Charlie to dismiss 11 players and 4 coaches from USF

To me it seems that Charlie Strong has prematurely parted ways with enough athletes and coaches in the last 5 years that his problem isn't other people. The staff turnover is particularly troubling since it'd be safe to assume Strong chose all these folks himself. Despite what he did at Louisville, lately it's starting to look like Strong doesn't know how to manage a program.
 
At Loserville, Strong was using Petrino's players, including a first round pick at QB, not to mention playing a ******** level schedule that would have made Paterno and/or Beamer blush.

And, yes, I said it them, and I say it now, Red was right!
 
No racist here.

I believe, the vast majority of posters on HF gave CS plenty of genuine support and good wishes for success at UT. IMO he was cut plenty of slack / given the benefit of the doubt, even as the dark clouds gathered and the excuses & losses began to mount. He needed to WIN games.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out / he was not a good fit...
 
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If he's hired to clean house that's one thing....if they just want him to win, that's another...but don't pay him millions to come in and fire, that's an ad's job
 
SabreHorn said:
At Loserville, Strong was using Petrino's players, including a first round pick at QB, not to mention playing a ******** level schedule that would have made Paterno and/or Beamer blush.

And, yes, I said it them, and I say it now, Red was right!
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I believe Charlie recruited teddy to Louisville not Petrino. They took out Florida and Miami in bowl games also and played a tougher schedule than Herman did at Houston and they both ended up at Texas. Not picking sides just telling both of them for optics.
 
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Football is a dynamic sport. What Charlie did at Louisville was solid, maybe even excellent. We were not the first Power 5 school to offer him and he was making more than $4 million a year at Louisville. I only knew what I read in the papers, but it looked like a good hire for us. Charlie's recruiting and player evaluation seemed excellent. In the Big 12 with its dynamic offenses, established competitors and media/public responsibilites, Charlie failed to thrive. Red may have predicted it, but it was a surprise to me.
 
Charlie failed to thrive at Texas due to ineptness - plain and simple. Unfortunately he tries to hide this by dismissing bad coaches he hires and players he fails to lead.
 
easy said:
I believe Charlie recruited teddy to Louisville not Petrino. They took out Florida and Miami in bowl games also and played a tougher schedule than Herman did at Houston and they both ended up at Texas. Not picking sides just telling both of them for optics.
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I think TH case was enhanced by a late bid by LSU and the fact he had a NC at Ohio State as OC and was a GA at Texas.
 
Charlie’s complete failure at Texas after succeeding at Louisville is baffling to me. And the collapse on defense is even more baffling.

Regardless of Herman’s pedigree and whether or not LSU raised the stakes, his domination of teams like FSU, OU and Louisville (with a superstar QB) was nothing short of amazing. In other words, UH overachieved on several occasions. One could argue that Texas overachieved this year.

Imagine what TH might do once he has the horses.
 
They took out Florida and Miami in bowl games also and played a tougher schedule than Herman did at Houston and they both ended up at Texas.
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I am not sure about Charlie playing a tougher schedule his last two years. I do not have time to break it down at the moment, but Herman actually played decent schedules. I also remember when breaking down Shawn Watson's last year at Louisville. They played some pretty atrocious defenses and were unable to score with Bridgewater.

And the collapse on defense is even more baffling.
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This is what makes no sense. You cannot take away from Charlie Strong that he built great defenses at Florida and Louisville. The fact that such defenses have disappeared completely at Texas and South Florida is baffling.
 
WorsterMan said:
No racist here.

I believe, the vast majority of posters on HF gave CS plenty of genuine support and good wishes for success at UT. IMO he was given plenty of slack / benefit of the doubt, even as the dark clouds gathered and the excuses & losses began to mount. He needed to WIN games.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out / he was not a good fit...
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I was for CS until we lost to Kansas.
 
Crockett said:
What Charlie did at Louisville was solid, maybe even excellent.
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Charlie had a couple of solid wins with a Heisman candidate QB. Charlie's tenure at Louisville was far from excellent though.

2010
Record 7-6
Opp Rec 79-83
Includes win against FCS Eastern KY

2011
Record 7-6
Opp Rec 92-71
Includes win against FCS Murray St

2012
Record 11-2
Opp Rec 72-87
Includes win against FCS Missouri St, lost to 8-5 Syracuse & 5-7 UCONN

2013
Record 12-1
Opp Record 70-92
Includes win against FCS Eastern KY and 6 other teams with 9 losses or more.

Overall
Record 37-15
Opp Rec 313-333

As you can see as the schedule got easier the wins piled up with a Heisman contender. The first two years they lost to most of the schools with a winning record. The last two years it was hard to find a school with a winning record better than 7-6 or something like that. I will concede that he beat Miami and Florida which were both decent teams. Being in the Big East conference is not exactly a hotbed of football competition and with a record against the teams he played was not a measuring stick of what a great coach he was or could be.
 
Austin_Bill said:
I was actually against the hiring of TH for the very same reason. I just figured he was not ready for this level of job.

To be honest, I'm still not sure.
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I am optimistic about TH but was certainly not all in. I think my desperation would have favored a BIG (aggie) type hire of a Jimbo type guy. But having said that when Mac was hired I had never heard of him. ( I vaguely recall thinking we would hire Barnett or Richt) Thank goodness it wasn't up to me.
 
Austin_Bill said:
I was actually against the hiring of TH for the very same reason. I just figured he was not ready for this level of job.

To be honest, I'm still not sure.
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I'm kinda still there with you.
I was neither for or against Strong's hiring.
I liked what I saw at first and hoped for success.
Pretty much the same with Herman.
Here's the difference I see.

Strong came in and somewhat felt he had reached the mountaintop.
Here at UT he would easily get top recruits and roll over the competition.
So he propped his feet up on his desk and waited for the wins to roll in.
(over simplified, of course)
By the time it dawned on him this wasn't the case, it was too late.
And no amount of scrambling could save his job.

Herman came in with a plan.
He had more of a blueprint of what he wanted.
(including a binder)
He also brought with him a very good DC.
(still not sure about OC)
Also, a true starting QB has emerged.
Something that eluded Strong.

So, how could I still not be sure of Herman after a season that surprised most of us?
I think it's the way we lost the games we lost, and even the way we won some of the games we won.
Having said this, I think we are solidly on the right track.
Another season like this one and I believe most of my doubts will be assuaged.

Basically, I am beginning to feel good about the Longhorn future. :) :hookem::bevo:
 
We had some lively discussions here about what Charlie inherited from Mack. To me, the program was on it's way down (and a lot worse than many of us might have realized) notwithstanding Mack almost winning the Big 12 his last year. I was willing to give Charlie a few years. I wasn't surprised that he cut a few players in order to establish his culture/value system and to shock everyone into action.

Kansas was the end for me.

As for Red, I guess he talked to Charlie and just didn't get the feeling of a real leader. It wasn't like talking to Mack when he was hired or any other big-time coach such as Saban, Sweeny or Meyer. Red certainly wasn't talking X's and O's. He was talking about the CEO position for The University of Texas football program. We didn't want to hear it (or I didn't). I didn't think it was racist on his part; I just thought he was being a BMD who might not have been consulted like he would have preferred. In the end, these BMD do have some sense about leadership regardless of how much they seem to push themselves onto the program. They are where they are for a reason.

If hiring a black head coach at The University of Texas was the over-riding factor then I'm ok with that. It sounds like Powers wanted that more than anything. Well, we hired Charlie and not Franklin (and apparently the Stanford coach wasn't available). So it's a done deal and now we have Herman. Hopefully in the future, the social engineering aspect has been put to bed and we can always pursue the best man for the job; black or white.
 
The Kansas game was made more painful by CS's cluelessness in the loss, and that only the Kansas players and their 185 fans appreciated the win. UGH.
 
bystander said:
If hiring a black head coach at The University of Texas was the over-riding factor then I'm ok with that. It sounds like Powers wanted that more than anything.
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That's the wrong reason to hire someone. It does no one any favors, and sets the beneficiary up for failure.
 
giveemhell,

Really wish you had preached that sermon to Billie before he set out to establish his legacy in athletics rather than the one that he has in the law school.
 
This dang thread is giving me flashbacks of Mackovick and that pos Fred Akers (kicking a field goal for the tie against OU,1984, in the rain, inside the 5!)
FWIW I hate overtime, I think ties v wins separate then men v the boys. That day Fred proved what we all know, not a man.
 
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