Pump the Brakes on Firing Charlie Strong

[doc longhorn]

The author would have been well advised to listen to Morgan Freeman:

Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman, who endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008, said that having a Black History Month was “ridiculous†and that the best way to end racism today is to “stop talking about it.â€

 

[Godz40acres]

As a still strong Strong supporter, I can't help but think this article was written in jest - there's no way Flanagan could have had a serious intent. If he did...

 

[UT1983]

I sure wish supposedly educated people would realize the Civil War was not fought about slavery.  And the fact our current UT President decided removal of the Jefferson Davis statute was a good idea is proof supposedly educated people do make stupid decisions.  No southerner fought so that the rich plantation owner up the road could keep his slaves; they fought to protect the State of Texas to have the right to self govern.  If UT needed to remove a statute, it should of been George Washington's.  At least he actually owned a slave!  Jefferson Davis has been quoted saying that the war was not about slavery and Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying he was fine with keeping slavery legal if it meant keeping the Union together. 

And now that race has been brought up, an arguement can be made Coach strong gets a third year regardless of win/loss record simply because he is black and the current UT Admins don't want to do anything slightly preceived as racist.  If Coach Strong was white, does he automatically get a third year as well?  If the football shows no improvement next year, black, white, purple or green, Coach Strong needs to go.

Will be glad when we can ALL follow Martin Luther's dream of simply judging a man by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin. 

 

[tejasrulz]

This thread in pictures:

 

[BevoBlake]

I think Flanagan is explaining a narrative that would occur upon firing Strong, not claiming there are currently race issues related to Strong's position. And in that way, he's right. There will be stories claiming racism if Strong is let go. It's not fair. But it is true. Especially, as Flanagan noted, if we give the next coach more time to work things out.

There is no harm in acknowledging that. As there is no harm in bringing up areas that will most certainly be brought up in regards to Texas' history.

 

[betogonzalez]

The only relevant question for the UT President and AD is whether Charlie is competent to do the job or not. If they think he is, then keep him.  If they do not, then they should let him go.

 

[Chris Flanagan]

Seems I had a conversation starter here.

So I will address topics generally just to ensure I am not calling specific people out.

1. Race is an issue.

It just is in America. As long as studies constantly show a implicit discriminatory effect on African Americans in tipping, job callbacks, job pay, and in policing, it will always be an issue.

Sports is popular in the sense that on its face, it's a meritocracy. However, there is certain reactions we have when players of color do a certain thing versus the majority doing the same thing. Same with coaches.

Yes, Texas as a state is paying for the sins of their past. It's inevitable when something falls on the wrong side of history. However, ignoring history does not solve the issue.

There are legitimate criticism of Charlie Strong. He hasn't connected well with Texas HS coaches, he gets blown out way too often. However, let's not forget some BMD was very public on his displeasure of the Charlie Strong even going so far to say the Sugar Bowl winning coach might be "a good coordinator".

He was brought in to be the Anti-Mack Brown. He is doing just that. Then you pull the plug 2 seasons in and give it to a new guy. Again, if the new guy, most likely white, struggled after 2 seasons and is not fired or at least the fanbase hasn't turned on him, many will question to what extent race had on Charlie Strong's likability and quick termination. And it would be a fair question.

2. None are good reasons.

Well good is a relative term defined differently by everyone. However, they are reasons why to not fire Strong albeit the race issue is more about how the program and administration would be viewed by African Americans in the future.

 

[Randolph Duke]

The only relevant question for the UT President and AD is whether Charlie is competent to do the job or not. If they think he is, then keep him.  If they do not, then they should let him go.

A stated or implied argument that The University of Texas has such a checkered past on racial matters and even today needs to walk on eggshells, lest it be seen as a racist institution, and therfore has no option other than to pay an unqualified black head football coach $5 million/ year to coach the football team is absurd.

State your argument for keeping Charlie Strong as head coach, but the racial angle is only made from ignorance. And, as I said, if Bonami Jones wants to walk down that path, have him book me on his show and I will explain a few things to him.

Personally, I believe without the permanent AD in place, Strong has to be retained so the new AD can be involved in choosing the head coach of the football team, be it Strong or someone else. It would only complicate the hiring of the new AD if the program was in disarray and Perrin brought in a new head coach and then left it to the new AD to be accountable for the program moving forward. From what some people are saying, Perrin will be the new permanent AD, but until everything settles down, the best thing for the long therm health of the athletics program is to clean the bigger mess that is Bellmont up methodically, even if doing so costs us another losing football season.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Seems I had a conversation starter here.

So I will address topics generally just to ensure I am not calling specific people out.

1. Race is an issue.

It just is in America. As long as studies constantly show a implicit discriminatory effect on African Americans in tipping, job callbacks, job pay, and in policing, it will always be an issue.

Sports is popular in the sense that on its face, it's a meritocracy. However, there is certain reactions we have when players of color do a certain thing versus the majority doing the same thing. Same with coaches.

Yes, Texas as a state is paying for the sins of their past. It's inevitable when something falls on the wrong side of history. However, ignoring history does not solve the issue.

There are legitimate criticism of Charlie Strong. He hasn't connected well with Texas HS coaches, he gets blown out way too often. However, let's not forget some BMD was very public on his displeasure of the Charlie Strong even going so far to say the Sugar Bowl winning coach might be "a good coordinator".

He was brought in to be the Anti-Mack Brown. He is doing just that. Then you pull the plug 2 seasons in and give it to a new guy. Again, if the new guy, most likely white, struggled after 2 seasons and is not fired or at least the fanbase hasn't turned on him, many will question to what extent race had on Charlie Strong's likability and quick termination. And it would be a fair question.

2. None are good reasons.

Well good is a relative term defined differently by everyone. However, they are reasons why to not fire Strong albeit the race issue is more about how the program and administration would be viewed by African Americans in the future.

Good post, Chris.

While I agree that race will play a factor, I don't think it's the worry with how the administration is viewed by other African Americans. It's the politically correct environment that we live in that causes the pause. And most African Americans don't participate so much in that. Some of the loudest voices of complaint against Charlie right now are African American. African Americans are no different than white or Hispanic Americans in that regard. We all like to win. And I think all races can agree that Charlie hasn't provided good results or hope for future results.

When Obama supporters cry out racism when Obama is criticized, you can make fun of that because Obama was elected twice and wouldn't have done so without the white vote.

But Charlie was hired by a single guy, albeit a white guy. It would be a tougher stance to defend.

But again, it's the politically correct (PC) world we live in. This was brought up a month ago to me when this all first started.

If I ran things, I retain Charlie, replace the OC and coach Jean. I consider, heavily, the idea of putting Traylor at OC. IMO, he's a friggin offensive genius. It's not a sexy hire, but a very effective one, IMO. I do not get rid of Wickline. In the position Wick has been put into at Texas, I think I keep my faith in his resume. Besides, we're now in a lawsuit with this guy and his former employer. Kinda sucks to pay on that when he's not even here. But I digress.

 

[TexCoyote]

Seems I had a conversation starter here.

So I will address topics generally just to ensure I am not calling specific people out.

1. Race is an issue.

It just is in America. As long as studies constantly show a implicit discriminatory effect on African Americans in tipping, job callbacks, job pay, and in policing, it will always be an issue.

Sports is popular in the sense that on its face, it's a meritocracy. However, there is certain reactions we have when players of color do a certain thing versus the majority doing the same thing. Same with coaches.

Yes, Texas as a state is paying for the sins of their past. It's inevitable when something falls on the wrong side of history. However, ignoring history does not solve the issue.

There are legitimate criticism of Charlie Strong. He hasn't connected well with Texas HS coaches, he gets blown out way too often. However, let's not forget some BMD was very public on his displeasure of the Charlie Strong even going so far to say the Sugar Bowl winning coach might be "a good coordinator".

He was brought in to be the Anti-Mack Brown. He is doing just that. Then you pull the plug 2 seasons in and give it to a new guy. Again, if the new guy, most likely white, struggled after 2 seasons and is not fired or at least the fanbase hasn't turned on him, many will question to what extent race had on Charlie Strong's likability and quick termination. And it would be a fair question.

2. None are good reasons.

Well good is a relative term defined differently by everyone. However, they are reasons why to not fire Strong albeit the race issue is more about how the program and administration would be viewed by African Americans in the future.

I think if any coach had come in and had the same results (not just wins and loses, but not showing improvement, blowouts, Iowa St) they would be catching the same amount of criticism/heat regardless of race. I know we were pretty far down when Mack left, but I can't see why it is so hard to turn Texas around or at least show continued improvement. We should be able to get nearly any coach we want and for sure any assistant coaches

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

Personally, I believe without the permanent AD in place, Strong has to be retained so the new AD can be involved in choosing the head coach of the football team, be it Strong or someone else.

This

The new AD has to be the one who hires or retains the HC. Otherwise, we're no better than aggy.

 

[Randolph Duke]

. I do not get rid of Wickline. In the position Wick has been put into at Texas, I think I keep my faith in his resume. Besides, we're now in a lawsuit with this guy and his former employer. Kinda sucks to pay on that when he's not even here. But I digress.

The University is not a party to the Wickline suit. It is entirely a contractual matter between Okie Lite and Wickline for breach of contract based on Wickline's employment contact with OSU.

UT indemnifying Wickline might be the ethically right thing to do (under a theory UT enticed Wickline to breach his contract with Okie Lite), but as things stand, there is no legal obligation for UT to do so.

 

[OrangeLarry]

Are you TexLarry's brother?

NO....

 

[Hiphopopotamos]

Excellent response Chris.

 

[Bear19]

Fear of being called racist is the absolute worst reason to keep Charlie Strong.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

A stated or implied argument that The University of Texas has such a checkered past on racial matters and even today needs to walk on eggshells, lest it be seen as a racist institution, and therfore has no option other than to pay an unqualified black head football coach $5 million/ year to coach the football team is absurd.

State your argument for keeping Charlie Strong as head coach, but the racial angle is only made from ignorance. And, as I said, if Bonami Jones wants to walk down that path, have him book me on his show and I will explain a few things to him.

Personally, I believe without the permanent AD in place, Strong has to be retained so the new AD can be involved in choosing the head coach of the football team, be it Strong or someone else. It would only complicate the hiring of the new AD if the program was in disarray and Perrin brought in a new head coach and then left it to the new AD to be accountable for the program moving forward. From what some people are saying, Perrin will be the new permanent AD, but until everything settles down, the best thing for the long therm health of the athletics program is to clean the bigger mess that is Bellmont up methodically, even if doing so costs us another losing football season.

The first paragraph and the first sentence in the second paragraph hit the nail on the head!

Well said, Randolph. 

 

[North Texas Golfer]

I think if any coach had come in and had the same results (not just wins and loses, but not showing improvement, blowouts, Iowa St) they would be catching the same amount of criticism/heat regardless of race. I know we were pretty far down when Mack left, but I can't see why it is so hard to turn Texas around or at least show continued improvement. We should be able to get nearly any coach we want and for sure any assistant coaches

Well said, Tex Coyote. 

I don't understand why more people don't get this. 

 

[MBHORNSFAN]

By all accounts Perrin is the permanent AD and will probably be announced as such in January. 

 

[Randolph Duke]

The first paragraph and the first sentence in the second paragraph hit the nail on the head!

Well said, Randolph. 

People can accept or reject what I contribute to the site, but I try to come from a reasoned approach.

UT was academically integrated in 1956. In 1961, while some (cough*SEC*) universities were fighting the National Guard to remain segregated, the students at UT were protesting for racial integration of businesses on the Drag. And partially for those protests, to this day, some racists in Texas call us "sips" and insist we were fighting against "American values."

The University is currently fighting through the legal process ( the Fischer case before the U.S. Supreme Court) to allow the importance of racial diversity to be a factor in admissions. Being the first university system in the south to fully integrate and to 60 years later still be fighting for racial inclusion shoud exempt The University from passing and unsubstantiated accusations of being a racist institution.

Only ignorant individuals can claim UT Austin is on the precipice of being labled a racist institution for not retaining a football coach who has lead the school's football program to the lowest point in its 123 year history.

Charlie Strong may be a lot of things in the eyes of the UT alumni who are paying his salary. Lets get down to brass tacks and admit "successful" isn't anything anyone would call him. Claiming that evaluating his performance so far makes any of the alumni a racist is beyond bullshit. Let's just prepare for this same bullshit argument to be brought up again next year in case the worst (and hightly likely) outcome that Coach Strong is cut loose.  Whether they are a football coach or professor and regardless of race, if anyone is reasonably evaluated to be less than amoung the best in their profession, they shouldn't be on the UT campus.

 

[BevoBlake]

By all accounts Perrin is the permanent AD and will probably be announced as such in January.

I'm inclined to agree with you there. I think Perrin has secured the job.