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Tough break for Louisville. Charlie Strong is a star. I think it is a great hire for Texas. He wasn't their first pick, but I think he is better than every one they went after except Saban.

I'm not sure. I think there may be too much Old Texas culture for him.

Yep, seems the rumors were true about Texas' AD interviewing him.

Louisville wanted a more formal request from them, I believe there will be some bad blood between the two schools for a little while.

Strong is leaving at the right time.

Next year, the Cardinals will start their ACC campaign, and Bridgewater is going pro.

If Charlie was going to leave, this was certainly the best timing for him.
And Texas is a big payday school, to boot.

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donovan wrote:I'm not sure. I think there may be too much Old Texas culture for him.

There is always that no matter who the coach is. Pressure to win will make that worse. I think, though, he will be a recruiting machine in Texas and if he builds a defense in that conference he will dominate it.

An interesting pick. He was not even on my radar.

Strong is already a step up versus Mack Brown's last two years at Texas.

Can he line up with Brown's best years at Texas? I don't even have the answer to that question. I do believe it's a good hire, we'll know in five years if it's a great hire.

I'm not sure how Charlie will fit in the media madhouse at Texas. He shunned that here, skipped events, let assistants do those things. This may not play out at Texas. Still he has one easy out for any problems by throwning Mack Brown under the bus and blaming him for many problems.

As I recall, Texas likes Texas boys and an awful lot comes from within the state. I worked near Dallas for a year and I saw High Schools with better stadiums than the one UL used to play in at the fairgrounds here before Papa John's stadium was built. Strong's contacts are in Florida with people there, especially high school coaches; and, I wonder if UT will like the locals being neglected in favor of Florida boys. Or, if he can almost instantly develop Texas contacts.

His prime recruiter (besides himself), Clint Hurt, will be staying at Louisville with an NCAA "show cause" hanging over his head until June of 2014.

Oh, I think he will be OK at Texas; but, I dont' think they'll like some of his coaching style, and certainly not any 9-3 seasons.

Time will tell on the long term for CS at UT.

Swamp Daddy,

I'm sure the old money oil guys are going to have some reservations. I think Charlie will be a recruiting dynamo in Texas, though, and he will change their minds quickly. Besides, I like defense minded head coaches.

Strong was really respected by us Nole guys when he was at Florida...

He is a football guy and as was posted, he doesn't much participate in the "ambassadorial" duties of a coach.

In Texas it will be about winning...win the Big 12, he'll be fine. Go three years as runner up, they'll want his head.

Every major booster here wanted someone different. One was talking to Fischer, another had Saban on the hook, and the biggest wanted Gruden. When they came out with Strong without consulting him Gruden took the Redskins job. Just about every booster is mad. Strong was asked about the decension and he said winning fixes a lot of things.

Neither Saban nor Fisher were leaving their destination job for Texas....Texas may pay a million more but money isn't the entire driver when you are already quite comfortable.

Both Saban and Fisher have worked hard to get their programs running at a high level. I know that Fisher is quite happy at FSU and I would imagine that Saban would not want the pressures of making Texas a yearly contender.

I think that is exactly right, money at some point is not the issue. Even Chris Petersen at Boise was give about a million dollars back to the school for non athletic related projects. Strong should do well on the field and that will keep content many. There is a caveat to the booster world however. A lot of big money boosters are NOT football fans. They are socialites and absolutely, win or loose, want the exclusivity of social affairs that many well funded programs have. Football is an excuse, not the motivator. I think this group is larger in most schools than recognized. So if Strong wins, but does not participate in those affairs where the boosters can say, "When I was talking with Charlie the other day." Or, "When Charlie called me." Because that is what coaches do. There is a lot of recruiting at that level and it is not all in high schools.

donovan wrote:I think that is exactly right, money at some point is not the issue. Even Chris Petersen at Boise was give about a million dollars back to the school for non athletic related projects. Strong should do well on the field and that will keep content many. There is a caveat to the booster world however. A lot of big money boosters are NOT football fans. They are socialites and absolutely, win or loose, want the exclusivity of social affairs that many well funded programs have. Football is an excuse, not the motivator. I think this group is larger in most schools than recognized. So if Strong wins, but does not participate in those affairs where the boosters can say, "When I was talking with Charlie the other day." Or, "When Charlie called me." Because that is what coaches do. There is a lot of recruiting at that level and it is not all in high schools.

That Is right. I think Strong knows that is going to be part of the job. Louisville has a lot of that sort of thing. There are plenty of blue blood types in Louisville. Texas is going to be more of it and he will have to be part of it. He knows the drill, he will be ok.

Some further info is coming out; and, apparently, Charlie Strong was in talks with Texas even before the UL bowl game against Miami. And, he was tell players all along that everything was ok and he wan't going anywhere.

Oh well, live moves on, Swamp Daddy