Worried about many things, but Todd Graham to Texas is not one of them
Sep 12, 2013, 4:59 PM | Updated: 5:00 pm
There are plenty of things I worry about: Paying for college, my soon-to-be-driving teenage son, too much debt, too much fried food, too much caffeine and not enough exercise, water and sleep.
I worry about the Cardinals’ offensive line and the Diamondbacks’ bullpen.
You know what I don’t worry about? Todd Graham taking over the Texas job. Not a wisp of worry about that.
I keep hearing from people (listeners of the show, respected media colleagues, friends) who insist this is something I should be worried about, that this could happen if the dominoes fall the right (or in this case, the wrong) way.
I was reminded by a friend that former ASU coach John Cooper’s ascent to one of the thrones of college football followed a similar path. Tulsa to ASU to Ohio State. I understand that Graham is from Texas. And I respect the job he’s done so far in a year and a half at Arizona State.
But Todd Graham at Texas?
First of all, Mack Brown is still employed there and while his team’s performance against BYU put his status at DEFCON 2, he got the vote of confidence from A.D. DeLoss Dodds in a way that sounded as if it would be up to Brown whether he stayed there or not.
Maybe I’m overselling the Longhorns job as one of the elite destinations in the sport, though I really don’t think I am. Maybe I’m underselling the job that Graham has done here after just 14 games. He’s infused this program with verve and passion. They’ve had more stars than I can remember in the last decade under Dennis Erickson or Dirk Koetter, and a potentially magic season awaits.
Perhaps after these next four games Graham and his Sun Devils will be the talk of college football. If you go 4-0 against this slate you deserve to be mentioned as one of the best teams in the country. But that’s a Texas-sized “if,” isn’t it?
It seems to me if the Texas job comes open, that job and their boosters will demand the elite candidates in the game. Does Coach Graham have the body of work that demands his inclusion in that conversation? I have a hard time envisioning that. Texas football is too much of cash cow to turn the operation over to a relatively unproven commodity.
There are just too many unconnected dots between Todd Graham – two days before his team takes the field against Wisconsin – and a yet-to-be-vacated Texas job.
