SMU has a coaching vacancy. Mack Brown is a former college football coach. Could the two be… nah. Wait, really?
June Jones resigned as head coach at SMU just weeks into the season, and the search for a new head coach with the ability to build a program is on for the Mustangs. Among the potential names on the list for SMU could possibly be the former head coach of the Texas Longhorns, Brown. Bruce Feldman of FOXSports.com reports “some well-connected SMU brass are intrigued” about the possibility of luring Brown back to the sidelines.
Of course they would be intrigued about the possibility. Brown brings name recognition to the program and a certain level of respectability to go with it. Brown’s tenure at Texas may have ended on a downslope, but there is nowhere to go but up for the SMU program right now. Brown did not appear to want to resign from coaching at Texas but he eventually stepped aside in Austin to make way for a new leader (which turned out to be Charlie Strong). Brown, now a studio analyst for ESPN, may have some coaching left in him at the age of 63, but would he really be the right candidate for SMU?
Brown’s age likely plays against him for what SMU needs. SMU is in need of a younger coach with a vision to build a program from the ground up. For Brown, the idea of taking on a complete project from the start at his age may not be the most desirable. Larry Coker took on a building project at UTSA at a similar age, so it is not unprecedented. Coker’s Roadrunners have come along nicely as a brand new football program. SMU is far from a brand new program, but it is locked at the bottom of the FBS college football world.
SMU could do worse than Brown, but this seems like more of a hypothetical discussion more than one that will become a reality for SMU.
