Charlie Strong Facing More Difficulty than any Head Coach

Jul 22, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong speaks to the media during the Big 12 Media Day at the Omni Dallas. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

It all began when he was hired. Many in the Longhorn community questioned Charlie Strong’s credentials, despite the fact that he was able to restore a program in Louisville to a level of success that helped move it into a new conference, developed a Heisman trophy candidate at quarterback, and beat Florida in the Sugar Bowl. All the while the school was in a de-facto mid-major conference.

Now he’s faced with the difficult task of putting Texas back on top, and more drama has unfolded. He’s dealing with Longhorn players who can’t stay out of trouble. Two wide receivers have been arrested and charged with sexual assault, and he’s kicked another six players off the team for violating team rules. Here are some of the comments on websites in response to those stories:

"“Texas won’t ever win a championship with Strong.”“He is a good defensive coach but most likely an interim coach until a better one becomes available.”“I understand wanting parents to want to send their kids to UT, but how much discipline is too much discipline? Where does he draw the line?”"

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To the last commenter: seriously? We always scrutinize coaches for being to nice to players, now when a coach tries to change the culture and instill discipline, he’s too hard on players?

In defense of message board writers, there were plenty of fans going on the sites to defend Strong, particularly Longhorn fans, and some of the comments were made by fans of rival schools. Also, those in defense of Strong overwhelmed the obnoxious few. But what’s most disturbing is that Strong is being held to a higher standard than even the obnoxious few hold other coaches to.

I’ve already said there might be a red flag with Strong’s early recruiting struggles, but many of the Texas faithful have already turned on him for that despite not even coaching a game yet. Some of the Texas faithful turned on him before that.

I don’t need to remind everybody about Longhorn booster Red McCombs calling the hire a kick in the face, and it’s something to let go of because Strong got over it and McCombs has apologized profusely.

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But let’s not forget that everybody defending McCombs said he simply wanted John Gruden. As if a guy who coached two defenses that led their teams to national championships before turning a dormant program into a BCS school as a head coach is not as qualified as a guy who hasn’t coached college football in two decades.

What does Strong have to do to earn respect? Okay, so he’s not great with the public relations part of coaching, and the Longhorn community has taken notice and criticized him for that. Who cares? I don’t see Alabama fans complaining that Nick Saban isn’t as friendly with the public as we might wish.

Again, we don’t know how Strong will do at Texas yet, and his recruiting so far has warranted criticism since that’s all we have to go on. But let him coach a couple of seasons before we begin this unjustified mob-mentality attack on him.

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Kicking off six players to me is no indication of how good of a job he’ll do, because we don’t know what team rules those guys broke. And I’m confident he’ll handle the situation with the two Longhorn receivers in the sexual assault scandal appropriately.

Strong’s ability to handle the circus that goes on with coaching at the University of Texas will play out on its own, but his PR skills won’t matter if he wins. He’s no stranger to dealing with disrespect, after years as a great defensive coordinator at Florida and losing jobs to more qualified candidates over a five-year period. At Louisville he built up enough of a profile to turn down jobs at places like Tennessee, but when he got hired at Texas, there were far too many unfair questions about his qualifications. Those same qualifications would tower over other coaches.

Whether or not Strong will succeed is up in the air, and he’s not immune to criticism. But he deserves more of a break than he’s received so far in Austin.

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