By the time Bryan Harsin donned a scarlet and red tie as Arkansas State's new head coach on Wednesday afternoon, Texas was already far ahead of the game in handling his sudden departure.
The Longhorns responded swifty. By the time Harsin was finished with his news conference, Mack Brown had already promoted Major Applewhite and met with some of his program's most coveted recruits.
His staff lost one verbal commit on the day, but for now Texas has successfully managed to avoid any serious fallout from losing the second-year offensive coordinator. In fact, the rise of Applewhite might end up being a positive for Texas' recruiting efforts.