After a long coaching search that officially began December 14th, Texas has officially announced Charlie Strong on January 5th, 2014. 8 years and a day after the Longhorns won their 4th national title in school history.
While most have expressed praise and excitement on the hire, some Texas fans are concerned about the hire. Some will complain that this is not the splash hire that would send a statement to the rest of the college football that Texas was going to win right now. While the jury is out on that line of thought, we should show the positive aspect of Charlie Strong’s resume and assure all Longhorn fans that Steve Patterson made the right call.
1. QB Development
Right now, there is serious concern about the quarterback position at Texas.
At Louisville, Charlie Strong’s claim to fame was Teddy Bridgewater. Teddy Bridgewater was a 4 star recruit out of Miami Northwestern, a high school power in the state of Florida. He had offers from Florida, Miami and LSU among others. He decided to go to Louisville and trust Charlie Strong to develop him as a quarterback.
When Bridgewater came out of high school, he was a dual threat quarterback. He ran the ball numerous times in high school. It would have been easy to just let Teddy Bridgewater do what he did in high school, but Charlie Strong never took the easy way out in his career and he wasn’t going to let Bridgewater do the same. Strong was determined to turn Teddy Bridgewater into the quarterback he wanted him to become, an NFL quarterback.
The road was rough at first, Teddy Bridgewater had his struggles in his true freshman year. He threw 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and a total of 2,000 yards passing while the Cardinals once again finished 6-6. Charlie Strong kept with the process and likely had to keep a frustrated Bridgewater motivated to stick to the plan. He did and Louisville went 11-2 in 2012 and 12-1 in 2013.
Charlie Strong will not simply settle for the easy way. He might use some of the skill sets of his quarterback, but he will not give in to going solely on the god given skill set that the quarterback has, he will develop them into NFL quality quarterbacks. After watching last night’s NFC wild card game where both starting quarterback were not offered by Texas (which was repeated multiple times during the broadcast), it would be nice to have a franchise NFL quarterback to say “Texas” during player introductions.
2. Tough defense.Â
Did I hear someone say “I want to see Taysom Hill run all over the Longhorns again!” No? Well too bad because here it is.
That was the defining moment for the 2013 Texas Longhorns. That defensive performance in Provo against BYU was the dagger in Mack Brown’s career. Despite a win over Oklahoma and a chance in the final weekend to win the Big 12, that will be the legacy of the 2013 season. That won’t happen under Charlie Strong.
Depending on the how Florida State does against Auburn, the Louisville Cardinals will likely finished with the top overall defense in college football in 2013. They gave up only 3,269 total yards all season. That’s 2,015 less yards that what the Longhorns gave up this past season in the same amount of games. That’s unacceptable and Coach Strong will hold the Texas defense accountable. Something that hasn’t happen in a while on the 40 acres.
3. He’s won on the biggest stage already.Â
He has won at Louisville. He took a program that went 3 straight years without going to a bowl and in 3 years, had them raising the Sugar Bowl trophy. He knows how to prepare and win at the highest level. He won’t be scared if he has his Texas team in the Sugar Bowl against the SEC Champion. He knows how to beat the SEC. 23-3 in two years. If that isn’t big time, then I don’t know what is.
This man was the right hire for the University of Texas. Charlie Strong will win at Texas because that’s what he prepares his team to do. Win.
