Over 14.5 million copies of a pregnancy advice book, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, are in print. The book regularly tops the New York Times Best Seller list in it’s category and it’s been called one of the most influential books of the last 25 years.
According to USA Today, 93% of all expectant mothers that read a pregnancy guide, read What to Expect When You’re Expecting. And for good reason – no matter how much you plan, daydream, and prepare, there is no substitute for real world advice.
On the eve of the debut of their season, Texas Longhorn fans are pregnant couples. For the first time in more than 15 years, the Longhorn football team will be led onto the field by someone other than Mack Brown.
In January, Texas hired Charlie Strong to be their Head Football Coach. Since then, the burnt orange faithful have devoured every practice report and scrap of information they can find on Bevo’s new boss. But, like an expecting couple on their due date, Texas fans don’t truly know what to expect.
Don’t mistake that for a lack of expectations – there are always mountainous expectations in Austin. To help make sure those expectations are aligned with reality, I thought it was appropriate to spend a little time before kickoff by getting some real world perspective…
First, like a good hiring manager, let’s do a quick background check with Strong’s previous employer. Strong worked as University of Florida’s defensive coordinator for seven seasons. While part of that stint was under Ron Zook, from 2005-2009 Strong was on Urban Meyer’s staff.
Meyer, now coach of the OSU Buckeyes, offered this on Strong at Big Ten Media Days, “He’s arguably the finest coach in the country, and an even better person.â€
Sounds good, but it also sounds like any coach talking about a former assistant. Coaching is a tightly knit fraternity. Rarely do you hear a coach speak ill of another in the profession, especially ones that worked together.
With that in mind, it’s more interesting to read what Meyer said when he was pressed to expand on those thoughts, “A genuine love of the player…like I’ve never seen. Now he’s hard, he’ll kill them. Charlie will kill them. But deep in his soul…I’d probably say that he’s the best I’ve ever seen at being genuine, genuine. Not the ‘Hey how ya’ doing, how’s your family?’ and walk away talking to them. But some of the stuff I’ve seen Coach Strong do…that goes far beyond…it’s a parent.â€
Now we’re talking. That is useful. It also correlates to what fans have read and heard about Strong since he arrived in Austin.
Check off the “References†box on your form.
Next, let’s fact check Strong’s resume. Perhaps there is a clue that will help set reasonable expectations…
During those years at UF with Meyer, Strong’s defense scored in 70% of Florida’s games.
Full stop.
Read that again.
Strong’s UF coaching bio says that the Florida defense scored in 64 of the 92 games when Strong was the Gator’s defensive coordinator.
So much for “reasonable†expectations in Austin.
Now that we’ve checked off another box, perhaps it’s appropriate for some real world knowledge from someone that observed Strong as Louisville’s Head Coach – Mark Ennis of ESPN Radio 680 in Louisville was kind enough to share some thoughts on both Charlie Strong and Shawn Watson’s time with the Cardinals.
For starters, I asked Ennis what his single biggest takeaway was from Strong’s time at Louisville. His response was, “His ability to motivate and teach players. And that bleeds into recruiting too. He connected with players so there was very little washout when he took over and very little disciplinary turnover once he was in place. He connected with recruits.â€
Ennis continued, “He got through to the players that he inherited (that frankly weren’t very good) and in a number of cases, players that had lingered on the bench made the most of a year or two playing for him.â€
Byron Stingily was a junior college offensive tackle. According to Ennis, Stingily joined the Cardinals under Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe, but played sparingly until Strong took over the program. After a solid senior season under Strong’s tutelage, Stingily was drafted by the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.
But Ennis said that Bilal Powell was Strong’s best reclamation job, “Powell had gotten out of shape, had fumble issues, and was really invisible on the bench. In one offseason, he did what was asked of him and transformed himself into an all-american.â€
For the last several months, Texas fans have been inundated with stories about toughness, helmet stickers and the coaches moving into campus dormitories with the team during Fall Camp. But no story received more publicity than Strong’s inflexible rules for his team.
When talking with Ennis, I asked about whether Strong’s hard line approach trickled over to on-field and game day activities. Ennis replied, “I wouldn’t say that he’s inflexible when it comes to what goes on, on the field. He’s demanding, but he doesn’t stick with things that don’t work.â€
And for an example, Ennis expounded on his answer, “In fact, I can remember in 2009 they played at Syracuse and Syracuse threw a bomb touchdown on the first drive after Louisville played a very basic, zone defense. After that, he [strong] said ‘screw it’ and the Cardinals blitzed every single play for the rest of the game and just pummeled poor Ryan Nassib.†(Ennis said Strong told reporters during post-game that he literally told Vance Bedford ‘screw it’.)
As Longhorns read and nod appreciatively, Ennis did caution that in-game adjustments were not Strong’s forte, “Strong did a much, much better job at preparing a defense and a game plan than he did in in-game adjustments. Louisville’s defense allowed eight points in the first quarter last year. But you could see at times (for instance the UCF game) that teams could get a little momentum going and they [strong and the Louisville coaching staff] weren’t always able to get a handle on it.â€
Co-offensive coordinator and play caller Shawn Watson was on Strong’s staff at Louisville for three years, spending the last two as offensive coordinator. When I asked Ennis about Watson, he responded that the former Cardinal OC “had his faults†but that Watson was a very capable teacher of quarterbacks, specifically citing Teddy Bridgewater’s mechanics.
With the knowledge that Texas fans are notorious for critiquing their offensive coordinator, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to hear an explanation of Watson’s “faultsâ€. Ennis explained, “Without question the most annoying thing about Watson and the offense was the pace. Louisville had Bridgewater – a once in a lifetime QB, plus two good backs, a bunch of good receivers, and they were 84th in plays run per game. And the odd thing was, there would be stretches or drives where they’d go no huddle and it would almost always work. But then they’d get the ball back and just completely sit on it again.â€
But Ennis said that Watson tended to be much better at in-game adjustments than Strong, “Louisville was often a bit slow to start games, and then the 2nd and 3rd quarters were very productive after adjustments were made.â€
In the grand scheme of things, Texas fans are going to set their own expectations regardless of some advice in a column. But at least now they know what to expect when they’re expecting.