Not Strong Enough. Charlie Is Out At Texas
26 Nov, 2016
After enduring its longest stretch of losing in almost 80 years, Texas has fired head football coach Charlie Strong, the school announced Saturday.
Strong met with UT men’s athletic director Mike Perrin Saturday morning, one day after the Longhorns completed their third consecutive losing season with a 31-9 defeat against TCU. Perrin and university president Greg Fenves already had decided to dismiss Strong last week, according to multiple reports confirmed by UT sources, but waited until after the season to make the firing official.
In a statement released by the school, Perrin said:
“Decisions like this are tough to make. The responsibility is not taken lightly. I became friends with Charlie Strong before becoming athletics director. I have the utmost personal respect for him. His impact on college athletics and student-athletes should be celebrated. Coach Strong represented the University of Texas with class and dignity, and he demanded our student-athletes do the same by adhering to his system of core values. However, after thorough evaluation, the body of work over three seasons has not shown the improvement we were hoping for. This was an important year for our program to take the next step, and the results simply aren’t there, so we’ve decided to make a change. We appreciate Coach Strong so much, are grateful for all he has done with our program and wish him the best in the future.”
Strong’s statement read as follows:
“It’s a very difficult day for me, my family and all of the people affected by this decision. I’m most disappointed for these kids and our staff who have poured so much of their lives into this program for the last three years. I do understand that it comes down to wins and losses, and we have not done our job in that area yet. I accept full responsibility for that, but know in my heart that we accomplished our primary goal, which is the development of young men. We have had a positive impact on our campus and the community, and I’m proud of how our team is focused on earning their degrees. We were developing something really special. This program has a championship foundation built on great young men with tremendous character. There are very bright days ahead, and I’ll be pulling for these kids no matter where I am. I want to thank everyone who supported me and this program for the last three years. I don’t regret coming to Texas. I learned a great deal and grew as a person in my time here. I’ll miss the opportunity to lead this program going forward, but I’m ready to accept my next challenge.”
Strong, the first black head coach in the history of the program, was given credit for instilling discipline and cutting down on a sense of entitlement in the locker room after he took over for Mack Brown in 2014. But he finishes his tenure with an overall record of 16-21 — which places him last in winning percentage among UT’s 29 head coaches.
Before the Strong era, the Longhorns had not suffered three consecutive losing seasons since 1936-’38.
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