http://www.burntorangenation.com/2011/12/1/2604042/mack-brown-to-retire-saturday-per-non-credible-rumor-from-nowhere
The best (and worst) thing about the proliferation of social media is that it provides a widely available platform through which people outside the mainstream people can report breaking news.
On Thursday afternoon, a radio host from Topeka, Kansas (yes, apparently there is both radio and the internet in Kansas now) tweeted that a source had revealed to him that Texas head coach [URL="http://You want your guys coming into the building and saying, ‘What have we got this week?' If you say, ‘Same old, same old,' that's what you're going to get in practice,"]Mack Brown will retire following the Baylor game[/URL] on Saturday. Not even multiple sources. Just a source. Not even a source close to the program. Just a source.
This Jake Labahn person, whoever he is, tweeted later that his source is a member of the coaching fraternity, but still, it seems odd to the point of not being believable that such a major breaking news story would come from Topeka instead of making a start on the Texas message boards. Or even emerging from somewhere other like the media entities that cover Texas. In Austin. Not Kansas.
For what it's worth -- virtually nothing -- the Texas sports information department responded to queries from the journalists who would likely actually hear of something like this way before some random dude on the windswept plains by noting that it "doesn't warrant a response." Of course, even if there was truth to the rumor, Texas SID wouldn't admit it anyway, so the response means essentially nothing.
What helped throw fuel on the fire, however, were some comments from Barking Carnival and Recruitocosm, also on Twitter. Sailor Ripley tweeted that he had just spoken with Recruitocosm, leading him to believe that "there are some potentially interesting days ahead." Then, Recruitocosm tweeted that there was essentially some connection to the report from Topeka and information that delayed the publication of a report from the source known as the Big Cigar. Another response indicated that Chris Petersen has always been ahead of Urban Meyer to replace Mack Brown.
Though it's still a longshot, the possibility that Mack Brown could step down in order to allow for Petersen to take the Texas job instead of heading to UCLA, Arizona State, or [insert program without a head coach] does make some logical sense, wouldn't it also make sense for Petersen to leave those jobs for Texas if Austin is truly his end game?
Of course, Mack Brown designating Will Muschamp as his head coach in waiting several years ago provides the vacuum to create these types of reports and allow them to flourish. Though Brown has said within the last two weeks that he plans on coaching at Texas for a long time, the view through these eyes indicates that Brown has lost some of the energy that was present after the coaching changes during what has surely been a trying season for him and his team.
The best guess is still that Brown wants to see this team complete much more of the rebuilding process than has already been achieved, but it's also the case that Brown may not have anticipated the process to be this difficult. Especially in light of the still-unstable quarterback situation without a proven difference-maker on campus that could seriously delay any major progress.
So, in summary, there don't seem to be many reasons to believe the report based on where it came from, but there are also some reasons why it isn't completely outside the realm of possibility, either.
