“Legends of the Locker Room” with the 2005 National Championship Texas Longhorn Head Coach Mack Brown, who currently has a podcast, The Stampede, featuring 3 Time Emmy Winner Broadcaster Bob Ballou and Longhorn Legendary Quarterback Vince Young. He compares what he sees with the current Texas football program to the one he coached. He explained what he loved most about coaching. He emphasized the importance of player-coaching relationships. He gives details about what he said to the players after winning the National Championship. He told the guys who were the most dominant players that he had the opportunity to coach. He tells Mark how amazed he was when he saw him train at the Texas facilities for the Olympics. He emphasizes how lucky he felt to be a coach at Texas. You can hear it all here on “The Morning Kickoff Show!”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's just say, let you.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Know the Mark.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome back to the morning kickoff right here on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. We are your home
for Texas football and Texas Athletics, and the man that
is joining us right here on sports Radio AM thirteen
one hundred The Zone knows all things about the Texas
Longhorns and their athletic program.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
He was inducted into the.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
College Football Hall of Fame in twenty eighteen. He is
a national championship head coach here at the University of Texas,
and he is now the co host of the Stampede
with Bob Bloo and Vince Young. And he just celebrated
his thirty second wedding anniversary with Miss Sally Brown. He
(00:58):
is the legendary coach Mac Brown. Good morning, Coach, Good
morning guys.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Thanks for having me out.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
We appreciate you taking the time to get up with us.
I know that you probably got a tea time coming
up in about an.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hour or so, so I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us,
and I want to get right into it because the
University of Texas is at a spot where you helped
building and Texas went through that long and great run
here on the forty Acres. There was a little lull
in between that, But now it seems to be as
(01:34):
Snding and You've always talked about, in order to be
a great coach, you have to have great people around you,
and that is what it seems that coach Sarkesian has
been able to do. Now that you have been around
and seen the program, what are some of the things
that stand out to you about where this program is
compared to what it was like when you were the
head coach here.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Mike number one, the loss Dodgs was.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Quite the run with thirty two years as the athletics
director at University of Texas, and he helped us get
from where we were to where we had to go.
And Chris del Connie's doing the same. Just to look
at the pregame environment, it's not a football game, it's
an event. I mean, it is a showpiece now. And
(02:21):
Sally said the other day, I don't care about the game,
but I'd like to go see the pregame and Beebo
Boulevard and all the things that come with it that
Chris has done so and I was so impressed at
eleven o'clock in the heat that Texas fans showed up
and they were loud and made a difference in the
ball game last weekend. So that's a great start. And
(02:44):
then coach Sarkesian has worked for Dick Say, but he's
worked for Pete Carroll. He's been a head coach at
Washington in a city, he's been a head coach at
USC in a city, he's coached pro ball, and now
the college game has headed more toward the pro game
than ever before. So he's in a perfect situation to
be the great head coach at Texas that he is
(03:06):
right now. And he's also hired a tremendous staff, and
again Chris lets him hire who he wants to and
who he needs to. Just bringing Dewayne and quineback sixteen
years at the university and two Thorpe winners and so
many All Americans and so many great players. PK has
done a great job with the defense. And then Steve
(03:28):
is so good with the offense. He and coach Flood
have been consistent and Steve's been able to keep his
coordinators and that's something that's very hard to do with
all three and special teams offense and defensive coordinators haven't changed.
And he's maybe the only school in the country that
hasn't changed coordinators over the last few years. And they're
(03:49):
right there. People keep asking me what they have to do.
What do they have to do?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well, you got to win one more game. You have
to make two more plays.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
But if you're in the neighborhood and you're in a
position where you know what it feels like to be
in the playoffs, you know how it feels to be
down to the end in the fourth quarter, it's just
gonna take a team that stays healthy and a team that,
just as coach Roll used to tell me, when you're
you're good enough and you're healthy enough, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Going to happen.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Ruth, I believe before I get into football, Uh, I
want to get I believe in giving somebody the flowers,
you know, not not at a funeral, but in person,
up front. And I want to give you your flowers
because you allowed a young Mark Henry who you didn't know,
to come to the University of Texas and train in
(04:41):
the in the weight room with mad Dog and the
rest of your coaching staff and your strength coaching staff
and a lot of what I did in my in
my prime was because I was allowed to train at
the best facility in the city, and I wanted to
thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Thank you. I used to walk down and say, who
is that.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
My dog? Say I is too old?
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I said, don't matter, found up here and get him
in school.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Man.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
Well, now now that we got that out of the way, coach,
like you, you're a You've been known as a CEO,
not just as a great coach, but uh in a
Hall of fame coach, but also like one of the
best to ever do it in the business from behind
the board?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Uh, what role did you enjoy the most?
Speaker 5 (05:30):
I know coaching is fun and winning is fun because
you shod a lot of that, but you had to
get a real strong sense of accomplishment from putting everything together.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Mark, what I enjoyed the most was being offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Wow, I love that.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And that was before I became a head coaching and
I wanted to be a head coach and I wasn't
very smart. I saw Steve Sloan become a head coach
in his late twenties. I saw Bill Battle become a
head coach in his late twenties, so I said, I
want to be a head coach. I didn't think about
being a head coach at a place where you could win.
If you don't get a place you win, you don't
(06:08):
get to stage. So that's the biggest part of it.
But I also love taking a young person when he
came in. I loved recruiting because I can sit there
and I would know more about recruiting Mark than the
families because I'd done it for forty years or thirty
something years, and they've done it for six months. So
(06:29):
I actually took the family and I would sit down
with you and your family, Mark, and say what would
be best for you because that's where you're going to
end up anyway. And I would tell some kids and
the coaches would get mad at me. I don't think
it's best for you to come here. And here's why.
If I was you, i'd do this and they'd say,
what are you doing. I said, he's not going to
make it here anyway. It's not his fit. He's not
(06:53):
going to make it. One of the impressive things to
me about what Steve's doing is they've got good kids.
Hear them interviewed, I see them, I see what they
say and how they said, and they fit here, and
that's really really important to have the proper fit. So
I loved recruiting. And then the other thing you in coaching,
You change kids' lives and you got to be really,
(07:16):
really careful. Billy Graham said one time that a coach
can change more lives in one year than an average person.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Can change in a lifetime.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Well, what I've learned at seventy four years old is
so many of those young guys that I coached Mark
and Mike will come up now and say in they're
forty and fifty. And I always said it was a
forty year decision, not a four Well now it's going
to be a fifty year decision because they're all getting older.
But when they come up now, I said, Remember when
I was a sophomore and you jumped on me, coach,
(07:46):
that saved my life. Remember when you you came to
Dad's funeral. Remember when I was messing up and you
grabbed me and pulled me in the corner and said, look,
I know what you're doing and you've got to stop it,
and you got to stop it now. So what you
do is the coach, you got to be really, really
careful what you say to a young guy, because he listens.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
You're a powerful figure in his life. And and so
not only do you you you.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Put yourself in a position to change some lives, you
saved some lives. We hit a young person in the
mountains of North Carolina that committed suicide and we were
very close to him, so we n we just got
into North Carolina the second time. So we ran back
and had a team meeting and said, hey, guys, I
don't know a lot about suicide, but I know that
it's not it's hurtful to your friends, hurtful to your
(08:35):
family and your parents and so and I'm not supposed
to talk to you about it because I'm not qualified.
But if you're struggling, come and talk to us. Come on, man,
it's not worth it's not worth football, it's not worth anything.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Let's talk.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
And we had a young guy named Jake Lawler that
came upstairs right after the media and said, coach, I
was on a bridge last night. Wow, and I'm I
need help. And that's that's the power of the coach.
So you've got to win to keep a job. You've
got to win to be able to hang around and
(09:08):
have the influx on the players because they want to win.
But when you do that, you also have a tremendous
responsibility to be a strong personal figure in those young
people's lives.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We're talking to the legendary coach Mack Brown. He was
inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in twenty eighteen.
He is now doing a podcast with Bob blou and
Vince Young called The Stampede, which is outstanding.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Make sure you check it out.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And Coach, I know you just touched on some of
the things that I was going to ask you about
about changing people's lives and being a part and being present.
Last night I did a football clinic Ladies Football Clinic
with Derek Johnson and Norman Watkins, and one of the
things that Derek said about his recruitment with you was
the honesty in the way that you came into his
(09:58):
mother's house and made her feel like, Derek, you need
to commit tonight to Coach Brown because he is such
a great man. But you also said after winning that
national championship that don't let this be the greatest thing
that you've ever accomplished in your life. And Derek is
living proof of that statement of what you were talking about.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Mike, when I said that after the game, it's first
time we'd won a national championship for thirty five years,
So what do you say, my good lord man, this
is a cool moment. And I see Roger Clements, and
I see Lance Armstrong, and I see Matthew McConaughey, and
I see Rex, and all of a sudden, you're you're
(10:40):
sitting there and you're you're saying.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Okay, what's good enough? So I say thank you?
Speaker 4 (10:47):
And then I'm thinking, I don't want these guys to
be forty years old and all they've done.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Is talk about this game.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Well then we said congratulations on the win, but let's
let's let's make this figure. They looked at me like
I was crazy. He said, what's this old man talking about?
Let's use this to be better fathers and better husbands
and have more influence in the community. And now it's
amazing how many of the guys come up and say,
(11:15):
you know, we get it now. We didn't get it
that night, but we get it now. And it's one
of those things when you're playing a two time national champion,
you weren't sitting there thinking about what you're going to
say after the post game win. You had to win first.
So it was just that moment. And I will say,
before I spoke.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
To the.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Team, we had Reggie Bush and Matt Lioner to come
and knock on the door because they missed me on
the field, and they said, can we see coach for
a minute. And I walked over before I spoke to
the team, and they both said, we did not want
to leave the stadium without congratulating you. What a great win.
And nobody talks about those things. And that was one
(11:56):
of the coolest moments for those two young people at
a time where they were so disappointed to come and
do that. And then it was my mother's birthday and
my mother is pretty spunky, and we lost her butt.
She came up and said, Okay, what we gonna do
for next year to beat this?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Only mothers?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Only mothers.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I love it because you've been around. Uh you said,
this is for fifty.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Years, forty seven years in coaching.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Forty seven years, and you have seen thousands of players.
Out of those thousand players, who is the most dominant
of all the players that you There was just no
answer for him.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Who was that guy?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Oh, gosh, Mark you you We just talked about Derek Johnson.
I saw him make thirty tackles in a high school
game at wait though high school.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah, I mean thirty tackles.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
I wanted to go out.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
And kiss him.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Then, man, this guy.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Here's your defense.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Will we don't need to be What can he play?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
How good is he?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
No?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
He ran over everybody and made ever attacker. And he's
nice and he's smart. And early in the year Carl
Rees said, well, he doesn't know what to do. I said, yes,
he does. I thought I'd know what to do thirty
times this game.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And he said, well he didn't know the scheme. I said,
didn't change the scheme put him in.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Well, we only played three linebackers and we got three starters.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I said, play four.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I don't care.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I won't.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
And then you talk about Ricky Williams, who's one of
the smartest players and people I have ever been around. He
was such a competitor. Every time he touched the ball
in practice, he'd run to the end zone and score.
So we had to start moving the drills down so
we wouldn't kill him in that one hundred degree heat,
and he wanted to cover kickoffs, he won't to play linebacker.
(13:54):
I mean, he was crazy, he was so competitive. And
then you look at Vin Young and he absolutely took
over the Rose Bowl for two years in a row.
Just absolutely took over. They said he owned the Rose Bowl.
So you start talking about those guys and Roy Williams
(14:15):
and I kind of do it Mark and Mike in
a by position. You start looking at Ricky Williams, then
you have to talk about Jamal Charles. Then you have
to talk about Salvin Young, and then you say, oh
my gosh, we're leaving out Cedric Vincent, maybe one of
the best to ever play in tough and smart, and
(14:35):
then just Hodjas Mitchell, and I mean you just go down.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Then you go to linebacker and you.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Get check offs, and then you go to ride receivers
and that one group of wide receivers when you start
looking at Sloan Thomas and B. J. Johnson and Roy
Williams and Tony Jefferson and those guys were so good.
Then you start looking at Boast Gafe and David Thomas
and the tight.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Ends that came through there.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
And then the offensive lineman for the five played in
the NFL a long time, and that national championship team.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And Will Allen and the other one was in Kent.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
So and defensive lineman Rod Wright's going in the Hall
of Honor this weekend tomorrow, in fact. But you start
looking at a rack po and I mean, just start
checking that list, and then defensive backs. Gosh, that that thing.
That's like a Hall of fame, just to start talking
about the defensive backs we had.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And then you.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Get into the Justin Tuckers and Richmond McGee and and
Vince said he hated kickers and punters because he never
wanted to kick the punt. I said, yeah, you kept
them from even lettering. And I'd say, Vents, we need
to kick a pillgal here. He said, no, they can't
stop us on fourth down, coach, So he never wanted
to kick. And he said, I don't hate the people,
(15:49):
but I hate the position. They shouldn't happen. You should
go river fourth down. And that was just bits. And
I'm loving being on the podcast with Vents. It's so
much fun. His personality is so good to be laughing.
He said, you laughed more down he used to. I said, yeah,
I had to put.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Up with you because what you know the you know
the game, you probably know the quarter and I think
it was right before halftime Derick Johnson.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
I think there was like a big pass and Derek
took off. He was forty or fifty yards away from
the guy and ran him down to stop a touchdown
right before half. It was one of the most impressive
things I ever saw. I don't think a cornerback could
have ran this guy down. Uh do you remember that play?
I do.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
In fact, the player I remember the most from Derek
was chasing the quarterback down at Oklahoma and batting the
ball from behind and knocking the balls.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
While the guy was running.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And Derek didn't, he didn't go to the ground right exactly,
knocked the ball out and then went and got the ball.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I mean, it was just He's just.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
He is such a freak on the field and such
a kind heart, yes, and a person that you absolutely
can't talk to Derek Johnson and see how vicious he
was on the field and how he ran and knocked
people out. Now, and he got there fast, and.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
He said, he said now that because he's so slim.
When he was big, he was DJ. He was DJ.
Now that he's slimmed down. He's now Derek again.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
All those kids, so he warn't out he's a bother
to what a nice man. And it's it's fun for
me now twenty years after the National championship and and
people ask about coaching, being a head coach for thirty
six years, that's your extended family. That that's what you
think about all the time. That's the that when you
(17:48):
say it's a forty year decision, not a ford, you
got to mean it. When guys call and say, Coach,
I need help, I need suggestions, I need a thought.
I mean, that's what you do. And you never lose that.
You never leave these guys, and that's what's so important.
It's fun to see them with their new families and
get pictures on Father's Day and Christmas and Thanksgiving and
(18:12):
just see that they've done what I asked them to do.
After the National championship game in five well.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You have done an excellent job.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
You were talking about that team and all I kept
thinking in my mind is coach mac Brown can recruit
and that's why all those players were able to be
that successful at this university.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I want to let you go, but I wanted to
tell you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
When me and my family came out to North Carolina,
you were kind of busy and you set us up
with a tour and the kids from the soccer team
had an unbelievable time touring the University of North Carolina
and I can't thank you enough for that.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Well, thank you, Mike and Mark.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
We appreciate what you guys do and can't wait for
this weekend. You know, with El Paso coming in, it's
just another opportunity to grow, another opportunity to play to
a standard, another opportunity to get where we need to do.
And Mike and Mark, I've always thought it's not hard
to be nice. Takes seventy four muscles to smile, takes
(19:12):
one hundred and fourteen to frown. So I've always wanted
to take the easier path, so you smile, you can
be nice to people. And Coach Roll said something one time.
He said, you're very lucky to be the head coach
at the University of Texas and don't ever walk by
anybody young or old without stopping and speaking and taking
a picture and signing an autograph. And that's a blessing
(19:34):
for you that you can do so little to make
somebody smile, and just remember that as soon as you're gone,
next guy is going to be taking those pictures to
sign those autographs. So it's not about you, it's about
the position.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And he was right.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
But I'm very, very blessed, Sally and I are glad
to be back in Austin. You mentioned thirty two years.
Can you imagine somebody putting up with me for thirty
two years?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yes, you're a gem.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Mark.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
I'm sucking up every day to try to make it
thirty three.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Well, my money miss selling that we said, hello, please,
my money.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
She had she had to get up and help me
get on the computer because I had an assistant for
thirty six years. Now I don't have one. So I'm
doing better. I'm learning, but it's a it just takes
me a little fall sometime to get go.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
It's okay. Mark is going through the same business.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Sorry, Mark, I mean to pull you into this.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
We appreciate you. Thank you so much coach for taking
the time. I know I've been bugging you, but this
was what this has made our day, So we appreciate week.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Thank you. Mike.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Sorry I haven't been able to get on. I've been
traveling all over the place and having fun. And as
you said, it's hard to when when you're swinging the
golf club, it's hard to be on the radio.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
That takes it a little harder too. We'll hit them
straight today and we appreciate you. Thanks, coach, Thanks coach.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
There he is.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You're welcome, there he is. Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown. Wow,
that was fun. Co host of the Stampede with Bob
Bloo and Vince Young. Thirty two years of marriage that
he's trying to make to thirty three. And of course
he's been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Let's just say, let you.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Know the Mark.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome back to the morning kickoff right here on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. We are your home
for Texas football and Texas Athletics, and the man that
is joining us right here on sports Radio AM thirteen
one hundred The Zone knows all things about the Texas
Longhorns and their athletic program.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
He was inducted into the.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
College Football Hall of Fame in twenty eighteen. He is
a national championship head coach here at the University of Texas,
and he is now the co host of the Stampede
with Bob Bloo and Vince Young. And he just celebrated
his thirty second wedding anniversary with Miss Sally Brown. He
(00:58):
is the legendary coach Mac Brown. Good morning, Coach, Good
morning guys.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Thanks for having me out.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
We appreciate you taking the time to get up with us.
I know that you probably got a tea time coming
up in about an.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hour or so, so I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us,
and I want to get right into it because the
University of Texas is at a spot where you helped
building and Texas went through that long and great run
here on the forty Acres. There was a little lull
in between that, But now it seems to be as
(01:34):
Snding and You've always talked about, in order to be
a great coach, you have to have great people around you,
and that is what it seems that coach Sarkesian has
been able to do. Now that you have been around
and seen the program, what are some of the things
that stand out to you about where this program is
compared to what it was like when you were the
head coach here.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Mike number one, the loss Dodgs was.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Quite the run with thirty two years as the athletics
director at University of Texas, and he helped us get
from where we were to where we had to go.
And Chris del Connie's doing the same. Just to look
at the pregame environment, it's not a football game, it's
an event. I mean, it is a showpiece now. And
(02:21):
Sally said the other day, I don't care about the game,
but I'd like to go see the pregame and Beebo
Boulevard and all the things that come with it that
Chris has done so and I was so impressed at
eleven o'clock in the heat that Texas fans showed up
and they were loud and made a difference in the
ball game last weekend. So that's a great start. And
(02:44):
then coach Sarkesian has worked for Dick Say, but he's
worked for Pete Carroll. He's been a head coach at
Washington in a city, he's been a head coach at
USC in a city, he's coached pro ball, and now
the college game has headed more toward the pro game
than ever before. So he's in a perfect situation to
be the great head coach at Texas that he is
(03:06):
right now. And he's also hired a tremendous staff, and
again Chris lets him hire who he wants to and
who he needs to. Just bringing Dewayne and quineback sixteen
years at the university and two Thorpe winners and so
many All Americans and so many great players. PK has
done a great job with the defense. And then Steve
(03:28):
is so good with the offense. He and coach Flood
have been consistent and Steve's been able to keep his
coordinators and that's something that's very hard to do with
all three and special teams offense and defensive coordinators haven't changed.
And he's maybe the only school in the country that
hasn't changed coordinators over the last few years. And they're
(03:49):
right there. People keep asking me what they have to do.
What do they have to do?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well, you got to win one more game. You have
to make two more plays.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
But if you're in the neighborhood and you're in a
position where you know what it feels like to be
in the playoffs, you know how it feels to be
down to the end in the fourth quarter, it's just
gonna take a team that stays healthy and a team that,
just as coach Roll used to tell me, when you're
you're good enough and you're healthy enough, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Going to happen.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Ruth, I believe before I get into football, Uh, I
want to get I believe in giving somebody the flowers,
you know, not not at a funeral, but in person,
up front. And I want to give you your flowers
because you allowed a young Mark Henry who you didn't know,
to come to the University of Texas and train in
(04:41):
the in the weight room with mad Dog and the
rest of your coaching staff and your strength coaching staff
and a lot of what I did in my in
my prime was because I was allowed to train at
the best facility in the city, and I wanted to
thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Thank you. I used to walk down and say, who
is that.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
My dog? Say I is too old?
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I said, don't matter, found up here and get him
in school.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Man.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
Well, now now that we got that out of the way, coach,
like you, you're a You've been known as a CEO,
not just as a great coach, but uh in a
Hall of fame coach, but also like one of the
best to ever do it in the business from behind
the board?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Uh, what role did you enjoy the most?
Speaker 5 (05:30):
I know coaching is fun and winning is fun because
you shod a lot of that, but you had to
get a real strong sense of accomplishment from putting everything together.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Mark, what I enjoyed the most was being offensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Wow, I love that.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And that was before I became a head coaching and
I wanted to be a head coach and I wasn't
very smart. I saw Steve Sloan become a head coach
in his late twenties. I saw Bill Battle become a
head coach in his late twenties, so I said, I
want to be a head coach. I didn't think about
being a head coach at a place where you could win.
If you don't get a place you win, you don't
(06:08):
get to stage. So that's the biggest part of it.
But I also love taking a young person when he
came in. I loved recruiting because I can sit there
and I would know more about recruiting Mark than the
families because I'd done it for forty years or thirty
something years, and they've done it for six months. So
(06:29):
I actually took the family and I would sit down
with you and your family, Mark, and say what would
be best for you because that's where you're going to
end up anyway. And I would tell some kids and
the coaches would get mad at me. I don't think
it's best for you to come here. And here's why.
If I was you, i'd do this and they'd say,
what are you doing. I said, he's not going to
make it here anyway. It's not his fit. He's not
(06:53):
going to make it. One of the impressive things to
me about what Steve's doing is they've got good kids.
Hear them interviewed, I see them, I see what they
say and how they said, and they fit here, and
that's really really important to have the proper fit. So
I loved recruiting. And then the other thing you in coaching,
You change kids' lives and you got to be really,
(07:16):
really careful. Billy Graham said one time that a coach
can change more lives in one year than an average person.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Can change in a lifetime.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Well, what I've learned at seventy four years old is
so many of those young guys that I coached Mark
and Mike will come up now and say in they're
forty and fifty. And I always said it was a
forty year decision, not a four Well now it's going
to be a fifty year decision because they're all getting older.
But when they come up now, I said, Remember when
I was a sophomore and you jumped on me, coach,
(07:46):
that saved my life. Remember when you you came to
Dad's funeral. Remember when I was messing up and you
grabbed me and pulled me in the corner and said, look,
I know what you're doing and you've got to stop it,
and you got to stop it now. So what you
do is the coach, you got to be really, really
careful what you say to a young guy, because he listens.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
You're a powerful figure in his life. And and so
not only do you you you.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Put yourself in a position to change some lives, you
saved some lives. We hit a young person in the
mountains of North Carolina that committed suicide and we were
very close to him, so we n we just got
into North Carolina the second time. So we ran back
and had a team meeting and said, hey, guys, I
don't know a lot about suicide, but I know that
it's not it's hurtful to your friends, hurtful to your
(08:35):
family and your parents and so and I'm not supposed
to talk to you about it because I'm not qualified.
But if you're struggling, come and talk to us. Come on, man,
it's not worth it's not worth football, it's not worth anything.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Let's talk.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
And we had a young guy named Jake Lawler that
came upstairs right after the media and said, coach, I
was on a bridge last night. Wow, and I'm I
need help. And that's that's the power of the coach.
So you've got to win to keep a job. You've
got to win to be able to hang around and
(09:08):
have the influx on the players because they want to win.
But when you do that, you also have a tremendous
responsibility to be a strong personal figure in those young
people's lives.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We're talking to the legendary coach Mack Brown. He was
inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in twenty eighteen.
He is now doing a podcast with Bob blou and
Vince Young called The Stampede, which is outstanding.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Make sure you check it out.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And Coach, I know you just touched on some of
the things that I was going to ask you about
about changing people's lives and being a part and being present.
Last night I did a football clinic Ladies Football Clinic
with Derek Johnson and Norman Watkins, and one of the
things that Derek said about his recruitment with you was
the honesty in the way that you came into his
(09:58):
mother's house and made her feel like, Derek, you need
to commit tonight to Coach Brown because he is such
a great man. But you also said after winning that
national championship that don't let this be the greatest thing
that you've ever accomplished in your life. And Derek is
living proof of that statement of what you were talking about.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Mike, when I said that after the game, it's first
time we'd won a national championship for thirty five years,
So what do you say, my good lord man, this
is a cool moment. And I see Roger Clements, and
I see Lance Armstrong, and I see Matthew McConaughey, and
I see Rex, and all of a sudden, you're you're
(10:40):
sitting there and you're you're saying.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Okay, what's good enough? So I say thank you?
Speaker 4 (10:47):
And then I'm thinking, I don't want these guys to
be forty years old and all they've done.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Is talk about this game.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Well then we said congratulations on the win, but let's
let's let's make this figure. They looked at me like
I was crazy. He said, what's this old man talking about?
Let's use this to be better fathers and better husbands
and have more influence in the community. And now it's
amazing how many of the guys come up and say,
(11:15):
you know, we get it now. We didn't get it
that night, but we get it now. And it's one
of those things when you're playing a two time national champion,
you weren't sitting there thinking about what you're going to
say after the post game win. You had to win first.
So it was just that moment. And I will say,
before I spoke.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
To the.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Team, we had Reggie Bush and Matt Lioner to come
and knock on the door because they missed me on
the field, and they said, can we see coach for
a minute. And I walked over before I spoke to
the team, and they both said, we did not want
to leave the stadium without congratulating you. What a great win.
And nobody talks about those things. And that was one
(11:56):
of the coolest moments for those two young people at
a time where they were so disappointed to come and
do that. And then it was my mother's birthday and
my mother is pretty spunky, and we lost her butt.
She came up and said, Okay, what we gonna do
for next year to beat this?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Only mothers?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Only mothers.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I love it. I love it.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
I love it because you've been around. Uh you said,
this is for fifty.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Years, forty seven years in coaching.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Forty seven years, and you have seen thousands of players.
Out of those thousand players, who is the most dominant
of all the players that you There was just no
answer for him.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Who was that guy?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Oh, gosh, Mark you you We just talked about Derek Johnson.
I saw him make thirty tackles in a high school
game at wait though high school.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah, I mean thirty tackles.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
I wanted to go out.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
And kiss him.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Then, man, this guy.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Here's your defense.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Will we don't need to be What can he play?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
How good is he?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
No?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
He ran over everybody and made ever attacker. And he's
nice and he's smart. And early in the year Carl
Rees said, well, he doesn't know what to do. I said, yes,
he does. I thought I'd know what to do thirty
times this game.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
And he said, well he didn't know the scheme. I said,
didn't change the scheme put him in.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Well, we only played three linebackers and we got three starters.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I said, play four.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I don't care.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I won't.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
And then you talk about Ricky Williams, who's one of
the smartest players and people I have ever been around. He
was such a competitor. Every time he touched the ball
in practice, he'd run to the end zone and score.
So we had to start moving the drills down so
we wouldn't kill him in that one hundred degree heat,
and he wanted to cover kickoffs, he won't to play linebacker.
(13:54):
I mean, he was crazy, he was so competitive. And
then you look at Vin Young and he absolutely took
over the Rose Bowl for two years in a row.
Just absolutely took over. They said he owned the Rose Bowl.
So you start talking about those guys and Roy Williams
(14:15):
and I kind of do it Mark and Mike in
a by position. You start looking at Ricky Williams, then
you have to talk about Jamal Charles. Then you have
to talk about Salvin Young, and then you say, oh
my gosh, we're leaving out Cedric Vincent, maybe one of
the best to ever play in tough and smart, and
(14:35):
then just Hodjas Mitchell, and I mean you just go down.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Then you go to linebacker and you.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Get check offs, and then you go to ride receivers
and that one group of wide receivers when you start
looking at Sloan Thomas and B. J. Johnson and Roy
Williams and Tony Jefferson and those guys were so good.
Then you start looking at Boast Gafe and David Thomas
and the tight.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Ends that came through there.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
And then the offensive lineman for the five played in
the NFL a long time, and that national championship team.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
And Will Allen and the other one was in Kent.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
So and defensive lineman Rod Wright's going in the Hall
of Honor this weekend tomorrow, in fact. But you start
looking at a rack po and I mean, just start
checking that list, and then defensive backs. Gosh, that that thing.
That's like a Hall of fame, just to start talking
about the defensive backs we had.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And then you.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Get into the Justin Tuckers and Richmond McGee and and
Vince said he hated kickers and punters because he never
wanted to kick the punt. I said, yeah, you kept
them from even lettering. And I'd say, Vents, we need
to kick a pillgal here. He said, no, they can't
stop us on fourth down, coach, So he never wanted
to kick. And he said, I don't hate the people,
(15:49):
but I hate the position. They shouldn't happen. You should
go river fourth down. And that was just bits. And
I'm loving being on the podcast with Vents. It's so
much fun. His personality is so good to be laughing.
He said, you laughed more down he used to. I said, yeah,
I had to put.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
Up with you because what you know the you know
the game, you probably know the quarter and I think
it was right before halftime Derick Johnson.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (16:14):
I think there was like a big pass and Derek
took off. He was forty or fifty yards away from
the guy and ran him down to stop a touchdown
right before half. It was one of the most impressive
things I ever saw. I don't think a cornerback could
have ran this guy down. Uh do you remember that play?
I do.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
In fact, the player I remember the most from Derek
was chasing the quarterback down at Oklahoma and batting the
ball from behind and knocking the balls.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
While the guy was running.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And Derek didn't, he didn't go to the ground right exactly,
knocked the ball out and then went and got the ball.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I mean, it was just He's just.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
He is such a freak on the field and such
a kind heart, yes, and a person that you absolutely
can't talk to Derek Johnson and see how vicious he
was on the field and how he ran and knocked
people out. Now, and he got there fast, and.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
He said, he said now that because he's so slim.
When he was big, he was DJ. He was DJ.
Now that he's slimmed down. He's now Derek again.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
All those kids, so he warn't out he's a bother
to what a nice man. And it's it's fun for
me now twenty years after the National championship and and
people ask about coaching, being a head coach for thirty
six years, that's your extended family. That that's what you
think about all the time. That's the that when you
(17:48):
say it's a forty year decision, not a ford, you
got to mean it. When guys call and say, Coach,
I need help, I need suggestions, I need a thought.
I mean, that's what you do. And you never lose that.
You never leave these guys, and that's what's so important.
It's fun to see them with their new families and
get pictures on Father's Day and Christmas and Thanksgiving and
(18:12):
just see that they've done what I asked them to do.
After the National championship game in five well.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You have done an excellent job.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
You were talking about that team and all I kept
thinking in my mind is coach mac Brown can recruit
and that's why all those players were able to be
that successful at this university.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I want to let you go, but I wanted to
tell you. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
When me and my family came out to North Carolina,
you were kind of busy and you set us up
with a tour and the kids from the soccer team
had an unbelievable time touring the University of North Carolina
and I can't thank you enough for that.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Well, thank you, Mike and Mark.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
We appreciate what you guys do and can't wait for
this weekend. You know, with El Paso coming in, it's
just another opportunity to grow, another opportunity to play to
a standard, another opportunity to get where we need to do.
And Mike and Mark, I've always thought it's not hard
to be nice. Takes seventy four muscles to smile, takes
(19:12):
one hundred and fourteen to frown. So I've always wanted
to take the easier path, so you smile, you can
be nice to people. And Coach Roll said something one time.
He said, you're very lucky to be the head coach
at the University of Texas and don't ever walk by
anybody young or old without stopping and speaking and taking
a picture and signing an autograph. And that's a blessing
(19:34):
for you that you can do so little to make
somebody smile, and just remember that as soon as you're gone,
next guy is going to be taking those pictures to
sign those autographs. So it's not about you, it's about
the position.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And he was right.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
But I'm very, very blessed, Sally and I are glad
to be back in Austin. You mentioned thirty two years.
Can you imagine somebody putting up with me for thirty
two years?
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yes, you're a gem.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Mark.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
I'm sucking up every day to try to make it
thirty three.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Well, my money miss selling that we said, hello, please,
my money.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Hello.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
She had she had to get up and help me
get on the computer because I had an assistant for
thirty six years. Now I don't have one. So I'm
doing better. I'm learning, but it's a it just takes
me a little fall sometime to get go.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
It's okay. Mark is going through the same business.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Sorry, Mark, I mean to pull you into this.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
We appreciate you. Thank you so much coach for taking
the time. I know I've been bugging you, but this
was what this has made our day, So we appreciate week.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Thank you. Mike.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Sorry I haven't been able to get on. I've been
traveling all over the place and having fun. And as
you said, it's hard to when when you're swinging the
golf club, it's hard to be on the radio.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
That takes it a little harder too. We'll hit them
straight today and we appreciate you. Thanks, coach, Thanks coach.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
There he is.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You're welcome, there he is. Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown. Wow,
that was fun. Co host of the Stampede with Bob
Bloo and Vince Young. Thirty two years of marriage that
he's trying to make to thirty three. And of course
he's been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
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