By Ernie Gonzalez (@superego1012):
Ten days after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston hard, San Jose State traveled to Austin, roughly 160 miles from Space City for a football game.
It was the first road contest of the 2017 season for the Spartans, but they failed to score a point in a crushing 56-0 defeat against the Longhorns.
SJSU head coach Brent Brennan and his staff did however score a big moral point prior and during the game, wearing gray T-shirts with the Lone Star State outlined under the words “We Are Houston Strong.”
The entire team wore the shirts during warmups and the coaches left them on during the game.
In the past, Brennan made it clear he wanted to change the culture of San Jose State football, and the tees sure helped his past claim.
“Life is bigger than football,” Brennan said.“With what that state was going through, all the hardship, it was a really easy thing for us to do.”
He did get a little — well, a lot of help from another Brennan, his wife Courtney, after she felt something needed to be done the minute the NCAA announced the cancellation of the SJSU women’s soccer game versus Rice University due to extreme weather and safety concerns.
“She was driving me nuts because we were trying to get ready for a game [vs Cal Poly],” Brennan said. “It ended up being a great deal.”
A great deal indeed, as Lance Armstrong, the world-famous professional road-racing cyclist took to Twitter to appreciate Brennan and San Jose State.
“Classy move by @coachbrennan (Brent Brennan) and his staff with the We Are Houston Strong tees,” Armstrong tweeted during Saturday’s game.
The seven-consecutive Tour de France champion (1999-2005) is a Plano, Texas native and it’s well-known he’s a diehard Longhorn fan.
Ten Months ago, Brennan came in with a plan. The plan wasn’t to go 13-0 this season or send all his players to the NFL. It was simple. It was that life goes on after football.
Tell that to the San Jose State’s ‘Beyond Football’ coordinator Tobruk Blaine who runs the program Brennan brought along with him from Oregon State.
Blaine pointed to the rope SJSU has with with the Houston Texans organization as a motive to act fast.
“We have some ties to Houston, Blaine said. “We have former players and employees within athletics that work for the Houston Texans.”
In all, what began as an idea turned into a $7,000 profit that was sent straight to the J.J. Watt Houston relief fund.
“We were able to produce 550 shirts,” Blaine said. “We sold all 550 of them.”