Sports
December 14, 2022
Mike Leach, the Madman Who Revolutionized Football
The author of ‘The Perfect Pass’ and ‘Empire of the Summer Moon’ reflects on Mike Leach’s coaching legacy.
74 Articles
Travel & Outdoors
September 22, 2014
Let’s Go Wild
Most of Texas may be privately owned, but that doesn't mean it's tame. From McKittrick Ridge and the Guadalupe River to Maravillas Canyon and Lake Crockett, here are eighteen places where you can revel in the most natural, untouched—and, yes, savage—aspects of our state.
Sports
August 6, 2014
Can Steve Patterson Fill This Stadium?
It was just last year—amid spectacular losses and dramatic resignations—that the University of Texas saw its sports program go up in flames. As the new athletics director knows, a return to glory now rides on one person: him.
Sports
August 15, 2013
Preview: Who Is Johnny Football?
An excerpt from S.C. Gwynne's September cover story on Johnny Manziel, which will officially hit newsstands (and the web) on August 21. (Illustrations by Nathan Fox. Color by Jeromy Cox.)
Sports
August 9, 2013
Who Is Johnny Football?
Johnny Manziel seemed like a superhero, the Manziel of Steel, able to leap tall linemen in a single bound. Is he something else?
Sports
June 20, 2013
2012 Sanction Against Johnny Manziel Likely a “Conduct Probation”
Texas A&M’s dean of student life describes the policy that Manziel says almost kept him off the field last season.
Sports
June 19, 2013
How Johnny Football Almost Didn’t Play for Texas A&M
UPDATED: In an exclusive interview with S.C. Gwynne, Johnny Manziel confirmed that Texas A&M suspended him last summer. His successful appeal changed college football history.
Business
February 7, 2013
Dell’s Great Success Story
Twenty-five years after the company’s first offering, Dell’s public stock will cease to exist. But its astonishing rocket-ride changed Austin forever.
Business
January 21, 2013
Luv and War at 30,000 Feet
Somehow, as every other major airline went bankrupt, slashed its workforce, or grounded planes, Southwest Airlines kept flying high. Today, Southwest is the country’s largest domestic carrier. So how does a feisty underdog vanquish its competitors and dominate a thoroughly beleaguered industry? One Kick Tail-a-Gram at a time.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Genius
By now we've heard plenty about how smart senior presidential adviser Karl Rove is, and how he's the most powerful political consultant of all time, and how he delights Republicans and bedevils Democrats. But how did the man who made George W. Bush famous get to be famousand infamoushimself?
Feature
January 20, 2013
Dell Freezes Over
It’s not just the stock price. It’s not just the executive exodus. It’s not just the flaming laptops. It’s not just the lousy customer service. It’s not just the sagging employee morale. It’s all of these things—and it’s deadly serious. Inside the sudden decline of the world’s most powerful computer
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
James Baker Forever
In an ever-changing political world, one thing is constant: The Republican mandarin is a player—and always will be.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
1. Tom Craddick
The House Speaker didn’t get to be the most powerful man in Texas by selling mud.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Bob Perry Needs a Hug
Houston homebuilder Bob Perry was the nation's largest individual political donor and the man criticized for helping to popularize “Swift boat” as a verb.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
The Great White Hope
During his three terms in office, Houston’s Bill White has been one of the most popular big-city mayors in America. Now he’s just the latest in a long line of Texas Democrats trying to win a statewide election. What makes Mayor Bill think he can break a fifteen-year losing streak?
Sports
January 20, 2013
Come Early. Be Loud. Cash In.
How did the University of Texas build the most successful college sports program in history? One visionary coach at a time. One world-class athlete at a time. One state-of-the-art stadium at a time. And with an ambitious, aggressive business model that’s the envy of its rivals everywhere.
Business
January 20, 2013
The Ups and Downs and Ups of the National Car of Texas
When GM declared bankruptcy last year and moved all production of large SUVs to a single plant in Arlington, it looked like the end was near for the Suburban and its brethren. Instead, they came roaring back to life.
Sports
January 20, 2013
Pirate Under Attack. Avast, Ye Swabs!
If Texas Tech fires Leach, there will be a mushroom cloud over Lubbock for thousands of miles and a likely revolt of Tech fans, alums, and former players.
Sports
January 20, 2013
Head Case
Depending on your point of view, the firing of Mike Leach, Texas Tech’s controversial football coach, was about the state of football (the sport has gone soft), concussions (they are a potentially life-threatening condition), or celebrity meddling (Craig James was a helicopter dad). But is it possible that Leach has
Letter From Fort Worth
January 20, 2013
Bishop Takes Castle
Fort Worth clergyman Jack Iker’s battle with the Episcopal Church has become an all-out war. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Feature
January 20, 2013
Peace Be With You. And Also With You. Unless You’re Gay.
The battle for the soul of the Episcopal Church, being waged aggressively in this state, is not only about the ordination of homosexuals. It's also about the future of the denomination.
True Crime
January 20, 2013
Lust in Space
The lovesick antics of diapered astronaut Lisa Nowak are some combination of funny and sad but seemingly not revealing of anything larger, until you realize that her tragic, tabloidy breakdown says everything you need to know about NASA’s many troubles.
Business
January 20, 2013
The Next Frontier
How has the state’s most storied ranch managed to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century? By operating in a way that its founder, Captain Richard King, would scarcely recognize.
Travel & Outdoors
January 20, 2013
On the Road Again—Panhandle
South from Amarillo to Tulia, east to Turkey, west to Silverton, and north, through Palo Duro Canyon, to Amarillo.
Feature
October 31, 2012
Git Along, Lonesome Ranchers
Cattle ranching in Texas has been endangered almost since its inception. Has the harsh economic reality finally caught up with our most iconic business?
Texas History
April 30, 2010
Last Days of the Comanches
In an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Empire of the Summer Moon, special correspondent S. C. Gwynne re-creates in thrilling detail the bloody 1871 battle that marked the beginning of the end for the most fearsome tribe to ever ride the plains and its mysterious, magnificent chief, Quanah Parker.
Sports
August 21, 2009
Mike Leach Is Thinking . . .
And you would be too if you were an itinerant Rollerblader with a passion for pirates who’d reinvented the game of college football, brought joy to Lubbock, beaten UT, and narrowly missed a shot at a national championship. And what you’d be thinking is, “Gangway!”
Web Exclusive
April 30, 2008
Mountain Man
Sam Gwynne and the Texas land commissioner in Big Bend.
Business
April 30, 2008
Starting a Business
Sweet Leaf Tea’s founder on starting a business.
Feature
April 30, 2008
This Land Is His Land
Jerry Patterson’s enemies make him out to be the Grinch who sold Christmas (Mountains, that is). Of course, he couldn’t give a &$%#.
Web Exclusive
February 1, 2008
Toilet Tales
In summer months, Houstonians are drinking ice cold . . . toilet water. Courtesy of Dallas.
Feature
February 1, 2008
The Last Drop
Texas has the country’s most precise state water plan. So how is it that every one of our major cities is still on track to run dry in the next fifty years?
Letter from San Antonio
December 1, 2007
Boom With A View
There’s no stopping the skyrocketing growth of San Antonio—until recently the Land That Time Forgot—and there’s no going back.
The Horse's Mouth
October 31, 2007
Producing a TV Talk Show
Bill Geddie, co-executive producer of The View.
Feature
October 31, 2007
The Old Man and the River
Fifty years after the mythical trip on the Brazos that was the basis for John Graves’s classic book, I followed in his wake. Literally.
Letter From Nocona
March 1, 2007
Glove Story
Why an iconic sporting-goods company survived a devastating fire.
Energy
January 1, 2007
Coal Hard Facts
Facing an energy crisis, Texas is on the verge of a solution that will belch about five billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the next forty years. Breathe deeply—while you still can.
Cojones
December 1, 2006
Beverly Kearney
An amazing recovery on track.
The Horse's Mouth
November 1, 2006
How to Win An Election
Matthew Dowd on how to win an election.
Politics & Policy
May 31, 2006
He’s Sisyphus, and He Approves This Message
Gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell pushes a rock up a hill.
Politics & Policy
April 30, 2006
Walled Off
As a record number of demonstrators hit the streets this spring, one Texas border town was rolling the dice on a draconian method of dealing with illegal immigrants. And it’s working.
Business
April 1, 2006
Tree Ring Circus
Why did the feds spend seventeen years pursuing a baseless billion-dollar lawsuit against Houston financier Charles Hurwitz? To help environmentalists take away his old-growth California redwoods. Your tax dollars at work.
Business
January 1, 2006
Retail Politics
Along a seventeen-mile stretch of Interstate 35 sits a theoretical dividing line between red-state and blue-state America. In Austin, the flagship Whole Foods attracts your typical wine-sipping, tree-hugging, Volvo-driving liberals. In Buda, the massive Cabela’s is a magnet for beer-guzzling, gun-toting, flag-waving conservatives. From these consumer preferences, voting habits are
Feature
August 31, 2005
Dr. Evil
By almost any measure of performance, including the sheer number of patients who are crippled and maimed, the medical profession has rarely seen anyone like Houston orthopedic surgeon Eric Scheffey. So why did he get to keep his license for so long?
Sports
May 31, 2005
Run With the Devils
There was a major don’t-try-this-at-home aspect to my two-day ride on this primitive and unpredictable river. But as scary as it was, it was every bit as beautiful.
Travel & Outdoors
May 31, 2005
Hello to a River
Fourteen of them, actually. From kayaking the Colorado and rock climbing along the Pecos to tubing the Pedernales and birding on the Rio Grande, here are the most enjoyable and exciting things to do on some of our favorite Texas waterways.
Sports
April 1, 2005
Safe at Home
Yes, I am one of those parents, the sort who takes his perfectly contented ten-year-old out of a relaxed neighborhood softball league and propels her into the hypercompetitive world of youth tournament sports. But you know what? It’s what Maisie wanted.
Business
January 1, 2005
The Dallas Morning Blues
Why isn’t this man smiling? If you were the chairman of Belo, the suddenly stumbling media conglomerate, you wouldn’t be smiling either. Then again, Robert Decherd is sure there’s only good news ahead.
Feature
November 1, 2004
Attack Here
The Houston Ship Channel is considered one of the top strategic targets in the U.S.—an enormous bomb waiting to be detonated by terrorists. But what happens if the bomb actually goes off? Brace yourself for a worst-case scenario of the sort the Homeland Security folks are modeling and simulating and
Politics & Policy
July 31, 2004
The Daughter Also Rises
Her mom dissed his dad. He defeated her mom. Now Cecile Richards is helping lead the charge to send himthat would be the president of the United Statesback to Texas. Nothing personal, mind you.