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COMMENTARY: Have the Longhorns become the new U?

MIAMI — We came here, looking for trouble. Where better to find it than the Miami Hurricanes, the heart of everything that is wrong about college football, right?

Aren't they still BMOC, the big menace on campus, the rule-breaking, trash-talking, helmet-swinging, midfield-dancing football program, the one infamously known as the U? And you know what the U stands for. Undisciplined. Unbridled. Unconscionable.

Well, seems my Mapquest is on the fritz. At the epicenter of college football wrongdoing these days is none other than your Texas Longhorns. The slogan "Keep Austin Weird" may soon be replaced with "Keep Bail Bondsman on Speed Dial."

Texas may have become the U-Too. Even the Hurricanes can empathize.

"We don't wish bad on no players," Miami split end Darnell Jenkins said when asked if the Longhorns are stealing ... uh, borrowing a page from the Canes. "It's funny because you hear so much. ... A lot of fans say words at us to make us angry. But coach (Randy) Shannon says to keep our heads high."

Funny, because not a single Hurricane has run afoul of the law since Shannon was introduced as Miami's new head coach last December. In fact, since 2001, only one Miami player has been arrested, and receiver Ryan Moore was suspended for all of five games last year for grabbing a woman by the throat and pushing her down.

But the Canes are still living down their all-out brawl with Florida International last season and are finding images don't change overnight.

"That set 'em back 10 years," observed Jim Martz, editor of Canesport magazine.

"We're all struggling," Miami athletic director Paul Dee said. "It's cyclical. Image-wise, we're doing much, much better. But any time you have issues, it takes longer to get over it than it does getting into it."

Don't the Horns know it.

National champion Florida has had seven players arrested since the title game on Jan. 8, three of them involving felonies. Nebraska receiver Maurice Purify had two incidents and pleaded guilty to DUI, assault, disturbing the peace and hindering arrest, and was suspended all of one game.

But now comes report of the sixth arrest of a Longhorn player in four months. The recurring pattern sends out a very loud alarm and strikes at the real heart of the Longhorns' problems:

No strong leadership.

Not in the head coach's chair. Not among the players. Neither on the field nor off it.

To be fair, Mack Brown is as honorable as they come, a man of impeccable integrity and virtue. But he may still be Mack the Nice, a coach whom his players do not fear.

He coddles them far too much.

He claps when he ought to be clamping down.

He blames the press for undue scrutiny on his players and program.

Listen to the Miami players, who have to abide by Shannon's strict rules or else. He has already demoted players for such minor offenses as a missed class. He suspended one starter for a missed meeting. He has guilty parties run sprints, even in their street clothes and loafers.

When the coach walks through the halls, Jenkins said, "all you hear is quietness."

All we're hearing in Austin these days are police sirens.

Shannon demands respect. I'd like to think Mack does, too. I think he does, but he is losing the battle of perception. When stories start appearing in The New York Times and USA Today about a program's difficulties with the law, it looks bad. Real bad.

The UT players don't seem to get it. Asked if the national perception bothers the team, senior linebacker Scott Derry said, "I don't believe so. If everybody else thinks that, then that's what they think. A lot of people don't read the media hype or watch the TVs. We just need to stay grounded and stick to our guns."

Uh, Scott, you might ought to shoot for a different metaphor.

There's little doubt Brown has laid down the law. Of the six Longhorns arrested, four will not be back. Two were suspended for three games for drunken driving.

Wideout Billy Pittman was suspended three games for just driving a car that didn't belong to him. Texas' nine-person compliance staff recommended an unduly harsh penalty, and athletic director DeLoss Dodds concurred. Isn't there a strong message there?

"I will put our long-term record of character up against anyone and that's why these situations upset me so much," Brown said in a statement. "I am disappointed that our university has been publicly embarrassed because of off the field incidents, but I will not allow the actions of a few to detour from the positive accomplishments of so many in our program."

Instead of suggesting his players get too much scrutiny from the police and the press, Brown should change his tactics.

He needs to establish a curfew, if only for perception. Forget the fact that half the players live off campus, thus making bed checks impossible. It would set firm rules and give him just cause for dismissal if a player is arrested after curfew.

He needs to pull several upperclassmen aside and get their input, because the players should be policing themselves and be more accountable.

He should sit down with UT President William Powers Jr. to figure out solutions.

What's really sad is how many of Mack's older players are getting in trouble. Defensive end Henry Melton is returning from a three-game suspension after his drunken-driving arrest, and he's a junior. Safety Tyrell Gatewood, arrested last week on misdemeanor charges of drug possession, was a fifth-year senior.

If upperclassmen aren't listening, can Brown expect his freshmen to listen?

I'd contend Texas doesn't have a drug problem; it's today's culture. A recent University of Michigan study showed more than 33 percent of all college students have smoked marijuana, so it's logical to think all college football teams have users of the drug. But that's not to excuse the Longhorn players, who need to toe the line.

Neither Brown nor his players should be let off the hook, because they're looking soft on the field and may be doing hard time off it.

Kirk Bohls writes for the Austin American-Statesman.