OT: Charlie Strong has only 2 assistants left from original 2014 staff
Texas dismissed DB coach Chris Vaughn due to his ties to the NCAA allegations at Ole Miss, and demoted OC/WR coach Jay Norvell left for a job at ASU today in a post-Signing Day coaching purge. Strong already fired OC Shawn Watson and OL coach Joe Wickline this past December, and RB coach Tommie Robinson left for USC in a lateral job move in January.
In the 2014-2015 offseason, Texas fired WR coach Les Koenning and TE coach Bruce Chambers. DL coach Chris Rumph left Texas for Florida in a lateral job move.
None of the offensive assistant coaches remain from Charlie Strong's original Texas staff in 2014, and only 2 original assistants remain: DC Vance Bedford and LB/recruiting coordinator Brian Jean-Mary. And none of the staff changes have involved an assistant leaving for a promotion. I feel like Texas has their own "Three and Out" book brewing, but who knows maybe Strong & Texas will end up with a better ending.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:10 AM ^
Thanks a lot, Obama...
February 12th, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^
February 12th, 2016 at 10:25 AM ^
It's Texas. They have a strong in-state recruiting base, and I think the some of the problems and transfers at Texas A&M helped them as well. Supposedly, Strong and Brian Jean-Mary were heavily involved with the recruiting down the stretch, but I am not surprised Texas did well in recruiting Texas. Some kids are going to want to stay home even if they are walking into what looks like a dumpster fire.
And as well as Texas did, they still only landed ONE of the top 10 players in-state based on 247Composite, and only 5 of the top 25 players.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^
Strong is a defensively oriented coach and Bedford is a good DC. The defensive side of the ball was not what was broken with UT this season.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:19 AM ^
We need a strong Texas so they Big 12 stops going into November with 3-4 teams ranked in the Top 10.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 12th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^
Why LSU? I'd much rather see them return to their pre-Saban mediocrity, when we regularly pulled good recruits out of there.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:19 AM ^
February 12th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 12th, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^
Keep in mind, Strong has been there two years. And year one was spent dismissing like a 3rd of the roster because a bunch of Brown's players couldn't be bothered to straighten out both on and off the field.
That left this year's team incredibly young, especially along the offensive line and without a good QB (either Swoopes, experienced but at best inconsistent, or Heard, young with a high ceiling but very raw).
Basically, this was a rebuilding job, not a win right away job.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^
I don't think the Texas job was a rebuilding job. Their record in Mack Brown's last 3 seasons: 8-5, 9-4, & 8-5. Mack Brown had ONE losing season in 16 years. Charlie Strong has surpassed that in 2 years. In the spectrum of job openings where a coach is fired or forced to resign, Texas was about as good a job as it gets. If Texas was a rebuilding job, then everything other job opening up after a firing is a natural disaster.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^
Brown left a program that was extremely complacent and entitled. Those 8 and 9 win teams were grossly underperforming given the level of recruits and resources Brown had.
The UT position is a rebuilding one in that he had to clear out a lot of Brown's legacy and culture (e.g., he got rid of the infamous chartered buses that would shuttle players from campus to the athletic facility, which was ON CAMPUS). He dismissed a ton of upper classmen before his first season because of behavior and disciplinary issues, and had to dismiss even more of the course of his first two seasons. Their offensive line depth chart had 9 freshmen and only 4 upper classmen (most of whom weren't starters).
Just because Brown managed to get 8-9 wins and UT has a lot of money, don't think that the program wasn't a mess and that Strong didn't have to come in a blow it up. And no amount of resources is going to make the players he's recruiting upper classmen to replace the ones he had to dismiss.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
Replace Brown with Hoke and is there anything different between when Hoke left and when Brown left?
February 12th, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^
Any time a coach is getting fired, there is some sort of mess to clean up or he wouldn't have gotten fired in the first place. Texas has way too many built in advantages to be struggling the way they are right now. There are no NCAA sanctions. And people talking about a rotten foundation under Mack Brown forget what Texas football was before him.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^
Yes, Harbaugh didn't need to purge a bunch of problematic upperclassmen, leaving him to do things like field an offensive line with multiple freshman starters.
Strong didn't have the same players that Brown did, because he put his foot down and actually started suspending and dismissing guys when they broke rules. It fundamentally changed the roster, especially among the upperclassmen.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:55 AM ^
Yes. Hoke had 7 and 5 wins in his last 2 years. Texas was 9-4 and 8-5 in Brown's last two years.
February 12th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
Clear out Mack Brown's legacy and culture? Do you remember what Texas Football was before Mack Brown? It barely had a pulse for 15 years. It didn't have a stranglehold on the Texas in-state recruiting like people expect now. Mack Brown built that. There is no Longhorn Network without Mack Brown's success.
This is crazy talk. Brown had a dropoff at the end of his career like Lloyd Carr, but you make it sound like he turned Texas football into some dumpster fire like Will Muschamp at Florida when it is the other way around. Texas Football is not the elite job it is now without Mack Brown.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^
The foundation of the program was rotten--entitled players, poor scouting and development etc. There's a reason you haven't heard too much chirping about Strong's record (up until recentley, at least). And that's because everyone who pays attention knew this was a rebuild from the start.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
Oh my god, the QB scouting alone handicapped Strong. How many QBs did Brown's staff completely ignore to hand over a depth chart made up of a perpetually concussed Ash and Swoopes. I mean, when a RS freshman Heard is your best option in year 2, that's a rough QB situation.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^
When you make it abundantly clear that no one is going to pass Case McCoy on the depth chart, it makes it hard to keep kids in the program. And the idea of handing the offense over to Swoopse--who seems like a great kid, but went like 2-7 his senior year in 1-A--is just unbelievable screw up.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^
It was clear that there was dropoff in talent in the last 4 years, but c'mon man. This whole "rotten" foundation thing is not the only reason Strong has a losing record at Texas right now. A lot of this is his own doing as well. Mack Brown was still winning games with the "rotten" foundation. Texas football was pretty terrible in the 2 decades before Mack Brown took over. Strong was not inheriting some crumbling program. Mack Brown had completely changed the perception of Texas football and built an in-state recruiting advantage in one of the most fertile areas for talent that almost no other school enjoys.
I don't think I can name too many job openings that were set up better to succeed after firing a coach. The only one I can think of is OSU and Urban Meyer, but OSU did not fire Tressel for performance. USC and PSU have both been dealing with crippling NCAA sanctions. Michigan has nowhere near the in-state recruiting base that Texas has. Florida was a bigger mess than Texas, and their chief rival, FSU, was coming off winning the BCS National Championship and making the playoffs. But none of these coaching hires have struggled the way Strong has so far despite what looks like jobs that required more rebuilding.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^
Strong is not without blame - the offensive staff was underwhelming when he hired them and proceeded to perform poorly. That's why giving them the boot is a good thing.
As to Brown winning more games than Strong, I keep saying Strong dismissed a ton of upperclassmen who had discpline problems (both off the field and on) that Brown kept around. The roster Strong is playing with is not the same one Brown had, because he's willing to actually punish his players, unlike Brown.
It's funny you mention Florida - the analog to Texas isn't the Muschamp to McElwain transition, it's the Meyer to Muschamp transition. Muschamp had to dismiss something like 24 players in his first two seasons to try and clean up the mess that Meyer had made of that program. Muchamp might not be a good HC, but he at least handed off a program with a much better foundation than what Meyer left in his wake. And if Strong gets fired, the next coach will inherit a much better program than what Strong was given.
February 12th, 2016 at 12:02 PM ^
You keep beating me to the punch.
February 12th, 2016 at 12:04 PM ^
People blamed Muschamp's failures on the same "rotten" foundation that Urban Meyer left behind, but now it looks like it was just that Muschamp was a bad coach. I think the whole "rotten" foundation argument that was used for Muschamp is malarkey. McElwain seemed to do just fine in his first year with a program that has serious issues at QB and OL just like Texas.
February 12th, 2016 at 2:11 PM ^
February 12th, 2016 at 12:01 PM ^
But this'll be my last post, because I get the sense you're not to be convinced.
1. Recruiting advantages only matter if you can scout and project talent. Taking commits from maxed out 16 year olds, and uncoachable knuckleheads erodes any perceived advantage.
2. Mack changed the perception of UT, you're correct. Perceptions, though, are just that--not reality.
3. No one is saying that Strong didn't have a hand in the current state of the program, Strong most of all. Watson was a bad hire--system doesn't fit the recruiting base. More broadly, Strong seems to prefer a pro-set, and that's a crazy thing in a state where every high school runs the spread. His recent hires indicate he understand this now, and is working to correct it.
4. Disagree that Florida was a bigger mess. Muschamp (an excellent coach) had very, very similar problems to what Strong is facing. He got fired for cleaning it up (and running a stupid pro set offense). We'll see if Strong suffers the same fate.
February 12th, 2016 at 12:11 PM ^
I think Muschamp is a terrible coach who used the same excuses that we are hearing for Strong right now. McElwain is cleaning up Muschamp's mess. Muschamp took over a program that he should have won more games with just like Strong.
Mack Brown did more than change the perception of Texas football. The reality is that Texas football was dead before Mack Brown and is not the job it is today without him and what he built.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 12th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^
The article did not address this, but did Strong retain a bunch of the former regime's assistants? If so, this is a lot less egregious in my eyes than otherwise. Giving someone from the old guard a chance to show their mettle, and finding that they're a bad fit and letting them go is not a terrible thing in my eyes.
However, if these are not inherited assistants, it smacks of someone who pushes blame downward. That's never a good look for a leader.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^
I am pretty sure Strong purged Mack Brown's coaching staff with his own hires. I think TE coach Bruce Chambers who was fired after 2014 may have been the only holdover, but he was fired after Strong's first season. And I think he may have only kept Chambers initially due to his strong connections to Texas high school football coaches.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^
"The Culling"
February 12th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^
Looks like Watson came with him from Louisville, and Wickline was hired by him (from Okie State maybe?) Didn't look up the rest.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:34 AM ^
2014: 6-7
2015: 5-7
With that record, I'd think a bunch of the assistants would have been fired by now. Soon it's going to be the head coach.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:39 AM ^
.... maybe Strong & Texas will end up with a better ending."
So, maybe a happy ending?
February 12th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^
Not surprising considering that fecal matter doesn't roll up hill.
February 12th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^
This is a good thing. Bedford is a good DC and UT's LBs were good, but the offensive staff needed to be cleared out. Strong had to do a similar thing at Louisville - the first staff he assembled had to be replaced after a season or two, as well.
People thing that he walked into a good situation; he did not. His first season was spent purging the worst of Brown's players, which left him with an incredibly young team this season with very few upper classmen.
It's funny, non UT fans are way more impatient than UT fans when it comes to Strong. Among the (fellow) UT fans that I know, people like Strong and are pretty understanding that it's going to take a little time to rebuild after cleaning out the worst of the late Brown era. It's everyone else who seem to be calling for him to get fired.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^
Can't realy blame the guy.
February 12th, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^
Its pretty simple guys. Strong is a defensive coach...and remarkably defense is far from the problem.
At Lou he found his Qb: Bridgewater. At texas, everyone he inherited were complete, not even remotely average bums, at that position. A little better qb play and he will be fine. I agree though that he needs to show some serious improvement this year. Anything less than the absolute floor of 8-4 will probably get him the boot. They do have a lot of promising young talent.
February 12th, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
I think most of all Strong is realizing what it will take in the Big 12 to win. It's basically a flag football league and if you don't put up 30-40 week in and week out you won't win more than you lose. Took him a year or two to figure that out, hence the staff changes recently.