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Texas President Bill Powers gave coach Mack Brown his ''full support'' on Thursday, saying Brown will remain the Longhorns head coach after an 8-4 regular season and missing a BCS bowl for the third consecutive year.
Writing on his university blog, Powers cited an ''increase in media speculation'' about Brown's future.
''I'd like to state unequivocally that Coach Brown has my full support as well as the support of Men's Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds. Put succinctly, Mack Brown is and will remain the Longhorns' head football coach,'' Powers wrote.
''Coach Brown restored Texas' winning tradition. He embodies the Texas character, is a superb ambassador for The University of Texas, and runs a program that is both winning and clean, a program that all alumni and fans can and should be proud of. Mack cares about the young men on the team as people, as students, and as players, in that order, and he models the kind of leadership that will serve our players for the rest of their lives,'' Powers wrote.
Brown is 149-43 in 15 seasons at Texas, with two Big 12 championships and the 2005 national championship. But since playing for the 2009 national title, Texas is just 21-16 overall and 11-16 in the Big 12.
Texas will play Oregon State (9-3) in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29. Speaking at a bowl news conference in San Antonio on Thursday, Brown said he wasn't happy about missing the BCS three years in a row but said he optimistic about the future.
''I really believe we're headed in the right way, in the right direction,'' Brown said. ''The future looks very, very bright. Football coaches don't look back. You don't want to sit back and talk about all the things that you didn't get accomplished. I'm fortunate to be at a place where the standards are very high and we're going to fight to make sure we get back to those standards.
''If you ask me if I'm happy with three years of non BCS games, I would say no. That's for me, much less everybody else,'' Brown said.
Powers' statement could be an attempt to quell any rumors about Brown's job on the recruiting trail. Brown spent part of Thursday recruiting and the team is scheduled to host several recruits at its annual football team banquet Friday night.
Also Thursday, Brown would not commit to either David Ash or Case McCoy as his starting quarterback for the bowl game.
Ash started the first 11 games but was pulled during Texas' loss to TCU on Thanksgiving and suffered a rib injury in that game.
McCoy made his only start in Texas' 42-24 loss at Kansas State. At one point, McCoy has 17 consecutive completions but also threw two interceptions that led to Kansas State touchdowns.
