Trying to encompass everything that happened on a cold November night in Lawrence is a monumental task. While fans on both sides of the aisle worried about next week’s matchup against TCU, and circled it as D-Day, the Longhorns were stunned in Lawrence against a 1-9 Kansas team that was winless in their last 19 conference games. You’ll notice we did not publish a post-game story, and that’s because the moment the winning field goal went through the uprights the story of the game was inconsequential. We opted to spend last night, and this morning contacting sources to get the latest. Our attempt here is to lay out everything we know about the situation.
· Charlie Strong will not return for 2017. We understand that even a blind man could see that at this point, but we’ve reported that a possible 7-5 season could save him. There’s not a person inside the program espousing any sort of optimism for a return next season.
· We learned last night that there is some division within the ranks. It could be players blowing off steam, but we’ve heard a few reports of players who are incredibly unhappy with the entire situation. There’s a thought that some of the freshmen are questioning their decisions to sign with Texas, and a few conversations are centering around the possibility of transferring. We were told by a source that this is most likely post game hangover, but it is something worth monitoring. Last season during a collapse at Texas A&M we were told that players were telling recruits to re-consider their options. This is something we are watching for in Austin.
· DeShon Elliott described the locker room mood as “Shock and anger†last night, and that was fully on display. Many saw Charles Omenihu reacting on television last night, but there was much more to go around. A majority of the team did not stick around for “The Eyes†after the game, and the mood around the post-game media session was incredibly morose. You will see players running their own PR campaign in support of Charlie Strong on twitter. You will see recruits doing the same thing. It’s admirable, but it won’t matter.
· Expect a rash of negative PR against Texas as a result of this. The loss to Kansas knocked a few people off the Pro-Charlie bandwagon, but there will still be those that claim he wasn’t given the support he needed. Some will claim this is racially motivated. The fact is that the results during his tenure were not acceptable for a program of this stature.
· There was no timetable given on Strong’s impending dismissal, but we were told by one source that a team meeting and announcement could come this evening. We expect Strong to coach the TCU game, but an announcement today would alleviate some media pressure in his final week.
· While other sites rode the wave of emotions surrounding Tom Herman rumors this week, we remain confident in our reporting that Tom Herman is the front runner for the job. A source we spoke with indicated to us a belief that a preliminary deal was already in place for the Houston coach.
· If you want some other names to consider we can tell you that we haven’t heard much. Bryan Harsin is still a name that is generating buzz inside the athletic department. We checked with some sources that previously indicated Texas might make another run at Nick Saban, but the belief is now that this will not happen. The focus at this time is pretty much on Herman alone.
· Don’t expect to see a search firm like Korn Ferry brought on board for this particular search. The primary focus from many in Austin is on Herman, and President Greg Fenves will run the point from what we understand.
· A source indicated that a few of the commits in this class have contingency plans in place depending on what happened next. Expect to see official visits re-arranged, but we are told that those particular recruits will still give Texas the last shot for an official visit.
· News will be fast and furious these next few weeks, but we will do our best to stay on top of it and keep you in the loop.
