Texas Longhorns officially fire head coach Charlie Strong

The Texas Longhorns have fired head coach Charlie Strong after three seasons.

It’s been a long week of rumors and speculation, but the Texas Longhorns have decided to cut ties to head coach Charlie Strong. It ends a three-year tenure for Strong, where he went 16-21 as head coach.

It had been a rocky season for the Longhorns, who finished the season at 5-7 after Friday’s home loss to TCU. Strong had been on the hot seat most of the year anyway after two losing seasons to begin his tenure in Austin. An overtime loss at Kansas last week seemingly was all the Longhorns needed to see to know Strong was not the man to lead Texas football into the future.

Mike Perrin, Athletic Director for Texas, released a statement on Saturday morning. He noted it was a tough decision, because of the person that Strong had shown himself to be, but the performance over the previous three seasons was not what the university had hoped. You can see the full statement below.

Strong replaced Mack Brown, who had a legendary tenure in Austin. But the three losing seasons was not what Texas wanted, and now are on the search for his replacement. The most likely person to take that job is Tom Herman, current head coach at the University of Houston.

Herman has been mentioned by ESPN and other media outlets as possibly being linked to the Texas job after flirting with LSU. With LSU now opting to make their interim head coach, Ed Orgeron, a permanent fixture, that leads many to believe the Longhorns job is his for the taking.

Strong also released a statement about his firing. He thanked everyone for the opportunity to lead Texas but also accepted responsibility for not living up to the expectations that were set for him.

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University President Gregory L. Fenves also offered a short statement as well, thanking him for his service to the program and wished him well.