Give Brown credit for Texas football's success, consistency

Texas football coach Mack Brown isn't exactly unheralded, and he certainly isn't underpaid. However, he still might be underappreciated.
Consider these achievements from his 11 seasons leading the Longhorns:
-- A 115-26 record, which averages out to 10.5 wins and 2.4 losses per year.
-- At least nine victories each season, highlighted by 10 or more wins each of the last eight years and two losses or fewer in five of those eight seasons.
-- An 8-3 record in bowl games, featuring the current run of five consecutive wins -- three of them in Bowl Championship Series games.
-- A 3-1 record the last four seasons against bitter Red River rival Oklahoma, a program that's among the nation's best.
-- A 38-0 record against Big 12 Conference opponents Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma State. That's especially impressive when you take into account that Texas plays South Division opponents Baylor and Oklahoma State every year and that Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma State all have been very competitive during the last several seasons.
-- A 3-0 record in road games against Nebraska, which long has been known for its dominance in Lincoln.
-- A 13-0 record in 2005 for Texas' first national championship since 1970, capped by the epic 41-38 victory over top-ranked Southern California in what many consider the best game in college football history.
That's quite an impressive resume, to be sure. However, Brown has plenty of detractors and has had them throughout his time in Austin. Some of their complaints might be unfair, but some of them are valid.
You could point to the fact that he's 5-6 against Oklahoma, including an ugly 0-5 stretch from 2000-04 during which Bob Stoops' Sooners outscored (or embarrassed, if you prefer) Texas by a combined 189-54.
You could point to the fact that he's taken the Longhorns to the Big 12 championship game only three times and won just once.
You could point to the fact that he's 3-3 against Texas Tech in Lubbock, found a way to lose to Dennis Franchione's less-than-great Texas A&M teams in 2006 and '07, and has struggled to a 2-4 mark against Kansas State, including a ghastly 41-21 home defeat two years ago.
You could point to the fact that he's guided Texas to more Holiday Bowls (four) -- please don't get me wrong; the Holiday historically is one of the best bowls and I've been to three of them -- than BCS bowls (three).
The ironic thing there is that Brown's Longhorns are 3-0 in BCS bowls, winning back-to-back Rose Bowls following the 2004 and '05 seasons and last season's Fiesta, and only 2-2 in the Holiday. San Diego's a great place to visit (and to live in, for that matter), but don't blame Texas fans if they'd rather be in Pasadena (California, not Texas), New Orleans, Miami or Glendale come the first week of January.
All in all, the Brown era at UT could best be described as highly and consistently successful, with a few disappointments thrown in.
As for Brown as a program leader, he's really about as good as it gets.
He's a great recruiter who annually attracts the lion's share of the best talent in the state with the country's best high school football. He's savvy enough to go out of his way to make high school coaches feel special, and he reaps the dividends on national signing day each February.
He went from fan favorite Major Applewhite at quarterback to blue-chip golden boy Chris Simms, then from the indomitable Vince Young to the impossible-not-to-like Colt McCoy.
By the way, both Young and McCoy were Heisman Trophy runners-up as redshirt juniors after producing seasons that likely would have won the Heisman in almost any other year. Fear not when McCoy departs after the 2009 season; big-time incoming freshman Garrett Gilbert will be ready to put his stamp on the Longhorns.
Brown always puts together a strong coaching staff and allows his coaches to coach. Offensive coordinator Greg Davis has been with him since the beginning at Texas, and the hiring of fiery defensive coordinator Will Muschamp -- who will become the Longhorns' head coach when Brown's ready to retire -- was brilliant.
Brown's a charismatic figure who's comfortable dealing with the intense media scrutiny that comes with overseeing one of the nation's elite programs. On a personal note, I appreciate the fact that when I've asked him a question in a packed postgame news conference, he's always looked me in the eye and given me a straight, thoughtful answer.
And he makes sure to tout Texas' proud history and traditions, keeping legendary former coach Darrell Royal a visible figure and inviting ex-Longhorns to remain close to the program.
Critics of Brown say he's too corporate, too polished, too media-conscious, too corny. Funny, critics say a lot of the same things about North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams, and he's done pretty well for himself.
Is Mack Brown the very best college football coach in the country? Probably not. It might be Florida's Urban Meyer, USC's Pete Carroll, Ohio State's Jim Tressel, Oklahoma's Stoops or Louisiana State's Les Miles.
But Brown definitely is in the discussion, and in my opinion only Meyer and Carroll have a slight edge on him because they've produced multiple national championships during this decade.
Note to Texas fans: You don't have to love everything about Mack Brown, but you should appreciate the overall job he's done in restoring Texas to its place among the country's top five college football programs.
And you're going to miss him when he's gone.

Well played, Old Tom: Open will be remembered for Watson's valiant charge

Golf's major championships are interesting in that who loses often is remembered as much as or even more than who actually wins.
Take Greg Norman at the Masters. Larry Mize's miraculous playoff chip-in dealt him a stunning defeat in 1987, then in 1996 Norman's epic final-round meltdown allowed Nick Faldo to secure his third green jacket.
Then there's Phil Mickelson in the U.S. Open. Lefty let it slip away in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills as the painfully boring Retief Goosen claimed his second Open title, and two years later Mickelson (along with the majorless Colin Montgomerie) imploded on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot to help an under-the-radar Geoff Ogilvy prevail.
This year, the Masters was as much about old-timer Kenny Perry failing to cash in his major opportunity as it was about Angel Cabrera winning, and unheralded Lucas Glover's victory in the rain-plagued U.S. Open at Bethpage Black will have to share space in the history books with close-but-not-good-enough bids by Mickelson, Tiger Woods and David Duval.
Therefore, please excuse us if the 2009 British Open (or the Open Championship, if you prefer) won't simply be remembered as Stewart Cink's career breakthrough.
That's nothing against Cink, though. He's been one of the PGA Tour's best dozen or so players for more than a decade, a Ryder Cup regular and a well-liked guy. At 36 he's finally a major champion, and good for him. He's got enough game that it likely won't be his last triumph in a major.
But with all due respect to Cink's accomplishment, this Open at Turnberry will be remembered most for the improbable, amazing performance of 59-year-old Tom Watson, five times the British Open winner.
Seeking his ninth major championship and first since 1983, Watson came up just short of a record-tying sixth Open title. He missed an 8-foot par putt for the win on the 72nd hole, then clearly was outplayed by Cink in their mostly uncompetitive four-hole playoff.
Nonetheless, it was difficult to feel anything other than admiration and appreciation toward Watson, who turned back the clock and turned an Open that never had Mickelson and had a surprisingly shaky Woods for only two days into a must-see spectacle.
Watson didn't just play well for a day or two or sneak onto the bottom of the final-round leaderboard for 15 minutes.
Masterfully maneuvering around the Scottish links as he had in famously outdueling rival Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1977, Watson drew on his vast experience to put on an awesome show of shotmaking for four consecutive days. He played the best golf for 71 1/2 holes.
With Cink in the clubhouse after sinking a clutch birdie putt at No. 18 late Sunday afternoon, Watson carried a one-stroke lead to the 18th tee and then struck a perfect drive. He drilled his approach shot, too, but his 8-iron had just a little too much juice and the ball ran through the back of the green, coming to rest up against some light rough.
Choosing to putt instead of chip, Watson ran it 8 feet past the hole, then his pressure-packed putt to win the Claret Jug and become golf's oldest major champion by a staggering 11 years was poorly executed and never scared the cup. One could say Watson -- who rolled in long bombs all week -- finally looked his age on that ill-timed effort.
Although Watson still had an opportunity in the playoff, he missed his best chance to win when he missed the earlier putt on 18. An understandably deflated Watson struggled throughout the playoff, while the much-younger Cink produced nearly flawless golf in running away for the victory.
In the aftermath of Watson's heartbreaking defeat, Cink received some good-natured barbs about ruining what probably would have gone down as one of the most impressive, incredible feats in sports history. For all of his happiness and satisfaction about winning, Cink conceded that there was a bittersweet element to his conquest; he knew that golf fans around the world were pulling for their man Watson.
And so Cink now has his name engraved on the vaunted Claret Jug along with that of Watson, who appears a mere five times. It could have been six; it probably should have been six.
But worry not. When we think back about the 2009 British Open years and even decades from now, there's one man we will think of first and most: Old Tom Watson. Well played, sir.

Bold Bethpage Black forecast: Tiger to take U.S. Open again

It's my inaugural entry on Greg Wille Sports, and I'm ready to debut with a bold prediction: Tiger Woods will win the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.

OK, so that's really not going out on a limb, because Woods is the favorite whenever and wherever he tees it up.

He has won 14 major professional championships, an astounding 11 more than his next-closest current competitors (Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh).

Woods not only captured last year's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines (on a wrecked-but-since-repaired knee, no less) but also won the last Open played at brutal Bethpage, outdueling New York crowd favorite Mickelson in 2002.

And Tiger comes back to the Black following his brilliant final-round 65 -- hitting all 14 fairways in an uncanny performance -- to prevail two weeks ago at the Memorial, Jack Nicklaus's tournament.

Woods is today's Nicklaus, and there remains a wide gap between Tiger and any other real and/or potential rival.

Mickelson is the top challenger and normally would be a great pick to win, but Lefty's never won the U.S. Open and he's not sharp enough to be the best at Bethpage after stepping away from the PGA Tour to help his wife deal with her breast cancer diagnosis.

Geoff Ogilvy has all the game in the world and a U.S. Open victory (in 2006, when Phil and everyone else choked at Winged Foot), but the smooth Australian needs to prove whether he's a multiple-major champion.

And then there are the other usual suspects.

Where's Harrington been this year after winning the final two majors of 2008? Trying to fix a game that didn't have much wrong with it. We're still waiting for Els and Singh to recapture their past glory, but their best days most likely are behind them.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen could re-emerge as a threat, but I'd be surprised if he's in the mix come late Sunday afternoon. Jim Furyk is a former Open champ, an accurate driver, a skilled putter and is playing well, but the Black (as the warning sign at the first tee attests) is too much course for him.

How about long-suffering Sergio Garcia breaking through at Bethpage to win his first major? He's a tremendous ball striker but his putting and final-round nerves are problematic, so I'll borrow a quote from Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to assess the Spaniard's chances: "Pssst . . . please."

Of course, there's always the possibility that some unheralded, off-the-radar player will step up, tame the brutal Black course (a par-70 beast at more than 7,400 yards) and slay Tiger along with the other big guns. Remember, such immortals as Steve Jones and Michael Campbell have won the U.S. Open in the last 15 years. Heck, Lee Janzen won the Open twice.

This year, however, no journeyman or short knocker will conquer Bethpage Black. It's Tiger's tournament to win if he plays his game. He knows it, and the other 155 players know it.

That's not to say any major championship can simply be handed to a player, regardless of the course and how well he's playing. Consider that Woods has won the Masters only three times (only?) since he steamrolled Augusta National in 1997 and seemed like he'd own the place for the next two decades.

But everything is lined up for Woods to win his second U.S. Open at Bethpage, his fourth Open overall and, perhaps most important, his 15th major -- just four short of breaking Nicklaus's hallowed record that Tiger has spent his amazing career chasing.

Expect livelier, more-out-there predictions in future posts on Greg Wille Sports. For now, though, you heard it here first (or maybe 384th): Tiger Woods will win the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.

Until next time, thanks for reading.