Texas Longhorns Football 31-23 Since 2010: Charlie Strong’s War

Let that sink in. 31-23 since 2010. From 2005-2009 the Texas Longhorns Football program was 58-8. They won 1 National Title and played for another at the culmination of the 2009 season. It was as if the next 4 years went with Colt McCoy into that locker room when he was injured on that night in January in California. Only the greatness that was once Texas football has yet to emerge. ESPN banked on their preeminence from 2005-2009 in 2011 by giving them their own network, which has yet to produce a bonafide Longhorn football team capable of winning their own conference much less back into the national title hunt. Don’t tell me, ‘Well they played for the Big 12 in 2013 against Baylor.’ They did but did anyone believe they had a chance against the Bears? That last phrase says so much about the state of the program and if it will ever be back.

In 2010 Texas went 5-7 and missed out on a bowl game, their first losing season since 1997. Since that year after their appearance in the title game, the Longhorns have still had Top Ten recruiting classes and are seen in college football circles in the same class as Alabama, USC, and Ohio State, but their record begs a lot to be desired. Quite simply put, the Longhorns are in danger of going over a precipice of such a severe magnitude that they might not be able to recover for years to come. The Big 12 and the national college football scene in general needs Texas football to be viable again, and here’s why I think the program might be headed in the right direction, if it’s fan base and board of regents can have the patience to make it through this year.

Charlie Strong’s War

This past Saturday on College Gameday, the former coach of the Longhorns, Mack Brown answered questions about his former team’s lack of toughness and at their being ‘soft.’

“I’m sick and tired of hearing these guys are soft,” Brown said Saturday morning before Texas faced UCLA at AT&T Stadium. “These guys are tough, smart and dedicated. I should know, I recruited them.”

Therein lies a lot of where the Longhorns are currently. The players that Mack recruited still have a few years left and although they might’ve been ESPNU Top 150 5 Star Everything, once they reached Austin they might’ve been courted and been told how great they are, the one thing that hasn’t been burned out of them is a losing attitude and their sense of entitlement.

Charlie Strong, in his first year coming from a successful stint at Louisville, sensed that as well when he got here. Like coming to a 4,000 square foot mansion that had been foreclosed on with the vandals still inside. It was time to clean house the Strong Way and he did, dismissing Deoundrei Davis, Joe Bergeron, Jalen Overstreet, Chevoski Collins, Kendall Sanders, Montrel Meander, Leroy Scott and Chet Moss. It had a lot of people wondering if Coach Strong would have anybody left on the team to compete in the upcoming season.

An impatient insider would say, ‘We should’ve landed Saban,’ when it comes to what Strong is trying to do. Texas tried, they make no bones about wanting to land the greatest college coach out there. Heck even T-shirts were printed up that said ‘Saban 2014.’ But an outsider’s prospective says that Texas has the right man.

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With the First Pick

Charlie Strong reminds me of a drill instructor where discipline is the most key ingredient in everything he does. Team rules, no player is above the program type guy. There will be losses in this first year, and it showed when they played BYU, losing by a humiliating number in 41-7. Their 3rd game though against UCLA in their home state of Texas on a neutral field in Dallas, we started seeing what could be a light of hope. Defensively the Horns held the Bruins in check, making each other accountable for bad plays. With 3:00 left in the game, Texas led the number 12 team in the nation in UCLA a team who was favored by 8.5 going in. Then Jerry Neuheisal happened and the Bruins chalked up a W 20-17. Tyrone Swoopes came in to his own and showed that he’s very capable of leading this team at quarterback.The defense, with the exception of a few misreads showed that they too won’t back down.

The bottom line is this: Texas has the right man at the helm in Charlie Strong. There’s going to be some growing pains that are associated with his hiring, i.e. player dismissals, suspensions, and even bad losses. But through his discipline and work ethic, in a few short years they can overcome a 5-7 2010 year, 3 out of 4 to their rival in Oklahoma, and even compete on the national scene once again because the cream that’s associated with Charlie Strong’s churning and burning will come to the top. They were on the cusp of it Saturday night. In time Strong will eradicate the sense of entitlement, the ‘we’re supposed to lose now’ attitude towards the end of games, and bring a winning spirit back to Austin. Leadership grows out of these things. History has proven that someone will step up in that locker room, its only a matter of time. The question is: Will the Texas fan be patient enough to endure one more year of a possible losing season? The college football landscape needs Texas as a national contender and 4 years is a lot to ask of a fan to stay the course, that greatness is just around the corner. But it is with Charlie Strong…