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Greg Davis caught plenty of heat in Austin after a high-profile, 5-7 struggle in 2010 when the Longhorns' offense hit rock bottom.

After a year away from the game, he's back.

He joins Kirk Ferentz's staff at Iowa as the Hawkeyes' new offensive coordinator.

Davis won the Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach following the 2005 season in which Texas won the BCS Championship. The Longhorns set a then-NCAA record with 652 total points that season, averaging 50.2 points per game. He oversaw prolific offenses and coached star quarterbacks Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Chris Simms in Austin.

But Davis was forced out after the 2010 season following two years of sub-par offensive production and growing criticism from fans. He did not coach during the 2011 season.

"We are thrilled to have Greg Davis join our staff," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said in a statement released by the school. "Greg has enjoyed great success during his career and I believe that can be attributed directly to the combination of his football expertise and teaching skills. Greg's units have demonstrated impressive production and they have done so using a variety of systems and styles."

Cutting Davis loose was difficult for Mack Brown to do, but it had to be done. Good to see Davis land back on his feet at a major program.

Heading into the season, I see five teams in the Big 12 with a realistic chance to win the league. I'll be breaking them down in order (which won't be the same as my post-spring power rankings) of their chances to leave the season with the Big 12 title.

No. 1 on the list was the favorite: Oklahoma.

No. 2 was Texas A&M.

Oklahoma State came in at No. 3.

No. 4? Missouri.

And now, we'll tackle the fifth and final team that I could realistically see winning the Big 12.

And yes, it's the team racking up good will from its conference brethren at a record rate.

Why the Longhorns will win the Big 12

1. They're Texas. You've heard it before, and cliche or not, it isn't meaningless. "They're Texas" simply means the Longhorns aren't short on athletes. Defensively, that was true even last year. Offensively, did Texas recruit a handful of guys that either a) haven't panned out or b) haven't fit into the offensive scheme well? The answer to that was pretty obvious after Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley checked out for the NFL. But Texas has the athletes on defense, and 2010 struggles aside, the potential for big years is there for running back Malcolm Brown and receiver Mike Davis. If Garrett Gilbert can bounce back from last year, or whoever Texas puts out there at quarterback plays well, and the offensive line can at least be decent, Texas will look radically different.

2. Last year's team was a lot better than 5-7. Mack Brown has repeatedly emphasized it, but he's not blowing smoke. Combine two simple stats from last year and Texas likely would have won 7-8 games. In 2009, when Texas went to the national title game, it turned the ball over 28 times and forced 37 turnovers. Last year, it turned the ball over just two additional times, totaling 30. The Longhorns, though, forced just 18 turnovers, including a big drop from 25 interceptions in 2009 to just eight in 2010. That margin put the Horns ahead of just three teams in all of college football. There's a lot of reasons for the drop in forced interceptions (not leading games and forcing teams to pass, weak pass rush, etc.) but there's no way that number will be as low in 2011. Manny Diaz's defense has emphasized forcing turnovers since Day 1, including pre-practice drills the Longhorns hadn't previously done. Additionally, Texas lost four games by one possession, and a couple bounces of the ball could have landed the Longhorns in the postseason, making the chasm between last year's last-place finish in the Big 12 South and a first-place finish in the Big 12 this year look much less imposing.

3. There's a renewed sense of purpose. Texas restocked its staff with rising talents in the coaching profession and guys eager to make a name for themselves. Additionally, Mack Brown has lauded his team's offseason efforts, no doubt aided by having to stare at the garish 5-7 record in 2010 next to all those double-digit totals for almost a decade before them. You're crazy if you don't think that's major motivation for a team that should have good leadership behind guys like Keenan Robinson, Emmanuel Acho, Blake Gideon and Fozzy Whittaker. That will manifest itself on the field.

Why the Longhorns won't win the Big 12

1. There isn't enough offensive production. For now, Texas has an underwhelming offensive line to block for a corps of running backs with two seniors who have never topped 600 yards in a season. Much-hyped incoming freshman Malcolm Brown won't join the team until fall camp, though he's on campus this summer. Texas has no receivers who have ever topped 550 yards in a single season or caught more than two touchdown passes in any given year. And there's an uncertain quarterback competition between three guys with no meaningful career snaps and another with 12 starts, 17 picks and just 10 touchdowns. Not exactly the recipe for a Big 12 champ.

2. The list of contenders is deeper than most years. This isn't your favorite college football-glossing fan's Big 12, which hinges on the Red River Rivalry every year. Texas can't hope to best Oklahoma in Dallas and cruise to a Big 12 title. If Texas does knock of OU, it's still going to have to beat Oklahoma State, Texas A&M (in College Station, by the way) and Missouri (in Columbia). If it can't do that, or at least finish with 1-2 losses, the Longhorns won't have a chance. There is zero chance the Big 12 champion will have three losses.

3. Players won't have either new system down in time. We haven't seen much from Texas, outside of its spring game, but this postgame quote from Diaz, the new defensive coordinator, definitely raised my eyebrows: "We are a defense that has to do everything right to be successful, and on the plays when 11 guys lock in and do their job, we are hard to move against. But we still have very little margin of error when we don't play within our technique or we don't play within our assignments." So what, pray tell, happens when all 11 guys aren't doing everything right? It's reasonable to suggest that in a new system, that might happen, and combined with the offensive issues we discussed earlier, 2011 could be another tough year for Texas. Of course, if things do come together and that potential becomes production, Texas might end up back on top of the Big 12.

We took a look earlier today at five players with the most to prove in the Big 12. Here are five more from the remaining Big 12 programs.

Darius Reynolds, WR, Iowa State

Reynolds was a highly-recruited juco prospect, but broke his leg after a strong start to the 2009 season and caught just 25 passes in 2010. This spring, coach Paul Rhoads went out of his way to note the improvement his 6-foot-3, 190-pound receiver made, and the Cyclones need him to prove Rhoads right. These receivers were the worst in the Big 12 in 2010, and they'll be breaking in a new quarterback in 2011. Can Reynolds prove he's a viable go-to receiver in this league?

Bryce Brown, RB and Arthur Brown, LB, Kansas State

There's no question about this one. This pair, despite not playing a down of Big 12 football yet, have attracted a ton of attention because of their accomplishments in high school back in Wichita and their modest careers at Miami (Arthur Brown) and Tennessee (Bryce Brown). But none of that matters now. Can these two prove they're more than just recruiting hype, and get Kansas State back in the postseason?

Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma

Jones made big strides as a sophomore in 2010, both as a passer and a leader, but there's no getting past his struggles. He's prone to bad stretches and questionable decisions, and a fourth quarter at Missouri and the first half against Texas A&M cost Oklahoma two losses in 2010. If the Sooners are going to win the national title in 2011, Jones will have to be the guy to lead them there, and those kinds of lapses can't happen. Can he prove he's past them, and give the program its eighth national title and, perhaps, its sixth Heisman winner?

Garrett Gilbert, QB, Texas

I don't recall a player falling further short of his hype as Gilbert did in 2011. Place the blame (media, Gilbert, Greg Davis, Texas O-line, Alabama's second-half defense, etc.) where you'd like, but nobody thought he'd be a player who threw 10 touchdowns to 17 interceptions in his first year as a starter. Now, he finds himself in a quarterback competition that might end with him on the bench. Can he prove he's the top-flight quarterback Texas recruited, or will he lose his job to a younger teammate?

Alex Torres, WR, Texas Tech

Torres had a huge freshman year (67 catches, 806 yards, 6 TD), but injuries kept him from getting going at the same rate as a sophomore in 2011, when he finished with just 39 catches for 481 yards and three scores. The Red Raiders top two receivers are gone now, though, and they'll be breaking in a new quarterback, Seth Doege. For Torres, now is the time. Can he prove he's capable of keeping the Texas Tech offense humming at the same rate it's done for the past decade and longer?

Spring football is in full swing. Three teams from the Big 12 (Texas Tech, Baylor, Texas) are already done, and the last team in the Big 12 to start (Kansas State) kicked off on Wednesday.

That leaves seven teams in the Big 12 on the field, but who's coaching them? We've had plenty of teams shift coordinators this season, so here's a quick refresher if you've been busy following basketball since the season ended and the coaching carousel began spinning.

BAYLOR

Defensive coordinator: Phil Bennett. He replaces Brian Norwood, who moved to associate head coach and secondary coach. Bennett was previously the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh, where he coordinated the nation's No. 8 defense.

KANSAS

Offensive coordinator: David Beaty. He spent a year at Rice, but returned to Kansas to coach receivers and serve as co-offensive coordinator alongside Chuck Long. He replaces Darrell Wyatt, who left to coach receivers at Texas. Long retained play-calling duties.

OKLAHOMA

Offensive coordinator: Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell. They'll share offensive coordinator duties, with Heupel calling the plays. He did so during the Sooners' 48-20 win over Connecticut in the Fiesta Bowl. They'll replace Kevin Wilson, who left to become the head coach at Indiana. Heupel will continue to coach quarterbacks as he has since 2006. Norvell will continue to coach receivers as he has since 2008.

OKLAHOMA STATE

Offensive coordinator: Todd Monken. He'll replace Dana Holgorsen, who took over as offensive coordinator at West Virginia and is scheduled to replace Bill Stewart as the head coach in 2012. Monken previously coached receivers for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

TEXAS

Offensive coordinator: Bryan Harsin and Major Applewhite. Harsin spent a decade at Boise State and five years as offensive coordinator, and will replace Greg Davis, the longtime coordinator under Mack Brown who resigned after the 2010 season. Applewhite is the co-coordinator after coaching running backs since 2008, but Harsin will call plays.

Defensive coordinator: Manny Diaz. Another young coach, Diaz was at Middle Tennessee State in 2009 and coordinated the defense at Mississippi State under Dan Mullen last season. He replaces Will Muschamp, who left to become head coach at Florida.

TEXAS TECH

Defensive coordinator: Chad Glasgow. Previously the secondary coach at TCU, Glasgow helped the Horned Frogs win the Rose Bowl last year and parlayed his recent excellence into a coordinator gig in Lubbock, where he'll replace James Willis, who left the program in December, before the Red Raiders beat Northwestern in the inaugural TicketCity Bowl.

• New Florida coach Will Muschamp had a special guest speaker at his coaching clinic: Former UT offensive coordinator Greg Davis.
• Iowa State quarterback Steele Jantz is trying to play through the hype, writes Bobby La Gesse of the Ames Tribune.
• Three Big 12 players made the list of the top 25 players returning to college football from Matt Hayes of The Sporting News.
• Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy has his eye on a receiver who could bounce back for a big year: Hubert Anyiam. Brandon Chatmon of The Oklahoman has the story.
• Aldon Smith and DeMarco Murray met with the Detroit Lions on Monday.
• Texas Tech secured four commitments for its 2012 class on Sunday and Monday, writes Don Williams of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
• How will Oklahoma recover from the loss of Jarvis Jones? Jake Trotter of The Oklahoman tries to answer the question.
• Former Kansas star corner Aqib Talib is a person of interest in a shooting outside Dallas on March 21.

The New York Times' Pete Thamel spoke to Texas coach Mack Brown for a wide-ranging Q&A about the state of his program as spring practice heats up in Austin, and I'd encourage you to head over and check it out.

The two most noteworthy nuggets from the Q&A?

• Brown admits he handled the coach-in-waiting situation with former defensive coordinator Will Muschamp the wrong way.
• He went to bed before his new offensive coordinator called three of the most famous plays in college football history and didn't see them until later.

Muschamp left to become Florida's head coach after the season, likely one of only a handful of jobs that could have pulled him away from Texas. But what Brown hoped would add some stability to his program ended up becoming a liability.

"Will and I, when we got into the coach-in-waiting thing, we did it for the right reasons. I did it with [athletic director] DeLoss [Dodds] and Bill Powers because I thought it was a corporate move that kept people in place. It worked for us for two of the three years, we were second in the country and third in the country," he said. "In retrospect, there really has to be a one-year limit. Will is too good of a coach to stay here, and there’s some question marks that pop up: ‘How long am I going to stay?’ It got to, ‘Mack’s tired. Mack’s old. When is he going to quit?’ I don’t think it works well unless it’s one year, two years max and there’s a set plan in place. We didn’t have a plan. I think that’s another thing that made it very difficult last year. It set up questions on the outside for the kids to have to answer last year."

That's no big surprise, and he's right. It was a good idea in theory, but the murmurs of Brown retiring got louder last season, and if the coach-in-waiting deal hadn't been in place, I doubt that would have been the case. With a plan, it can work, but the open-ended situation at Texas clearly caused more problems than it fixed. Additionally, though Muschamp left on good terms, he did it with terrible timing for the Longhorns. You can't blame him for leaving, of course, but doing so on a big recruiting weekend and during an offseason in which Texas already needed to replace three coaches at the time -- eventually five -- was not what the Longhorns needed.

As for new coordinator Bryan Harsin, you can't blame Brown. Even I thought the game was over when Marcus Walker intercepted Jared Zabransky to complete a comeback that featured 25 consecutive Sooner points, putting Oklahoma ahead 35-28 with just over a minute to play.

Brown, however, elected to go to bed.

"My son called me and said, ‘What about that play?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘You can’t believe Boise. Unbelievable.’ I said, ‘Chris, what are you talking about?’ He said, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I went to bed.’ He said, ‘Get up, you have to see this," Brown said.

Boise State tied the game with a hook-and-ladder play that scored from 35 yards out with seven seconds to play. After Oklahoma scored in overtime, the Broncos scored on a halfback pass and won the game with a famous Statue of Liberty play that ended with Ian Johnson celebrating in the end zone, chucking the ball into the stands and eventually proposing to his cheerleader girlfriend on national television after the 43-42 win.

"That’s what I mean, who makes that call? He was 29 years old," Brown said. "Most people kick the extra point. They went for 2. They had guts and that’s what I want. Greg Davis did a great job here, he did a great job for us at North Carolina. That’s 15 years of some of the best offenses in the country. We’ve been averaging the same number of points as Boise. After he resigned, I decided that I just love what they do and I can’t wait to see it at Texas."

AUSTIN, Texas -- Never mind the seven-year itch. Mack Brown is long past that by now, rolling in wins every year in his first 12 seasons to keep fans from wondering what if someone else held the title of Longhorn Leader.

"Whether we like it or not, people like new. They like fresh," Brown said. "We won a lot of games and did really well, but 13 years is a long time to be at a place. Sometimes change is good."

Nothing spurs change faster than a five-win season like the Longhorns endured in 2010. Brown replaced three coaches, including offensive coordinator Greg Davis, who had become a lightning rod for fan criticism in recent seasons, never more so than last season. Two more, including defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, left for new jobs.

The process of getting used to all those new faces after three seasons without a staff change is underway at Texas this spring.

"It’s fun to have new ideas because we’ve been doing the same stuff for so long," Brown said. "We haven’t had any -- well, much -- changes on offense in our offensive staff for 15 years, really."

Texas' vision for its new offense is ambitious, but direct. Stacey Searels came from Georgia to coach the offensive line. Darrell Wyatt moved from Kansas to coach the Longhorns' receivers. And they'll work under Bryan Harsin, who called plays for five years at Boise State before accepting an offer from the Longhorns. He turned down several others in the past few offseasons.

Defensively, Manny Diaz went from coordinator at Middle Tennessee State two years ago, to Mississippi State last season, to Texas. He had glowing recommendations from everyone Brown spoke with. Bo Davis moved in from Alabama to add some more SEC flavor to the staff and coach the defensive line.

Diaz's defense, Brown says, isn't much different from what Muschamp established in three seasons at Texas. The Longhorns will aggressively attack offenses.

"Manny is just all over the place. They're not going to read. they're not going to sit," Brown said. "I like that Manny does a great job disguising his secondary. He does a lot of pro stuff. He does stuff like the New York Jets are doing, and I wanted that to be fun for our fans and our kids."

Offensively, though, Texas is working on big changes.

"It’s been fun to watch them all work. It’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together," Brown said. "We don’t want Alabama or Georgia’s offense. We don’t want Boise State’s offense. We want a Texas offense."

To make a step toward getting it, Brown had to say goodbye to his longtime coordinator Davis, squashing criticisms that their close relationship had become a detriment to the program and would prevent Brown from making the change so many fans wanted to see.

"Greg’s a great friend, he’s a tremendous professional. My relationship with him hasn’t changed. People might think it has, but it has not," Brown said. "There were people that thought Greg was in my wedding. Well, I’ve had two of them, and he wasn’t in either one. It wasn’t like we were best of friends off the field. We’ve been good friends for years, but when you’re in the office, it's professional."

Harsin's new offense will feature pre-snap motion unlike anything Texas has seen under Brown. Additionally, it will continue Brown's desire to establish a two-back offense that's also versatile. Harsin's teams in five seasons at Boise State averaged more than 187 yards on the ground, but also had the ability to run four and five-receiver sets in a fast-paced, no-huddle scheme.

Not to mention the trick plays that became a signature of Boise's offense in a pair of Fiesta Bowl wins, including a classic finish against Texas' rival, Oklahoma that featured a hook-and-ladder, a halfback pass and a Statue of Liberty play to win the game.

"I’ve never seen that before and Bryan was about 28 when he made those calls," Brown said. "He’s aggressive and out of the box."

Like another out-of-the-box coach in the Big 12, Mike Leach, Harsin will run many of the same plays out of different formations. The difference is Harsin's offense will more often feature power runs with distracting motion before the snap that are fueled by blocking schemes that don't change.

"What I’ve learned is it’s a very complicated-looking offense with very simple theories. That’s what I really like," Brown said. "Bryan will have five runs, but he’ll run them from so many different -- 26 formations -- that everybody will think they’re different runs, but it’s the same blocking scheme for the linemen and [defenses are] the ones that really have the problem."

In a league that's become known for passing offenses and getting gashed by power running games outside the conference, Brown wants his new offense to be ahead of the trends that have become common in the Big 12.

"That's what we hope. I wanted to be different," he said. "I think it’s time to go back to two backs and be more multiple, and that’s a fun change for me, too, because it’s different than what I’m used to."

Texas coach Mack Brown met with the media on Monday afternoon, two days before signing day, and sounded re-energized. Most importantly, don't expect another coach-in-waiting any time soon for the Longhorns.

Brown, who has spent the past two months feverishly maintaining his recruiting class while hiring six new assistant coaches, was asked what he told his new assistants about his future while he was interviewing them.

"When you have a coach-in-waiting, it puts question marks into how long you’re going to coach," Brown said. "I told them I was back in the game. I was full speed ahead. I wouldn’t be working this hard on recruiting and hiring coaches if I wasn’t in it for a long time, and I basically told them that Texas fans were going to have to put up with me for a long time. I’m back at work."

That's a good sign of stability for Texas, who has experienced some of the program's best years under Brown, excluding 2010, and has the talent in place for plenty more moving forward.

A few other notes from Brown on Monday:

• Brown has spoken at length about his top-to-bottom review of the program after the 5-7 season. Part of process was handing out a survey to his players, asking them questions about himself, his assistants and other players on the team. He asked his players to write their names on the survey, but promised he would be the only one to see their answers. Brown says he'd only done it two or so other times at Texas, and the previous time was after the 2007 season. "As soon as I looked at the survey, I wrote down some thoughts that I felt were right on and I wrote down some of the things that I thought they had given me that they had probably misunderstood," Brown said, "and then I tore them all up the next day and started addressing them individually with some of the players."
• He also expressed some brief thoughts on Texas' new network in conjunction with ESPN. "There’s nothing like it in sports, which is just unbelievable," Brown said. "... we’ve got to see how we’re going to use it in football. Do you have your pro day on it? Do you have the offseason on it some days? Do you have a guy that’s going out in the community, whether it’s to the hospital to see sick children? Do you have to get a waiver to put that on national TV? You’ll have some kids that want to work in communications and what a great way for them to so some internships with Longhorn Network and ESPN. So we’re looking at all those possibilities right now, and it’s really exciting for us to have something that no one else has. It will, obviously, be great for recruiting, but we think it’s also something to let people have more behind-the-scenes looks at what we do without giving up everything. So we’ve got to look at what that means and where we go with it."
• Brown hasn't had to make many hires since coming to Texas in 1998, and weighed in with a few of the differences. One, he has to deal with agents now, and he didn't realize how high the assistant salaries had gotten until he started looking outside his program. Also, he sensed an interest in the coaching hires that wasn't there previously, with reports on planes flying in and out of Austin and various people's candidacies leaking out. "People say, 'Why do you care what gets out or who you talk to or when you talked to them?' You always want to protect the guy," Brown said. "If a guy is coming in to interview from his school, his fans are mad [and] his head coach is mad, usually. The assistant coaches with him are all talking to him. His players are upset, and his recruits are upset. It’s not about whether it affects us or not, it affects the other candidate and especially if you don’t hire him. It puts him in a very, very difficult place."
• Tired of short hitch routes, Texas fans? New offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin's arrival is a good sign. "When you start looking at offensive coordinator, you have to look at the new changes, the new ideas, where you’re going and very honestly, I think Boise has fun with their offense," Brown said. "They’ve been balanced with 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing, and they run trick plays which I love. They actually throw deep a lot, and I love that. I heard Bryan Harsin say the other day to one of the coaches, 'You have to work just as much on a short pass as you do a long one, so why not spend that time on the long one and have a chance to score with it?'"
• Brown ran down the resumes of his nine new assistants briefly. Their careers have cumulatively seen 71 bowl appearances and are 44-27 in those games.
• They've been to 23 BCS bowls and are 16-7 in those games.
• They've made 12 national championship appearances and are 5-7 in those games and one has coached in a Super Bowl.
• After making his coaching hires, Brown had a 30-minute meeting with his players and without any other assistants to discuss the changes in the program and what he'd been up to. "I went back over their surveys. I went back over what I thought was important for us to restart," he said. "I told them that we would have a new offense. We’d have a new defense. We’d have some changes in special teams, and they all had a clean slate and that I was re-energized with what I had seen with the staff in the hiring process."

A few notes and nuggets from the offseason weekend that was:

Before Mack Brown began his coaching search that eventually required him to make six offseason hires, he met with the Texas Board of Regents to discuss coaching salaries. It sounds like they were, uh, receptive to what he had to say.

After a shocking and disappointing 5-7 season in 2010, Brown's assistants received hefty raises. Brown is expected to meet with the media in Austin later today for the first time since the season finale, a home loss to Texas A&M. Texas already sat comfortably at the top of the heap in assistant coaches' pay, and these latest raises only accentuate that. No one is making what defensive coordinator Will Muschamp made ($907,000) in 2010, but you definitely won't hear any complaints coming from the football facilities any time soon.

Here's a breakdown of last year and this year's salary among the coaching staff, courtesy of the Austin American-Statesman.

Defensive coordinator

• 2011: Manny Diaz - $625,000 (made $260,000 at Mississippi State in 2009)
• 2010: Will Muschamp - $907,000 (took Florida head coach job)

Offensive coordinator

• 2011: Bryan Harsin (will call plays) - $625,000 (made $259,520 at Boise State in 2009)
• 2011: Major Applewhite (also coaches running backs) - $500,00 (made 269,509 in 2010)
• 2010: Greg Davis - $477,084 (resigned after season)

Tight ends

• 2011: Bruce Chambers - $200,000
• 2010: Bruce Chambers - $187,039

Defensive ends

• 2011: Oscar Giles - $200,000
• 2010: Oscar Giles - $162,451

Defensive backs

• 2011: Jerry Gray - $425,000 (previous NFL salary unknown)
• 2010 Duane Akina - $318,509 (left for Arizona)

Offensive line

• 2011: Stacy Searels - $425,000 (made 301,200 at Georgia in 2010)
• 2010: Mac McWhorter - $292,759

Receivers

• 2011: Darrell Wyatt - $315,000 (made 250,000 at Kansas in 2010)
• 2010: Bobby Kennedy - 212,519 (took receivers coach job at Colorado)

Life as a Longhorn right now? Well, last season's struggles aside, it's clearly pretty good.

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Huskers find a new kicker

Nebraska will need a lot of new faces on special teams, after punter/kicker Alex Henery and kickoff specialist Adi Kunalic both exhausted their eligibility following the 2010 season.

The Huskers had a commit for their 2011 class, Niklas Sade, but he decommitted and pledged to North Carolina State last month.

The solution: Nebraska went after Mauro Bondi, a Boca Raton, Fla. native and (former) Wake Forest commit who has an impressive YouTube highlight reel and sounds ready to replace Henery.

"I definitely followed him, so I have to live up to that and maybe do even better," he told the Lincoln Journal Star.

Bondi gives Nebraska 18 commits for its 2011 class. ESPN.com ranks the Huskers' class No. 14 nationally.

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Cowboys' top commit 'solid'

One player who doesn't sound like he's decommitting or recommitting anywhere is ESPNU 150 member and running back Herschel Sims, Oklahoma State's top commit.

The Cowboys' running backs coach, Robert Gillespie, left Oklahoma State to join former offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia. Sims had reportedly been wavering earlier in the recruiting season, but took his official visit to Stillwater in January and his high school coach told the Tulsa World that Sims is solid with the Cowboys and ready to sign on Wednesday, adding that there isn't "any doubt about it."

Texas commit Malcolm Brown, ranked as the nation's No. 2 running back and No. 7 overall recruit, says he's still firmly committed to the Longhorns.

The Longhorns former offensive coordinator, Greg Davis, resigned after the season and Texas hired Boise State offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin on Friday. Brown's future position coach, Major Applewhite, was named co-offensive coordinator as well, but Harsin will call the plays.

On Saturday, at the U.S. Army All-American Game, Brown told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he's still confident in his decision made back in August to attend Texas.

"Everyone knew I was still committed to playing for the University of Texas," Brown told the paper. "I'm excited about going to Texas and playing for the new coaches. I've met some of the guys before, and it's going to be fun to play with them."

The 6-foot, 215-pounder managed just seven yards on three carries, but as one of the top players in the state of Texas, he was reportedly hounded by autograph seekers and fans throughout the weekend in San Antonio for the game.

Brown is expected to make an official visit to Texas next weekend.

Texas has hired Bryan Harsin as its offensive coordinator, the program announced on Friday evening.

Harsin comes to Texas after 10 seasons at Boise State, and served as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the past five seasons.

"When I heard from Coach Brown, I was flattered and excited," Harsin said in a release. "What a great opportunity to come to a place like Texas with its rich history and tradition. We've had success at Boise State over the years, but you look at a Texas and it has been a championship program for a long, long time and it's just one of those places you want to be a part of."

Harsin will serve as co-offensive coordinator with current running backs coach Major Applewhite, but Harsin will call the plays.

"Everyone knows of the appreciation I've had for [Broncos head coach] Chris [Petersen], Bryan and the Boise State offense for quite some time," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "They have had an unbelievable amount of success over the last several years and their offense has played a huge part in that. In my opinion, they've been one of the most innovative offenses in the country, and I enjoy watching them every chance I get."

Harsin, whose offenses helped Boise State go 61-5 over the past five seasons with a pair of undefeated seasons, will replace former coordinator Greg Davis, who resigned following the season.

"Bryan and Major working together gives us two of the best, young offensive minds in the country," Brown said. "They had a chance to visit quite a bit yesterday and they clicked immediately. They both have everything we want in a coach at Texas."

I'll be making my way out to Arlington in a bit for tonight's Cotton Bowl between Texas A&M and LSU at Cowboys Stadium, but if you've missed it this week, here's a look at just about everything we've written about the game this week.

As for this week's mailbag, I was pretty surprised when I started digging in, even with the news of Broyles' return on Thursday evening: Most everyone wanted to talk/ask about the Sooners.

So....here you go.

Mike in Dallas, Texas writes: All the media could talk about was Oklahoma's 5 straight BCS bowl losses. Now they win one against an obviously outmatched UConn team and I still read that "some" media members claiming "Well this one really doesn't count" (I'm paraphrasing). You're in the media loop. What do you feel is the media's perspective on this win?

David Ubben: Well, I don't know that anyone is outspokenly claiming, "This one doesn't count!," but certainly, beating UConn wasn't all that impressive. But more than getting a win, Oklahoma's BCS troubles were more about just not playing well in a big game, which is why you saw and heard so much criticism surrounding Bob Stoops during the streak. Last time, it was the goal-line failures against Florida with an offensive line that had four NFL talents: Trent Williams, Jon Cooper, Duke Robinson and Phil Loadholt.

Before that, there was the no-show against West Virginia when the Sooners got run off the field. Before that, the Boise State debacle in which, regardless of how much the Sooners said they respected an experienced, senior-filled Broncos team, they didn't play like it.

After 2004, you had a 12-0 Oklahoma team get completely embarrassed by USC, 55-19. Before that was the national championship loss to LSU, which wasn't all that bad, 21-14, but the Sooners also got embarrassed by big underdog Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship weeks earlier, and a two-game losing streak to end a year (even if those losses are in Big 12 and national title games) will leave a bad taste in fans' mouths.

So, circling back to my original point, Oklahoma's BCS streak was more about the Sooners just playing terrible with a month between games than winning or losing.

And when OU beat Connecticut, it did it convincingly and played well. That's obviously a good sign. So while Oklahoma could have earned some additional street cred if it had beaten a more legitimate opponent, the way the Sooners played has to be encouraging and something to build on for next year.

(Side note: Both Sam Bradford and Andrew Luck missed last year's Sun Bowl with injuries, and though Luck is staying, is that the only game in college football history with two future No. 1 picks watching from the sideline? College football historians, get on this one.)

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Matt in Stafford, Va. asks: DU, with no Big XII Championship what are the chances of a team that runs the table making it to the BCS Championship? Who has the best shot and why?

DU: You're seeing teams who want to compete for national titles beef up their nonconference schedules, most notably Texas and Oklahoma. Having a ninth conference game might keep fringe teams from making bowl games eventually, but it definitely helps strength of schedule. It's possible in the future that an undefeated team from the Big 12 gets left out, but with Oklahoma playing games against Florida State and Texas scheduling a future series with USC, they're doing their part to make sure they don't get left out.

Even still, three teams from BCS conferences going undefeated has only happened once, so I wouldn't lose too much sleep about it if I were you.

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Tommy B in Austin, Texas writes: Could Ryan Broyles' decision to stay another year affect Justin Blackmon's decision whether to stay or go?

DU: Maybe. Blackmon is projected as a mid-first round pick and has the size Broyles doesn't, so unlike Luck's decision helping Blaine Gabbert's stock, that doesn't have much effect on Blackmon. What it might affect is this: If Broyles and Lewis had gone, there'd still be a bit of doubt on top of the Big 12. Not anymore. Heading into next season, Oklahoma might be a close-to-unanimous pick to win the Big 12. Those two coming back significantly lowers the chances of Oklahoma State getting the Big 12 title that narrowly eluded it this year; Oklahoma should be a lot better in 2011 than it was in 2010. So maybe that has an effect on Blackmon's decision. Maybe he sees it as a challenge and tells Brandon Weeden, "Let's come back and go after them again."

Neither of them have had a lot to say since the season ended.

Every player has to make an independent decision when it comes to their future, and I'm not sure Broyles' decision has a ton of effect on Blackmon's, but that's really the only way it would.

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Terence in New York asks: David, Happy New year. With Ryan Broyles and Travis Lewis returning, as well as all those freshman that played so well, you have to figure OU is the front runner in the conference again. With 7 Conf championships over the past 11 years, and the team they have returning, why is Texas automatically a better job? Clearly you are able to win at the highest level at OU and have been a better overall program this decade.

DU: Well, it's close, but really, it comes down to resources. Oklahoma has done just fine for itself, but it's a bit easier for UT to recruit Texas than it is for Oklahoma. Again, not a huge gap there, but it takes a little less effort for Texas to get that top-tier talent in Austin than it does for Oklahoma.

Additionally, don't ever underestimate the dollar. Texas has more money than any other program in the country, and they're not afraid to use it. More than anything else, that's what separates them. Texas was paying Will Muschamp almost $1 million to be its defensive coordinator last year, and offensive coordinator Greg Davis was making just under $500,000. Being able to keep assistants happy helps a lot, too. Muschamp was making almost $150,000 more than any other assistant in the country.

Granted, in the Big 12, Oklahoma's coordinators were Nos. 3 and 4 on the pay scale, so it's not like they're slacking, but when it comes to paychecks, life as a Longhorn is good.

It's not like the Texas job is completely on a different level than Oklahoma. They're really pretty close. But when you start trying to go down the list and compare, you have to give the edge to Austin.

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Shawn in Afghanistan asks: With the news of Travis Lewis and Ryan Broyles coming back for another season, what do you think of Oklahoma's chances of making a National Title run next year?

DU: The Sooners should be on that level, but they're helped by a tough, but not brutal nonconference schedule. They'll play at Florida State (minus Christian Ponder, remember), a difficult but very winnable game, and then have Ball State and Tulsa. Then it just comes down to getting it done in Big 12 play. It won't be easy, and there's plenty of teams capable of knocking the Sooners off their stoop. All it takes is playing badly on one Saturday.

USA Today provided further analysis of its coaching salary information this week, after offering up the information for the Big 12's highest paid head coaches earlier this season. Here's a look at that list.

But what about the assistant? Their salaries are certainly not created equal. Here are the Big 12's highest-paid assistants for the 2010 season. Just as in the head coaching salaries, none of these figures include possible bonuses, which are listed on USA Today's chart. These numbers include just base salaries, both from university and non-university sources.

• Will Muschamp, defensive coordinator, Texas -- $907,000
• Greg Davis, offensive coordinator, Texas -- $477,084
• Brent Venables, defensive coordinator, Oklahoma -- $449,000
• Kevin Wilson, offensive coordinator, Oklahoma -- $445,000
• Tim DeRuyter, defensive coordinator, Texas A&M -- $400,000
• Shawn Watson, offensive coordinator, Nebraska -- $380,000
• Carl Pelini, defensive coordinator, Nebraska -- $375,000
• Joe DeForest (special teams/safeties), Bill Young (defense), Dana Holgorsen (offense), Oklahoma State -- $360,000
• Neal Brown, offensive coordinator, Texas Tech -- $355,400
• James Willis, defensive coordinator, Texas Tech -- $353,400

Again, you can see the full list here.

A few notes from those numbers:

• Muschamp was the nation's highest-paid assistant in 2009 by nearly $150,000, right above Alabama offensive coordinator Kirby Smart. No other Big 12 assistant was in the top 13.
• Interesting to note that three of the top four highest-paid assistants won't be back in 2010. Muschamp (Florida) and Wilson (Indiana) took head coaching jobs, and Davis resigned.
• That leaves Venables as the league's highest-paid assistant, and it's come with plenty of tenure. Next year will be his 13th season as at least co-defensive coordinator for the Sooners. He's been defensive coordinator since 2004.
• DeForest is the only non-offensive or defensive coordinator to crack the list, but he's also an associate head coach, and got nibbles from Louisiana-Lafayette, his alma mater, for its head coaching vacancy this offseason.

Additionally, three schools from the Big 12 made the top 10 for highest paid assistant coaching staff. See the full list here.

No. 3: Texas -- $3,032,820

No. 6: Oklahoma -- $2,744,300

No. 9: Oklahoma State -- $2,535,000

We're taking a look at some of the nation's higher profile bowl misses in 2010, and no one personified that in the Big 12 more than the Texas Longhorns.

How it happened: Well, for starters, Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley took their talents to Ohio and the NFL. No receiver ever emerged to fill Shipley's void, and all other problems aside, first-year starting quarterback Garrett Gilbert threw 10 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Good luck finding those kind of numbers on a winning team. No other Big 12 quarterback threw more than 13 interceptions, and only three had double-digits. Additionally, Texas' commitment to a power running game throughout the spring and fall was a certified flop. The Longhorns never found a consistent back, and the team's leading rusher, Cody Johnson, finished with just 592 yards. No one else had more than 400.

The defense had a good season on the stat sheet, but a first-quarter lapse against Oklahoma and a poor second half against UCLA resulted in a pair of early-season losses that derailed the season. The Longhorns still managed to beat Nebraska in Lincoln, vaulting them back into the top 25. But the win was a result of the Huskers getting caught off guard by Gilbert using his legs to jump out to an early lead, while the defense corraled Taylor Martinez. Texas' only win the rest of the season came over Florida Atlantic.

What needs to change: Texas has to find offense from somewhere. Freshman receiver Mike Davis offers hope, but of the Longhorns touted freshman receivers from the 2010 class, he was the only one to make a real contribution. Darius White didn't play much, and finished with just one catch. Gilbert must improve, and look for the Longhorns to ride tailback Malcolm Brown, a much-hyped 2011 commitment, in next year's offense.

Will they go bowling in 2011: Uh, we'll wait and see when they fill the coaching staff. Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp bolted for Florida, offensive coordinator Greg Davis was forced to resign and two other assistant coaches had to retire. What the Longhorns look like next year is anyone's guess. You'd like to think boatloads of top-tier recruits will get you to a bowl game regardless, but we saw this year that's not necessarily the case.

I touched on the issue briefly Saturday night, but ESPN Recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill dove into what Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp's jump to head Gator means on the recruiting trail.

In short, he's a perfect fit for the Gators, but what does that mean for Texas?

There is a lot of turnover right now, but the bottom line is Texas is Texas. Muschamp is a great recruiter, but most of the players in that class are from Texas and they want to play at Texas regardless of who the defensive coordinator is. There are kids who grew up dreaming of wearing the burnt orange and white and when they got the offer, it took seconds for them to say yes. Muschamp leaving isn't likely to change that. You heard almost nothing from Texas recruits about leaving during the bad season and don't expect to hear too much rumbling now.

That has essentially been my thoughts on the issue as well. As jarring as it must have been for Texas' No. 1 recruiting class to see their future program go 5-7, one season doesn't erase the nine 10-win seasons that preceded it. Texas is undergoing a major overhaul, and the coaches that fill Muschamp's and resigned offensive coordinator Greg Davis' spot will matter.

It might cost -- or gain -- them a few recruits right away, but the bigger issue is them having success on the field. As long as that happens, Texas has nothing to worry about in the long run.

If Texas can't rebound to win 8-9 games next season, or the one after it, the Longhorns will have to worry about falling out of the perennial top 5. Surging programs around them like Texas A&M and Oklahoma State will hope to swoop in on some of the top talent around the state.