A Former Letterman's Thoughts on Coach Strong

[bcherry168]

Excellent. Thank you.

 

[Old Tascosa]

I love the blue collar attitude and mind set that Strong is installing. Much more than Muschamp ever envisioned or was allowed to implement, Strong is stating very loudly to the players, coaches, and FANS, "NOTHING is given or assumed, ALL must be earned. But certain rules will be enforced: Respect, Effort, Results, and most of all, TEAM."

I don't think I could be more excited about the direction he's taking us. Even the coaches, by not being the superstar names that would be expecting a step up in a year or 2 to their next gig as a HC, are blue collar, get it done, make it happen types with strong character traits, skills, and abilities. The B12 better watch out. There is definitely a new sheriff in town.

 

[DMV Horn]

Mods, if you deem this pin-worthy, please do so.

 

[texasdobbs]

Great post...

 

[aowells]

I'm just not sure why some are just assuming the offense is going to be a mess or lack direction. I think Strong was perfectly clear what type of system and objective they will have on offense next season. One guy is calling the plays. Its not going to be 3 people all on headsets trying to call plays in games by a committee or coach the offense as 3 sep guys who have their own agendas and ideas what system Texas should have. I've heard nothing to indicate there wont be a clear direction and design on offense of what they want to do. Time will tell how successful it is, but I also heard nothing yesterday to suggests Texas is going to be a 10-14 point a game...slow pace grind it out type of offense either

I'm not worried that we'll have 3 guys on the headset arguing about play calling. But bringing an O line coach in to be OC (even a great one like Wickline), makes it tough to establish a clear shared vision of what this offense will be about - and makes it tough to know what players we need to recruit into it and how to sell recruits on how they'll fit into it.

When a QB recruit goes to Baylor, Alabama or most places really, they know exactly what they're in for. If I'm a highly recruited dual threat QB considering Texas, it's hard to know what the system is and whether I fit. CS says spread, but that means different things to different people. I just hope we have our sales pitch worked out so it's more clear to the recruits than it has been to the rest of us.

 

[texasdobbs]

I'm not worried that we'll have 3 guys on the headset arguing about play calling. But bringing an O line coach in to be OC (even a great one like Wickline), makes it tough to establish a clear shared vision of what this offense will be about - and makes it tough to know what players we need to recruit into it and how to sell recruits on how they'll fit into it.
When a QB recruit goes to Baylor, Alabama or most places really, they know exactly what they're in for. If I'm a highly recruited dual threat QB considering Texas, it's hard to know what the system is and whether I fit. CS says spread, but that means different things to different people. I just hope we have our sales pitch worked out so it's more clear to the recruits than it has been to the rest of us.

You really don't know how recruiting works do you...

 

[primal defense]

Yes it was a great post. We're all excited to instill some discipline and accountability back into the program.
But why is everyone acting like making the culture change and bringing in the best coaching talent are somehow mutually exclusive? Why do folks seem to think that the focus on discipline and accountability somehow excuses the fact that our offensive system is going to be a collection of whatever we've got in the fridge?

If we attract men of reasonable talent, put them in a kluged together offensive system and shape them into fine husbands and life insurance salesmen, that's all well and great for them, but it damn sure ain't helping my Saturday afternoons!

Your using the word fact when it's really your opinion. Which is wrong IMO.

 

[DMV Horn]

I'm just not sure why some are just assuming the offense is going to be a mess or lack direction. I think Strong was perfectly clear what type of system and objective they will have on offense next season. One guy is calling the plays. Its not going to be 3 people all on headsets trying to call plays in games by a committee or coach the offense as 3 sep guys who have their own agendas and ideas what system Texas should have. I've heard nothing to indicate there wont be a clear direction and design on offense of what they want to do. Time will tell how successful it is, but I also heard nothing yesterday to suggests Texas is going to be a 10-14 point a game...slow pace grind it out type of offense either

Darn it Dizz!!! Knock off that logic stuff!

 

[Epictetus]

In March 2010 (I date all my books) I read "The Warrior Elite" by D. Couch, who graduated top of his BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) Class 45 of 1969, and shows what the whole training cycle is like. He joined Class 228 and documented the training, giving a good look at the kinds of men who get through it.

At the close the author raised the question 'so what really separates the ones who make it from those who do not?'

He wrote: "I personally have come to believe the single trait that will get a man through BUD/S is the will to win. The desire to win is different from refusing to lose, or not quitting. A man can get through BUD/S by refusing to quit, if he can meet the performance standards, but he will not be a leader -- a "go-to" guy in his SEAL platoon. BUD/S cultivates the will to win, but to one degree or another, top trainees bring it with them when they walk through the door of the Naval Special Warfare Center. Some realize this only after they leave BUD/S."

That will make more sense if you've read the whole story of the many different kinds of men. I recently heard the story of JJ Watts, the defensive player for the Texans. It reminds me of some of the individual stories Couch presents in this book of SEALs training.

But the point that stands out is that last statement... that to one degree or another, the top men brought the will to win with them. The training separated those who have it, from those who do not. Albeit some may develop it during training, but the seed was there all along.

This program under Coach Strong will find the leaders. There can be many players who do not quit and who refuse to lose, but among them will be the true leaders who carry that will to win and who will have developed it. And they can infuse it onto the team as a whole.

I remember back in the early 60s, the team under Royal, that one particular OU game (for I was there), and Texas was behind with less than a touchdown with 80 yards to go and just minutes left in the game. The team marched down the field, with critical 3rd down plays, often passing to get it, and proceeded to score the winning touchdown. Royal called it a 'gut check.' And it was amazing to experience it as a fan at the game. It was a sense of that will to win.

The one time in the recent program where that was experienced the most, was being down 12 points with 6 minutes to play against USC. In my mind, Vince Young willed that win. If not that whole season. I always felt, in a manner of speaking, that he literally became the coach that year and set the tone for the workouts and effort all the way back to the off-season following the Michigan game in the previous Rose Bowl game.

For my 2 cents, Charlie Strong is bringing that attitude of Vince Young to the program. A big part of it anyway. Any of us who where here through the 60s and early 70s can remember that feeling. But maybe not understood was how Royal developed it and brought it out in the team. Maybe Coach Strong is restoring that lost art, and in a way suited to the times.

Footnote: I always liked freshmen football. You earned your way onto the varsity and were fortunate to play a lot as a soph. The teams therefore had solid senior leadership, 2-deep with juniors, and then the special soph classes like the Worster Bunch. The fun of games was seeing it put away by late 3rd quarter so you could see the third team out there. Everyone remembering their freshman year, and now the chance to see them get to play. Today with freshmen playing, a sense of entitlement can easily be there from the start. Hence a missing process of development. I believe Strong's approach will simulate that development that was possible back when freshmen did not play and were forced to work through a system of earning their place on the team.

 

[aowells]

You really don't know how recruiting works do you...

Let me guess...CS pulls up in a van yells "TEXASTRONG" and recruits jump in?

I'm sure no recruit will want to know what the offense is going to look like, they'll all be as lost in CS's eyes as you are.

 

[Hump34]

\m/

 

[txscallywag]

Great read. I for one am excited to see this "culture change" within the football program, my only hope is that the guys actually going through it will stick it out. The end result is worth it. Like my RDC used to tell us everyday; "The most important aspect to a successful division, platoon, unit or even on a ship, is team cohesion. Learn it, live it, love it or walk out the f...en door, but later on you're going to regret you ever did".

 

[utparothed]

I'm not worried that we'll have 3 guys on the headset arguing about play calling. But bringing an O line coach in to be OC (even a great one like Wickline), makes it tough to establish a clear shared vision of what this offense will be about - and makes it tough to know what players we need to recruit into it and how to sell recruits on how they'll fit into it.
When a QB recruit goes to Baylor, Alabama or most places really, they know exactly what they're in for. If I'm a highly recruited dual threat QB considering Texas, it's hard to know what the system is and whether I fit. CS says spread, but that means different things to different people. I just hope we have our sales pitch worked out so it's more clear to the recruits than it has been to the rest of us.

QB recruits who go to Baylor, Alabama or anywhere else that has the same coach as they did last season knows what they're in for because they've had a chance to see the product on the field. Since a Charlie Strong coached Longhorn team has yet to play 1 down of football it'll be hard for any recruit to know exactly what they're in for until they have a chance to talk to our coaching staff. Maybe I'm a bit naive but I'm pretty sure that Charlie has taken the time to sit down with his coaching staff and to develop/define our now offensive identity and I'd bet money that every coach on the recruiting trail has more than enough information to "sell" recruits. Do you honestly think that after 28 years of coaching/recruiting he's going to walk into a recruits living room and tell them that offensively we're going to throw as much $#!^ against the wall as we can and we'll just see what sticks?? We don't know what our offense is going to look like because, right now, we don't need to know. What we do need is our coaching staff working on getting the best and brightest to play for the Longhorns.

 

[aowells]

We don't know what our offense is going to look like because, right now, we don't need to know. What we do need is our coaching staff working on getting the best and brightest to play for the Longhorns.

I actually agreed with almost everything in your post.

You seem to favor an approach of: get the best and then figure out what to do with them. I'm of the opinion that you should have an offensive system in mind and recruit the appropriate players to play in that system (granted it's too late to drastically change this year's class). But mostly my point was that you need to have something to say other than "trust us". I'm sure they won't walk into a living room and try to sell the "see what sticks" approach, but I think smart recruits and high school coaches will be able to see through them if they don't actually have a plan in place.

 

[Topstarr]

I Love it....things are changing and for the better. Now clean up the mess and have clean windows.

 

[DMV Horn]

Thank you all for the great feedback regarding the OP. I also appreciate the "spirited" discussion regarding the Offense's future identity; although I doubt it belongs in this particular thread.

 

[texasdobbs]

Let me guess...CS pulls up in a van yells "TEXASTRONG" and recruits jump in?
I'm sure no recruit will want to know what the offense is going to look like, they'll all be as lost in CS's eyes as you are.

That's just it he knows what his offense is and has a plan... The problem is you don't know and having issues.

I really have to question whether you even a longhorn fan? Not once have you said anything positive about the Longhorns or even in your criticism you can't be constructive about...

 

[utparothed]

I actually agreed with almost everything in your post.
You seem to favor an approach of: get the best and then figure out what to do with them. I'm of the opinion that you should have an offensive system in mind and recruit the appropriate players to play in that system (granted it's too late to drastically change this year's class). But mostly my point was that you need to have something to say other than "trust us". I'm sure they won't walk into a living room and try to sell the "see what sticks" approach, but I think smart recruits and high school coaches will be able to see through them if they don't actually have a plan in place.

No, I favor the Charlie Strong has an offensive system in mind, has shared that system with his assistants and is recruiting with that in mind approach. IMO, the guy's too intense and has too much passion for the game to walk into any recruit's living room unprepared. I think he's going to do a great job recruiting in the little time he has left before signing day and don't think we'll be disappointed at all.

 

[Pancho Negro]

I actually agreed with almost everything in your post.
You seem to favor an approach of: get the best and then figure out what to do with them. I'm of the opinion that you should have an offensive system in mind and recruit the appropriate players to play in that system (granted it's too late to drastically change this year's class). But mostly my point was that you need to have something to say other than "trust us". I'm sure they won't walk into a living room and try to sell the "see what sticks" approach, but I think smart recruits and high school coaches will be able to see through them if they don't actually have a plan in place.

You should stop assuming that because you don't know everything about the staff's ideas then that surely must mean they don't have a plan in place.

 

[java]

dobbs, I agree with you. I think aowells is more than likely trolling. aowells has nothing positive to say about Longhorn football or tradition. In fact, this person only mentioned Baylor.

Do you think this could be a bored Baylor Bear trolling a Longhorn site? hmmmm