Texas legend Earl Campbell thinks it's time for Mack Brown to go

It's time for Texas to give Mack Brown the hook, says Earl Campbell. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

A Texas Longhorns football legend thinks it's time for a change at head coach. Former Texas running back Earl Campbell told FOX 26 that it's time for UT to replace head coach Mack Brown.

The 1977 Heisman Trophy winner under coach Darrell Royal said Texas administrators should move on from Brown. The Longhorns are 2-2 this season, and have turned in three straight disappointing seasons under Brown.

"Nobody likes to get fired or leave a job, but things happen," Campbell said. "I'd go on record and say, 'Yes I think it's time.'"

Campbell said Brown's legacy at Texas, including winning the 2005 national championship, puts the university in a tough spot.

"Very hard because Coach Brown is a very good man," Campbell said. "I just hope he doesn't stay. ... He's done some great things. The program, he brought it back, and we don't need it to get run down where somebody has to start all over again."

He congratulated USC for putting an end to consecutive sub-par seasons by firing Lane Kiffin on Sunday.

"I'd just say this, I take my hat off for USC for what they've done. They didn't mess around with it. They just said, 'Let's do it now.'  I think at some point our university's people are going to have make a decision."

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Campbell said Brown, 62, might be too old to be the CEO of the extremely profitable, but underperforming Texas football program.

"Some people get too old," Campbell said. "If players get too old to play a game, why can't a coach get too old to coach it?"

The member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame has Brown's replacement already in mind: former UT All-American defensive back and Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray.

"If we're going to make a change I would like to say that we got one in the house, Jerry Gray, who's getting in the College Football Hall of Fame," Cambell said. "I think that would be a good place to start."

In a Monday news conference, Brown said he was "disappointed in Earl's comments" about his needing to leave, but "he'll always be welcomed here."