Fansided

Five college football coaches who should have been fired

By Rucker Haringey

Oct 18, 2014; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong reacts prior to kickoff against the Iowa State Cyclones at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas beat Iowa State 48-45. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 18, 2014; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong reacts prior to kickoff against the Iowa State Cyclones at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas beat Iowa State 48-45. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 1, 2014; Lubbock, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong on the sidelines during the game with the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 1, 2014; Lubbock, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong on the sidelines during the game with the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

Charlie Strong-Texas

Count me among the media members who was a bit surprised that Charlie Strong seems safe no matter what happens in the Longhorn finale at Baylor on Saturday. He’s followed up a tumultuous 6-7 opening season in Austin with an even worse 4-7 campaign. That’s just not good enough for one of the richest college football programs in America.

In fairness to Strong, he didn’t inherit a great situation from Mack Brown. The Longhorn decline had begun under the previous coach and it was unreasonable to expect Strong to be able to turn it around in one year. The concerning thing isn’t his record in year one though, it’s the continued fall in year two.

We aren’t talking about a weak program here. We’re talking about Texas. They have every resource imaginable and a recruiting pull that is second to none. They should be competing annually for national championships, not trying to scrape in a pitiful bowl game with a 5-7 record. We should have seen the team on the field trending in a positive direction in Strong’s second year. Instead, his team has gotten appreciably worse and it’s not as if he’s been a delight for the local media either.

Strong likely gets to survive because of the mess he inherited from Brown and the athletic director transition that the school’s just undergone. New AD Michael Perrin will likely want to evaluate Strong over the next season before he decides his fate.

Bet heavily on Strong being out after next season at Austin. Barring a real turnaround we won’t see them emerging on the national scene next year and anything less than that is unacceptable for the Longhorn faithful.

Next: Darrell Hazell

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