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Name: Charlie Strong
From: Batesville, Arksansas
Likes: A firm handshake
Loves: Wearing a weghtlifting belt while running errands
Defensive Coordinator, South Carolina University. 1999-2002
- The year before Strong's arrival as DC, South Carolina's total defense ranked 81st in the country.
- Arrives at South Carolina to coach under human spit bucket Lou Holtz
- Over the next four seasons under his watch, the unit ranked 20th, 16th, 27th, 44th
- Way to go, Chuck.
Co-DC, DC, Interim HC, University of Florida. 2003 - 2009
- In his first year at Florida, Strong registers the 51st ranked defense under Ron Zook.
- In his second season, his defense ranks 42nd.
- Zook is fired, making Strong interim HC. He loses the Peach Bowl to YOUR Miami Hurricanes.
- 2005...Urban Meyer arrives. Charlie Strong is the only coach from the previous staff he retains.
- Urban tells Charlie he's now the Co-DC with Greg Mattison.
- "No! I don't wanna!" Charlie says. "You can't make me!"
- "Stop it or I'll turn this program right around!" Meyer yelled.
- The best friend duo of Strong and Mattison's unit finished 9th in the country in 2005
- The next season, this combo improves the unit to 6th in the nation.
- 2007, the pair drops down to 41st in total defense.
- Greg Mattison leaves for the NFL. Charlie Strong breathes sigh of relief
- The next 2 years Strong is back to being the DC by himself, defenses rank 9th and 4th.
Head Coach, University of Louisville. 2010 - 2013
- Before arriving, UofL went 5-7 and 4-8 under "lol he was actually a coach" Steve Kragthrope.
- Strong goes 7-6, 7-6, 11-2, 12-1
- During this stretch, his defenses rank: 14th, 23rd, 23rd, and 1st
- Over his tenure, his offense were mostly sacks of garbage: 71st, 103rd, 51st, and 28th
- Strength of schedules while at Louisville: 75th, 60th, 70th, 103rd
- Strong says ***** this, I'm going to the only place a black guy with a white wife is welcome.
Head Coach, University of Texas. 2014 - Present
- Welcome to the BIG SHOW, Motha Fvcka.
- Before riding into town and taking over, Texas won 9 and 8 games the two years before
- Their roster was made up of recruiting classes ranked 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 23rd
- Texas' strength of schedule in 2014 and 2015 ranked 14th and 1st
- "We're not in Kentuckuh no more, mama!" - Charles Strong
- In his first season, Charlie Strong goes 6-7
- His total defense ranked 26th, hey, not bad, Chuck!
- His total offense ranked 113th. Oh..
- Ok ok, things will improve this season.
- 2015 record: 3-5.
- Hmmm
- Strong fires OC Joe Wickline one game into the season
- Promotes WR coach Jay Norvell to OC
- An absolute horror show breaks out.
- Texas is 104th in defense, 118th in offense.
- They were just shut out and lost by 3 TDs to a 2-5 Iowa State team
- The natives are restless
WhatTheHell's Thoughts on the Candidate
I, like many of you, watched Charlie Strong at Louisville and stared at the screen with drool running out of my mouth and said "that used to be us, man." His Louisville teams played fast, aggressive defense. But that was his trademark as a DC, too. Unfortunately, I feel he is beginning to take on shades of a slightly better Al Golden. It's actually starting to get eerie how similar things are playing out in regards to what we heard about each coach during their first two seasons at their big-time jobs.
Before coming to premier programs, they made their name winning at a mid-major. Obviously, Strong won more. His final two seasons at Louisville were better than anything Golden to put together, but was he simply slaughtering bad competition by wisely assembling a roster of So Fla savages? He showed up in Texas and was forced to play teams every week where the talent gap wasn't as overwhelming, and he's struggling to keep his head above water.
Strictly as a head coach, his team at Louisville was nice...but that was two seasons. At Texas, we've got proof of him getting slaughtered at a high-pressure Power 5 job. So which Strong is the real one? Are you willing to gamble on this hire?
For me, the following is major cause for concern, and why I feel he's a pass right now:
- Success as head coach came at non-Power 5 school
- Gets crack at the big show
- Is having a helluva time at premier program
- A very unimpressive start through his first 2 seasons
- People begin making excuses, simply chalking it up as a "bad fit" - sound familiar?
- Like So Fla players, Texas kids are now being pointed to as a reason for Strong's issues. "Entitled" - sound familiar?
- Has an unacceptable defense. Simply embarrassing - sou- you get the point.
- Suffers humiliating losses he has no business dropping. Blows it off
- Charlie Strong - "I don't think that was embarrassing Saturday because we played hard."
- Is excused for inheriting "a mess" even though Mack won 9 & 8 games the two years before leaving
- Has supporters claiming recruiting territory is overrun with emergence of rival programs
- Like Al, tenure is wrapped in excuses
Strong MAY be a good coach somewhere else. He MAY be better suited as a DC or a HC at a smaller program. I don't know. And I don't think we're in a position to find out. We're at the craps table and we're bleeding chips, I don't think we should throw it down on a long shot.
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