Having lived in the shadows of Memorial Stadium for over 70 years, with too many games to remember, all of the way back to Coach Price and the knothole section, I have a few observations with the Texas program.
First of all, I put many of the fans in social media into the above categories. Some post because their intent is to tear down the program and are probably fans of other teams. Some have never put on a football uniform and never even played any game their mother considered too physical, so all they know is what the scoreboard tells them. Most are loyal fans who love their school so much they take it personal when the team plays bad and in turn some of them react poorly. But many of those in social media have one thing in common; they do not have any real knowledge of the game.
Those of us who have some level of experience in the game, at whatever level, and have studied the game, know this, Texas is struggling for multiple reasons, but the main one is a lack of talent. And that is the biggest key to winning college football games. We think we know football until we get into a discussion with a real coach and then we find out how little we know. And, Coach Strong and his staff may not know as much as one or more other staffs, but they know enough to win with better talent. If you want to see how bad the talent is at Texas, just watch the upcoming Texas A & M game against Alabama. Those teams have real talent. I am not sure that at their present level, more than two of the Texas players could play, much less start, on either of those two teams. With development, that will change.
And if you want to blame the play of the talented young players at Texas on the Strong Staff, such as failures by defensive backs on coverage assignments, bad tackling angles, not knowing how to run for first downs when they need one yard, bad technique on pass defense, bad tackling techniques, catching the ball in your chest instead of with your hands, and many more, you might want to consider this; the staff has only had these freshmen for two months and the others for one season. Those of us who have played the game had 6 or more years of coaching before we entered college. Six or more years of learning the above mentioned fundamentals. So where were all of these great high school coaches while these kids were playing the game? Because they were better athletes than anyone else on the field, were they allowed to get by on their athleticism and not forced to learn these basics? I think so. Bad habits are hard to break and some high school studs are not coachable, even when they get to college.
So those of you who want to blast the team over the scoreboard and do not want to accept the fact that this is not going to be a good year because the talent pool is not going to change overnight, you must understand that you will hurt recruiting and add to a downward spiral, resulting in another coaching change and a future deterioration of the program. Perhaps one that is not recoverable (that can happen). And as you do this, you will get plenty of help from the haters, some supporters of the likes of A&M and the Sooners, pretending to be your comrades, who will throw gasoline on the fire you are building.
Last year the Aggies went eight and five while playing SMU, Rice and Lamar, and three and five in their conference, with a nationally televised blowout by Alabama, 59-0. They may very well be in the playoff within the next two years because their young talent is beginning to emerge. Their fans stayed with them and all is good in Aggie Land. So be at least as good as Aggie and give this Texas team a chance. If things do not change with better talent and internal coaching adjustments (give Charlie credit for making a major change already in offensive coaching, as Stoops and Sumlin also had to do) your critique may be justified. Not saying that you do not have a right to your opinion, but make it an informed opinion and be fair. If you do not like this team, don’t watch! And stay away from the naysayers, including the Austin Statesman.
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