As the Texas A&M football team prepares for its final game of the 2008 season, the annual Lonestar Showdown rivalry game against Texas, I will sit back and wonder what went wrong.
I will wonder about the Aggies' abysmal 4-7 record. I will wonder about the Aggies' embarrassing losses to Arkansas State and Baylor. I will
wonder about the Aggies' chances of ever winning 10 games in a season again, something not done since the 1998 Big 12 championship season.
Then, when I'm sitting in the press box at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Thanksgiving Day, the answer will hit me. I will see Texas Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp patrolling the sidelines.
When former Texas A&M Head Coach Dennis Franchione walked away from the microphones after a 38-30 win over the arch rival Longhorns in 2007, A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne, known for making excellent hires in every other sport at A&M, announced he would begin a nationwide search for a replacement.
Three days later, Byrne announced the hiring of a former National Football League head coach and then Houston Texans offensive coordinator, Mike Sherman. Meanwhile, Will Muschamp, Auburn's defensive coordinator at the time, was preparing the Tigers for a bowl game.
Texas Head Coach Mack Brown later hired Muschamp for the 2008 season. Muschamp has the Longhorn's rush defense ranked No. 4 in the nation. Though they are ranked No. 110 in pass defense, their pass efficiency defense is better with a No. 59 national ranking. The
Longhorns are also No. 2 in sacks, No. 24 in tackles for loss, No. 24 in scoring defense and No. 58 in total defense.
"This is a special pace," Muschamp said about Texas. "I think it is 'the' elite job in the country."
Meanwhile, the Aggies' top rank in those categories is No. 91 in pass defense, which is inflated by the four yards Army, an option running team, threw for against A&M on Sept. 27.
Muschamp was named Brown's successor Tuesday. Though Brown does not expect to retire in the near future, the move has put Brown on the clock.
"He's passionate, he works really hard, he wants to do what's right, he's tough enough to make hard decisions," Brown said. "We've got time. We will watch him through the years. If he wanted to do it today, we wouldn't have done it because I'm not ready to quit."
However, in Aggieland, Sherman must be wondering how much time he has remaining on his clock, despite his seven-year contract for $1.8 million a year. Though Sherman's team is not the worst in A&M history, it ranks near the bottom. I'm all for giving him a chance, but lines need to be drawn before the losses get out of hand, if they have not already.
Byrne should take notes on Texas' choices, if not his own choices he made when hiring coaches for non-football sports.
First, hire a solid assistant from somewhere farther away than 90 miles. Then, announce him as Sherman' successor and ultimately buy out Sherman's contract.
That is likely to happen in Austin for Brown and Muschamp while the Aggies continue to lose and be a coaching carousel that spins too fast for anyone to jump on and stop it. As George Jetson often said, "Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!"
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