Mack Brown Talks "College Football in a Mess" All ADs like Chad Weiberg Can Do is Prepare
STILLWATER – Mack Brown has always been considered an ambassador for college football. The former running back at Florida State went on to a distinguised coaching career with a national championship as head coach at Texas. He was also head coach at Tulane and at North Carolina twice. Brown is a guy that always says the right thing. He stands for the right things. For Oklahoma State fans, he was a little bit advisor and mentor to head coach Mike Gundy. It was Brown’s philosophy of going to bowl games ready to play and just using the time on site as added repetition to the game plan. Gundy’s bowl record is 12-6. Now, Brown is saying the right things with a lot less filter. That will happen when you aren’t currently coaching and the game you so deeply love is out-of-whack.
Brown was on Sirius-XM’s Dusty and Danny in the Morning this week, and Brown was not sugarcoating any aspect of what is going on in college football, starting with his demise at UNC
“It was kind of time for me and for them,” Brown said of the end at North Carolina. “North Carolina didn’t have any NIL money and it was kind of a slow bleed. We weren’t able to recruit the top kids like we were when we got there. They were ready. I was ready. It was kind of like a divorce.”
Brown also put the heat on the Tarheels and their new head coach acknowledging that Bill Belichick is one of, if not the greatest coach in football history, winning six Super Bowl titles at New England. He said with Belichick in, North Carolina had money and was buying plenty of players, a turnover of close to 60 players out of the transfer portal.
“I’m happy for them, they should win big and I hope they do,” Brown added.
Brown understands what is going on at places like Texas Tech, who reportedly spent $20 million on players out of the portal in December and in April. Brown said he has talked to coaches and athletic directors and Texas Tech is not alone.
“It gives a non national brand a chance to win big because they can buy a team,” Brown said of the current climate. “It is kind of like pro baseball. I’ve talked to some head coaches and some athletic directors that have said, ‘you know until they get this craziness slowed down, let’s go buy the best team we can because this is our best chance to win. If we get ahead of everybody, or at least play with the big boys, then when they get this under control we will have an advantage because at least we’ll have been winning.’ That’s smart because they’ve put themselves in a position after a lot of smart people made decisions and didn’t think about consequences.”
Brown has coached at blue bloods, as a coordinator at Oklahoma and head coach at Texas. He has coached at schools where the football blood is a more common color. He sees what schools are doing, but he does not agree with it nor does he think it is sustainable.
“This is just a semipro model without guidelines,” Brown said with disgust in his voice.
Asked if he would like to be involved, perhaps like Nick Saban and Texas Tech superbooster Cody Campbell, who are belived to be favorites to be on a Presidential Commission if President Trump chooses to appoint one, Brown not only volunteered but had a plan for a committee or commission.
“Nobody is working together. We have to get Congress. the NCAA, the four major conference commissioners, maybe a couple of commissioners at the Group of Five level because they are feeder sytems right now. The best players, they have are all getting more money (to leave) and it’s like a second contract in the NFL,” Brown said in his explanation of changes.
Brown said he is not retired. He hates part of that word, tired. He believes you have to remake yourself, give yourself purpose and a reason to live each day. The way he preaches, I think his purpose may be as commissioner of college football. That is a role many have felt was there for Nick Saban, but fresh off a Sports Emmy Award on Tuesday night, maybe Bown, at a juncture in his life, may be more available and certainly every bit as passionate.
“We need to get some top coaches together, some (university) presidents, some of the top ADs and get them all in a room together like we used to in the College Football Association and start making decisions that are what is best for the game. The NFL does it. What’s best for the game, best for the players, what’s best for the coaches ...”
“Coaches are miserable. They are worn out. They are making a lot of money,” Brown added. “Their schedules are miserable. Very honestly, what’s best for the fans. We have donor fatigue, my friends that have money are getting asked for money left and right. They are looking for ways to block numbers. They are getting called for every sport. It is not sustainable.”
The House vs. NCAA class-action lawsuit is about to be settled. Most experts on the situation believe that Federal District Judge for Northern California Claudia Wilken is close. She is taking the time to hopefully approve a settlement that won’t immediately draw lawsuits aimed to put holes in the settlement.
“Everybody wants kids to get paid. Nobody is against that, but we have to get some guidelines,” Brown said in hoping the lawsuit will at least create a pause the anarchy that college athletics has become.
From a University standpoint, an Oklahoma State purview, athletics director Chad Weiberg said his department is ready.
“We’ve got a few things that we still need to finalize. A few of them are important things and we are still waiting on kind of the final terms of the settlement,” Weiberg said. “We are still trying to move forward with a lot of things. We are no different than any other athletic department. This is impacting all of us. We can’t callaborate because we’ll be violating antitrust if we do, To the degree that we can, we do talk to our counterparts and talk about how it is being handled. We have to know what is going on out there. It won’t be perfect in year one or year two even.”
One aspect of this Brown spoke seriously about was how some of his friends in non revenue sports, coaches in those sports are worried that their sport could be cut. It is possible, especially men’s Olympic sports. Oklahoma State has just 16 sports. Weiberg has always stated the goal on the OSU campus was not to cut sports.
Weiberg has said his coaches are team players and they understand that the bulk of revenue sharing has to go to football. That is the financial engine of the athletic department, it is the sport that feeds all the other mouths in the athletic department.
“I think everybody knows this is something that is effecting all of us,” Weiberg said. “Football is the key and we really appreciate our fans and because of all of this, we had to increase ticket prices and we did, fairly significant and our sales have still been good. They have stuck with us and we knew that they would.”
In the end, it will be fans, fans that have been pummeled by continued raises in ticket prices. by constant badgering for donations, by continued social media messages by athletes claiming to love their school, but needing to leave it at the same time. All of those can cause folks to look for some other pursuit in their free time even if it means giving up the emotional tie of their school’s mascot and colors.
