I'm not thrilled with the Strong hire simply because he's not as proven as some others, but I think it could work out well. But I *love* the process Patterson went through - specifically, ignoring boosters and shutting them out of the process. That part makes me very happy.
Briles is probably more accomplished, but is the gap really that wide? They both turned around historically bad football programs. They both had a couple signature wins, coached a Heisman-caliber quarterback, and both even lost to UCF this season. On top of that, Strong was the DC (for an offensive-minded HC, so it was Strong's defense) on two MNC-winning Florida teams. He's also a good bit younger. Every hire had its pros and cons, but I like this one overall.
How often does a college get a chance to hire a proven coach? Alabama hired Saban from the NFL when he was clearly ready to come back to college. OSU hired Urban Meyer when he was unemployed. Nothing like those two were available this time around. Those are really the only coaches that fit your discription of a proven coach. You didn't want UT to back the money truck up to the front yard of Jimbo Fisher because he wasn't proven enough in your veiw and apparently Steve Patterson agreed with you. Appearently he was not seriously interested in hiring a coach with in the conference either. UT is following the same path that most colleges follow when hiring a new coach. They hired a coach that has done enough to deserve a chance at a big time job but not a coach with a lot of skins on the wall. Bob Stoops Jimbo Fisher Mack Brown Urban Meyer (Florida) Pete Carroll Nick Saban (LSU) Les Miles Gene Chizick Those are most of the National Championship winning coaches during the BCS period. They were all hired as un-proven commodities as far as turning a program into a championship team. But like Charlie Strong they had all done enough to deserve a chance.
Is he more proven though? Has he really accomplished more? 1 Big 12 Conference Championship in a year where the conference is really down. 1 BCS Bowl Game which he lost. What Briles is to offense, Strong is to defense. Strong one his conference and has a BCS Bowl Game win. Briles hasn't shown he can win bowl games or the big game yet. Baylor couldn't win out this year when if they beat OSU, they go to the National Championship Game. Instead they lose to UCF in the teams only ever BCS Bowl Game.
I would say he's slightly more proven as a head coach, as he turned UH around as well. We're on the same page though, I prefer Strong to Briles (prefer a defensive-minded coach and wanted someone that would be our own guy, rather than Baylor's, Bama's, etc...).
The bigger picture here is that Briles took a program that was literally dead...dead as a doornail...and turned them into a national brand and got them to a BCS game. That's not meant to be a knock on Strong at all...I really like Strong and I think he's a good hire.
I agree with all of that. And in a vacuum, I wouldn't be particularly disappointed. But with all the names being bandied about (Gruden, John Harbaugh, Briles, Malzahn, Fisher, Meyer, Dantonio, etc), it's a bit of a letdown. I would have been thrilled with any of those. Then there's the "less proven" list - Franklin, Strong, and Mora - that were just less intriguing. That said, all those initial names may have been unrealistic - I understand that and am not at all saying that this was a bad hire. I just think it has more question marks and was hoping at least one of the other group was a possibility. Briles supposed attitude about wanting to be the only one interviewed is ridiculous if true. My biggest disappointment is missing out on Malzahn, though that was pretty much off the table the minute Ohio State lost and made him impossible to even talk to until today. But my main point was that regardless of the result, I love the process that Patterson went through in taking back control of the athletic department. Between that and Strong's clear disinterest in dealing with boosters, I'm very happy that that the boosters are apparently not going to be running the program anymore. The whole good-ol-boys / billionaires club was at the core of the dysfunction at Texas.
I think Strong is less proven as a head coach in that he's only had his success with the nation's best QB (and he's a defensive guy, so he gets credit for recruiting him, but I'm not sure about developing) combined with an imploding conference that gets worse every year. Again, not bad - just less proven. That said, his defense this year was outstanding and you hope that can create an even better one with Texas talent. Briles has done it with a number of different guys at QB, which is a big problem at Texas recently, so I am biased to wanting an offensive mastermind. And he has shown that his system/ideas work consistently in the Big12. Again, doesn't mean it's a bad hire - just not what I personally was looking to. A big key to this will be who he brings in at OC.
i think it helps the conference that briles stays at baylor, we want the big 12 to be relevant. i like strong. at first i didn't think much about the fact that he was black but, as the media have been bringing it up, i like it as an added bonus. it really is time to shake things up down there.
I agree with you on this. I really like that fact that all the different power brokers at UT were trying to run their own show while the whole time Steve Patterson was the guy really running the show and doing what he thought was right regardless of guys like Red McCombs. I just hope it doesn't eventually turn out bad for Patterson. When guys drop millions on a university it's usually a bad thing to piss them off too much. http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews...ters-werent-involved-in-coaching-search.html/
Agreed - it puts more pressure on him to succeed. As far as Red McCombs specifically, I think he might be entering persona non grata status between his comments about Case being a "gimp" and these latest comments. It seems even powerful people would run away from this nonsense: "I don't have any doubt Charlie is a fine coach. I think he'd probably make a fine position coach, maybe a coordinator."
I remember when this crap was going on during the Fred Akers time in Austin. Some of the power brokers didn't want him there. I didn't think Fred was that bad but definitely not up to the DKR legend that he had to follow. The in house squabling didn't help him or the Longhorns football program. It seemed like all the power brokers loved David McWilliams, he just couldn't coach or recruit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Steve can prove his way works.
I feel like Briles would be a better fit in terms of recruiting because of how well he knows the state of Texas. Strong has more Florida connections. Should be interesting. In terms of pure coaching ability, it is no doubt a great hire but idk how well it'll work out.
Do you think Patterson really cares what McCombs thinks? He had to deal with Paul Allen in Portland. Patterson will do it his way, and if he gets fired, he gets fired.
So apparently Mack Brown's true love is twitter. Check out his non-stop tweeting during last night's game: https://twitter.com/UT_MackBrown Will be amusing if he live-tweets Texas games next season.
Regardless if Patterson cares, I still don't want him to become a victom of the big powerful boosters. McCombs is a pretty big fish in the UT pond. You don't donate a 100 million dollars with out having some power. I have tons of respect for Patterson doing it the right way and want to see him around for a long time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just landed at DFW. Texas source say Louisville DC Vance Bedford accepted job as Longhorns DC/DB coach. Coming to Austin on Wed.</p>— kbohls (@kbohls) <a href="https://twitter.com/kbohls/statuses/420753943464259584">January 8, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Strong has lost 3 DT commits in his first 2 days on the job. Not the start most were hoping for. UT now has 0 DT commits after taking 0 last year. Not good.
Texas by most scouting services out recruited everybody except Alabama from 09-12, and we see how that translated onto the field. Texas is gonna get talent regardless of coach, its about how they get coached up, and how they are utilized. That really hasn't been happening recently at UT. Losing commits honestly doesn't concern me at the moment, it may eventually, but according to these scouts, the Longhorns upper class should be among the best in the country. If we struggle for a year or two, then it could snowball, but not a concern right now.
