OT - Powerful Texas booster derides Charlie Strong hire

Submitted by JamieH on

You think Michigan has had "faction" problems in the past?  Powerful Texas booster Red McCombs says the hiring of Charlie Strong was a "kick in the face" and that Strong might be a "great position coach, maybe a coordinator" but isn't UT head coach material.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10257706/booster-red-mcc…

Apologies if this discussion ends up veering into political territory.  I just wanted to point out that no matter how bad people thought the infighting at Michigan following Carr was, I think we are about to see Texas go though something exponentially worse. 

 

JamieH

January 7th, 2014 at 2:37 PM ^

Where did I claim omnipotence?  I just said I THINK we are about to see something worse at Texas.  How you get me claiming to know the future out of that statement is beyond me.

Michigan didn't have major boosters going to the press claiming Rodriguez wasn't fit to be a coordinator here the week he got to campus.  Talk all you want about whatever BS went on while Rodriguez was here, but it apperas that Strong is walking into an openly hostile situation at UT. 

TheNema

January 7th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^

Fair enough. It's just hard for me to swallow a prediction of something being "exponentially worse." I honestly don't think we are ever going to see the wacky type of stories and betrayals that emanated from that era here. We could go on and on with tales of jaw-dropping behavior.

trueblueintexas

January 7th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^

This is more about the new AD, Steve Patterson, learning how Texas sports "work" than anything else. Unfortunately, Charlie is in the middle of it. Welcome to the NFL kid.

ilah17

January 7th, 2014 at 2:27 PM ^

I don't know if Strong was a good hire or not, but it's very disappointing to see someone speak publicly like this. Can't imagine how Strong feels right now.

ilah17

January 7th, 2014 at 4:45 PM ^

It's easier to say who cares when you aren't the one being talked about. When I take a new job, I don't want to hear people saying I was a bad hire, and I'm sure Strong doesn't either. Like someone else said, hopefully it motivates him. But I'm sure on some level it stings.

Johnny Blood

January 7th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^

Think of him as their Steven Ross.  He is a MAJOR donor, has owned an NFL team, and the UT business school is named after him.

He may be a self-inflated windbag and completely wrong on this, but he is not a no one when it comes to UT internal politics.

MichiganStudent

January 7th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^

This was my point earlier, when I heard they made this hire I had a feeling that Strong would not be a big enough name to appease the masses. He is a good coach and I think he should have a big time job, but I didn't see the fit at Texas.



Is there a race component? Absolutely, but I think Texas expected someone major (eg Harbaugh, Saban, Tomlin, Gruden, etc) and the donors wanted more input and that's the greater issue here.

bigmc6000

January 7th, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^

You've made the conclusion there is a race element because...? Right, there is absolutely no evidence at all but since he's an old white guy who doesn't like a younger black man the only logical conclusion is it's a race thing. Good grief...



So sick of this crap, I live here and frankly I encountered WAY more racism in the Midwest than I have here in Texas.

glewe

January 7th, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^

I don't think the race conclusion is obvious, but you can cool your jets because ATM you sound like a reverse racism apologist. And technically that's political, therefore off-limits....

bigmc6000

January 7th, 2014 at 4:33 PM ^

There is no such thing as "reverse racism", racism is racism regardless of the race of the impacted party.



The original argument that there is "absolutely" a racial element is political - I'm pointing out how ridiculous and unsubstantiated that argument is.

MichiganStudent

January 7th, 2014 at 4:19 PM ^

I really don't want to get into sociological or psychology debate. My point was that he was not a big enough name and the donors didn't get enough input for their liking. Charlie Strong is a good coach but there are many factors that play into why some people view him as an underwhelming hire or a bad fit for Texas.



MGlobules

January 7th, 2014 at 4:06 PM ^

about coaches with some fame or notoriety with every big school hire? Seems like school that do their homework and actually sleuth out young talent could score big. 

Yeoman

January 8th, 2014 at 9:53 AM ^

I did a thing on the board a couple of years ago, probably before the 2011 season started when people were complaining about "hirting a MAC coach," comparing three approaches: hiring an established big-name coach, hiring somebody with lower-level coaching experience, promoting an assistant from within. There wasn't really much difference in results among the three; if anything there was a slight edge to hiring the lower-level guy.

Strong probably qualifies as an established big-name coach though, the way I did it (and he should). Lousville was an AQ; they're not hiring out of Miami (O).

Maybe I'll do that again, better, and post a diary sometime. The subject seems to come up a lot.

And I'm sure you're right that doing the DD is the key, regardless of who you wind up hiring. The point was noticing, in the interview and from the recs, that Bo was Bo or that Woody was Woody. But I don't know how to measure that.

Johnny Blood

January 8th, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^

And Foles, who is from Austin.

Part of the problem was Mack's penchant for locking down the entire class during their junior year, so he never had room for any late bloomers... but yeah, his real downfall was his inability to get a decent QB after Colt.  Which is just insane when you think of all the QB talent from the state of TX.

Instead of all those guys mentioned, he took Gilbert, Ash and Colt's brother.

And that's why his tenure has ended on a sour note.

Sac Fly

January 7th, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^

Charlie Strong better get used to it. The high profile alumni and boosters make the decisions. This is how the program has always been run.

You can't ignore them; that's why Mack Brown benched the Big-12 offensive player of the year in favor of Chris Simms. He did was he was told.

991GT3

January 7th, 2014 at 6:23 PM ^

for the job but short of hiring Saban. Gruden or Dunghy any new Texas coach would have had his detractors. Hoke had his fair share.

Cold War

January 8th, 2014 at 7:09 AM ^

Patterson screwed up here. It probably had a lot to do with being new and getting to know the Texas culture. When a guy donates that kind of money you at least make  him feel involved, if he  wants  to be.

The notion you just tell a guy like that to GTFO if he doesn't like  it is ridiculous. It would be damaging to the university.

bronxblue

January 8th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^

I don't think this has as much to do with race (because, honestly, that would be so cliche and I'd like to think that  a major booster to the biggest university in the country wouldn't have gotten to major positions of power while being a virulent racist - I know, naive).  

It does, though, have lots to do with a booster who wasn't consulted, or feels that he should have been consulted more, and coming across as a jilted boyfriend/girlfriend.  He probably had his guy in mind, and that wasn't Strong, so now he's throwing a hissy fit because he doesn't like seeing his "power" ignored and maybe he's feeling like he lost this particular pissing contest.