Taking Sides on Charlie Strong's "championship" comment

[drgilbert]

Duke I have really enjoyed reading your articles debunking that other schools so called traditions, but on this you and I will not see eye to eye. I will wish Strong and the Horns the best of luck.

 

[Bear19]

This thread is proving my point.

 

[JKW-Hook 'em]

Does Coach Strong intend to make a statement every year whether he believes the team will or will not be in the NC game? Is not, why did he decide to do so this year?

Coach Strong made a huge mistake making the statement he did. No leader should announce the organization has no chance of reaching its goal, or announcing its goals should be centered in mediocrity. If Coach Strong feels incapable of delivering anything other than mediocrity this season, we have the wrong leader.

Wow!!  According to your analogy of Coach Strong's statement all but 2 coaches next year, those in the national championship game, will produce nothing more than mediocre seasons and their respective universities should look very closely at them to determine if they have the wrong leader in place.

Furthermore, are you suggesting that a CEO of an organization should never say something like: "I just reviewed our 1st quarter numbers and if we don't reverse this trend quickly we are going to miss our year-end numbers and ultimately the goals we set for the year."  Coach Strong made his comment following 15 practices and a scrimmage and their have been a few hints that CS is not totally pleased with the efforts from the players.  Heck, he even had them stop practicing, leave and start over to get this point across.  I don't see his comment any different than my example...based off what we have done to date, we are not going to hit our year-end goal of playing in the national championship game.  

Not sure how you make the leap that his statement that next year Texas will not be one of the final 2 teams standing is somehow a confession on his part that the task is beyond his skill-set and he is only capable of delivering mediocrity.  In my opinion...that is one HUGE leap, especially given he hasn't even coached a game yet!

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Honesty... fodder.... quelling fan expectations this season......? Who knows what the intent behind the comment was but I'm not sure what good it did to make it.

 

[chilly52]

Charlie let a bit of his frustration show in that comment. He's a little tired of boneheads asking him if UT will win a Natl Championship next year! And, that's because if you ask that question, you really don't know anything about UT or college football...Please Stop! Mack Brown left this program in a shambles. You can't possibly think there is enough talent on this team to win the Big 12, let alone anything else. Charlie's in rebuilding mode for 3 years and that's what it takes to get back to the level you think he's at now. He'll win 9 games for the next couple of years...8 if it doesn't go too well and 10 if it does.

Copy and paste this somewhere; then look at it every year until 2017, when a Natl Championship is possible for Strong.

 

[echeese]

In this week's Taking Sides, Sean and I debate Charlie Strong's comment about Texas not winning the national championship this year. What do you think - helpful or hurtful?

You guys must be digging for content. . .

Biggest non story of the year to me. . . .about 3 PM on 11 Oct. . .we'll have a pretty good idea of what a Charlie Strong team can do.

Football games are not won at press conferences. . . they are won with practices and off season programs. . .

Like the point/counter point. . . .but this week's topic is much ado about nothing. . .

 

[texasdobbs]

I think a good goal would be to win the Big 12... Although as Longhorns fan I always say shot for the stars. ..

 

[Tlouhorn]

I don't have a problem with the statement. I think it serves as motivation and also is very realistic...

I've been telling friends here, let him get at least two classes in, '15 being the 1st and we'll know more

about Coach Strong and how successful his tenure will be...

 

[Sirhornsalot]

While I tend to agree that championships are won in practices and off-season work, it helps to have a good, healthy QB. If you don't have one of those, you probably won't play for a MNC.

We'll beat OU on Oct. 11, but we still may not win the conference as OU really isn't the standard anymore.

As far as being helpful or hurtful, someone said above Charlie probably got frustrated by fielding the question so many times. He sees a ton of talent but probably knows he's got a serious issue at QB. If Ash could pull off a miracle and get through a whole season healthy, then a shot at a MNC isn't out of the realm of reason. But there's a big IF just to get there.

 

[Lukus Alderman]

Charlie is gonna realize fast that every word spoken by the head coach of the Texas Longhorns is going to be dissected and studied like none other.

 

[streettopeschel]

Charlie is gonna realize fast that every word spoken by the head coach of the Texas Longhorns is going to be dissected and studied like none other.

truth. what was it dkr told mack when he came on board ? something like 'the best part of the job is millions of people care about longhorn football. the worst part is millions of people care about longhorn football.' 

my take is it would have better left unsaid, but it's not the end of the world. while the candor is refreshing, IF (and it's only an if) his motivation was tempering fans' expectations he doesn't yet fully understand what UT fan expectations are yet.

 

[doc longhorn]

I stated this on TOS - Strong HAS to be physically and mentally tired.  Since the day he reported to UT, he has been non-stop trying to ramp up the program.

Strong is not particularly articulate and has a personality a lot like Sabans, and he doesn't suffer fools very well.  I think he just made a slip of the tongue - that's all.

Besides, had he said the same thing at Louisville, very little would have been made of it.  But, at a powerful university like Texas, every little thing is under a microscope.

 

[doc longhorn]

The more I think about Strong's remark the more I think it was a stroke of marketing genius.  If Texas struggles, everyone will praise him as a straight shooter and an honest man and they will follow every game.  On the other hand, should we actually start succeeding, every news outlet in the nation will be following the Longhorns just to see if they fail - per Charlie Strong.

Marketing genius, I tell you, and a money making cash cow of a remark.

Bravo, Charlie!