Ketch good write up, and I think there's some really good takes in there, but, I've got to take you to task on your view(s) on Charlie Strong right now.
The problem is simply not the Mack Brown curse, or the soul sapping hangover of entitlement. Its the current coaching staff.
In true OB fashion, here's my big 5 reasons why:
1. This is Texas. We don't "burn it to the ground". There's no reason to. When you're at Louisville and the program is a hollowed out shell after a couple of middling runs under Petrino, and then falling off a cliff after he left you, there is nothing left. Going wholesale napalm on the program makes sense. Louisville doesn't have a ton of tradition and what tradition they have is anything but recent. Anything and everything to change the culture makes sense. At Texas, 2009 was only 5 years ago. Going wholesale napalm, burning it to the ground, and raising up a new program out of the burnt ashes is throwing away a ton of history, a ton of success, a fair amount of political capital in recruiting you have left and a ton of all of that is within most people's recent memory. When you're the type of program that prints money, and stands atop college football in terms of resources and access to resources, not to mention amongst its elite tradition wise, you don't burn it to the ground...you simply go get a top tier coach, flip the switch in recruiting, and return to your successfull ways (as evidence of this, I offer you Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, LSU, and so on).
2. Halftime. At half time of the BYU game the score was 6-0. Defensive execution had been fairly high in the first half (the game plan also seemed to work). Offensive execution was lacking, but, the young guppy of an offense had shown some flash in the first half and had some building blocks to work with.
So, what happened during half time that turned what was a VERY competitive game into a total rout? To this naked eye, it seemed as though one team made half time adjustments and one team did not. Suddenly, a BYU blocking scheme change was opening the gate every play. On the offensive side, no twist. No variation. No obvious attempt to exploit something in the BYU scheme. Zero adjustments.
While we can all sit around and boo Mack Brown for leaving a snake bitten qb situation, and a lacking offensive line group when he left, there is simply no excuse for the in game coaching job that was done on Saturday. At some point, you find a way to get vertical with Tyrone Swoopes. At some point, you find a trick play. At some point you find a way to help a young offense. At some point, you have to make the calls on the defensive side of the ball to reinvigorate the confidence of defensive players that seem to be taking a step back.
The mormon kids had help from a talented coaching staff on Saturday to get over the hump, and to make the scheme changes neccessary to finally unlock the success they thought they could have. I saw absolutely no evidence of that on Saturday for the Longhorns. There was not a single adjustment made at the half, and I found myself wondering over and over again all game when somehow this supposedly X's and O's based coaching staff was actually going to display some of that rigor.
3. Special Teams. While I think its great the Charlie wants to block every punt that's ever happened, and show just how bad mamma jamma and physically imposing his team is I couldn't help but wonder why the decision was made not to try to setup Shipley for a return all night. At the end of the day, Strong favored the punt blocking skills of 2nd and 3rd string defensive players, to the punt return skills of one of the best players (and one of his best playmakers) on his team. To me, that's not an issue with Jaxon Shipley (or any of the other skill players) not making enough big plays, that's a bone headed coach infatuated with himself putting his ego ahead of the playmaking talents of his team.
4. The fumbles. At issue here was a team wide lack of technique that bit us twice. Quite frankly, we were lucky it wasn't worse. My guess is had we simply had more success on offense we would have seen more fumbles. Again, who does this come down to? Teams that do not pay attention to ball protection are and always have been given a moniker: poorly coached.
5. At the end of the day, the common thread of the prior 4 points is coaching. The coaching performance was abysmal, and in my eyes, only punctuated by some of Strong's lame cop outs post game. "They weren't mentally prepared correctly"...I couldn't believe I was hearing that. There is a very tidy salary being paid to ensure someone gets a Texas team to have the right mentality every Saturday. The lack of accountability was poignant as it belied the lack of coaching effort that seemed to go into Saturday's preparation and game time decision making. Say all you want about depth issues, lack of experience, or even lack of talent, there was just as poor a coaching job that went along side it.
Strong simply doesn't get where he is at right now, what the expectations are, and I'm beginning to doubt if he truly knows how to get there. He looked like a deer caught in headlights most of Saturday night. Most of the last several months and the fall camp rarely seemed to be about football. It was about a whole lot of intangible things that are great and all but rarely win you football games in and of themselves. Accountability, and Strong's 5 pronged code, seem somewhat hollow when the guy you've chosen who meets up to those standards is getting hurdled by a guy with a knee brace on for a TD, and sportscenter humiliation.
