Time for an Always Charlie to eat crow

Its only fair since if we were 3-1 or 4-0 right now, I'd be demanding it of the Never Charlies.
If only ifs and buts were candy and nuts.
I was wrong about Charlie Strong. He has made way too many poor decisions, game day, and administratively.
At this point there are no excuses. He had the table set this year, and blew it. Bad juju from 2013 is gone.
When you have a pattern of bad luck, as a team you make that luck. Same goes with game day boners. Everyone is human, but when there is a pattern...
All that has carried over even though we have had a lot of turnover in the staff. One man is the common thread.
For the record, I don't have any regrets for being an Always Charlie. I really believed in his culture mission, and still do.
I also don't think the man has forgotten how to coach and his best days are still ahead of him.
Just not here because he can't diagnose this.
I will also be grateful to him after he's gone because he is leaving the next coach with some really nice talent.
For all of his mistakes and faults, and crappy record, as a Head Football coach, he is not leaving a dumpster for the next guy. I think the next guy will be able to take this talent and make some noise, immediately.

It was worth it for 3 years as an experiment. If Charlie had chosen more wisely, he might have been able to accomplish his goals here.
But its time to go get Hermann.

And I don't care if we bet OU next weekend. The pattern is of "One step forward. Two steps back" is not a fluke. We could beat OU next weekend but the ship will still not be righted.

(For the record, I am not really going to eat crow. I'll leave that t BevoQ =)

 

This job is going to kill his career as an HC, I think. He won't sniff another HC job at a major program ever again. CS is our John Blake.

 

Well said.

 

Yep, Charlie brought in some top talent to the 40 acres. He doesn't seem to know how to develop it or what to do with it. He might be a top DC, and we'll see if that's true come Saturday in Dallas. But right now, I see the Golden Hat going north, the rest of the season going south, and a search for a new headman starting, if it hasn't already.

 

No. John Blake was a disgrace to the coaching profession. However, ou had the foresight to limit the damage.

 

Phil,

I shall quote a beloved TV sports personality from our meeting in Rick Lantz office, "John Blake is the dumbest coach to ever walk a sideline". Blake is not only stupid, he is totally unethical, taking money from "vendors" and agents. He completely ruined Butch Davis' career and has cost UNC millions so he could pocket a few bucks.

While he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and is indeed in over his head, Charlie Strong is a man of principle with ethics and integrity, two words NEVER associated with Jon Blake. And let us not forget the "race scandal" Blake started while an assistant for the Cowboys.

 

Detective, I was with you as well on this. I too was prepared to crow like a Manziel rooster if CS turned this around this year.

 

Rooting for Charlie to be successful, wanting to give him a fair shot to be successful, is not the same thing as "always Charlie." I think there are very few "always Charlie" fans on this or any other site. Maybe a few, but I don't know who they are.

I am not bailing on the team just yet. But it sure looks bad, and I have a voice in my head that is shouting "Doomed, we're Doomed." But if CS somehow turns this around and gets to the 8-4 record I predicted before the season, then I will strongly advocate for him to get another year. Playing with a Shane that has a full season under his belt will be nice!

I will be pleasantly surprised if Charlie finds six more wins on the schedule, but I will certainly be watching and cheering for it.

 

It's all Mack Brown's fault. If there is one player, coach, announcer, or cafeteria worker around from the Brown regime, the team will lose. We can't criticize Strong. We need to refire Mack. That SOB only won one national championship. Unacceptable!

 

Well I guess the last people are jumping off the Strong boat. It is funny how reactionary this coaching staff is, with the Bedford demotion. In Strong's first 2 years our Defense was good considering we had no Offense. I guess we still had Mack's players.
Why do people side with coaches? Everyone here should be " UT First", not some coach. "Always UT"is all that is needed, otherwise judgement gets clouded. It is obvious Strong's narrative about bad players ( either being lazy, entitled, to no talent, to bad characters was) from Mack era was all bs and easily gobbled up by most.
Under Mack, we weren't good enough in his latter years for this size of program and Strong took us to a place that was much lower. Cut bait and move on.

 

I tried harder than most to keep an open mind about Charlie. He could coach defense but not offense right? Results bore that out mostly. Fine. Haters gonna hate. Keep recruiting and go find an OC.

Then the last 3 weeks happen. A worthy coach, whose calling card is D, would have gotten the defense ready to play with an extra week to prepare.
My D specialist story is broke now, and it kinda doesn't matter why. A HEAD coach needs to handle it. Whatever IT is.

He won't get my trust back unless he wins the conference at this point.

I'm a Charlie apologist and this crow is overcooked.

 

It aint over till the fat lady sings.
What if he wins out from here?
Will you then eat crow because of the crow you are eating now?

 

Emotions would explode.

 

This job was his retirement plan

 

Partially correct. The Texas job will get him on tv for a very long time, and that is his retirement plan.

 

I don't think that's fair. As far as I can tell, Charlie Strong has worked his *** off here. I don't think he is the type to cash his check and coast.
But that is probably more disturbing to me. He has worked so hard and the results are so bad.

 

I agree. I have tried to be objective. I would bet the "Never Charlies" would argue that they were being objective too, and gave him a fair chance and that some if us have been too patient.

Everyone has their point at which they have seen enough. We were all* "Maybe Charlies" up to a point. (*Although there certainly are a few Never Charlies).

And Moondog, I will happily eat crow leftovers if we win out.
The man has been known to do a 180 with negative momentum in amazing fashion. (the problem is he completes the circle and does a full 360)

 

I'd be super gruntled and say that's worthy of another year, for sure! That said, with the defense and schedule we have, I think this team will struggle to win 2-3 more games.

The OU game will be a good measuring stick. It's a winnable game. If the D can get it's confidence back maybe we can salvage the year. If we give up a lot of big plays and get blown out, there will be a lot of unhappy campers.

 

For me, he doesn't have to go 10-2 (winning out) to have earned another year. I predicted 8-4, thought then, and think now, that with this team that would be satisfactory and signs of real progress.
The team has major weaknesses. Starting with a true freshman QB, and true freshman center. And it is very young on defense, even though very talented.

So four losses should not be surprising to any objective analysis. BUT, the shockingly bad performance by the defense against Cal and osu rocked my world. And I just don't see how the defense can be "fixed" enough to go 6-2 the rest of the year.

You are right Moondog, the fat lady hasn't sung yet, and I am willing to stick around till she does. For me, she just has to sing an 8-4 tune.

 

Texas is reduced to thinking 8-4 is "successful"? That 8-4 coming against the softest schedule we have had in half a century. Granted, preseason predictions of 8-4 were made before we knew how bad ND & OU would be, and that TCU, Baylor, & oSu would field their worst teams in over a decade.

Is 8-4 successful at Texas? Not in this half of The Christian Era!
Is 8-4 against any schedule worthy of $5 million annually? Not even close
Is 8-4 worthy of three year full buyouts for grossly overpaid assistants? Total joke
What would make 8-4 a successful season? Having Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and Michigan or Washington on the schedule. Of those, Saban and Chris Peterson will be seeking retribution and would be total beat downs.

Am I wanting and hoping for improvement? Absolutely!

That said, WE ARE STILL TEXAS! 8-4 with our own network. the largest athletic budget, and the weakest schedule, is no more than mediocre and unacceptable. This year Strong was handed the keys to the throne room and a broad unobstructed path to success. Lesser coaches would have done better. He is a good man, who truly wants to provide guidance to young players, but he is clearly not up to the task. $10 million dries a lot of tears and provides a great future for him and his family.

 

I barely have the energy to argue this ....

But OK, if so, then how do you explain his failure to recognize and slowness to address:
-- offensive scheme
-- the lack of OLinemen
-- the lack of a QB
-- the kicking game!
-- STs generally

And I say his current plan to fix the DB issues by moving Vance there is not working his *** off but rather suggests the opposite -- a lack of willingness to do the hard work required there.

I will concede he seems to handle recruiting well, in general. Same for team discipline. Beyond that though ......

 

No, Texas isn't reduced to thinking anything. That was Caryhorn who posted that. And with ND, OU, tcu, Baylor, and osu in the preseason top 25, its seems like a very reasonable prediction.

However, if you don't think that a true freshman, and a true freshman center, and a first year OC installing a new system will be fraught with landmines at worst and challenging and mistake prone at best, then you are a very orange colored glasses sort of guy, with strange and unrealistic views of what it takes to play winning football at a high level.

Very few could have predicted the defensive meltdown we've witnessed. If you did, and predicted 5-7 or 4-8, then bully for you.

 

Cary,

The point is that WE ARE TEXAS. We should never have been in this position to begin with. That is on Bill Powers. Yes, I said that 5-7 or 6-6 was what I thought would happen with this coaching staff. I also said that 6-6 or a fluke 7-5 does not deserve a bowl game. I have had the same season tickets for 46 years, missed very few games, bleed Burnt Orange, but I am a realist. My grandson's 7-8 year old tackle team knows where to line up. High school teams know where to line up. The Texas Longhorns for the first time in my memory don't know their assignments.

So , yes, with this schedule, I won't think that 8-4 deserves a bowl bid or is anything but an underachieving mess.

 

This is what I've been saying.
Pre-season, I think the vast majority of posters on this board felt 8 wins was the mark to hit for Strong to keep his job.
The Notre Dame win sent everybody sky high and it turns out they were not a #10 team.
Yes, the defense has sucked.
But I still think with even a little improvement we can win a lot of games.
Might not be the OU game.
But it could be every game after that.
I will hold out all hope and cheer Charlie on until the 5th loss hits.
Then, well, all bets are off.

 

Really?
Then you missed that last blowout by OU under Mack.
They didn't know their *** from their elbow that day.
I've never seen a less prepared UT team take the field.

 

The OU blowouts are probably among the worst 10 games in UT history, but losing 24-0 to 3-9 Iowa State that fired their coach has to be the single worst game UT has ever played. That said, the fact that there is a debate about worst games tells us exactly where we are at.

I also am still in a "wait and see if we get to 8-4" place. I have no idea what we do. I could see us beating OU then losing to iowa state again. We'll find out week to week. I think it is unlikely we get to 8-4, but we cannot count losses or wins until they happen. For now I am focussed on cheering for Coach Strong to upset OU again.

 

Hey, Iowa St. damned near beat Baylor last weekend.
But that was a home game for them also.
I think it will be a different story at our house.

 

I have seen every blowout from 52-13 in 1973 through David's Cotton Bowl, the Mackovic debacles, and Brown's multiple disasters, but I don't remember not knowing how to line up. It is fundamental. How many plays against ND, UTEP, Berzerkley, oSu were the DBs and LBs lined up when the ball was snapped? Damn few if any. We overcame some of it with athleticism, and some with poor play by the opponents offense.

Again, four weeks in spring, all summer, five weeks of the season, and we still don't know our assignments? That's lack of coaching because any football player that dumb couldn't gain admission no matter who took his SAT.

Our execution and performance, which seemed to be more the case with the predecessors is a different issue, but also far from acceptable.

 

I think the fat lady has been singing for a while. We just haven't been listening.

 

She's been warming up.