Texas Football in for Major Culture Change Under Charlie Strong
By
Jeffrey Kahn (Featured Columnist) on January 14, 2014
Texas football is in for a major culture change under Charlie Strong after meeting with players this week, per sources of Scipio Tex from Barking Carnival.
There has been some outside thoughts that the Texas football program has fallen far from the tree by not getting a "big name" hire, but, per B/R's Alex Sims in his Jan. 10 article, Strong is an excellent coach.
The Texas Longhorns brought in an excellent coach in Louisville's Charlie Strong, a coach many programs would be thrilled to have.
But for UT—and perhaps only for UT—the hire seems underwhelming. Like going to a fancy $50-a-plate event, only to eat with flimsy college dining hall silverware. The gourmet meal is still great, but something about the experience is missing.
Although Strong could be just the man to lead Texas back to the top, it is still a wonder why the program wasn't able to pull some of the big names (Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, Jim Harbaugh) that were mentioned along the way.
But when coach after coach entered and left the conversation and the bowl season came and went, it was clear: Texas just isn't what it used to be.
Texas just isn't what it used to be after losing the 2010 BCS National Championship game. The Longhorns' program never truly recovered after that season. Now, the correct coaching hire appears to be changing that loss of swagger.
First reported by Bobby Burton of 247Sports.com, Texas would indeed hire Strong not even a week after the 2013 Russell Athletic Bowl. While some may argue that the short time length of the head coaching hire shows how far Texas has fallen, Sims does make an astute observation in his article with regard to the supporters:
"The Texas they know is gone."
The Longhorns were never the same after the loss to the University of Alabama in the 2010 BCS National Championship.
It's true, the culture at Texas is in for a major change with Strong at the helm. The old ways from the previous four seasons and possibly beyond are gone. According to Tex, the Longhorns are in for a huge culture shock. He highlights the changes and Strong's expectations, per sources, in his January article:
1.Players will attend all of their classes and sit in the front two rows of all of their classes. GAs, academic folks, position coaches will be checking constantly now.
2.No headphones in class. No texting in class. Sit up and take notes.
3.If a player misses a class, he runs until it hurts. If he misses two classes, his entire position unit runs. If he misses three, the position coach runs. The position coaches don't want to run.
4.No earrings in the football building. No drugs. No stealing. No guns. Treat women with respect.
5.Players may not live off campus anymore, unless they're a senior who hits certain academic standards. The University will buy out the leases for every player currently living off campus and put them in the athletic dorm.
6.The team will all live together, eat together, suffer together, and hang out together. They will become a true team and learn to impose accountability on each other. The cliques are over.
7.There's no time for a rebuild. "I don't have time for that." The expectation is that Texas wins now.
8.Players will learn that they would rather practice than milk a minor injury.
9.The focus is on winning and graduating. Anything extraneous to that is a distraction and will be stamped out or removed.
10.Strong met individually with seniors and key leaders and re-emphasized that the plan is to win now. They can lead the new culture or be run over by it.
11."I don't want to talk about things. I'd rather do things. We just talked. Now it's time to do."
Strong is the anti-Gill. We're in for it guys.
