Tag Archives: Charlie Strong

Sports news, State news

Coach Strong seeks to be an educator

You could hear just a bit of grumbling coming from Austin when the University of Texas hired Charlie Strong to be the head coach of the school’s football team.

He wasn’t the favorite of some high-powered, well-heeled alumni. They wanted a proven big-time winner to restore the Longhorns to gridiron glory. Strong? Good guy, but can he win?

The jury is still out on the winning part, but he’s embarking on an effort that should get the attention of universities across the nation.

He’s trying to teach the young men of his football program how to become good men.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/can-a-university-teach-integrity-to-its-athletes.html/

More power to you, coach!

As the Dallas Morning News blogger Jim Mitchell noted, “I don’t know whether it is possible to teach values to a college athlete if the player didn’t arrive on campus with a pretty clear understanding of right, wrong and personal responsibility. But I’m intrigued that the University of Texas is going to try.”

Strong took over from former coach Mack Brown and began tossing players off his team for what’s cryptically called “violation of team rules.” I was wondering at the outset whether Strong had come to Austin to imbue a certain kind of ethic in the players. One of the dismissed players hails from Amarillo, so it was a bit of a disappointment to see a local athlete caught up in this min-purge.

Strong’s efforts will be comprehensive, according to Mitchell: “Now comes a groundbreaking effort called the Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation, which UT-Austin officials say will ‘leverage UT Austin’s expertise in academics and success in athletics to change the culture at a time when national headlines remain focused on high-profile athletes’ behavior and responsibilities.’”

I absolutely support the idea of reminding these young men that they have responsibilities that go far beyond their athletic exploits. Many athletes view their athletic skill as a sign of privilege. They think they have some God-given right to behave as they see fit. “Normal” rules don’t apply to them. Coach Strong says that’s not the case, that their elevated status requires them to behave properly and to exhibit the kind of life skills that will carry them through the rest of their life.

What is so wrong with that? Not a single thing.

Go for it, Coach Strong.

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Apology accepted, Mr. McCombs

Red McCombs says he’s sorry now for the outburst he leveled at the University of Texas’s hiring of Charlie Strong as its next head football coach.

I accept your apology, sir.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/red-mccombs-sorry-0

I’ll stipulate, of course, that I never attended UT. I’ve lived in Texas for just shy of 30 years now, so I consider myself a Texan, given that my wife and I pay our taxes here, our sons came of age here and graduated from college here and I’ve watched a fair amount of Texas football.

McCombs, the zillionaire San Antonio auto dealer and UT booster, popped off about being “kicked in the face” when UT hired Strong from the University of Louisville. He questioned whether Strong had the credentials to be a head coach.

Now he regrets saying those mean things.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10272385/red-mccombs-apologizes-criticizing-charlie-strong-hire

UT has a new athletic director, Steve Patterson, who’s first major hire suggests he isn’t going to listen as intently to deep-pocketed boosters as some of his predecessors had done.

What’s more, as Paul Burka notes in the link attached to this blog, UT has now embarked toward a new era by hiring its first African-American head football coach.

Hook ’em, Coach Strong.

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Now, let the new UT football coach do his job

With all due respect to the mega-millions of dollars that Red McCombs has made in his life, he needs to stick to selling cars.

The University of Texas booster big shot has criticized the selection of Charlie Strong as the next University of Texas head football coach. Fine. McCombs is entitled to his opinion.

http://msn.foxsports.com/southwest/story/booster-on-texas-hiring-strong-kick-in-the-face-010714

But the university has a highly paid athletic director, Steve Patterson, and a staff of football experts/gurus who know a thing or two about the game. Charlie Strong comes to Texas from the University of Louisville, where he presided over another pretty good football program.

The Longhorns program remains one of the Cadillac programs out there for any coach to lead. Strong looks like a winner. I’ve read he’s an old-school coach, meaning he expects his players to behave themselves on and off the field. I also take the description to mean that he wants his student-athletes to be students as well as athletes, meaning that he expects them to study hard and earn their degree.

McCombs said he is unhappy with the selection process that brought Strong to Austin. He doesn’t think Strong is head coach material, that he’d make a good assistant or a coordinator.

Interesting. McCombs’s expertise comes from where? His ownership of professional sports franchises? Did he play a little ball himself when he was in school?

He’s given lots of money to UT, which I guess means he’s more entitled than most folks to express an opinion about who the school hires to coach its football team.

I’m going to rely on the judgment of the actual experts in this kind of work.

I’m guessing Coach Strong is going to do just fine.