Kickoff

Mack Brown talks Longhorn football: Gridiron glory begins with lunch

The Texas Gridiron Kickoff
Photo by Kevin Benz
Texas Head coach Mack Brown and Offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin
Photo by Kevin Benz
Texas Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and Co-offensive coordinator MajorApplewhite
Photo by Kevin Benz

Texas football season never really ends. There is the occasional short hiatus as other sports take up space, but football, well, it's on a fan's mind all the time. That's why in the middle of a hot July, with the Longhorn football season still 37 days away (who's counting?), over 1,000 people showed up for lunch just to listen to a few guys talk football.

The Austin Sports Commission hosts the Texas Gridiron Kickoff every year. The event includes honoring Texas High School football coaches with the Sonic Leadership in Coaching Award — this year given to Bastrop High Coach Gerald Perry for his work with the kids following the Bastrop fires — and the American-Statesman trots out their pre-season All Central Texas High School team. Everyone claps respectfully. But that's not why they're here.

They're here because the Texas Gridiron Kickoff luncheon is the only time you will hear the four coaches making up the Texas football inner circle talk to each other, together, on the same stage at the same time: Head Coach Mack Brown, Offensive Coordinator Bryan Harsin, Co-offensive Coordinator Major Applewhite and Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz.

And they're entertaining.

"I think we're about to be good again," Brown predicted, based on nothing more than a hope, a prayer and a firm conviction that his staff, now with a year of experience together, can make the adjustments needed to get this young team ready.

Over the course of 30 minutes it is more clear than ever that these guys are light years ahead of where they were last year. Still, Head Coach Mack Brown did his classic best at keeping expectations low. "We're not as good as everyone thinks we are," he explained. "We are so young, so inexperienced, even our older guys are young."

And his lieutenants followed suit. "We remind them [the players] that we have a long way to go," said Diaz.

No breaking news was revealed by the coaches of course. "You media and fans always know more than we do anyway," joked Brown. But there were some moments that revealed the depth of change the Big 12 conference has endured.

Former Southwest Conference foe Texas Christian University (TCU) and West Virginia now complicate an already difficult schedule for a young Texas team with only six seniors that had significant playing time last season. TCU was a Mountain West powerhouse breaking into the BCS in 2010, and West Virginia brings tradition and a hostile home game environment. The Mountaineers destroyed Clemson in the BCS Orange Bowl last year. Jokingly Brown said he called Texas Athletic Director Deloss Dodds after watching that game asking "can we get them out?"

When asked about the new 2014 Champions Bowl — pitting the best of the Big 12 versus the best of the Southeast Conference — Brown said he was all for it. "It pits the two best conferences in the country at the end of the year. We'll be able to quiet some of that talk across the country if we do what we are supposed to do [and win]."

As for the team, the coaches spent most of their time talking about quarterbacks — they still have no idea who will start, "it's a competition," said Harsin, "and competition breeds excellence"; running backs — yes, they are sure they can get enough plays to each of three budding superstars to keep them all happy, "you want those guys to want the ball" said Applewhite; and the defense, "we do not want to be in the Holiday Bowl again this year, with all due respect to the Holiday Bowl," said Diaz. "The defense has to get get better or we will go back to the Holiday Bowl again."

By the time they finished, Brown was more conciliatory about his team's chances. "I think we're about to be good again," he predicted, based on nothing more than a hope, a prayer and a firm conviction that his staff — now with a year of experience together — can make the adjustments needed to get this young team ready.

This season, over 160,000 players will suit up to play Texas high school football before 30 million fans over the course of 108 days. Football may be a game, but its place in Texas mythology and legend is already well-rooted.

On August 6, those players report for camp, every one of them along with their parents, their friends, their schoolmates and their communities will hope for that magical season that brings glory and pride for one fleeting moment.

There is plenty of time to delve deeply into the details of each team and each game — for now let's just enjoy the anticipation of another football season. Today we are all undefeated.

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Hotty Toddy!

Tailgating the southern way: A taste of game day at The Grove at Ole Miss

Standard Ole Miss Grove attire
A sample spread
Meredith Rainey
Hotty Toddy!
Meredith Rainey
It’s game time!
Meredith Rainey
Welcome to The Grove!
Meredith Rainey
Fans enter Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Meredith Rainey
The square in Oxford
Meredith Rainey

Oxford Mississippi’s official population is just over 19,000. But come Saturdays in the fall, what some might affectionately call a sleepy college town wakes up with a buzz of excitement and activity as the population explodes to more than triple, with college football fans eager to cheer on their Ole Miss Rebels. They prepare to do that in one of the most inviting and unique tailgating spots in the country.

“The Grove is unlike any other place on earth, especially [during] big games such as Texas vs. Ole Miss. The feeling and experience are indescribable,” Ole Miss senior Margaret Anderson says. The Grove is a place Longhorns fans have been excited to go since the announcement UT would face Ole Miss in a series of games starting in 2012. The first of those games happens this Saturday in Oxford.

The closer you get to Ole Miss, the greener the grass and the taller the trees. The campus of The University of Mississippi, which welcomed its first class in 1848, has been ranked by many publications as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country.

Its roads and walkways are lined with vibrant oak, elm, magnolia and pine trees. Its old stone and brick buildings are accented with classic details quintessential of a traditional southern university. And on Saturdays every fall, the largest green space on campus, known as The Grove, is dotted with hundreds of red, white and blue tents and young adults dressed to the nines, ready for a good time.

“It's the biggest and most well dressed party in the USA that happens six times a year,” Ole Miss junior and Attorney General of the Student Body Matthew Kiefer says.

Inside the 10-acre Grove, you’ll be greeted by unparalleled southern hospitality and enjoy some of the best food and fixin's you'll find at any college tailgating. And don't worry if you don't know anyone. If you're friendly, you will have dozens of people calling you by your first name in no time and you will be satisfied with a tummy full of homemade pimento cheese, fried chicken, deviled eggs and decadent finger sandwiches.

“There's a sense of hospitality that you can only experience when walking through the brick arch of the Walk of Champions. We welcome and offer shelter and refreshments to both opponent and friend and win or lose, there's always a party,” explains Ole Miss Student Body Vice President Emmalee Rainey.

Besides the great food and the lush setting, something else that makes The Grove unique is the dress code. While you can wear whatever you want, you will find students dressed in their Sunday best or something you might see at a cocktail party. You'll see girls in dressy sun dresses or knee length evening gowns and heels, boys in khakis and long-sleeved button downs, ties and perhaps seersucker blazers. The formal game day dress adds to the excitement, giving it a sense of being even more of a special occasion than it already is.

Matthew Kiefer describes the uniqueness of The Grove, “It’s the feeling of 30,000 people walking around in their Easter best, where a ‘hello’ and a ‘y'all’ can make acquaintances into friends, and friends into family.”

The tents are also more formal than what you might see in the parking lots around Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on game day. Many have chandeliers, living room lamps, flower arrangements and sterling silver platters and cutlery, making it feel more like a backyard party than tailgating. In fact, to call it tailgating is both inadequate and inaccurate, as vehicles aren’t allowed in The Grove.

Between the delicious food and friendly faces, you can spend hours just wandering between the tents catching up with old friends, making new ones and sharing your thoughts on what you think might be in store for the Ole Miss Rebels when that first whistle blows.

University of Texas Longhorns fans were able to scoop up about four thousand tickets to this Saturday’s game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, but thousands more UT fans are expected to stampede into the Grove to get a taste of a different type of tailgating. Regardless of who wins, Longhorns fans will undoubtedly be charmed by the small Mississippi city home to one of the most beautiful college campuses and best tailgating in the country. Hotty Toddy!

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In the interest of full disclosure, Emmalee Rainey who is quoted in this article is my stepdaughter.

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