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Support Personnel - by the numbers

  • Subsequent to the article I wrote last week, I started taking a closer look at the "support personnel" for football.

    Since Alabama seems to be the standard bearer in football in many ways these days, I compared Texas to the Crimson Tide.

    Here's what I found.

    Despite Texas making more money on football than any other team in the country (source: USA Today), the Longhorns spend far less on support personnel for the team than the Crimson Tide.

    Outside of the allowed on-field assistant coaches and head coach, Texas has just 11 support personnel. By comparison, Alabama has 18.

    That's a 63% advantage to the Crimson Tide.

    Special note: these numbers do not count "graduate assistants" or "interns" for either team nor do they count "strength and conditioning" coaches for either side. We've also not counted academic support personnel, video personnel and/or media relations.

    This is all about the differences in the size of the football staff.

    The key difference?

    The Crimson Tide have 7 positions for "Football Analyst". By comparison, Texas has just 2 "Special Assistants". The majority of these "Football Analysts" for Alabama are former football coaches.

    Alabama also more staff dedicated to player development and recruiting.

    I am told Alabama is in the process of adding "several" more football only staff this off-season.

    The additions will take Alabama above 20 for non-on-field football staff.

    So here's my question and one every Longhorn fan should ask of Deloss Dodds and Mack Brown:

    As Texas rakes in the money, will Dodds and Brown reinvest in the product and reinvent themselves in part or just stay the course?

    The rules allowing for more personnel change August 1.

    Texas needs a player personnel "department", not a single individual. Texas needs a "recruiting department", not one person evaluating film and the other scheduling flights.

    Texas needs these things to put its best foot forward in a competitive landscape, but will Texas actually follow through and make this a reality? Or will they be sidetracked by excuses of budget constraints at a state-run institution?

    Texas needs to act and they need to act quickly. Other teams, like Alabama, have already put their plans into motion.

    This post was edited by BobbyBurton on 2/11/2013 at 3:17 PM

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    BobbyBurton

  • Don't fret. Mack's "looking into it"

    I bet it scares him to death.

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    Longhorn in OK

  • Texas athletic dept's. effort in "Wanting to win" is a total embarrassment.

    Slapping up new decals in the gym instead of making it the biggest and best is telling about this athletic dept. Winning is just not that high on their list of things to do.

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    KorbenDallas28228

  • What happens when Mack Brown starts fearing clapping?

    NLeininger

  • Yet another thing the Delost dodds and mack are doing to bring down the great program that they once built. Dodds because he wants the $$$ and mack cause I frankly think he is lazy....

    LonghornMando25

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    btown1110

  • The arms race in football is now two-fold.

    It's facilities and it's personnel.

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    BobbyBurton

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    Simkin

  • NLeininger said...

    What happens when Mack Brown starts fearing clapping?

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    Longhorn in OK

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    VillageHorn

  • Bobby, I know you are well connected to the program. Has Mack read your article that came out in the statesman, and if so does he have any feedback on it and/or would it spark his decision making to add more personnel?

    ValleyHorn

  • Yes, Texas has the revenue, but are they constrained in any way by past promises made by Deloss and Powers regarding give backs to other athletic programs and the University in general. Remember, the LHN contract was sold partly on the basis of what it was going to do for other sports and academics. Is there "free" cash flow to hire all the additional football staff that Bama has and still meet commitments made to other departments?

    3rdGenHorn

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    clacknasty ●

  • As Texas rakes in the money, will Dodds and Brown reinvest in the product and reinvent themselves in part or just stay the course?

    sadly No

    GoHorns 1

  • Not saying hiring additional staffers is a bad thing but I fear just throwing money at the situation isn't what is currently ailing us. I'm not convinced we're getting the most out of the staff we have.

    thebeeve

  • Mack is seldom afraid of hiring. Firing is another matter.

    rozell99

  • BobbyBurton said...

    The arms race in football is now two-fold.

    It's facilities and it's personnel.

    #3. Conference brand / affiliation.

    Our complacency or lack of foresight has left us sorely behind in two of the three aspects.

    I mentioned in Close to Jumping's thread that got locked last Friday, but it does trouble me that I hear Mack mentioning things like these HUGE recruiting changes and seeking players "that love to play football" within a week of journalists authoring articles on these topics. I'd prefer an HC and AD to have this foresight themselves, and not have to wait for Bobby Burton or Sports Illustrated to surface these ideas and then have our guys jump the bandwagon (too belatedly).

    It's sad the Texas has to play catch-up on issues of football evolution and development. We were a complacent program for too many years (2006-2010) and we let ourselves atrophy. Now we have leaders in the twilight of their respective careers playing catch-up.

    Racer X

  • 3rdGenHorn said...

    Yes, Texas has the revenue, but are they constrained in any way by past promises made by Deloss and Powers regarding give backs to other athletic programs and the University in general. Remember, the LHN contract was sold partly on the basis of what it was going to do for other sports and academics. Is there "free" cash flow to hire all the additional football staff that Bama has and still meet commitments made to other departments?

    Football is bringing in the money. If they invest more money in the football program then it is likely that there will be more money to give back to other athletic programs and the University in the future.

    Hookem89

  • Longhorn in OK said...

    Don't fret. Mack's "looking into it"

    I bet it scares him to death.

    This is what happens when you have a "CEO" for a coach. You over analyze the shit out of everything and become paralyzed by the process. I don't why any of us are surprised by this. I'm not.

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    Bandit18

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    texaztom

  • Playing devil's advocate to all the "we sux, we don't know what we are doing" comments. I don't believe UT has come out and said they are standing pat. Mack has said they are evaluating as this was recent legislation, and they haven't had a chance to totally think through how they will implement. My guess is that UT athetic dept personnel will be very senstive to how they announce any changes in fear of the "academic" side crying about not having enough $ to do what they need to do and students complaining about tuition increases.

    I think that Bobby comment's are spot on and UT needs to ensure that they do what ever it take legally to create and advantage and the NCAA has now made this legal. UT has certainly done that on the facilties side and isn't scared to spend money that the academic side will scoff at as excess. I do feel like UT will take a bunch of crap for hiring more football personnel when the state continues to send less $ to UT for acadmics. However, at the end of the day, if UT wins big, the donations it receives will more than offset the cost of a 20 person department.

    longhrn

  • Mack Brown is a gimmick head coach. He has no philosophy, no system relies on his assistants for everything. He is not an innovator either, and I am not trying to talk down about him either. I feel my statements are true when comparing him to actual coaches who have their footprint on the pulse of the team.

    He is a copycat coach and can't seem to be cutting edge anymore. He always got by on lack of coaching with great recruiting. He is really great at the non football aspects of the program but anything dealing with football and x's and o's he is a complete joke.

    deronjohn

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    clacknasty ●

  • Longhorn in OK said...

    Don't fret. Mack's "looking into it"

    I bet it scares him to death.

    When Mack looks into it, I get scared to death.

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    GetHooked

  • @ 32, don't know how much longer Cory Redding wants to play, but I'd like to see him in a Director of Player Development type role (or any job title)

    This post was edited by mcb0703 on 2/11/2013 at 4:15 PM

    mcb0703

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