I'm going to let you in on a little something about me that's fairly personal, but might help everyone in dealing with the "What's next?" phase of the 2020 Texas Longhorns football experience.
I'm a bit of an expert on compartmentalization.
If my wife does something to drive me over the moon, that feeling of angst generally lasts about 15 minutes. There have been times when this job will put me on tilt, but it's always a mood that lasts for a fairly brief moment. Even in moments of what should represent devastation, I often find myself feeling invulnerable in ways that scarily reminds me of the lead character in "Dexter".
It's not that I don't feel emotion, far from it, but I rarely stay inside of the emotion for very long, much to the dismay of my therapist. For instance, in moments of absolute sadness, I'm not afraid to give in and fully soak myself in that grief, but like a golden retriever that sees someone throw a tennis ball while he's barking at the mailman, my focus on that emotion will dissolve in the blink of an eye once by brain starts thinking about the next thing - work, family, finances, Liverpool football, a post from @RLong68.... whatever.
While I'm fully conscious of the downside of such consistent emotional avoidance, I often tell myself (DENIAL!) that I've turned it into a form of superpower that it allows me to intellectualize my decision-making in steady fashion instead of making impulse decisions.
So, why the hell am I telling you guys all of this and how exactly does it relate to the flood of emotions that your football program have delivered to the pit of your soul in the last 48 hours (or six months.... or 10 years)?
It is time to compartmentalize, baby!!!
What Chris Del Conte, Jay Hartzell and Kevin Eltife needed (or still need) to do is drown their Urban sorrows in a way that left them howling at the moon at midnight and eating a #2 from Whataburger three hours later. Once those key steps are taken, it's time to flip the mental switch of despondency off and turn the mental switch of getting business done on.
Let me give you two very important pieces of reality.
1. No one associated with the pursuit of the former three-time national championship-winning coach from Ohio has any reason to feel regret this morning. I'm the most Monday morning quarterback sunofabitch covering Texas football on the planet, but I'm not going to rake them over the coals for attempting the biggest possible power move they could conjure up.
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE UNIVERSITY OF BY GAWD TEXAS SHOULD BE ABOUT.
There was nothing wrong with the timing. There was nothing wrong with the pitch. There was nothing wrong with much at all from what I can tell other than Urban said no.
2. Time is still on UT's side.
In the same way that Tom Herman has served as a human meat shield for Del Conte and Texas behind the scenes for weeks, there's no reason to feel bad about paying him north of $400K this month to serve as a useful servant of the university. Let him coach the Kansas game, if there's a Kansas game. Let him coach the bowl game, if there's a bowl game.
Del Conte needs pull himself up, go stand in the mirror and give himself a big Dirk Diggler pep talk.
We all know that the situation leaves a lot to be desired and that the coaching pool is flawed in its perceived limitations, but the moment for feeling sorry for himself is over. Over the course of the next three to four weeks, Del Conte needs to pick himself up off the canvas and for the first time in his Texas career, he needs to be the athletic director for the biggest sport in his universe... football.
If Herman had already been fired, the public spotlight on all potential candidates would serve as a massive distraction for coaches who actually have teams that are playing for something in the next few weeks. With Herman on the job through the end of the bowl game, Texas can very quietly vet its options behind the scenes. Whether he's playing chess three steps ahead of his opponent or just walked into a little bit of good fortune, the possibility to turn all of this into a net positive still exists.
Plan B doesn't have to be a shoulder shrug. It can't be a shoulder shrug.
For the rest of this month, Del Conte and Co. have to figure out the best decision possible. Perhaps they need to ask themselves what Oklahoma would do in this situation because the Sooners have created two decades out of two very unconventional head coaching hires among the assistant coaching ranks.
The time to be bold is right now. The time to prove that the leadership in the athletic department is the right leadership is right now. The time to place leadership in crisis over risk of job safety is now.
It's time to be about that action. Flip the compartmentalization switch on and find the best person for the job to the best of your capacity. If that guy has a crummy 2020 record, don't be afraid. If you haven't heard, Texas A&M is on the cusp of a playoff spot, mostly because it didn't let a single season's worth of results dictate what it believed was the right move. The only move.
Del Conte and Co. have to look at this thing from 30,000 feet up in the air and not through the prism of the on the ground chaos.
After a lot of thought, here are the five most obvious candidates I'd tell Del Conte to explore to the fullest if the likes of Dan Mullen and Brian Kelly can't happen ...
READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN, INCLUDING THE COACHING SUGGESTIONS HERE (PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS)
Not an Orangebloods.com member? Take advantage of our special promo below and receive 50% off the first year of a new subscription and get some FREE gear.
