Dallas ? Making the rounds at the annual convention of college football coaches, Mack Brown kept hearing the same complaint from his colleagues.

Their gripe wasn’t that Brown’s Texas Longhorns won the national championship, it was the way they did it.

When the Longhorns fell behind Southern California by 12 points with less than seven minutes left in the Rose Bowl, many of Brown’s peers filled out their final poll with the Trojans on top. Then Vince Young led a stirring rally to win the game and claim the No. 1 ranking for Texas, forcing those folks to do some scratching out.

“I told them I did, too,” Brown said, smiling.

A week after the biggest win in his 33-year coaching career, and his school’s biggest in 35 years, Brown is still soaking it all up. He spent Sunday through Wednesday at the American Football Coaches Assn. gathering – in Dallas, no less – and was greeted practically nonstop with kudos from friends, rivals and admirers.

Not even Young’s decision to go pro could spoil his fun.

“The only time coaches should be disappointed is if you have one leave that you didn’t think should,” Brown said. “But in Vince’s situation, I couldn’t say it was better for him to stay than go. … I’m really excited for him. Whatever kid comes in and is close to graduation and can be a No. 1 draft pick and make $50 million – to me, that works out pretty good.”

Texas coach Mack Brown celebrates after the Longhorns defeated Southern California in the Rose Bowl for the national championship.

Brown hasn’t seen his team since the locker room in California. They’ll get together again Sunday for a campus-wide celebration at their stadium.

“My moment is going to come Sunday at 4:30 when I sit down with those kids and those coaches and I’m able to say thank you to them,” he said.

Brown’s big day at the convention was Tuesday. He received several honors at an awards luncheon, held an hourlong chalk-talk that drew a standing-room only crowd of more than 3,000 and was a finalist for the AFCA coach of the year award. Joe Paterno won it, then told Brown, “I wish we could make this a co- thing.” He likely meant it, too, because Paterno sent staffers to Austin to delve into the Texas playbook last offseason, then used what they learned to help Penn State go 11-1 and finish No. 3.

Since shredding the label of being a coach who can’t win the big one, Brown has been relaxed, confident and full of the charm that’s made him a top recruiter.

A perfect example: He’s already turned Young’s departure into a favorite punch line.

“I would like to thank and congratulate our staff, but I think they’re out recruiting quarterbacks,” he quipped at the awards luncheon.

He did it again at the chalk talk after bringing up an early season game against coach Jim Tressel and Ohio State, which will have the benefit of returning a bunch of speedy starters.

“I’ve written all of those fast guys and hope they all go to the NFL, too,” Brown said. “I told Jim today, ‘Can you give me some cell numbers so I can talk to them about it?”‘

The big speech was billed as a discussion about the Texas offense, but Brown spent more time discussing his approach toward coaching.

He emphasized simple mottos like, “Keep playing,” using the Rose Bowl rally as a perfect example, and the concept of being “consistently good before you can be great.” Another line many attendees scribbled down: “If you don’t have a favorite play, you’re really in trouble because it means you’re not really good at anything.”

He encouraged young coaches to persevere and recommended that anyone doing something they don’t like should stop doing it, even if it means finding another job or another profession. In his case, that meant dropping his weekly radio show.

“Why worry about some idiot saying something to you that you’ve never met before that you don’t respect and that you’ll never meet again?” he said.