Cali Wolverine

January 6th, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^

Mack Brown is to Lloyd Carr as Charlie Strong is to ________ . If my Texas friends' reactions are any indicator of the reaction of the overall fan base....unless Strong can get the full support of the university (I mean $$$$) behind him...this may not end well.

Erik_in_Dayton

January 6th, 2014 at 2:56 PM ^

I don't understand Texas people not being happy with this hire.  I would have been thrilled if Michigan had hired Strong in 2011 if he'd had the record that he does now.  He hasn't been a head coach for that long, but that's really the only flaw in an otherwise very strong resume. Texas folks are crazy, IMO, if they expected to do better than someone like Strong. 

Forgive me.

January 6th, 2014 at 1:40 PM ^

to call someone the "black" anything?  I have no problem with your analogy (other than it's odd to make such a comparison based on a couple of anecdotal similarities), but you wouldn't say something along the lines of "Jimbo Fisher is the white David Shaw."  It's irrelevant and racist (maybe not in the pejorative way people characteristically apply the term, but in that it injects the issue of race into the conversation gratuitously). 

TIMMMAAY

January 6th, 2014 at 3:42 PM ^

It is OK (thx Magnus) to point out that people are of different races. This new "lets all just try to ignore race entirely, and if you say it, you're racist" mentality that exists today sucks. 

Life is full of subtleties, that's one of the things that makes it great. Trying to homogenise everything in the name of political correctness is terrible. True racism is much more terrible, but I just don't understand the mindset described above. 

Forgive me.

January 6th, 2014 at 5:58 PM ^

I didn't call the poster a racist.  However, to introduce race into a conversation in which it adds no value or meaningful insight is evidence of our society's endemic racism (i.e. in this case, "true racism" as the propensity to delineate poeple by race). 

Of course we are a diverse society.  That should be valued and celebrated. But calling someone the "black Rich Rod" is, to my mind, denegrating.  As I said above, it is unlikely he would have presented this in a similar manner if one of the persons in the analogy weren't black (e.g., he wouldn't likely suggest that Mack Brown is the grey haired Lloyd Carr. He would, instead, simply have said Brown is a little like Carr). The poster could have said CS is the bald RR, or the skinny RR, but chose instead to use race as the identifier.

This is not a matter of political correctness and we could get into a discussion about whether race is really even a "thing." It is, however, a matter of pointing out that, historically, such seemingly inocuous labels undergird the marginalization of non-whites. I guess I'm just not cool with that.

MI Expat NY

January 6th, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^

I think Charlie Strong will have more support from the Texas administration and old timers than Rich Rod got here.  Mack was himself an outsider, and most can see the deterioration of the Texas program since Colt McCoy.  The fact that Texas is soft isn't some secret.  Compare all that to Michigan where Carr was merely the extension of the 40 year old line of coaches dating back to Bo's hiring, where Carr had been a couple plays away from a national title shot just the year before, and the fact that Michigan had gotten soft was whispered about but never openly acknowledged by Michigan insiders.  There were far more reasons why the "Michigan Men" were resistant to change than there would be at Texas.  

Now, is Strong necesserily the guy everyone wanted? Probably not when they had it in their heads they could actually land Saban.  But Smart's a good hire, and should be able to succeed early (that there's no drastic scheme change also helps).  Any doubters will come around, as they do for most new coaches.  

I also don't get the Florida thing.  Of course Charlie Strong recruited Florida when he was at Florida and Louisville.  It was natural to do so.  I don't know why anyone thinks he won't turn his attention to the state of Texas now that he's there.  I imagine his connections in Florida will solely be about going after 5-star guys.  

Yeezus

January 6th, 2014 at 3:06 PM ^

I live in Louisville and I'm having a hard time understanding your point of it was 'natural to do so' with regard to a Louisville coach recruiting the state of Florida.

- 11 hours to Jacksonville

- 12 hours to Orlando 

- 12.5 hours to Tampa

- 15 hours to Miami

That's like saying it would only be natural for a Michigan coach to recruit Atlanta or Birmingham... 

For me, Strong is a good hire for Texas.  I just think there is potential for his time there to be a massive failure (relative to expectations Day 1, of course).  

MI Expat NY

January 6th, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^

Kentucky isn't the most talent-rich state.  Thus, to be successful, Louisville needs to get some talent from a talent rich state.  Florida just happens to be such a talent rich state and Louisville has had 1-2 conference members in that state for the length of Strong's tenure.  It would make sense to recruit kids from Florida.  

 

graybeaver

January 6th, 2014 at 1:24 PM ^

Good hire by Texas.  I'm starting to wonder if Strong was the reason for Florida having great defenses when they won two BCS championships under Urban Meyer.  Strong shared the defensive coaching responsibilities along with Mattison.  Also, the Raven defense regressed under Mattison's leadership as well just like recently at Michigan.  If you can't get pressure on the QB you aren't going to have a good defense.  Mattison basically runs a prevent defense as his base.  A huge disapointment!

jblaze

January 6th, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^

to play politics with the boosters, high school coaches and administration. Now that A&M and Baylor are very good football teams, UT isn't the only game in town.

NFG

January 6th, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^

At his presser he said he wanted Austin to remain the capital of the state. That's a pretty bold political statement. I bet Houston is pissed.

Cold War

January 6th, 2014 at 6:15 PM ^

The folks over at Shaggybevo are having an irrationally great reaction to his presser. I thought he looked all deer-in-the-headlights. My guess is they're trying to sell themselves after whiffing on so many bigger names.

991GT3

January 6th, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^

There is talk that his program at Louville was build on scheduling weak teams. According to NCAA football statistics, only three teams out of 120 have played easier schedules over the past three years.

Texas will be a challenge for him.