Oh yeah, Smart was definitely in play. Strong coached at TAMU, we valued a defense-1st approach (lulz). There are tons of these http://www.statesman.com/news/sport...coach-mike-sherman-houstons-sumlin-lou/nRhfg/ out there. But good like finding them buried 9,000 pages deep under Strong/UT articles.
Good hire. Sumlin has been cleaning house. I hate to being up race but this will help Texas bounce back in the recruiting game.
I think there are a couple of things at play here. First, Smart has made it clear with his relative disinterest in most openings that he isn't just going to leave for any job. It has to be a top-flight job. In each case I can remember, the guy shuts down any talk of him leaving before it even starts. I don't remember ever hearing of him even entertaining the idea of leaving. Because of this, I think there are a lot of programs that might have wanted to reach out to him that didn't even bother because they caught wind that they would be wasting their time. If this is the case, but Smart has designs on being a head coach at some point, he may want to considering leaving some time soon. Being a hot coaching commodity is no guarantee. For years, Bud Foster, the DC at VT under Beamer, was considered a sure-fire head coach, but now that's not the case because, for better or worse, he has been pigeon-holed as a lifetime DC. And Virginia Tech also isn't the program it was several years ago. But I also think there has been a little shift away from hiring the "hot" coordinator from a major program to hiring proven head coaches from smaller programs. This isn't true in all cases (see: Kingsbury, Kliff), but I think many have come to realize that there are parts of being a head coach that no coordinator job could properly prepare you for and they are making hires accordingly. Add to that the fact that many think Saban is the real defensive mastermind there and you have a formula for a guy that hasn't left yet.
Smart should have cashed in last year. Some of the shine is gone after he got exposed by spread offenses - A&M, Auburn, OU - this year.
One of the most impresive things coming out of this hire was that Steve Patterson was refusing to return calls from boosters leading up to the final days of the coaching search. Steve Patterson was not chasing Saban or Fisher, that was all some of the boosters going rouge. Red McCombs was championing Gruden DeLoss Dodds was championing Muschamp etc... I hadn't heard that before. It shows how strong Steve Patterson is going to be as an AD
Yeah, I'm hoping Steve cleans up that mess Very impressed with strong. The players better come back in shape. I just hope he brings in a good OC
Patterson's approach is to be commended, particularly at a place like Texas where high-powered boosters have been known to play a role, but if things go south, it could get ugly with him. The torches and pitchforks could come out quickly.
Last year he interviewed with Auburn and Tennessee for their openings. He then said he didn't want to coach there. There are only two jobs I'm certain that he'll take. 1A - Alabama 1B - Georgia (Alma Mater) Personally, I don't think he's ready to be a head coach. He'd be a Will Muschamp V2.0.
But those billionaires where his boss. Patterson has no problem standing up to egos. Though it may get him fired eventually, I don't think he is going to cave to the boosters.
That's what happened when we got Les Alexander. I believe Dream didn't see eye to eye with Steve at that the time and it cost him his job. We don't know what really happened, but we know that all his moves caused the Rockets to form Clutch City. Rudy T, Horry, Cassell, Kenny Smith, resigning Dream, that was all under his watch.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>RT <a href="https://twitter.com/ChipBrownOB">@ChipBrownOB</a>: Red McCombs just went on with <a href="https://twitter.com/Dat_1250ESPN">@Dat_1250ESPN</a> and said Charlie Strong "would be a good position coach, maybe a coordinator."</p>— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanWolken/statuses/420340753248686080">January 6, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I saw that from Chip earlier. He did say that he would get behind Strong but that he wanted Gruden. He said he was not included in the hiring search and not happy about that. It says a lot about Steve Patterson that he stuck to his guns and did the coaching search his way and ignoring the power brokers. Now it's up to Strong to prove Patterson right. ChipBrownOB: Red McCombs also told @1250ESPN he was shut out of hiring process by UT president Bill Powers and AD Steve Patterson. Not happy about it. ChipBrownOB: Red McCombs ultimately told @1250ESPN he would support Charlie Strong. So there's that. ChipBrownOB: Those comments by Red McCombs are absolutely why AD Steve Patterson did the right thing in excluding McCombs from the process. Ridiculous.
