The University of Texas Longhorns have what could be their toughest game of the year Saturday against seventh-ranked Kansas State. But the team is still dealing with a deflating loss to Texas Christian University on Thanksgiving night.
Hopes of a Big 12 title this season have now been reduced to playing the spoiler against Kansas State. If the Wildcats win Saturday, the team will claim it's first Big 12 title since 2003.
Each of the Longhorns' losses this season has been a blow from another Big 12 member (Oklahoma, West Virginia, TCU).
The losses come at a bad time for Mack Brown, too. Last January University regents awarded Brown a 2020 extension to his contract—an extension that would add $23 million to his total contract value, include a $750 gift card to an Austin gun shop, and $60,000 to serve as the chairman of the University’s Golf Club. Altogether it made Brown the second highest paid head football coach in the nation.
But this season's 8-3 record, including that humiliating loss to rival Oklahoma, has frustrated fans and donors. Some are even throwing around the idea of buying out Brown's newly minted contract.
His job doesn’t seem to be in any real danger, but if the University did decide to fire him, his contract explicitly details how much it would cost to buy out his contract: $3.5 million. That drops to $2.75 million after January 1, 2013, and then drops again to $2.25 million if after January 1, 2015.
This Saturday the Longhorns will come into their final game of the season 8-3 against Kansas State, which is leading the Big 12 with only one loss. The game will be Saturday at 7 p.m. in Manhattan, Kansas.
An injury to starting quarterback David Ash means Case McCoy will replace him in the team's final regular season game.
