Mack Brown explains his issues with Coaches Poll

Mack Brown has seen a lot throughout his long coaching career and he’s built up enough knowledge to have issues with the Coaches Poll.

The Coaches Poll Top 25 rankings are released in conjunction with the AP Poll. Granted, the coaches, as it’s aptly named, vote on the top 25 teams each week.

But, Brown took issue with the process compared to how media members vote for the Associated Press’ rankings.

“So you really can’t vote for who you want to, and that be best for your program,” Brown said. “So I just quit. I said, if you’ll let me vote and keep it private. I’m fine. I don’t need to be sitting here worried about, I want to vote for who I think is the best team. I don’t want to vote for what looks best politically. 

“And some coaches have (their SID) do it till the season’s over. And I did that once at Texas. I think John Bianco did it. He forgot to put Missouri in there, and we played them the next week, and they were 20th or something. They said ‘he didn’t even put us in there.’ And I thought, John, man, come on.”

Brown even referred to preseason polls, which can be completely hit and miss.

“But if you look at the preseason polls, they’re so bad, they’re so bad,” Brown said. “And media ducks it. They never want to talk about their picks when their picks are awful. Not to say anyone in this group picked some that are not still up there.”

But as the North Carolina coach mentioned, it’s impossible to predict exactly who’s going to be good or bad. Heck, he and everyone else probably had Florida State as the preseason ACC favorite.

The Seminoles are currently 1-7 following an ACC title last season.

“Absolutely that’s why college football has changed so much, you can’t tell. I mean, you just absolutely can’t tell,” Brown said. “Who would have picked Vanderbilt to beat Alabama, who would have picked Texas and Vanderbilt to be onside kicking at the end of the game Saturday? You better (get) ready to (go) play. I mean, it’s every week. And when people say, are they ready to play? I thought we were ready to play James Madison. 

“Practice was good, pre game was good. They look focused. I watched them in pregame, I mean … I just don’t think you can tell anymore. You just gotta coach the heck out of them when you get them on the field.”