Written by Aaron Torres at FoxSports.com
Over the past couple days, there hasn’t been a bigger story in college football than the status of Texas coach Charlie Strong. Strong’s Longhorns looked downright pitiful in a 49-31 loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday, and they put on a tackling display that made Icebox and the “Little Giants” look like a reincarnation of the 1985 Chicago Bears.
That loss — and the embarrassing performance that caused it — put Strong clearly back on the hot seat, a place that he seemed to coach himself off of earlier this season. It also led to reports early Monday that the Longhorns could fire Strong after this season if he doesn’t turn things around in a hurry.
However, Strong shouldn’t be on the hot seat ahead of this weekend’s Red River Rivalry game on FS1. And barring something disastrous (like a 4-8 finish), his job status shouldn’t even begin to be evaluated until this time next season. Admittedly, Texas isn’t where it wants to be. But given everything Strong has had to overcome since he got to Austin, the Longhorns are right where they should be — a good program that is still a long way from competing with the best teams in the country.
Looking at things in the big picture, it’s clear that Mack Brown didn’t exactly leave the cupboard full for Strong when he left. Texas has had just six players selected in the NFL Draft since Strong arrived — and that reveals the direct correlation between the talent he inherited and the results we’ve all seen on the field. For comparison’s sake, Notre Dame — a good, but hardly elite team over the past few years — had the same number of players drafted in just thefirst three rounds of last year’s draft alone. This same Texas program had six players drafted following its 2005 title season. The Longhorns’ talent hasn’t been up to par with college football’s good teams over the past few years, let alone it’s elite ones.
If you want to blame Strong for not developing more of those guys into draft picks, fine. But it’s also left Strong with no choice but to sport one of the youngest rosters in college football over the past few seasons. It’s also led to a staggering number of players from his heralded 2015 and 2016 recruiting classes being forced into action, whether they’re ready or not. And that’s the biggest reason why Strong shouldn’t be on the hot seat. You can’t blame him for having no choice but to throw a bunch of young — and maybe slightly underprepared — players onto the field.
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