FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
UT freshman sixth Longhorn arrested since June

From the Houston Chronicle:

The off-field problems continue for the Texas Longhorns.

Texas freshman running back James Henry has been charged on felony counts of obstruction and tampering with evidence connected with a July incident involving teammates Robert Joseph and Andre Jones. Henry was arrested Monday afternoon and bail set at $30,000.

Henry, the sixth UT football player arrested since June, has been suspended from the team indefinitely, coach Mack Brown said.

And

"Young people who do not obey the law, university or team rules will continue to be disciplined with a stern hand and we will move forward. We continue to have a zero tolerance policy in that regard," Brown said. "I will put our long-term record of character up against anyone, and that's why these situations upset me so much."

Click here for the rest.

So this may be what's causing many of the 'Horns' problems, and I'm not simply talking about this one guy, or even the multiple arrests in themselves. The fact that six players have run afoul of the law strongly indicates a corrupt team culture. One or two arrests, sure, dismiss them as isolated incidents. But six? Something fucked is going on, and when you have that many guys actually busted for their misdeeds, there's a pretty good chance there are more who simply haven't been caught.

In short, the team, as a cohesive unit, isn't serious about winning football games. They're obviously more interested in partying and being bigshot football players. I mean, yeah, there are obviously individual players, maybe even a majority of them, who are serious about winning, but the team isn't. It doesn't matter how much talent you have. If you don't have a good team, you're not going to win the big ones.

I have no idea what Mack Brown ought to do about this. As the article notes, he's doing the right thing, kicking these assholes off the team. But my bet is that this playboy element has stained the Longhorns' ability to play well, and it may be irreparable. This year, anyway.

Short of firing everybody and starting over with a bunch of walk-ons, how do you repair a sour team culture?

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