Can Urban Meyer bring a winning culture to Austin?
There was a moment when Texas did have a winning culture, we’re all aware that it appeared under former head coach Mack Brown. From 1987-1997, the Longhorns had just two seasons of 10 or more wins. They came from David McWilliams once and another time under John Mackovic. In a span of a decade, it happened just twice. From 2001-09 under Brown, it happened every single year. Texas lost 16 games in nine seasons. Under Herman, they have lost 17 in a little under four seasons thus far.
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A winning culture doesn’t just occur from winning football games. You have to win the day at hand — every single day. It comes from putting in the same effort on Monday as you do on Saturday. A quote from Meyer’s book titled ‘Above the Line’ fits well with what we see on the field from the Longhorns.
“Either you worked harder than your opponents or you got outworked. The challenge is to build a culture—a competitive environment—where everyone gives relentless effort every day. A culture everyone wants but few get.”
The quote reminds me of an old quote from a high school basketball coach Tim Notke. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” A very simple quote but it rings true, especially after what occurred on the field on Friday between Texas and Iowa State. The Longhorns have the fifth-most talented roster in the country and the Cyclones beat them for the second straight year.
The comment by Hall just reinforces this point. The culture that Campbell has installed at Iowa State is why they beat Texas for the second consecutive year for the first time in their series history. Their average recruiting class over the last four years is No. 49 in the country. Iowa State hasn’t signed a five-star recruit and totaled an average of one four-star prospect per year. The Longhorns have the average ranking of 9th in each class with one five-star recruit per class along with 13.5 four-star recruits on average.
Hard work is beating talent. When it comes to Meyer, he has developed a winning culture at every stop. At Texas that would likely continue.
This brings us to the next point, can Urban Meyer fix the recruiting at Texas?