My sources at ESPN on Strong's future
- Thread starter blh111
- Start date
"Strong is frustrated by the Longhorns' slow start, but the people who hold his fate understand that he has had only one true recruiting class, that the best players on the team are freshmen and that there is a player leadership vacuum.
Multiple sources connected to the program said the most important element for Strong's future is just to show some progress.
"They'll hang tight with him," a source said. "He is safe for now."
"They understand there are growing pains," another source said. "Barring something catastrophic, he is on solid ground to return next season.""
This is exactly what Ive been saying. Hes had one recruiting class, there is a senior leadership vacuum and the best players on the team right now are the youngest. And Texas has played an elite schedule this year. ND and TCU along with ranked Cal and OK State teams.
Ohio State has played an easier schedule than we have, and they have been pushed in most of their games.
Tap the brakes haters.
Multiple sources connected to the program said the most important element for Strong's future is just to show some progress.
"They'll hang tight with him," a source said. "He is safe for now."
"They understand there are growing pains," another source said. "Barring something catastrophic, he is on solid ground to return next season.""
This is exactly what Ive been saying. Hes had one recruiting class, there is a senior leadership vacuum and the best players on the team right now are the youngest. And Texas has played an elite schedule this year. ND and TCU along with ranked Cal and OK State teams.
Ohio State has played an easier schedule than we have, and they have been pushed in most of their games.
Tap the brakes haters.
I know somebody who knows somebody..... jeesh starting to sound like the National Enquirer in here.
I think Strong will be the head coach through the season. It would make no sense to fire him now, as there is no competent assistant to step into the HC role. After the season is over and if Texas continues to get blown out, he'll most likely be gone and "reassigned" somewhere in the athletic department.
So if strong only wins two games this year,then is he still the coach next year???? Some improvement somewhere needs to be seen.
Improvement needs to be defined at some point. Our schedule has been brutal, and aside from Kansas and Iowa State, and maybe Tech or Kansas State (or maybe not) we shouldnt expect to win any other games. 4 wins this year just not completely fall off a cliff. And then next year MUST, and I stress MUST be a huge improvement or Charlie will be gone. It doesnt help that Baylor, TCU and OU are all much better than Texas right now, but Texas has to get to 8 wins next season. No excuses at all. None.
OK if he loses to OU is he st
Haha 4mn I almost posted the exact same thing you did. Another thing that caught my eye is the comment that he is safe for now. Not sure how comfortable that would make me feel. who knows
Well its a caveat of course. Hes safe for now, but if Texas gets blown out every single game from here out, then yeah, he is in danger of being fired after this season. If Texas plays OU tough, and then beats Kansas, Iowa State and Kansas State, then I think he earns next season.
I'm all for patience, but he has had 2 catastrophic losses, where the team looked unprepared. Its one thing to get beat on talent, but its another thing to be embarrassed. As the other poster stated, if OU pours on 60 Saturday, which they have done before against much better teams ...
Aside from our freshman and sophomores we have almost no talent. You could count on your fingers the P5 worthy talent we have with our upperclassmen. TCU and Baylor two teams we used to terrorize are way ahead of us at the skill positions. Look at all those type of players that they have that are upperclassmen at those positions.
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A few things here...
So, I generally avoid posting immediately after something like I saw on Saturday. The internet just makes our immediate gratification culture even worse.
It was a very disappointing game. I think the worst part, though, is the other stuff that came along with it. Look, I said going into it that we needed to play like we had nothing to lose and make TCU remember the game, win or lose. We definitely didn't do that. But this game was a game that most people with a sense of reality marked down as a probable L even before the season. If we hadn't had the mishaps and disappointment the 2 weeks before, I have to wonder how the reaction would be now. No, Texas should never lose that bad. But we have before. And I'm sure that won't be the last time we ever do, regardless of who is on the sidelines.
The mess with the retweeting at halftime, and all of the buzz about whether Coach Strong's job is in jeopardy or not is the part that makes the loss a disaster. And that's true whether you're in the "he needs his time to fix things" camp or you're in the "we need a new coach yesterday" camp.
There's not a good answer for what should happen next. The retweeting crap, the stuff between Haines and the freshmen players, all of the leaked info about possible secret meetings, and the buzz in the media and fan base about whether Strong will be fired now, or later, or at all can't be helping with recruiting efforts. There's good reason to believe that Coach Strong will be back next year, and whether he ultimately works out or not, a good recruiting class is essential to making sure that Texas doesn't become an even bigger mess. And while there are arguments to be made that things aren't happening fast enough, there are equally as many arguments to be made that, given the upgrade in competition, Strong's first two years in Louisville might have looked like this before he actually started putting the pieces together to take Louisville to a higher level than they had been at the time. Yes, winning helps recruiting. But so does a feeling that the coach who is recruiting you is going to get to coach you. So does a fan base that isn't going to be impossible to please when they're first recruited. We, even as disgruntled fans on some message board, and the fans in the stands, and and Stephen A Smith, and the tweeting UT players, and the people who are leaking info about what may or may not be going on behind the scenes at Belmont, etc., are basically writing opposing coaches' anti-Texas pitches for them.
On the flip side, I'm still wondering who everyone thinks is going to come to Texas and magically fix things at the moment. Yes, we can throw a ton of money at whoever we want. And yes, once everything is back to normal, Texas is a pretty sweet gig as head coach. And yeah, as someone said, they're not asking Coach Strong to reinvent the wheel... other coaches seem to be doing more more quickly. Fine. But every situation is a little different, and I think that right now, Texas is going to be a tricky situation to fix whoever is running the show. Besides that, most of the guys that seem like they'd turn recruit's heads immediately out of the gate are pretty cozy in jobs where they aren't going to have to deal with the booing and the "fix everything in less than 2 years" expectations, since their teams are already winning. It's one thing to come into a situation where the fan base and boosters are tired of losing and ready for change. It's totally another thing to come into a situation where the fan base has gotten kind of ugly about it all, and the expectations will be to turn things around by year 2, or you're fired. Especially if you already have a good job... or there are other less hostile environments that are good jobs that are available. We're currently displaying more of why it isn't an ideal job to take than why it is an ideal job, and money can only counteract that so much. I still think that staying with the Big 12, and then having the Big 12 stop at the 10 teams we have was one of the most counterproductive things that happened when it comes to everything UT related.
Anyway, even if you really don't think he's the guy, I don't really think there's anything to be gained from trying to get rid of Coach Strong before we even see what kind of recruiting class he gets (and then what he can do with them next year)... unless you have some sort of slam dunk, home run, obvious hire lined up already. I doubt we do. The lists I've seen pop up on here all the sudden are pretty meh. I'd rather back the guy we've got for now (hope he rights the ship, but be realistic that there's a possibility that won't happen as well), and cross the bridge when we get there. If the recruiting class doesn't come together at all, then that's a big problem. Of course, we seem to be doing our part to help sabotage the recruiting efforts as it is.
So, I generally avoid posting immediately after something like I saw on Saturday. The internet just makes our immediate gratification culture even worse.
It was a very disappointing game. I think the worst part, though, is the other stuff that came along with it. Look, I said going into it that we needed to play like we had nothing to lose and make TCU remember the game, win or lose. We definitely didn't do that. But this game was a game that most people with a sense of reality marked down as a probable L even before the season. If we hadn't had the mishaps and disappointment the 2 weeks before, I have to wonder how the reaction would be now. No, Texas should never lose that bad. But we have before. And I'm sure that won't be the last time we ever do, regardless of who is on the sidelines.
The mess with the retweeting at halftime, and all of the buzz about whether Coach Strong's job is in jeopardy or not is the part that makes the loss a disaster. And that's true whether you're in the "he needs his time to fix things" camp or you're in the "we need a new coach yesterday" camp.
There's not a good answer for what should happen next. The retweeting crap, the stuff between Haines and the freshmen players, all of the leaked info about possible secret meetings, and the buzz in the media and fan base about whether Strong will be fired now, or later, or at all can't be helping with recruiting efforts. There's good reason to believe that Coach Strong will be back next year, and whether he ultimately works out or not, a good recruiting class is essential to making sure that Texas doesn't become an even bigger mess. And while there are arguments to be made that things aren't happening fast enough, there are equally as many arguments to be made that, given the upgrade in competition, Strong's first two years in Louisville might have looked like this before he actually started putting the pieces together to take Louisville to a higher level than they had been at the time. Yes, winning helps recruiting. But so does a feeling that the coach who is recruiting you is going to get to coach you. So does a fan base that isn't going to be impossible to please when they're first recruited. We, even as disgruntled fans on some message board, and the fans in the stands, and and Stephen A Smith, and the tweeting UT players, and the people who are leaking info about what may or may not be going on behind the scenes at Belmont, etc., are basically writing opposing coaches' anti-Texas pitches for them.
On the flip side, I'm still wondering who everyone thinks is going to come to Texas and magically fix things at the moment. Yes, we can throw a ton of money at whoever we want. And yes, once everything is back to normal, Texas is a pretty sweet gig as head coach. And yeah, as someone said, they're not asking Coach Strong to reinvent the wheel... other coaches seem to be doing more more quickly. Fine. But every situation is a little different, and I think that right now, Texas is going to be a tricky situation to fix whoever is running the show. Besides that, most of the guys that seem like they'd turn recruit's heads immediately out of the gate are pretty cozy in jobs where they aren't going to have to deal with the booing and the "fix everything in less than 2 years" expectations, since their teams are already winning. It's one thing to come into a situation where the fan base and boosters are tired of losing and ready for change. It's totally another thing to come into a situation where the fan base has gotten kind of ugly about it all, and the expectations will be to turn things around by year 2, or you're fired. Especially if you already have a good job... or there are other less hostile environments that are good jobs that are available. We're currently displaying more of why it isn't an ideal job to take than why it is an ideal job, and money can only counteract that so much. I still think that staying with the Big 12, and then having the Big 12 stop at the 10 teams we have was one of the most counterproductive things that happened when it comes to everything UT related.
Anyway, even if you really don't think he's the guy, I don't really think there's anything to be gained from trying to get rid of Coach Strong before we even see what kind of recruiting class he gets (and then what he can do with them next year)... unless you have some sort of slam dunk, home run, obvious hire lined up already. I doubt we do. The lists I've seen pop up on here all the sudden are pretty meh. I'd rather back the guy we've got for now (hope he rights the ship, but be realistic that there's a possibility that won't happen as well), and cross the bridge when we get there. If the recruiting class doesn't come together at all, then that's a big problem. Of course, we seem to be doing our part to help sabotage the recruiting efforts as it is.
So you're saying you missed the sarcasm in the thread title.
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Good post misterteasy. The only counter point I can make to that is the fact that our verbal commits thus far have been anything but stellar. I know, I know, stars don't matter. But when only one of your verbal commits is ranked in the top 10 at their respective position, that's a little disheartening.
I now have LHN even in the spare bdrm thanks to the new TWC digital adaptor. Been watching some of the old games. Colt was AMAZING because he had no Oline in front of him. I think Mack got such great QB play from VY and Colt that he thought he didn't need need an oline. Wickline must be very good to have 2 freshmen in the oline outplaying the upperclassmen. Wait til next year.
Well if I did that's on me. We signed so many players in February and yet we still have only 79 players on scholarship. I just wish the other posters could realize how lacking in talent we are right now.
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Hey, I'm not saying there aren't reasons to be concerned. Far from it. I'd love to feel entirely confident that, like last year, Strong and his staff can make a bit of magic in the 11th hour as far as recruiting goes and everything will turn out fine. I mean, we're all very clear on the fact that Strong's recruiting method, even when it's working perfectly, isn't going to look like Mack's was back in the day, with so much of it wrapped up before we even begin. And I mean, I'm sure most of us read the comments by a few guys we're recruiting who said they weren't necessarily just looking for wins... that they know we're not there yet. But yeah, they're wanting to see improvement. And while you could make arguments about what the previous two games showed, the game against TCU didn't do that. But it's like I said before, I feel like the real damage was done in all the the post-game stuff, when the tweets were discussed, when the questions arose about whether a firing was immanent, whether the fan base was capable of patience at all, and whether he was losing the team or not. I imagine that fits into at least part of why the boosters would start openly showing their support. A lot of the probably realize, big picture, how that kind of thing can look. It's hard to draw in ANYONE, whether they be recruits or coaches, if everything else that's happening makes that destination look unappealing.
I still hope that perhaps TCU was just proof that A) TCU is a pretty good football team and B) playing lots of freshman is going to lead to a lot of inconsistency. I still hope that in other games they DO show improvement. And I do hope that the staff still has a bit of recruiting magic left in them. I hope all of this because, on one hand I think that Coach Strong is a good guy and, given an opportunity, the time, and (like anyone) a bit of luck, would be a really good coach at UT. I also hope all of this because, on the other hand, I feel like the alternative answer might mean things are going to get worse before they get better, whether Coach Strong stays or if they can him.
I worry a bit that, just due to the nature of the beast... particularly in the age of tweeting, message boards, leaked conversations, instant gratification, and all of that other stuff... that the negativity of things beyond just on-the-field results can get momentum of its own and make things tough to recover from for a while to come if we're not careful. So... I'm hoping whatever that line is, that we don't cross it.
Man, I miss the days when we were going UP the hill. It's great to be on top, but there's something exciting about the point where you're winning games that you're not supposed to and getting better and better (as opposed to being favored in every game and having to maintain that... or tumbling down the other side of the hill, as we have). Hopefully we can find that again soon one way or another. (My freshman year at UT was the 1998 season, for a little context for that last part).
dang. can you write some free articles for me to read? i'll give you my... clicks?
Haha, thanks man. I've actually considered it before. Not sure I always have enough material, but definitely have opinions and try to take a step back and take a broader look. Who knows, maybe at some point I'll look into a forum. If I think there might be "clicks". Might have to pay more attention to editing afterwards though. And watch out for rambling a bit.
our score > 65 = safe
our score < 30 = hot seat
our score < 7 = he gone
Hook 'em
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