perspective.
The other point, and this is one of two big distinctions of why football recruiting and basketball recruiting are so different in regards to early-signing periods, is that most of the coaching turnover in college football happens between the proposed early window and Signing Day.
By Horn Brain, guest author for HornsFan06 This story originally is syndicated from Burnt Orange Nation May 26, 2008 12:45 PM CDT
Good news, people. If I'm not as dumb as ESPN's web designer, then I think that this bracket has us in national seed Rice's regional, across from Texas A&M's regional. Why is this good?
We're in Houston, where we ought to get some good crowd support to help us get past Rice (though they'll probably have good fan support, too... probably...) and the other guys in our regional, #3 St. John's and #4 Sam Houston State.
A&M has been horrible lately, which gives us hope that they won't make it out of their regional, thus giving us a good chance to host a super regional if we make it out of Houston.
Second worst-case scenario (Worst being not making it out of Houston), Texas has to play in College Station for super regional action, a place that we haven't exactly had trouble with, 12th man and all, recently.
Texas Baseball: 2008 Big 12 Champions texassports.com
So there you go. Hopefully I'll get another chance to see the 'Horns in Austin, but even if I don't, I've got a really good chance to see them make the Aggies cry one more time on their home field. That's all fun to imagine for now, but first we should beat the crap out of Rice and friends.
By 40AS, guest author for HornsFan06 This story originally is syndicated from Burnt Orange Nation May 18, 2008 6:27 PM CDT
There's only one word that can sum up this weekend in baseball: elephantological. It was big. It was epic. It was huge. It was all those things and more.
Texas catcher Cameron Rupp, left, loses the ball as A&M's Kyle Colligan scores in the third inning. chron.com
Texas A&M came into this series with everything on its side. The Ags had 19 conference wins, needing just one more to take the regular season conference crown and likely sow up a national seed. After dropping two hard-fought games against Nebraska and a midweek game to UT-Arlington, Texas A&M really needed a series win to gain their confidence back after starting Big XII play 19-3. Throw in the Lonestar Showdown implications and this was a downright huge series for the Aggies. It turned out to be a very good series for the Horns.
We may not [talk about, enough] college baseball on this site, but if there's one thing we all can enjoy, it's Aggy misery. Drink it up, Longhorn fans, because this is as good as it gets.
Texas won in Austin on Friday 5-2 , Saturday 5-2 in College Station, and Sunday 6-3 in Aggyland as well.
SWEEEEP!!!
Instead of trying to tell recap all the games, we'd like to harp on a few of the things that stood out this weekend.
Chance Ruffin -- Among starting pitchers for Texas over the last six seasons, Chance has the lowest or second lowest ERA, opponent batting average, hits per nine, and walks per nine. He also has the highest strikeouts per nine. Given that Ruffin is a freshman, and the idea that we get two more years with him on the mound, it's time to start drooling over his future in Burnt Orange.
Clark to Third -- Let the record show that on April 4th we said: "One crazy idea that's been rolling through our minds is the thought of moving Preston Clark to 3B." We were right about everything except the "crazy" part. Clark has been fantastic shoring up the hot corner, filling a gigantic need for the 'Horns defense and maintaining his place as a leader of this team.
Kyle Russell -- Two homers in the series, 15 on the year, 53 for his career (two away from the all-time UT record). But perhaps his biggest at-bat of the series came in the top of the fourth on Sunday with runners at second and third down 2-0. It was a well-hit ball that might have cleared the fence without the wind blowing in, but the sac fly plus heads-up base running from Jordan Danks enabled Texas to answer 2 runs by the Aggies.
Austin Wood -- Lost amidst Chance Ruffin's amazing run and the resurrection of Kenn Kasparek is the rebirth of Austin Wood. After a fall from grace as the Friday starter early in the year, Austin Wood has returned to form and was just fantastic on Saturday. We would be talking more about how amazing his last three starts have been if it weren't for Ruffin and Kasparek stealing his thunder, which brings us to...
Wood hurls complete game. texassports.com
Kenn Kasparek -- Big Bird didn't get a decision on Sunday but pitched a beautiful 6.1 innings. In his last four starts KK has pitched 28.1 innings, giving up 10 hits and four runs while striking out 31. His scoreless streak ended at 24 innings, but today was another fine performance which showed the streak was no fluke.
Cole Green and Brandon Belt -- Green and Belt were all the relief pitching the Horns needed this weekend, combining to go 5.2 innings with five hits, one run and five strikeouts. A deep postseason run will require guys like Pat McCrory and Stayton Thomas to step up for big innings when things don't go right, but these two relievers have been lights out of late.
The Defense -- We're thrilled that the Horns have now gone five (5!) conference games without an error, but that's not the whole story. Now we're spoiled because the defense is actually making great plays. Jordan Danks is patrolling the outfield like a man possessed, Travis Tucker made a huge play to end the 8th on Sunday, and Preston Clark had a huge over-the-shoulder grab in the 9th. All we really wanted was an acceptable level of defense, but this team has actually been good of late.
The Whole Team -- Hats off to Augie Garrido and the Longhorn baseball team. They could easily have folded after giving up 1,000 runs to Mizzou and suffering a tough sweep at the hands of Oklahoma State. But they've responded and are 10-3 in the last 13 games. We don't know if this team will make a run at Omaha, but we've said all along that there's no reason they can't. After this weekend we feel much better about the postseason possibilities.
On to the awards...
Pitcher of the Series: Austin Wood hasn't gotten recognition because of the way Chance Ruffin has pitched of late, but Wood was the best pitcher for the 'Horns this weekend. His complete game gem clinched a big series win.
Hitter of the Series:Jorusylle Moldenhussanks (a combination of Kyle Russell, Jordan Danks and Russell Moldenhauer) carried the series for Texas at the plate. Moldenhauer didn't play Friday but hit his first dinger as a 'Horn for two huge insurance runs in the 9th on Sunday. Danks hit two big triples on Friday (as if there's any other kind of triple), and Russell had a pair of homers that were really pretty to watch.
Kiddie Corpsman of the Series:Chance Ruffin wasn't bad again. What else can be said about this fantastic frosh? We can't wait to see him on the big stage of the postseason.
Next Up: Seeding-wise this sweep means nothing to the Longhorns. Texas will be the #5 seed in the Big XII Tournament starting next week in Oklahoma City and take on a hot Mizzou club in the first game. We'll provide more details when we get them, but a good showing in the tourney could be very important. Texas is likely to be a 2-seed in its sub-regional regardless, but looking good?next week?could be the difference between?a good draw--possibly even hosting a 1-seed with low home attendance--and travelling to a scary place like Baton Rouge.
By 40AS, guest author for HornsFan06 This story originally is syndicated from Burnt Orange Nation May 4, 2008 6:44 PM CDT
Texas' starting pitchers threw 23.1 innings, giving up a total of 3 earned runs, and the Horns took 2 of 3 from Baylor in a critical series that may be a sign that things are looking up. Texas won Friday 12-1 and Sunday 2-0 , but dropped Saturday's game in a closer-than-the-score-would-indicate 6-1 game.
Kenn Kasparek texassports.com
Chance Ruffin threw an unbelievable 150 pitches in a complete game on Friday, further solidifying his position as the team's Friday starter. Kenn Kasparek proved that Tuesday's no-hitter was no fluke with a tremendous 8 innings (3 hits, 9 Ks), and had Austin Wood gotten some run support, his 6.1 innings (the first 6 scoreless) wouldn't have gone to waste.
Critically, this team appears to be coming together. Looking at where the team is, it's amazing how far the team has been forced to go to define roles. Preston Clark is at 3B, Russell Moldenhauer is your left fielder, Cole Green is the ace reliever, Michael Torres is your leadoff hitter. Not exactly how things were drawn out in February.
Jordan Danks texassports.com
Hitter of the Series: Brandon Belt was fantastic this weekend, going 7-11 with 4 RBI. It wasn't a great weekend at the plate for the Horns. After scoring 12 runs on Friday, Texas only scored 3 on Saturday and Sunday. Without the pitching this weekend would have been very different.
Pitcher of the Series: Kenn Kasparek threw a no-no on Tuesday and 8 spectacular innings on Sunday, not a bad week. If anyone close to this Big Bird shows up, the Longhorns will be very hard to beat in a series. We've been saying things like this all season, Ruffin stuck, hopefully Kasparek will too. After KK's 17 straight scoreless innings his ERA has returned to a much more respectable 3.70.
Chance Ruffin Honorary Kiddie Corpsman of the Series: We might as well name the award after Chance Ruffin. Pretty much nothing this phenom does surprises us any more. He has an ERA below 2 and opponents are hitting below .200 against him. Having a freshman Friday starter this good is a special thing and will pay huge dividends in the next three years.
Next Up: Texas has a much needed week off for exams, returning to action against TBA on May 14th before closing out the season with the all-important series against Texas A&M.
This story originally is syndicated from MackBrown-TexasFootball.com Tuesday April 28, 2008 at 10:35:69 AM CST
Five players from The University of Texas were chosen in the 2008 NFL Draft. The group gives the Longhorns at least five selections in each of the last three years for a total of 18 picks with seven in 2007 and six in 2006.
MackBrown-TexasFootball.com
The 2008 class consisted of WR Limas Sweed (53rd overall, second round, Pittsburgh), RB Jamaal Charles (73rd overall, third round, Kansas City), TE Jermichael Finley (91st overall, third round, Green Bay), OT Tony Hills (130th overall, fourth round, Pittsburgh) and DT Frank Okam (151st overall, fifth round, Houston).
"This group of kids has won a National Championship, a conference championship and for the first time in school history, they won four bowl games," said Texas head coach Mack Brown. "So they're very proud of all they've accomplished. All of these guys have either graduated or they're in position to with very few hours left. They've made a great impact on Texas football history, and they've put a tremendous amount of pressure on all of the young guys who are on this team now to continue to keep the standard in the classroom, and at the same time, win as many ballgames."
Brown has now had at least one player selected in 23 straight NFL drafts, including a total of 38 draft picks at Texas.
[Click the link in the sig, for the rest of this story]
Baseball season ends... Now what? Baseball's season officially ended with Sunday's 
