Mack Brown: Longhorn Network a "second full-time job"
Mack talked about how the Longhorn Network had become a "second full-time job" and said "no question it's a whole lot of work."
He said it's constant from the time he gets to the office to which coaches should be miked at practice - if those coaches even want to be miked at practice.
Mack called it a second full-time job. So I asked him if it was just more work or a distraction.
"Both," Mack said. "I mean we're not going to let it be a distraction. But anytime you've got added work - to put it in the best place, a year from now we'll all know what it means.
"We will have worked together. But obviously the Longhorn Network objectives, like your (the media's) objectives, are different from mine. So it would be no different from one of you coming to practice every day and us negotiating what you can say and what you see.
"It's never been done before. So everything that happens, we have to go over. John sits down with me, then I sit down with the coaches and say, 'Stacy (Searels), you mind if they mike you today for your meeting?' That takes time, extra time. And Stacy says, 'I don't want to talk to anybody except my players.' Then I say to John, 'Not Stacy.'
"'What about you Darrell (Wyatt)?' So it's different. A year from now we'll be able to say here's who we are and here's the format. But it happened so quickly, and the network isn't even up yet. We are all wondering if they show practice, what does that mean?
"How can you show practice without formations or defensive alignment? So there's still a lot of things we have to work out before the week of the Rice game to be fair to the network that we can help them with what Texas felt like it could help them with football.
"And at the same time not be a distraction and not take too much time from our day-to-day routine and not distract our players. It is constant. Steve and I have become really good friends. He walks in with me and walks out with me.
"The thing I want us to get out of it as a program and the only thing it seems to me we can get out of it is exposure for players and young coaches. If I'm Major Applewhite's age, or Bryan Harsin's age or Manny Diaz's age or Stacy, if I'm those guys, it's great exposure for them.
"If I'm an athletic director and I'm interested in one of these coaches, I'm going to turn on the Longhorn Network and watch them. We'll have an hour show on Monday that reviews the previous game. The radio show will now be on air. And then you've got a 30-minute show on Thursday night.
"Those coaches are going to be on there a whole lot. I have to make sure it doesn't change the responsibilities I have in this program. But I'm going to be doing more things than I've done. And I'm on TV enough.
"But I think it's an advantage for a player. If he wants exposure nationally, he'll get it daily. And I think it's a good thing."
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