Aug. 23, 2008

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Mack Brown, along with several members of the Texas football staff and team, took time out Thursday evening to meet with a very special group of Texas football fans.

For the 10th consecutive year, the Mack Brown Women's Clinic, which was started by Brown and his wife, Sally, hosted upwards of 800 fans at The University of Texas Club inside DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Among the women staking a claim in line hours before the doors opened was 81-year-old Betty Jo Spencer, a season ticket holder since 1972. Spencer has attended the Women's Clinic for four years.

"It's great," Spencer said. "I enjoy the special teams coaches and what they have to say - technical things about what they're trying with personnel and so on."

The Women's Clinic has become an annual event for Spencer, as she attended with her daughter-in-law, Gerry.

"Getting to see the players and what their personalities are like (is my favorite part)" Gerry said. "You can kind of get to know them a little bit, and coach (Brown) too."

Good seats were in high demand, as friends DeAnn Rutledge and Mara Guzman began waiting in line at 2 p.m.

"We wanted to get good seats," said Rutledge, 22, as she braved the Texas summer heat. "I've probably come seven or eight years. It's always kind of a big fight to get the best seats so we were determined to be the first ones."

Thursday evening's event included an autograph session with Mack Brown, introduction of the coaching staff, and question and answer sessions with seniors Chris Ogbonnaya and Aaron Lewis, equipment manager Chip Robertson, defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, running backs coach Major Applewhite, and Mack and Sally Brown.

The idea for a football clinic for women came from Sally, when Mack was the head coach at North Carolina.

"Everything's about men in football about coaches' clinics and men asking questions," said Mack Brown. "The ladies are kind of left out so we thought this included them."

Treading off the common football path was an interesting experience for senior DL Aaron Lewis, who along with Ogbonnaya was in full uniform.

"This is the first time I've ever done anything like this," Lewis said. "It was nice to go up there and see the women who represent the Longhorns. They were really nice and they had some really interesting questions. They were really cool."

The question and answer sessions with the players and coaching staff provides the women in attendance a chance to get to know those they see on the field every fall Saturday in a way that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

"It's great because you get to hear stuff they don't ever cover on the news, superstitions, learn about what they wear, what they do in pre-game and post-game and stuff like that," said Guzman.

While the many of the women may not have played football, they certainly are not uneducated on the game.

"Most of the time they're asking about screens and blitzes and zone blitzes," Brown remarked. "You'd be amazed how educated some of these ladies are on their football."

"It's fun to see people have a good time and enjoy it," Brown said while he signed for the hundreds of women seeking his autograph. "You never see people have as much fun as a group of ladies getting together in Texas about football. They can go home and tell their husbands that they know more about football than them. I think that's what they enjoy the most."